Santo

The three-year-old Thai Ridgeback "Santo" came to the animal shelter at the end of November 2024 following an official seizure. Here, he is open, quite relaxed, and even cuddly with familiar people. He is initially a bit wary of strangers. He generally gets along well with other dogs, but sometimes this extremely sensitive male dog feels overwhelmed. Santo's insecurity is also noticeable during walks. He sometimes reacts very skittishly, but calms down immediately when he has a trusted human by his side, who exudes the necessary security. Santo is in his element in the animal shelter's dog park, where the muscular athlete really lets loose and enjoys life. There you can also see that Thai Ridgebacks need a lot of exercise and are not suited to less active households.

We are looking for a quiet home without children for Santo. It would be advantageous if Santo were to go to people who are well-versed in the demanding Thai Ridgeback breed (see excerpts from the breed description). Furthermore, Santo should not be left alone at first.

Note:

Future owners should note the following: According to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Dog Law, Santo has been classified as a so-called Paragraph 3 dog. This means that, among other things, he must be muzzled and kept on a leash.

Excerpts from the breed description: Ingrid Büttemeier, Thai breeder in the VDH

… The Thai is a primitive dog. It is not as domesticated and adapted to life with us humans as most other breeds and therefore behaves in a much more primitive manner. Communication is much more subtle, varied, and differentiated than with other breeds. This often leads to complications and misunderstandings, as many people as well as our domesticated dogs do not understand, or do not properly understand, the finely nuanced body language, facial expressions, and diverse vocalizations of the Thai. ...

Thai dogs are courageous, alert, independent, self-confident, extraordinarily intelligent, and possess a mixture of curiosity, caution, and sensitivity—all things needed to survive as primitive dogs in the wild. Furthermore, they are extremely agile (many can quickly change out of all kinds of harnesses), they can jump very well, and... hunting seems to be their greatest passion—they hunt by sight and are very fast, agile, and sure-footed. ...

You should never corner a Thai dog (or any other dog) and deprive it of the opportunity to retreat, because then the dog may well go in the only direction left to it: forward. The Thai is friendly towards people he knows and likes; towards strangers he is initially reserved and very cautious, and under certain circumstances very distrustful. He must be given time to seek contact on his own. ….

I wouldn't describe the Thai as a family dog. Many Thais are suspicious of small children. Their liveliness, unpredictability and the loudness that often goes with it pose a problem for some dogs. Small children often behave too naively, and the primitive dog has little or no ability to cope with this. ….The Thai generally warns early enough when something is too much for him; it just needs to be noticed and respected.

A Thai cannot be trained with pressure; he tends to withdraw. Therefore, you sometimes have to think "outside the box" to achieve what you want, constantly question yourself, and perhaps look for new ways - especially since a Thai is much less forgiving of training mistakes than many other breeds.

A Thai wants a boss who impresses with calmness and reliability and who it can trust, but not one who harasses it or tries to force it. This "boss status" is not given to it, by the way; it has to be earned - fairly, predictably, consistently, and justly. ....

A Thai is certainly enthusiastic about patience games, because things that allow it to use its excellent nose, or tasks that require it to think, suit its intelligence very well. ....

In the apartment, the Thai is a fairly calm and very pleasant dog - I often don't even notice mine. However, when they go outside, they really get going – they run and romp at a speed worthy of a racetrack.