Although highly intelligent, the Ridgeback is a strong willed and often stubborn dog to train. However, if their socialisation and training starts early enough, in the right environment and with the correct amount of training, these dogs can be a real pleasure to have around. The key to successfully training a Ridgeback is to use positive reinforcement and to show a dog a lot of patience and understanding during a training session. It would be a mistake to try to rush things with a young Ridgeback, but rather to take the time to guide them gently into learning how to behave.
Making their training as diverse and interesting as possible helps keep a Ridgeback focussed and the more they enjoy the one-to-one attention they are given, the better they respond to a command. They do not respond well to any sort of harsh correction which would not achieve any sort of good results and may even harm a Ridgeback's confidence. As long as their training is consistent throughout their lives, these handsome dogs will always do their best to please an owner.
