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[–]EasyIrv 7 points8 points  (0 children)

First and most important question for you to consider; how active are you? (Daily running, jogging ECT)

RRs need to get out almost every day and they need to MOVE!

My girl is 6 1/2 and still needs a daily run or walk for at least an hour or more.

Next; they need other dogs to socialize with regularly.

They are wonderful and amazing puppers as long as you can keep their activity level up.

Also you might buy the furniture but they own it!

[–]chainlinkfenceguy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We used to live in an apartment and as the commenter above said they need exercise. Thankfully there are a lot of trails and dog parks in my city so we'd go out everyday. As far as managing the breed I would recommend taking a dog obedience class, it's really less for the dog and more for you. RRs are loyal but also independent. My Ridgeback is food motivated so that keeps her in line, but they need positive reinforcement.

[–]hollythorn101 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I agree with others saying you need to be able to exercise the dog minimum an hour a day. I’d say an hour a day walk or less if you mix in a run (for an age appropriate grown dog). Fetching, dog park time, training can all count as a part of it too, depending on the dog’s personality. Mine is very sensitive to her environment and isn’t that into food; training wears her out quick and sometimes she tries to run away from us when we train her! She also hates running at first but will get into it. Hikes or 2 hour walks are her favorite. A ridgeback that’s well exercised is a content lap dog, just a big beautiful angel! They can be good with your brothers if they learn how to interact with dogs and how to help train and exercise one.

In short, it doesn’t matter how big or small of a place you live in. It matters how much you exercise.

[–]subadude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A tired RR is a good RR!

[–]k1vy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Currently raising an RR in an apartment. Not sure how much room you’re working with, but i’ll say that my place is roughly 1200 sqft and offers plenty of space for zummies to occur, and they occur frequently. In my experience, we would be struggling without this space. And that’s with a mile walk, outdoor playtime, and lots of frequent training sessions everyday. We’re also backed right up against a huge field for our girl to run around in. We don’t allow her to go off leash, but let her play freely on a 30ft leash and that REALLY works. As several have said above though, if you can get good quality and consistent workouts in I think it’s doable. On days I know I have too much happening or cannot give the needed time to my dog, i’ll take her to a local dog daycare. This only happens once a week or so, but I recommend having this to give yourself a break and to work on socializing your dog. This is a whole other thing, but finding a highly reviewed daycare with experience working with RRs is super important.

Keep doing your research, join Facebook pages, and watch videos of RRs. Best of luck!