Tail of the Month: How I Accidently Became a Phu Quoc Ridgeback Owner

🐾 FEATURED PUP STORY OF THE MONTH: Meet Stella from Nova Scotia 🐾

 Each month, we shine the spotlight on a standout Vietnamese Phu Quoc Ridgeback dog. This month, we travel to Nova Scotia Canada to hear about the amazing Stella. Here is her story, as told by her Mom:

I lost my beloved 13 year old Husky/Sheppard mix dog very unexpectantly November 2, 2020.  He was a great family dog and my sidekick since we brought him home at 6 weeks old.  I had promised my husband for years that we would never have another dog – I brought Stella home December 10, 2020!

Because of Covid – finding a dog was proving difficult and I came across an ad on Kijiji for a Phuquoc ridgeback – having never heard of the breed before I started googling and I did come across a video of Jean and Peter talking about the breed – I am a hiker and enjoy outings so I was looking for an active breed but one that would be calm in the house.  I also never purchased a pure bred dog before so I did what I thought was research – I asked 100 questions of my breeder and he explained that the papers he had for the parents were in Vietnamese and I believed I was purchasing from a reputable breeder.  The papers turned out to be health certificates for the parents to be allowed to fly into Canada.  When I mentioned the video of Jean and Peter he misled me, and claimed that he worked with both Jean and Peter in Vietnam, and was part of their DNA testing program for the breed. 

I picked Stella from a litter of 15 puppies and the following week the breeder drove him to my house.  He left before Stella was settled and we had a very rocky start – She was timid and scared and I stupidly reached out to pick her up and she attacked me – I was bit from my hands to past my elbow.  I never met a puppy that didn’t want to cuddle.  She then spend days behind my couch – with me sitting coaxing her out slowly with treats – We had to then keep a leash attached to her so that we could get her if needed, but it was a slow process to get her to trust us. Her crate became her safe haven. 

Three days after we brought her home we were walking her in the park and my daughter dropped the leash – she was gone and lost for hours in winter.  Again we had many people out looking for her and calling her so as you can imagine we drove her farther away – it was my husband that found her because the reflective tape caught on his flashlight and she was found next to the highway under a bush – it bonded my husband and Stella and they have been inseparable ever since! But now we had a new fear of cars!  We couldn’t even walk her in the driveway to our car.  In the car she would drool so much in the 2 km drive to the park she could fill the cup holder.  We spent weeks desensitizing her cars – we even kept traffic noise on a loop very low in the house and slowly increased the volume – we would walk her around parked cars in our cul de sac and treat her if she would smell them… it was a long process! But she is no longer afraid of cars or traffic!

I was convinced that she would never be an off leash dog – and this was difficult for me as I wanted a hiking partner.  I worked daily for 4 months with a 15 foot tether and then 30 feet and finally 45 feet and worked on recall every day on the same stretch of path.  I would give her freedom call her name if her head snapped she would be treated.  As time went on her recall was as close to 100% as could be – I was still terrified the first time I let her off her lead – but she came back every single time – she is now a free roamer in the right places – and excellent on a leash for neighbourhood walks.

She still takes her time to familiarize to new environments, but slowly she grows more comfortable.  To socialize her I put her in dog sports – she excelled at Agility (after spending the first 2 classes under my chair!!) and then we did scent training (she is level 1 indoor qualified!).  We tried dock diving.  We are run and roam beaches – she loves paddleboarding.

Stella turned 4 years old in September.  She loves my husband and I – she tolerates our adult children, and she adores our 3 grandchildren ( 2 years and under).  We are always cautious with her around the littles – as a rule she doesn’t like children – she will avoid if we are out in community – but for an unknown reason she likes ours, she has proven to be gentle with them and shows no fear towards them.

Stella loves to ‘work’ she loves to do tricks, scent training in the house and yard.  On walks she loves to parkcour and jump on anything we can find along our walks.  We adore her and she has been a challenge – but we have fallen completely in love with her and I am fascinated by the breed – I hope to add to our family one day.

 I will add she is super protective of our house – she used to bark at everyone, every car that came onto our little cul de sac – but quickly she realizes who belongs and will only bark if a stranger enters or Prime! She does not like the Prime driver! In fact if we are out on a walk she will bark at a Prime driver out on the road.

I love my Stella Bella. You can follow the adventures of Stella on Instagram via Stella_roo 20.

Where to get more information:

Phu Quoc Ridgeback Kennel Club

pqrkc@yahoo.com

Facebook Phu Quoc Dog Forum

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vietnamesephuquocridgebacks