The Dog Breed That Once Hunted Lions ·
Benjamin Ward
Published Jan 03, 2026
Look, lions are big. There is no mastiff or Great Dane or St. Bernard out there that wouldn't get their tail handed to them in a direct confrontation with one. However, there are all sorts of roles a dog can play in hunting. As the American Kennel Club tells us, the Rhodesian Ridgeback is a strong, athletic animal that can weigh over 85 pounds ... which, of course, still means that your average lion considers the dog to be in the "light snack" weight class. The breed developed from an assortment of European dogs and South African Khoi dogs over hundreds of years, with 19th Century Rhodesian hunter Cornelius van Rooyen putting in the finishing touches. The end result was a sturdy and tenacious big game hunting dog breed that excelled in "tracking and baying" — in other words, finding the lion and getting on its nerves. In fact, the Ridgeback was so good at this that it was known as the African Lion Hound before the advent of good long-distance rifles ended the need for big game hunting dogs.
Eukanuba's Breedopedia describes the Ridgeback's lion-targeting method: Instead of engaging with the lion directly, the dogs would perform numerous feint attacks until the lion was left completely bewildered, and the hunter had ample time to land his shot. Yes, the Rhodesian Ridgeback's hunting style was essentially Confuse-a-Cat, well before Monty Python filmed their sketch of the same name.
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