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Choose two breeds. You’ll see the same strip of citeable traits — not a winner, and not kids / apartment / shedding scorecards.
Temperament lines are short plate excerpts, not a verdict. Open each plate for the full entry.
- AKC group
Hound
- Size
Large
- Height
58–69 cm
- Weight
36–50 kg
- Energy
Moderate
- Energy notes
Moderate but purposeful. They were bred to trail for miles at a walk or slow trot, not to sprint.
- Trainability
Moderate
- Coat
Short, hard, and weather-resistant over an extraordinary amount of loose skin, especially on the head and neck.
- Origin
Belgium / France / United Kingdom
- Temperament
Gentle, dignified, and famously stubborn on a scent. Bloodhounds are typically good with people and children who treat them respectfully; they are not sharp.
- AKC group
Hound
- Size
Large
- Height
61–69 cm (registry- and sex-specific; AKC dogs ~63.5–68.6 cm / bitches ~61.0–66.0 cm; FCI and Royal Kennel Club males 63–69 cm and females 61–66 cm)
- Weight
~32–38.6 kg (single desirable figures, not ranges: AKC dogs 85 lb / ~38.6 kg and bitches 70 lb / ~31.8 kg; FCI males 36.5 kg and females 32 kg; Royal Kennel Club gives no weight)
- Energy
High
- Energy notes
High. The standards describe a dog built for sustained work: AKC calls the Ridgeback “capable of great endurance with a fair (good) amount of speed” and says that “at the chase, the Ridgeback demonstrates great coursing ability and endurance,” while FCI calls it “strong, muscular, agile and active” and notes it is still used to hunt game in many parts of the world.
- Trainability
Moderate
- Coat
The coat is short and dense, sleek and glossy, “never woolly nor silky” in AKC’s words (FCI and The Royal Kennel Club say “neither woolly nor silky”).
- Origin
Southern Africa (South Africa / Zimbabwe)
- Temperament
AKC sums up the Ridgeback as “dignified and even tempered” and “reserved with strangers,” and adds that it is “devoted and affectionate to his master. ” FCI and The Royal Kennel Club describe a dog that is “dignified, intelligent, aloof with strangers, but showing no aggression or shyness,” and FCI disqualifies aggressive or overly shy dogs.
