glynn, thats the deal, you can teach about any dog to tone back, and all of mine are, but the good ones i have had dont need to be toned, they come back because they know when they need to. if a ridgeback is what a guy has then by all means hunt him, i just know that the ones i had were just like pits, all catch, i dont think i would have wanted to try to decoy with them. i know alot of people want a decoy dog to go out and kill a coyote or be kill crazy or whatever, i still say i want a decoy dog to have scars on his butt, not his head, he gets bit i want it to be while he's coming back not because he runs out and just fights, i got some dogs that will sure fight a coyote bad but they aint my best decoy dogs by a long shot.