Its forebears can be traced to the semi-domesticated, ridged hunting dogs of the Khoikhoi, which were crossed with European dogs by the early colonists of the Cape Colony of southern Africa. However, dogs that took risks were sometimes killed by lions, leaving those that were more careful to breed. These dogs were used to clear farmland of  wild pigs and baboons, and they can kill a baboon independently of a human hunter's collaboration.The original breed standard for the Rhodesian Lion Dog was drafted in 1922 by F. R. Barnes on founding the first Ridgeback Club at a Bulawayo Kennel Club show, then in Southern Rhodesia (now in Zimbabwe), and based on that of the Dalmatian. But supporters of the theory contend that enough of the foundational stock is ancient, including the greyhound and the Khoikhoi dog (from which the ridged back derives), that even though it was developed relatively recently and for use with modern firearms, the breed can still be considered to be of a 'primitive type'.