Hi there, I haven't posted here in years, but your post showed up in my mailbox and I thought I'd chime in. I have two ridgebacks, a male and female. I also have two kids and, like you, live in a large city (NYC) with access to parks and a small yard. These are my first ridgebacks, so my experience is limited to them. My male is by far an easier dog. He's not very high energy, extremely affectionate, and very tolerant of the kids. My female is high strung, has an extremely high prey drive and will growl at the kids if they annoy her. She is very attached to us, but is much more independent, and not all that concerned about pleasing us. She can also be aggressive with other large dogs and is not that great in small dog runs. She's fine in large off leash parks as long as she can have her space and likes to play with smaller dogs. She's also great with puppies. She absolutely could not live with cats, but then she didn't grow up with any, I know our breeder has cats and about ten ridgebacks and they all get along fine. She was very high energy as a puppy, now at nearly five, she's much calmer, though still wants to play and run. Both of them sleep on the couch most of the time, though she is our watchdog and likes to bark at all the delivery people. My boy doesn't even get up when people come by. Again, this is just my dogs, but from knowing several ridgebacks from the dog park, I'd say boys are generally more easy going. If I had to pick just one, I'd get a male, but I love having one of each. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer if I can.