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Date Posted: 06:44:22 11/17/03 Mon
Author: JB
Subject: Re: The Historical Boerboel-back to the top
In reply to: DKH 's message, "The Historical Boerboel" on 09:48:02 11/16/03 Sun

I’ve seen a number of people discussing and expressing their opinions about what a real Boerboel should, and should not be. How much drive should they have? What is drive? What were the “old time” Boerboels like and should our present day dogs even try to emulate the old dogs?
I just thought I might put in my two cents worth.

David has, in my opinion, expressed it pretty well but I will probably say the same things expressed in my own words.
The following quote is a cut and paste from my web page. It says in a very few words what I think a decent Boerboel should be,
“Hip scores are important.
Movement and agility are important.
Willingness to protect is important.
A stable, friendly, confident, happy attitude is important.
One or two of these characteristics alone will not make a good Boerboel.
Unless a Boerboel exhibits all four of these requirements we don't consider it a complete dog.”

Breeding and selling Boerboels can be a VERY profitable business in South Africa. If you can sell the puppies overseas (read America and Europe). If you think selling pups here in the US at $1,000 each could attract people with profit as their PRIMARY goal in breeding Boerboels over here stop an consider for a moment that an experienced school teacher in SA can expect to be paid between 60,000 and 70,000 Rand per year, and a puppy sold to America for $500 converts to over 3,000 Rand, then a litter of 10 pups is 30,000 Rand. Two litters a year can equal a year’s income for a profession person over there. If you could equal your annual salary (before taxes!) don’t you think you might jump on the bandwagon and start breeding a few litters? Not everyone is SA is a novice breeder, there are some ethical, knowledgeable, honest breeders in SA , but there are more people who will breed anything with hair on it and sell it with no consideration of its’ health or abilities.
People who have dogs that cannot really DO anything will tell you that the Boerboels aren’t SUPPOSED to DO anything. Well, I got interested in the breed because I was TOLD that a good Boerboel was an exceptional dog and COULD run, and jump, and WOULD protect livestock and my family. I was told the breed had very few health problems and excellent hips were the norm. I was told a good Boerboel, in condition, COULD catch a rabbit in an open field and WOULD protect me and mine to his death (or that of the cause of the problem in the first place). When I first told David that I had discovered a breed that could be the big rugged farm dog he desired for his place (David here previously bought some American Bulldogs from me and had raised a few and tried working them on his place. Pretty decent dogs but not quite what he needed) he wanted to see if the hype was true. It was---in some cases..
Most of the dogs we have imported from SA have NOT lived up to our expectations, but SOME HAVE. We have culled some and kept some.
I’ve read on these boards that a Boerboel can’t really catch rabbits. The author of that statement probably has dogs that cannot, but I’m here to tell you that Night Train has. And a son of his, Stone, has. Smiley Face caught several and a couple of my bitches have caught birds on the ground. All of our Boerboels can leap on the back of a pick-up without giving it a second thought. I’ve taken my dogs out to public gatherings and let them mingle with crowds at Mayfest and some large gun shows. I’ve taken a 150 pound dog to a 3rd grade class and let all the kids pet and poke and generally overwhelm him with their attention. He loved it. I’ve also had a couple of instances where people acted foolishly and my dogs thought we were being attacked. In every case I was able to call my Boerboel off and back to my side before anyone was bitten, but there is no question as to my dog’s protective qualities.
So, if someone trying to call themselves a breeder tells you that Boerboels in today’s world don’t have to have the qualities we’ve all read the old time dogs had, they are really saying that THEIR dogs can’t do anything. As a prospective Boerboel owner you DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT this. If I had wanted a big, impressive looking dog that had no REAL abilities I could have stayed with my Mastiff and bullmastiffs.
Sorry I was so long-winded.

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