About Boerboels
The Boerboel is a breed known for its love and loyalty to its family.
With its strong and muscular appearance, it is a reliable and loving companion and, when necessary, an excellent guard dog. It has a sense of humor and intelligence and requires attention, love and proper care.
The Boerboel, or South African Mastiff, was originally bred to guard farms and be a versatile, hardy working dog. It is happiest with its owner and requires regular exercise and mental stimulation. Training is really important for this breed, as they respond very well to consistent training, are eager to please and learn new things quickly.
The Boerboel can read its owner's moods and needs really well, so if necessary, it will also protect and defend its loved ones. It is a loyal companion to its owner until the end.
The word "Boerboel" derives from the words "boer", the Dutch word for "farmer" and "boel" for "dog", i.e. "farmer's dog".
The Boerboel is the only South African breed that was bred to guard farms and property.
The Boerboel (Burbul) or South African Mastiff is a strong and powerfully built dog with a strong bone structure, a smooth coat and a balanced structure without obvious flaws. The muscles should be well developed and the dog should move quickly but confidently. The Boerboel is a reliable, obedient and intelligent dog with a strong guarding instinct. The Boerboel is confident and fearless, but sensitive. The ideal height for males is 66cm and for females 61cm. Height should always be in proportion to weight and structure and the differences between the sexes should be clearly visible. Accepted colors are all shades of yellow, brown and brindle, with or without a mask. White markings are also acceptable.
Boerboels are loyal to their owners and form strong bonds with their family. They are known for their strong protective instincts, without being aggressive in normal situations. Because Boerboels form strong bonds with their owners, Boerboels are at their best when they live indoors with their owners. If a dog is left to live completely outside without the owners present, the dog will become frustrated and may develop its own activities (e.g. destructive behavior, unnecessary barking).
Proper socialization as a puppy is absolutely essential. Since puppies are adaptable, they are easy to handle at a young age, accustoming the dog to different places, sounds and other animals. Good experiences early on significantly improve their social skills. It is important to keep the puppy away from aggressive and angry dogs, because if an accident happens, the dog may later react in a similar situation either by being afraid or by defending itself. Good-natured and balanced adult dogs are the best teachers to teach their younger ones proper behavior and dog body language.
Some Boerboels are very social by nature, while others are much more cautious with new people. In general, Boerboels are very good with children, especially those of the family. However, the whole family should be involved in the dog's training and make sure that the dog understands that children are a higher position in the family hierarchy. Children should be taught to respect and treat dogs kindly, and the dog should never be left with a child without adult supervision.
Because the breed was bred over time to be a farm guard (which it still is today), most dogs get along well with livestock and other family pets, while also defending the farm and home from wild animals. With the right introduction, they accept new family animals into their pack relatively easily.
Because the Boerboel is a dominant breed, this poses certain challenges to owning the breed. These dogs do not belong in dog parks, even if some dogs are well-behaved there. A stranger dog should always be thoroughly introduced to your Boerboel to avoid problems. In general, Boerboels do not get along very well with strangers of the same sex as they grow up. Puppies, on the other hand, are much more flexible and willing to interact with strangers and dogs.
It is worth paying careful attention to the sex of the puppy. If there is already one dominant adult in the family, it is worth choosing a puppy of the opposite sex, as this will make it more likely that there will be no fights between the family dogs as the puppy grows up.
Health
Boerboels are generally known for their good health. But as a large dog breed, they are not superior in any way compared to other large breeds. With strict and selective breeding what has been going on for a long time, and buying your pup from a reputable breeder, for you as a puppy buyer it is at least to some point possible to try to avoid some if not most of the common health problems. The average life expectancy of Boerboel is around ten year.
As with all breeds of dogs, the Boerboel may be susceptible to certain health problems, including but not limited to: Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, spinal problems, Eye problems including Ectropian / Entropian, Wobbler's Syndrome, Prolapse and Vaginal Hyperplasia. In addition, another concern for all large breeds is gastric torsion. If you are not familiar with this condition, it is absolutely necessary to learn about it and know the symptoms - This is a real emergency and a life threatening condition that requires immediate Veterinary attention.
Hip Dysplasia -Hip dysplasia means an "abnormal formation" of the hip joint. The normal anatomy of the hip joint is a classic ball and socket joint. The ball is supposed to match the socket. A good hip joint has a neat, snug fit between the ball and socket. There are variations of dysplasia - ranging from only very slight changes from normal to complete dislocation. Hip dysplasia is a progressive degenerative condition that can lead to severe pain.
Elbow Dysplasia -The term elbow dysplasia refers to degenerative conditions that affect the elbow joint. There are 3 causes of elbow dysplasia; Osteochondritis dessicans (OCD), Ununited Anconeal Process (UAP) and Fragmented coronoid process (FCP). Elbow scores range from 0 to 3.
Vaginal Hyperplasia -Vaginal Hyperplasia is an exaggerated response by vaginal tissue to estrogen during certain phases of the heat cycle. The vaginal tissue becomes swollen and may protrude through the vulva. Vaginal Hyperplasia is rated as free, stage1 to 3.
Eye problems
Entropion is an inward roll of the eyelids. It causes irritation to the eyeball and causes the eye to be "teary". In the case of ectropion the eyelids roll outwards exposing the membrane that lines the eyelid.
Ectropion is where the lower eyelid droops away from the eye and turns outwards.
Wobbler's syndrome -Wobbler's syndrome, also called cervical vertebral instability, is a condition that can affect large dog breeds that grow quickly. These growht spurts can result in spinal abnormalities that can cause painful compression in the spinal cord. If left untreated, Wobbler's syndrome may result in chronic pain and difficulty standing or moving.
Gastric dilatation volvulus -GDV (also known as twisted stomach, gastric torsion) is a medical condition in which the stomach becomes overstretched and rotated by exessive gas content. The word bloat is often used as a general term to cover gas distension without twisting and is often a normal change after eating or with aerophagia. It is sometimes used incorrectly to indicate gastric torsion. Gastric dilatation volvulus always involves the twisting of the stomach and is a life-threatening condition that requires prompt treatment. The condition occurs commonly in domesticated animals, especially certain dog breeds. Deep-chested breeds are especially at risk.
Since DNA testing is now possible and easy enough, we will test all our dogs with Genoscoper's wide health survey. At the moment (February 2015) there are only 10 tested Boerboels in total in Genoscoper's database. We have the first and only three tested Boerboels in Finland (Tano, Shaina and Savannah), but we hope that will change in the next few years.
In 2016, we tested our first boerboel Savanna Boerboele Ariel for psychomotor epilepsy.
In 2017, we tested the rest of our dogs and pups, a total of 36 Boerboels.
Because there were so many carriers and 4 affected in the first litter, we will be testing all our breeding dogs in the future. If we use an outside male in our program, he should also be tested for epilepsy.
Exercise
Because Boerboels are to this day active working dogs, they get to their full glory when they are presented with mental and physical challenges.
Obedience training, rally, weight pull, agility, lurecoursing, herding, protection and therapy dog activities are examples of activities where Boerboel has seen to success. As with any other breed, there are differences between individuals with Boerboels also. Some Boerboels are more suited for some activities than others. Boerboels are intelligent, sensitive and active dogs, so they need both physical and mental activation in order to stay happy and in good condition.
We have trained weightpulling (and other pulling sports like sledding) with our dogs since 2010. Among other activities such as lure coursing, "beast hunting" and canicross we also use springpole and flirtpole to wear out our dogs and keep them in good shape.
