Hi there,I am already a boxer owner and love her to bits.I am now looking for a friend for her and I have heard many great things about boerboels.any opinions please?
I love them too! and some day!!!! Maybe. What I do know aout Boerboel is that they are HUGE, strong dogs with high guarding instinct, excellent family pets but.... need very experienced owners. they make Cane Corso's look quite small by comparisan. (as a Cane Corso owner, my 7 month old pup is 38kg and growing!!). What I would say, is, if you are going down that route, research and more research (which is what you are doing). Health tests, hips, temperament and a VERY reputable breeder. and I dont think there are too many in the UK. I do not have personal experience though, and will follow this thread with interest.
Contact the The UK Boerboel Club who I am sure will be only too happy to advise, lots of info on their website [Link removed]
http://www.boerboelsuk.co.uk/index.html There you go there's some info on here, I'v seen a few of his dogs 1st hand last year and they were all stunning with great temps and handled the heat very well too.
I love these dogs and would love to one day have the knowledge and experience to own such a wonderful breed. If you do manage to find a reputable breeder and do decide on this breed we would need lots of updates and photos.
I'v met quite a few and from what I can gather they are relatively easy to handle compared to other large bull and mastiff breeds like AB or Presa etc. Not one I met had an ounce of Dog Aggression and all were surrounded by people staring at them and their only reaction was to either sit looking at their owner or wag their tails at the people watching. A few AB folk have moved onto BB's because of their excellent temp and ease of ownership. If I ever needed a guard/detterent/family dog I'd get a BB straight away.
We have been researching Boerboels for nearly a year now (they are on my hubbys wish list for when we move to Europe!) and from our research I would have to disagree with this - due to their high guard instinct and the fact they are HUGE! Boerboels take alot of working on. From what I can gather it is as if you sort of have to train them out of the guarding instinct as its so strong and could lead to problems.
The only experience I've had of one was when I was in South Africa at a friends game reserve and he had one. She was very gentle and not as big as I thought they would be!! Becky
I think the proper working BB's won't be as big as the ones we see in Europe, because a 160 lb dog in the SA heat will gas out fairly quickly I would imagine and notyy be half as fast as say a 100lb dog would. Why would you want a BoerBoel and want to train it out of being guarding ? Is that even possible & if so why not get a non guarding breed instead ?
Research is good, very good, but it's not the same as hands-on experience. We own 4 boerboels and have another 3 on the way. I also know and talk to lots of other boerboel owners all across the globe. Boerboels do not take a lot of working on, well, no more than any other dog breed does atleast. Young males can be quite stubborn at times and need firm (but fair) handling, but that doesn't mean theyre a hard breed to train, they're actually very smart and responsive dogs that are very eager to please their owners. I could show you some videos of trained boerboels that would put a lot of other dogs to shame....the only time you'd have a big problem training a boerboel is if "you" were not mentally strong enough to guide it. They need a strict "alpha owner", and that's not negotiable with boerboels. All dog training takes time and perseverance and no dog was ever born to do it. Train a boerboel properly like you'd train any other dog breed..and you'll get the same end result. As for trying to train the guarding instinct out of a boerboel...why would anyone want to do that? Nobody buys a boerboel because they want a big soft lapdog. Its a highly loyal family guardian that was bred to protect and serve by nature. If people don't want those traits in a dog...they shouldnt be looking to buy a boerboel. There's way too many preconceptions about boerboels and the misrepresentations need to be cleared up. These are headstrong and ultra powerful dogs, yes, but they've not got a bad bone in their bodies. I can walk all my dogs through a busy city centre and they'll never put a foot out of place. People can greet them, stroke them, and the dogs will show nothing but friendliness, but if someone approached me in the wrong way or gave off a bad vibe or threat, they'd react instantly, and instinctively, because that's the true nature of a boerboel. The basics to work on with boerboels are control, obedience, and mutual respect. If you establish those requirements in a boerboel early on, it's doubtful that you'd ever have any problems with it. Hope that helps.;-)
The size variations in boerboels aren't limited to specific countries. That's determined by each breeder and "his ideals" about what the perfect boerboel should be. Some breed purely for size, some focus on temperament, others focus on a "big head", and others aim for balance. The breed standard for boerboels leaves a lot of room for scope, so they come in all shapes and sizes...from every corner of the world.
That really does help. I think you can tell from my post I am, at this moment in time, NOT keen on owning a Boerboel! Please do not get me wrong, I think they are absolutely beautiful dogs and as a bully fanatic I don't shy away from strong breeds.... What I mean about they take allot of working on was more a reflection of our set up. My (now ex --- eek, this post was started a while ago!) is passionate about dogs but really has little experience with training a dog from puppy to adulthood. Owning a Boerboel was one of the few things we disagreed on. Personally I would not feel I had the right level of experience at this time to handle a guarding breed, hence why I would be inclined to try and train this out of them. The guarding instinct would worry me, which in turn would not put me in good stance as Alpha.... No dogs are born bad, its down to ownership and people making mistakes - I would HATE to be one of those people who didn't train their dog correctly and then felt they needed to rehome because it became unmanageable. Thank-you for taking the time to post and correct me I would just want a really soppy lapdog Give me a Stafford any day! I hope this makes my original post easier to understand from my point of view?
P.S Out of interest - how do you correctly pronounce Boerboel? I have always pronounced them 'Bor-bell' and I am 99% sure thats incorrect!
This is very hard to explain in words, it would be easier to "say" it to you. "Boer" should be spoken as berr or burr and "boel" should be spoken as "bull"...so berbull, or burrbull. Obviously, regional dialects come into it too, so if i were you, i wouldn't bother about it too much The way they say it in south africa it comes out as an exaggerated "bowerrrbul" To make things easy for yourself just call them south african mastiffs;-)
Funnily enough, i started out with staffords 20 years ago (GREAT DOGS!), then got a few amstaffs, then a mastiff cross, and then 2 bordeaux. Bull breeds are really special dogs if they're raised properly, but they're also complete bloody nightmares in the hands of the wrong people.
In temperament and care, Boerboels are most similar to the Dogue de Bordeaux, Cane Corso, Great Dane and Bullmastiff. Boerboels are amazing dogs. They are obedient, confidant, dominant and territorial.
My husband has been researching dogs and insist that he found the perfect family dog in the Boerboels. I was hoping someone who actually owns them can tell me if I am wrong in thinking that no, this is not the right breed for us. We had grown children, one to get married soon and no grandkids yet. We have 2 female dogs, a 5 year old medium mixed golden and 15 lb 6 year old Border Terrier who does not like other dogs and becomes upset and will fight any dog in her path. My husband said our border terrier, Lucy will be fine with a puppy. For this reason I feel we should wait until she is gone. She is fine with our golden, Moxie, but they were raised together. So here is my question. Are these dogs good with other dogs? We have owned other breeds, a boxer, swissy, and rescued an american bulldog that we had for a year. I have to wonder if we did get this breed of dog without having children around how would it take to one in the future when it is older and grown? I really don't want a dog I have to worry about when friends come over, the UPS guy, meter reader, or pest control man. Our boxer went after a few of these so I don't want to go through that again. I also read they are banned in over 11 countries. I would love some feedback as he is mad at me for not considering this breed.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/boerboel.htm Here is some info for you as I have no experience with this breed. Hope this helps.
