Saw My First South African Boerboel Today!

[*Lolapalooza*]

Their female Raisa is amazing!!!! To big and scary a breed for me though.

[Adnil444]

they are very silent in their attack they will bite first with no warning.

I certainly hope that Australian breeders aren't breeding for this trait. Attacking without warning is not a desirable trait in any dog, especially since these are becoming more popular in suburbia.

Agree with you here - imagine if this huge powerful dog gets into the wrong hands!!! I've spoken to several south africans and they have all said to beware of these dogs in the wrong hands - they are mainly used for guarding - and can cause immense damage if not contained, trained and socialised properly. I think this is the last thing we need. I agree though that they are lovely looking dogs, and I'm sure in the right hands will be great dogs.

[Oliversmum]

they are very silent in their attack they will bite first with no warning.

I certainly hope that Australian breeders aren't breeding for this trait. Attacking without warning is not a desirable trait in any dog, especially since these are becoming more popular in suburbia.

Agree with you here - imagine if this huge powerful dog gets into the wrong hands!!! I've spoken to several south africans and they have all said to beware of these dogs in the wrong hands - they are mainly used for guarding - and can cause immense damage if not contained, trained and socialised properly. I think this is the last thing we need. I agree though that they are lovely looking dogs, and I'm sure in the right hands will be great dogs.

OK, I thought I'd just pop in with a little info in regards to the strict standards the breeders in Australia are following. Firstly, all South African Boerboel's go through what we call an "Appraisal" at around 12 months of age. The Appraiser is flown out from South Africa and each dog is carefully scored as follows.

1. Temprement - each dog is put through a temp test and is given a score. Aggressive or unstable temprements are frowned upon and will be given minimal scores. This portion of the total appraisal score is the largest.

2. Other aspects of the "Appraisal score" are made up of confirmation (head, neck, ears, topline etc, etc), pigment, health (hip & elbow scoring, vaginal hyperplasia etc)

3. Each dog will get an overall score out of 100 - dogs that don't score over 75% will not be put on the breed register, therefor, not offspring can be registered with Boerboel Inc.

The people working with the breed are working very hard to protect the integrity of the breed and to ensure only the very sound, stable of temprement and true to type boerboels are being used for breeding.

[TsarsMum]

I LOVE the look and what these dogs sound like.

but do they drul (sp)

[RiverStar-Aura]

They drool quite a lot and even though I'm not a fan of slobber, their cuteness makes up for it! :D

The lady I was speaking to about her boerboel was so enthusiastic about the breed and was explaining to me the strict breeding guidelines I was very impressed. Her "little" man is so gentle and was so relaxed I didn't believe her when she said he goes crazy at home with her other dog. She said they love to run around and tease each other and while we were talking Zuka was sitting quietly at her side. He did get a bit fidgety later on but that was only because he needed to go pee!

[dasha]

I have seen and had to deal with quite a few of them.

As much as I love the look of them and think there are a truly impressive looking animal, I would never recommend one for the average owner or esp for a backyard.

ALL of the ones I have had to deal with have been imports and have been very difficult to handle and extremely unpredictable. This, combined with their huge muscle and size have made them dogs I would consider to be very cautious of. I am certainly not saying that they are all like that, but they are a breed that is designed to protect, attack and deter strangers.

The other thing with these dogs is their immense power. They can be 70 kg of pure strength and I don't think the average person would physically be able to restrain that if needed. I really hope they do not become a trend as if people can't control the general smaller breeds of dog, I certainly wouldn't be sure I would trust Joe Blow walking one down the street.

I think that for the dogs own family, you would feel very safe having one around as I do believe they are very loyal to their family and good with people they know.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen. I sincerely hope that the breeders only place desexed pups and take extreme care when rehoming.

It may be a rare breed but last year, 2 dogs from a rare breeder ended up in the wrong hands - the hands of a back yard breeder with awful results. If they'd have been desexed then the wrong person would not have been interested in them. Breeders must take responsibility when rehoming adult dogs especially, unless it is a show home they should never go undesexed, there are far too many unscrupulous people out there.