The word Boerboel comes from the Afrikaans (a form of Dutch spoken in South Africa) words boer which means farmer, and boel, a shortening of boelhond, which means bulldog. The foundation stock of the breed is a mix of Dutch bulldogs and mastiffs brought to the cape of South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 along with mastiffs native to South Africa. Boerboels, or South African Mastiffs, were recognized by the AKC in 2015, and by SABBS when it was formed in 2012. Boerboel colors include red, brown, fawn, brindle, black, reddish brown, and tawny. Toenails and paw pads should be all black. Boerboels are notably thick in bone and muscle, dominant, highly territorial, and wary of strangers. They are exceedingly agile, especially for a mastiff of their size. Males weigh upwards of 200 pounds and can measure 27 inches + at the shoulder. Boerboels love their human companions and possess a medium-low prey drive. They are good with livestock and house cats. While our dogs have run off quite a few foxes in their time, Boerboels are not true livestock guardian dogs.
Boerboels require a large commitment to training and socialization. They are true velcro dogs that love their owners and their families. Despite their guard dog reputations, Boerboels can be absolute cuddle monsters and wonderful family dogs. As males and females grow into adulthood, they will not be great dog park dogs, and will not get along with other naturally dominant dogs without training.
Exercise
Boerboels should not be over-exercised, especially when their growth plates are still soft while they are young. Stairs, slippery surfaces, and hard surfaces are to be avoided to optimize joint health. Boerboels love to wrestle, so this is something to consider if there is another dog in the house in the as well.
Energy Level
They are medium energy dogs, and possess few of the common challenging or negative behaviors many breeds have. Our Boerboels do not try to dig in or out of the property, are mild chewers in their puppy phase, and our relatively quiet dogs when not playing or alerting.
Temperature
South African Mastiffs do okay in the cold and poorly in the heat. South Africa has a wonderful annual average temperature of 64 degrees, so please keep this in mind if you own a Boerboel. In the humid Southeast, I start keeping an eye on the dogs when temperatures get above 80 degrees, typically bringing them inside and limiting their time outdoors. When temperatures are below 40, I bring them indoors as well. While no one needs to be told rapid panting means a dog is too hot, a great trick to check if a dog is too cold is to touch their ears to see if the ears feel cold.
SABBS
There are only 600 breeders registered with SABBS worldwide, the majority of which are in South Africa, SABBS’ home country. With this in mind, please take most American breeders claims of having special, old school, ancient, quality bloodlines that are different from everyone else’s with a grain of salt. SABBS assigns scores all of its adult dogs. Whenever there is a particularly high scoring dog, many breeders will attempt to pay for that dog’s semen in an effort to produce better Boerboels. This is why there are so many dogs that have Middlepos Alpha, or Groenberg Rambo in their bloodlines, as these dog’s are some of the top scoring in Boerboel history. Since their semen was studded on a widespread basis, top bloodlines or quality bloodlines claimed by many breeders are actually, well, common. Put into simpler terms, all (most) of these dogs have the same great grandfathers.
Noise
Maybe I am the only breeder that will admit it, but I do not care for the sound of a barking dog. Fortunately, Boerboels do not bark at squirrels, livestock, wildlife, most strange noises, and do not get caught up in “barking storms” like many other breeds, so they rarely require correction to stop barking, as they stop on their own. The bark of a Boerboel is a dark, loud thing, so it is fortunate they are not big barkers. A big of bark is something I have come to like the sound of as long as I have had my morning coffee
Same Sex Aggression
Same sex aggressions means what is sounds like; males will fight with males and females will fight with females. Fights will start to happen around the age of 1, at which point members of the same sex will need to be separated. Two or more unfixed males will always need to be separated when around females in heat, whereas females can at times get along. Heat, pregnancy, and nursing can all cause females to fight when they normally would not. Please do not let videos on the internet suggesting otherwise sway your thinking. Many group living scenarios feature advances training, adolescent dogs, and breeder supervision, which are temporarily keeping the peace for the sake of a video. That being said, male / female arrangements go off without a hitch and are by far the easiest way to make sure a Boerboel has canine company in the house.
Motherhood
Boerboels are not good mothers in a way you might picture a golden retriever or lab mom. They can dote on their pups, keep them clean, licking them to stimulate pooping (as pups have trouble doing this themselve when first born, and clean the nestbox. However, Boerboel moms are known to lay on their pups and smother them to death. Any breeder that has been in the game for a length of time is well aware of this. We never leave a mother alone with the puppies even once the puppies move on to gruel or kibble. It is a big reputable breeder no-no to leave mom alone with the puppies and a bad sign if a breeder does this.
Raw Feeding and Boerboel Nutrition
I feed raw instead of kibble because the dogs like it more, and have healthier coats, eyes, and nails when on it. This is no surprise as food will always win out over superheated dehydrated processed food + additives. There is nothing wrong with kibble, though I strongly advise choosing a kibble whose first ingredient is chicken, lamb, pork, or beef (Iams), instead of a kibble whose first ingredient is chicken by product meal or corn (Ol Roy, Pedigree). Ratios of protein, fat, or other minerals absolutely do not affect a dog’s final bone length or conformation to the Boerboel breed standard. I feed a BARF diet, which consists of protein, bone, organ meat, veggies, fruit, and nuts, the most important being the protein, organ, and bone. These dogs are really good at getting fat in their adolescence, so feed a strict diet to let them grow slowly. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, as none of our adults get fat if free-fed.
Bite Strength
Boerboels have the strongest bite of any dog breed at a whopping 800 + lb. Please plan or avoid your bite work accordingly! It is important early on to teach your dog to not nip during play or when taking food, treats, or toys from the hand.
Living Environment
I do not believe it is right to keep dogs, whether 1 or 15, in a kennel setting. Each dog should have the same space, life, and experiences it would if it was the only dog in the family. With Boerboels, this is a little more challenging, as nearly all of them are same-sex aggressive, meaning only one boy and girl can be paired together in a yard once they reach about a year. Whenever the amount of dogs grows beyond the current setup for them, or a dog matures into the same-sex aggressive stage of its adult life, I don’t make excuses, I build another large yard for them. We do have a temperature controlled building so as to not turn the house into a zoo, but it also has doggy doors cut into it so the dogs can come and go into their 1 acre + yards day and night as they please.
Cats
Not all Boerboels get along with cats. Lionel does great with all of our cats, but our girls can get a little choppy with the cats around heat time, while pregnant, and while nursing pups. We have ragdolls which are a friendly breed, and the female Boerboels are not tolerant of the cats rubbing their tails on their faces.
Bunnies
Our and most Boerboels have a low prey drive. The dogs have gotten into the bunny yard a time or two, but only to eat bunny poop, never to chase the bunnies. Boerboels are not big on chasing or catching in general, so you will have to find a game besides fetch to play with them! Lionel loves tug of war on large exercise rope, but each will be different
Fleas and Ticks
Frontline, Advantage, and other topicals do not work on fleas in the Southeast. We use Nexguard, Bravecto, and Simparica. Dawn is also highly effective at killing fleas and getting flea eggs off of dogs, though the dogs will get fleas again if they are in the environment. If you already plan to be bathing your dog twice a week, you could get around the need to give flea meds altogether during warm seasons. During winter, we have no issues with fleas. The same can generally be said of ticks, but ticks will usually only be found in tall grass, bushes, and certain types of trees. If you Boerboel is not in this type of environment, you are unlikely to see many ticks.
