Kids need a dog, wife hates dogs, we are moving and we have no idea where to, going to be someplace hot as my bones kill me in the winter here.

Someone said I should look at a boerbel as they are similar in personality to the Grandma-Dog varieties like the Newfoundland.

Ideally I'd like to have 10 Newfies but they shed, and I don't think it's fair to have a cold weather dog someplace hot.

Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh, kids are 14, 2 and 4 months, all girls.

Big WW,
As an owner and breeder of boerboels for 13 years I can speak to them pretty reliably. They are by no means your grandma's dog. The boerboel is a big powerful dog and is for sure a dominant dog. They will not be dangerous to your children, but you in particular, as well as some from the entire family, will have to be dominant. These are. Great dogs with tremendous loyalty to their family. Generally will not play well with other dogs. Nobody will be able to come in your house and grab anybody without killing the dog first.
Feel free to pm. Me if you have any questions.

What do these critters cost?

Jim

When we were running our operation we sold for 1500. I talked to a lady here locally this week that paid 2500 for hers. I would think you can find them for 1500 -2000 for a properly bred dog. Life expectancy would be 8-10 years on average. Although I just my old male down and he was 13.

quote:

Originally posted by brent ebeling:
Big WW,
As an owner and breeder of boerboels for 13 years I can speak to them pretty reliably. They are by no means your grandma's dog. The boerboel is a big powerful dog and is for sure a dominant dog. They will not be dangerous to your children, but you in particular, as well as some from the entire family, will have to be dominant. These are. Great dogs with tremendous loyalty to their family. Generally will not play well with other dogs. Nobody will be able to come in your house and grab anybody without killing the dog first.
Feel free to pm. Me if you have any questions.

Nefoundlands have a "grandma" personality, not to be meant as grandmas dog.

They protect children in a way I have never seen another dog do.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:

quote:

Originally posted by brent ebeling:
Big WW,
As an owner and breeder of boerboels for 13 years I can speak to them pretty reliably. They are by no means your grandma's dog. The boerboel is a big powerful dog and is for sure a dominant dog. They will not be dangerous to your children, but you in particular, as well as some from the entire family, will have to be dominant. These are. Great dogs with tremendous loyalty to their family. Generally will not play well with other dogs. Nobody will be able to come in your house and grab anybody without killing the dog first.
Feel free to pm. Me if you have any questions.

Nefoundlands have a "grandma" personality, not to be meant as grandmas dog.

They protect children in a way I have never seen another dog do.

Ok, I was mot sure what grandma dog meant. Just be aware the boerboel is alot of dog and very dominant.

Brent

Ok, so how are they around little kids?

Great with kids, they will often not leave them. When your kids are playing outside and they separate, like playing hide and seek, it is funny to watch the dog trying to decide which one to follow. Kind a confused look on their face. When we have a party here and there are 15 kids running around, Boomer just looks exhausted trying to keep up with all of them, knowing were they all are at every moment.

We have had people that pups we sold them snapped at the kids. Without exception is with people who let a cute little puppy do whatever it wanted. For example one couple let their dog sleep on the couch from. A pup. Once the pup was nearly full grown obviously he took up the couch. Well the child, I believe around 5-7, tried to push the dog off the couch. Dog did not bite the kid, but snapped and growled. Not acceptable behavior, but is it really completely the dogs fault. This what I mean by establishing yourself as alpha right away.

Man I don't mean to be preaching, you may be great with big dogs. I have just had so many people used to labs and then don't understand the troubles of a dominant dog.

I was fortunate to spend a much too short part of my life with an English Mastiff.

We were both bachelors, and I learned quickly that his size made very important that I was in charge.

He hated the heat though. And we are considering finding a warmer place.

BWW,

We were introduced to boerboels in Africa on a couple of occasions and fell in love with them. We bought one from www.juelsrockymountainboerboels.com in Casper about 3.5 years ago and we just love him to death. Juels breeds them correctly and you'll get a proper dog from her.

Brent is right about their dominant disposition and we had a confrontation when ours was starting to reach maturity. He snapped quite aggressively at me when I wastrying to get him to calm down in the vehicle. A swift open hand smack to the side of the head ended it. He's been great ever since. We did get him pneutered a little later as he was getting very aggressive with our other dog.

I guess what I'm saying is that in my experience a boerboel can be a wonderfully gentle house pet if they are fixed. They are quite rambunctious though and I would expect they could harm a small child completely by accident just from knocking them over. They definitely are not labs or the like.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Well all I can do is get one and see how it goes.

The ones I met in Namibia and South Africa had kids climbing all over them. I had hoped they were the warm-weather version of a Newfie.

Fantastic dogs! I believe there is a breeder somewhere in the Eastern Cape who has begun breeding black dogs! Cost an arm an a leg though...

I, too, was very impressed with the Boerboels I was around in RSA. After my last trip this past September I vowed to get one, and considered a pup from my PH's female.

I started looking around here in the States and discovered that while Boerboels are in no way common, there are several breeders and they're becoming more available. I ended up talking to and meeting with several breeders and ended up getting a puppy from Thomas Stegall, Rooibos Boerboels, in Chicago. He had a litter from Balkan Toro, the 2012 Natl Gr Champ. Our dog, Kruger, is now 4 months old and weighs 59#. He's a super dog and we're looking forward to watching him grow into us.

We bought him for not only a loyal pet, but also to keep tabs on the property we're buying in New Mexico. From all my research and chats it appeared this was going to be a good match. I think it's going to work out fine.

As you probably know by now, the history of the breed is very interesting. If you haven't gotten into it much yet, just do a search on 'Boerboel history'; lots of good reading. Since those of us on this board are outdoors people, the history of this breed really hits home, being bred as 'farm dogs' (Boerboel in Afrikaans) for protection and companionship.

As the others have said, these are BIG dogs. They have a great personality and guardian instincts. Again, they're BIG dogs, and you must establish your presence as the dominant beast in the pack. And it must be done early in their life, as it's much easier to train a 30# dog than try to correct too much with a 150# dog. That virtually means getting a young puppy and raising him right.

There are a lot of resources for Boerboels now online, so check them out. You'll find that Boerboel owners are crazy about their dogs, and the dogs are fine animals!

BWW, the Boerboel seems to get along fine in warm weather, has a medium coat, and doesn't shed badly. An easy keeper, until you get into feeding him/her. Premium food, please, or a raw diet. Lots to learn, and fun to do so!

Just left two breeders in pretoria area, very nice boerboels. Volegerus blerboel and Afrika boerboel. About 2-2500 including shipping.

Some videos

http://www.dailymotion.com/vid...animals#.USDn4PKRfCs

http://www.dailymotion.com/vid...animals#.USDn4PKRfCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXHQCxwuXQ

Brent, PM sent.

Take a look at Bullmastiff or Rhodesian Ridgeback.