Boerboel beginner Questions

[noget]

After growing up with a south Africa mate spinning me tales of his country's working mastiff, i was often doubtful of this dog breed that i couldn't even find in books at the time

Imagine my surprise to find a mightily impressive male South Africa mastiff being walked in my park, I've always been a fan of mastiffs

But after owning Old English Mastiff ,bull-mastiffs and being sorely disappointed at just how far away these dogs are from working dogs

I'm please to say my encounter with the Boerboels has really restored my faith in the idea of a functional mastiff dog

I do have a few questions that maybe a UK boerboel owner could give me there views on

1.) If you had a friend who had owned large strong breeds would you feel confident recommending UK bred boerboels.
American bulldogs outnumber boerboels by so much but even getting a descent Ab is so hard

2)I know the standard recommends a idea size for a dog , but is uncommon to see over-sized BBs in the UK lines , does scaling up the BB seem to ruin its movement. What is the average height of a male in the UK ?

3)Is a long waiting list usually for a good UK BB breeder

4)For your view point do you see the Boerboel going the same way as the American bulldog with it falling into the wrong hands, untested dogs


Please feel to only answer one question or none hey you can even tell me to bugger off

[Shaun Eric Ewing]

Hello Noget, welcome to the club. I am sure you will find a lot of helpfull people on this board.
It would be nice if you would introduce yourself to the rest of us. It is always nice to know who you are talking to. There is a special topic for introductions.
I will leave the others to answer your question(s) because I am not resident in the UK and your questions are specificly about BBs in the UK.

Regards
Anne

[temwani]

Hi Noget,

Welcome to the board.

Which BB did you meet in the park?

We will only sell our BBs to people with experience of large breeds and we insist on meeting all of the family since sometimes Dad wants one and Mum would prefer a small dog.

Assuming that people are ok to own a BB, there are some good dogs being bred in the UK. We advise people to meet as many breeders as they can and see their dogs for themselves and talk to them about their "after sales" service and then choose a breeder who suits most. Then see if the breeder will select them as an owner.

I don't know what the average height is for a male in the UK but I would say there are a few which are in my opinion larger than the ideal. A small male will guard well enough for anyone and we want to breed to the breed standard. There are also some large BBs in the US and clearly some people like them that way.

Our puppies are usually all booked before they are born - but you should plan having a puppy at least six months in advance and that would probably be the ammount of time you should expect to wait.

We are trying to ensure that only responsible people own BBs and the breeders in the Uk are very good at passing around names of any "dodgy" people whom they identify. In the end it is not in the interest of the BB to be mis-used nor in the hands of people who are in-capable of handling one. Most breeders will include a clause in their contract about attending puppy training classes.

Hope this starts to answer your questions.

Please introduce yourself in more detail under "introductions" and visit some breeders to see dogs for yourself.

Geri

[sandaharr]

Hi there,would be nice to know more about yourself,but in answer to one of your questions about UK bred BB's,there are so many different lines now being brought in to Britain through quarantine and AI that you may find it difficult to get a UK bred BB,most are from SA/European lines.If you want to talk about the working ability of these dogs and Americans I'm sure you'll know Mark Beasley at Topguard is just the man to keep you right.Why don't you give Mark a call,I'm sure he'll be interested to know of your opinions about both breeds.

[vicki]

hi noget i'm vicki mark beasleys better half!!!!! if you wanting a honest opinion on both breeds mark is your man he would love to spend hours talking about both breeds inside and out, you can find his number on www.topguardkennels.co.uk