"What's going on out there"

This in itself demonstrates the total suitability of the Boerboel for the role for which it has been bred and employed in South Africa since 1652; namely, home and family protection. The Boerboel has traditionally been used for homestead defence, against intruders both two and four-legged. Home and family protection implies protection from within as well as without; thus the Boerboel proper is a wonderfully affectionate and protective member of the family, and will tolerate all manner of abuses from small children. Over-aggressiveness is in fact one of the disqualifying factors which will bar a dog from registration in terms of the Associations's regulations.

It is recorded that Van Riebeeck brought a "bullenbijter", which was a large and strong variety of the mastiff type of dog, with him to the Cape in 1652. This dog and its descendants doubtless interbred over the centuries with other local and imported varieties of large dogs, and natural selection will have played its part in establishing the ideal breed for the local conditions.

The British 1820 settlers also imported the mastiff and bulldog types. Following the Anglo-Boer war at the turn of the century, the locally bred dogs were further cross-bred with various imports, possibly including early varieties of the English Bulldog, the Great Dane, the Saint Bernard and the Bull Terrier. This cross-breeding was undertaken both to enlarge the gene pool and to introduce various desired characteristics; the results may still clearly be seen today in certain examples of the breed.

In 1938 authenticated bull mastiffs were imported from Britain by De Beers to serve as guard dogs on the South African diamond mines of the time; the characteristics of these animals were doubtless incorporated into the boerboel breed as we know it today, thereby consolidating the mastiff component of the breed mix which was already present. The development of the boerboel is therefore a true South African success story; today's boerboel is as ideal a home protection dog as were his or her ancestors. The definition of the breed has been achieved since the establishment of the South African Boerboel Breeders Association (SABT) in 1983, and the first nationwide appraisal of dogs which took place in 1990; the refinement of the breed has been underway since then, and many challenges lie ahead for those involved in the breeding of these magnificent dogs.

"A Triple Handful"

Boerboel breeding in South Africa is overseen by a number of organisations, among them being the South African Boerboel Breeders' Association (SABT) and the Historical Boerboel Association of South Africa (HBSA). A third organisation is the Elite Boerboel Breeders' Association of Southern Africa (EBBASA), which has more stringent entry and registration requirements than the other two associations. Naturally enough, a certain degree of competition and rivalry has arisen from time to time between the three associations, and on occasions hard words have been exchanged. Induna's position is very simple; we are here for the boerboels, and we therefore belong to and support all three of these associations. In any event, that way we get more days out with the dogs, as well as contact and interaction with more breeders. A detailed set of standards regulating the characteristics of the breed has been laid down by these Associations and all dogs which are registered with an association are required to undergo assessment in terms of these standards. It is a requirement that in order to be registered as a breeding animal, a dog must achieve a minimum qualifying appraisal rating of 75% or 80%. Considering that the very best dogs in the country achieve maximum marks only in the low to middle nineties, this is a high qualifying requirement.