Boerboel behaviour & training advice

15/02/2023

Very heated debates at the moment in the dog training world between the Purely Positive/Force Free and Balanced training camps, then Dr Stephanie Yue Cottee weighed in with this. So very true.

https://fb.watch/iHVxlKc8pZ/

24/01/2023

The advantage of early and regular socialization and obediance training. I was standing talking to a couple in the park the other afternoon and Karma was in a down away from us, their 2 dogs then decided to approached Karma and this was her reaction. Notice Karma's focus.

24/01/2023

On many posts where people are haviing behaivoural issues there is always replies stating rules and boundries, but there are very few references to what rules and boundries and what behaivours should be addressed before they become a problem. I would like a thread where people can refer to especially new owners. As it is always easier to prevent behaivours from developing as opposed to trying to change them later on once they are established. Here are a couple of the many I use, firstly no jumping on people this is easily corrected when they are pups. Another one I don't allow is mouthing (nipping, biting) on family members. Let's hear some others that people use.

The pic is Linga Longa Tonner a dog that I have had the pleasure of working with.

20/12/2022

With the rise of Pitbull attacks in the SA media recently and the increase call to ban the breed, I thought I would give my 2c worth, as it will have an affect the Boerboel aswell.
Firstly from the general public perspective I can see why the call for the ban is gaining momentum, now although I do not agree with it, I do understand why it is happening. From the public perspective, why would I want to put myself or my family in harms way by living next door to an owner of a dog that could be life threatening to me and my family, or have my child attacked in the street because a dog got out of a property? We have to keep in mind that yes all dogs can bite, but the potential for serious or life threatening injury increases exponentialy with the power breeds. As a dog enthusiast I can see that the biggest problems here are irresponsible dog owners and bad breeding practices and that the solution to this problem is education. That however makes very little to no difference to the average person. The approach of education also takes time to implement, far easier and quicker just to ban a breed. They are also starting to talk about all the power breeds at this point, of which the Boerboel is one of them. I read an article the other day that states SA has the highest incidents of dog attacks per capita in the world, true or not I don't know, but worrisome non the less.
One of the biggest problems here in SA is security and everybody wants a watch dog or gaurd dog to help secure their property and family, for which the Pitbull and Boerboel are very popular. However the majority of these owners have little to no idea what this entails. Firstly they get a pup from a back yard breeder because 'price is king' and have no idea about the temperament of the pup they are purchasing. They get the pup and then this poor dog ends up being locked in a small yard, caged or Chained, never seeing the outside world, no socialization and no training, ie no physical or mental stimulation. This is a hugh problem. There is also a perception out there amongst some owners that an aggressive dog is a good watch dog/gaurd dog. Nothing could be further from the truth, then these owners purposefully go out to make their dogs aggressive. With an aggressive dog you now put your family, kids, friends and neighbors at risk. Apparently 70% of dog bites are from the family pet or a known dog, how is this able to happen? Your dog should always be fine with family living in the household. A good gaurd dog will take its lead from you, if you welcome people into your home your dog should be fine with that, yes even a Boerboel.
Another big problem are the illegal dog fighting rings. Where dogs with a genetic predisposition for aggression, not only towards dogs but towards humans aswell, are being bred and this genetic aggression is filtering into the rest of the Pitbull population through irresponsible breeding.
There are so many aspects to this and one of them is the question of control. I honestly believe as an owner if you have a dog, especially one of the power breeds, that you can't control mentally and physically should the need arise, you have the wrong breed or dog for you. The power breeds have to be trained and socialized appropriately, otherwise it is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. How often don't you hear the excuse 'It happened out of the blue' or 'there was no warning', wrong there are always warnings but you the owner missed them.
Now when you add all of this together and you have an aggressive dog for what ever reason, that you can't control, you now have a dangerous animal and real potential for serious injury to somebody, be it you, your family, friends or neighbors.
Unless I am missing something, I actually don't see a short term solution or quick fix for this problem. If you ban the breed you drive it underground, and you will have no control at all. Secondly who is going to police the ban?
Start by enforcing existing legislation and making people aware of the challanges of owning such a dog, as the press and media are doing at this present point in time.

Pic, Linga Longa Tuffie, one of the most impressive Boerboels I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in person

05/12/2022

I can't stress the importance of rules, boundries and early socialization enough. It is vitally important in the raising of a well behaved, mentally stable dog. Often I am criticized by other dog owners for having my dogs out in public even when on leash, because they are Boerboels. There is a group of owners at the present time at our local park that want to sign a petition to ban my Boerboels from the park because they are aggressive dogs. Really, I have been taking my dogs down to that park for the last 20 odd years and never had a serious incident, yes there has been the odd scuffle, dogs will be dogs, but never a bite from my dogs even when the smaller dogs have acted aggressively towards them. Unfortunatly in SA Boerboels don't have the best reputation and that is mainly due to poor ownership, that however is a subject for another discussion. So a couple of weeks ago I saw this lady arrive at the park in a car, she opened the doors and a pack of 9 dogs exited the vehicle, most were small breeds all off leash, I was at one end of the park and she was on the other, keeping in mind this is not a very big park, it's actually rather small. Now my dogs know they don't approach other dogs without permission and her dogs did not come over either which impressed me. I have since seen her a couple of times and had the same behaivours, no problem. So yesterday I am standing talking to a couple that I know and they have 3 small breed dogs and the lady arrives with her pack opens the car door and bam the park is flooded with small yapping dogs. The couple I am talking to were intrigued and wandered down with their 3 small dogs and all got on fine, no signs of aggression, just lots of sniffing and smelling , all good indicators. So I wondered down and asked the lady if she minded if I brought my 2 down explaining that they are Boerboels, but are well socialized, at that point I found out that she runs an animal rescue. Her response, 'no problem bring them down' , which again impressed me. Keeping in mind this is going to be a total of 14 dogs the majority of which are small breeds and my dogs are going to be meeting 9 of them for the first time. Anyways went up fetched my dogs and introduced them to the pack, lots of yapping from the small dogs, lots of sniffing and smelling, a couple of growls which were corrected immediately and bang the video shows the result 5 minutes in. Personally i don't see any reason why Boerboels can't be properly socialized, they are farm dogs after all and work in packs on the farms. Here's my golden rule, I never let my dogs meet for the first time when on leash, especially when the dogs are straining and pulling at the leash. Hence when we are doing a structured walk whether on or off leash there is no meet and greet of other dogs. There is however a time and place to socialize and for me that's the park or down on the beach. The one thing I have learned over the years, is nervous owners create nervous dogs and those I avoid like the plague. So bottom line is rules, boundries to be applied with consistancy and early socialization is extremely important in the raising of any pup not just the Boerboel. However when you socialize a young pup be careful of the dogs you choose to socialize with, as one negative experiance can cause a pup to become fearful if strange dogs and lead to reactivity.

09/09/2022

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=108521201887703&id=103619392377884

26/08/2022

Alpha, Dominance, Punishment and Corrections.
So let's talk about 'Dominance' and 'Alpha', when these terms are mentioned there will be a tonn of replies stating that they have been debunked. IMO they are just names or terms used as a description. .
Dominance, when people say it has been debunked, what has been debunked, the behaivour or the name? Call it what you like or are we actually saying that an over confidant, pushy dog that has no boundries and often leads to aggression, does not exist or has it been debunked?
Alpha, again just a name describing someone who has control of a dog or dogs. Or, are we saying that a dog does not need someone who it trusts and is control? Again what has been debunked here? So am I the Alpha to my dogs? Who knows, call it what you like. Do I have control of my dogs and do they trust me? Yes. I do agree however that some of the practices associated with these terms can be questionable, more on that later.
Just like I seperate behaivour and obediance training, I also seperate punishment and corrections.
If a dog practices a behaivour I don't like and I only catch them after the fact and then try correct it, that is a punishment. Normally a smack or something similar, some will use a rolled up news paper. Dogs will begin to fear you when using punishment.
A correction on the other hand is when I know my dog is about to do something that I don't want them to do, example, react to another dog and i deliver a sharp 'NO' with a consequence like a correction, example, an appropriete leash correction this interrupts that train of thought in the dog and stops the behaivour, then that is a correction and not punishment. This is something that the dog understands. Now do I punish my dogs? No. Do I correct my dogs? Yes, as often as is required to ensure well behaved dogs. .
The video is of my dogs on a public beach after an off leash beach walk in a down position, waiting to be called up into the parking lot. When on the beach I cannot see what is up in the parking area like off leash out of control dogs or drunken idiots. So I leave my dogs on the beach and make sure the parking is conflict free before I call them up.

23/08/2022

I have thought about making this post for a little while now, don't know how it will be received. I am not saying my way is the only way, its just the way I do it.
To start I seperate behaivour and obediance. You can have a well trained dog that is not well behaved and a well behaved dog that is not well trained. These are 2 seperate issues, although there is alot of ovetlap. Obediance training is all about sits, downs and stays. When doing obediance training it has a start time and a finish time, during which the dog is given or taught commands and is able to earn treats as a reward system.
Behaivour is how the dog lives with you and your rules and boundries. This is 24/7 for very few to no treats. Some of the rules in my house, no dogs on furniture, no jumping on people, no mouthing family and guests, no chewing anything inside the house, no play indoors, etc etc etc.
I raise my dogs using a balanced approach in a nutshell they are taught the meaning of yes and no. There are consequences to both, if you get a yes you get a reward if you get a no you get a correction. With this pretty early on I can then communicate with my dogs what I like and what I don't like. I don't crate train my dogs I have never owned a crate and never will. My dogs have never chewed anything in my house even when I am out. Having said this I can really see the benefits of crating a pup to keep them out of trouble.
I have seen so many posts of people saying ignore the behaivour or its a phase, they will grow out of it, dogs don't grow out of behaivours they grow into them. Raise and train your dogs to avoid future behaivours as apposed to try and train the behaivour out of an adult dog once that behaivour is now established.

23/08/2022

When you're working with a high energy pup it always helps to have an assistant. Notice how the pup calms down when Sabie my older dog joins in.

23/08/2022

20/08/2022

So you want a Boerboel.

Some things to consider before jumping into this breed.
Firstly, it is a breed that is recommended for experienced dog owners. So how do you assertain if you are an experienced owner. Is it by the amount of dogs you have owned in the past? OR. Regardless of how many dogs you've owned, are you able to raise and train a dog to prevent certain behaivours , as opposed to trying to change unwanted behaivours once established later on? Personally by watching people walk their dogs on leash, I find it a really good indicator of their experiance. If somebody is out walking a dog in public with a loose leash, no lunging or pulling, it's an indicator they have control of the dog in a high distraction enviroment. They will certainly then have control in the home. Keep in mind this is a guardian breed and aggression in certain situations is a part of their make up, are you able to manage and control that aggression?
Only raise one pup at a time, Littermate Syndrome is a thing, not all Littermates suffer with this but enough of them do for it to be a concern. Littermate Syndrome does not only apply to actual Littermates but also pups from different litters of similar age. Besides that, 2 pups will bond with each other and not with you. If you want multiple dogs seperate the age gap by at least 18 months prefable 24 months.
Socialize your pup early and often. As soon as you are able to. After all vaccinations, start by taking your pup out into the world and exposing it to as many different enviroments as possible. I never let my pup meet strangers or strange dogs I prefer to be able to have my dogs out in public and have them ignore strangers and other dogs. Stay clear of dog parks, there is a high risk of a negative experience that could affect your pup for life. Attend a puppy school, this will enable you to start working your pup in close proximity to other dogs.
Neutering is not a quick fix solution for behaivours, training is.
Dogs don't generally grow out of behaivours they grow into them.
You will often hear you have to be the Alpha and then somebody will say the Alpha theory has been debunked. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you call it, a Boerboel needs a leader. It needs a leader it can trust, are you able to step up and take that position. more on this at a later time.
In the video my 3 about to start an off leash walk in the local park.

02/08/2022

So, what's gone wrong? When I was a kid, I don't even want to think how long ago that was, I remember walking down the street with my grandfather and bumping into a friend of his and his dog. As a kid I went to greet the dog and remember my grandfather growling 'Don't touch, it's not your dog' and that was the general rule we grew up with. It was understood that dogs were animals and needed to be respected as such. Things we never did was put our face close to a dogs face, climb on or hug a dog. We grew up playing on the streets, dogs were not confined to yards or on leash as they are today. We learned to ignore strange dogs and they generally ignored us. You learned how to tell if a dog was friendly or not from a distance, by observing their body language. If you were ever bitten the first question you were asked was 'What did you do to the dog?' I spent school holidays at an uncle's dairy farm and they had a pack of working dogs, assortment of Mastiff , Ridgeback, Cross breeds and a couple of Terriers, I don't ever recall those dogs fighting. All dogs stayed outside, in kennels or just sorted themselves out, generally in the out buildings. A few things stand out from those days. Firstly, there were very few 'Breeders' as such, we all got our pups from friends or family and other 'backyard breeders', no such thing as temperament testing, health testing or breed standards. There were no dog trainers, except in the military, police force and circus. I do not recall too many dog shelters or rescue org's either, only the SPCA. Our dogs had very few vet visits and only in cases of emergencies. Dogs were fed mostly table scraps and were healthy. Most people had a dog because they needed one and not because they wanted one.

Fast forward 40 to 50 years and we don't have dogs anymore, we now have Fur Babies, Babies and Pets. Our dogs now live indoors and some even have access to our Sofas and beds. We now talk to them like they understand every word we're saying. We kiss, cuddle, hug and put our face right up in theirs. We have dog parks, doggie day care centers, doggie hotels, doggie TV, etc etc. I now take my dog for a walk and every second person wants to engage my dog. Children come up and want to interact with the dog, while parents look on lovingly at a situation that could have tragic results for all involved. I see people out not walking their dogs anymore but being dragged by their dogs. People expect my dog to interact with their off leash, out of control, yapping10kg Fur Baby while chanting 'It's fine he's friendly'. We want guard dogs that will show absolute aggression in a given situation and lay down their own lives if need be, but must have the temperament of a stuffed toy. We don't teach our dogs any rules and boundaries, we let them make their own decesions, just to appear politically correct. We now have dog trainers, dog behaivourists and dog psychologists to help us live with our Fur Babies (supposedly man's best friend). They teach us and our Fur Babies how to cope with the potential stressful interactions with people and other dogs. Yet dogs like humans are social animals. We have breeders and organization's that look after breed standards and temperaments.
So why with all this focus on dogs do we literally have thousands of dogs surrendered into rescue and euthanized every single day? The vast majority of these animals are there due to behavioral issues. In fact the largest killer of dogs under 3yrs of age are behaivoural issues. Personally i think as a society we are failing our best friends, dismally.
So, what's gone wrong?

14/06/2022

One of the common problems people have with dogs in general not only Boerboels is jumping up onto people. This a a great video on how to adress the behaivour.

https://youtu.be/7U391MSRIFw

Teach Your Dog To Stop Jumping Up In 2 Simple Steps! Having a dog or a puppy that jumps up all the time can cause serious issues as it can knock people over ...

09/06/2022

Often feel sorry for my dogs, they really have to put up with alot. I often bring strange dogs into the home. First video is a rambunctious pup I brought in yesterday for some safe socialization and teaching manors. This was about 10min after she arrived. Note how when my old girl Sabie joins in, the pup immediately calms down and stops jumping. Second and third video is a Boerboel pup that I looked after for a weekend, when the owners were away. First time she has eaten a meal with other dogs around.

02/06/2022

So we all know that we should socialize our dogs especially when they are pups, but what does that mean to you? My pups get taken everywhere with me in public but are not allowed to meet strangers or strange dogs. That way when they are older they have learnt to ignore them when on leash in public. Off leash on the beach diffetent story, they can do the whole meet and greet.

02/06/2022

Welcome everyone. I would like to create this page as a safe place for owners to post for behaivour and training advice without any judgment. I think many owners suffer with behavior problems in silence because of the fear of being judged. There are many different beliefs and opinions on how to train dogs, no bashing of each other will be tolerated, at the end of the day it is up to the owner as to which type of training to follow. Most dogs in rescue are there because of behavoural issues which very often can be solved with a bit of training

02/06/2022

02/06/2022

02/06/2022