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Boerboel Temperament
By Craig Bloom
Ataraxia South African Boerboel - Australia
What is Boerboel temperament?
It has been described in the standard as manageable,
reliable, obedient and intelligent with strong protective
instincts. The Boerboel is self confident and fearless, as
there is diversity in the appearance of the Boerboel, there is also
diversity in temperament and drives of the Boerboel.
Manageable, reliable, obedient and intelligent
can be used to describe any number of breeds however, it is
protective instinct and the way a Boerboel approaches its task that
sets it apart from other canines. Although there are
differences within the breed there are certain habitual traits that a
Boerboel must show;
1.Instinctively stay close to owner.I own different
breeds of dogs and I walk them regularly around my farm and in the
bushland surrounding my home, the hunting breeds take off following
scent trails and exploring. The Boerboels however, will not go
off with them, they will stay close. This behaviour has been
confirmed many times in different situations by countless Boerboel
owners from around the world.
2.Instinctively move between owner and object of
possible threat.This is something I have seen and heard hundreds of
examples of; the Boerboel sometimes shows this at a very young age,
others develop it later.
It is my opinion that these two traits are what define
the Boerboel. There are factors in the temperament of the
Boerboel that help shape its behaviour.
Prey-Drive
You are walking through the African wild with your
Boerboel, you see a group of Springbok and they run off. Your
dog, excited by the animals’ flight, gives chase and the leopard
who was stalking the Springbok decides to jump on you instead as you
as the only thing left still standing around. There are plenty
of dogs better suited to actually chasing the animals like Lurchers,
Staghounds or Australian Pig dogs. The Boerboel is worth more
staying at your side in case the wild animal comes at you, this is
what was needed and so selected for, therefore it should be present
in the modern dog.
Threat Perception Instinct
It is believed in some circles that displays of higher
prey-drive mean that you have a true working Boerboel. I have
heard it argued that Boerboel that excel in protection work or bite
work should be held up as true working Boerboel as they have proved
their ability to actually protect. It is believed that these
dogs should be bred to ensure the working temperament of the Boerboel
is preserved. I owned a big powerful intelligent Boerboel named
Napoleon. He was a very confident dog and I am certain that he
would have been terrible at bite work. Napoleon would not have
perceived the man walking towards him and me as a real threat.
He would have certainly given ground to this person, not because he
was scared, it would be because he would want to simply move out of
the way. He was confident enough not to need to bite the
advancing person. This person is not a threat, my owner is at
ease, and therefore this person does not need to be bitten so as he
advances I will move around him but still stay between him and my
owner. Napoleon was said to be the most serious and impressive
dog encountered in the 30 year career of the 2 x World Champion dog
trainer and behaviour expert, Mr Anthony McCallum.
A young woman who owns one of Napoleon’s
daughters drops the bitch off at her friend’s panel beating
workshop on the way to University. The dog has the run of the
place and the girl picks her up on the way home. The workers at
the panel shop often joked with the girl about the dog’s
guarding ability as they said people walk in and out of the shop all
day long and she barely seems to notice, not even lifting her
head. One day they were surprised by an aggressive roar and
they were shocked to see the 10 months old bitch chasing the local
thief and druggie down the driveway. She just picked that he
was up to no good, she had never seen him before – but she
perceived his intentions, then she acted without instruction.
It can also be noted that the bitch in the story did not bite or maul
this person; she only chased him off the property. It is my
opinion that dogs displaying this type of threat perception instinct
should be the ones held up as true working Boerboel and in turn bred
to as to ensure the continuation of correct Boerboel temperament.
Many dogs are better suited to bite work, dogs like
Malinois, Dobermans, Rottweilers, Bandogs, Presas and Pitbulls and if
you want a Boerboel to really excel in bite work, you should cross
one with one of the above mentioned breeds. Bite work cannot be
considered as a true test of Boerboel temperament when crossing them
will give you better results. The best Boerboel should rely on
their Threat Perception Instinct, reading situations independently of
their owners. The failure to be able to identify this in good
individuals is the failure to recognise what makes the Boerboel unique.
Dominant Aggressive Temperament
There are a percentage of Boerboel which are born to
be Alpha dogs, a lot of the time this is built into their DNA meaning
that they are meant to be the leader of the pack. With the
wrong upbringing, these dogs can become dominant aggressive which can
be very dangerous. I have had to work with problem dogs of this
type with people who are ill-equipped to deal with such dogs.
Often if they cannot learn to become the pack leaders themselves, it
is better if the dog is re-homed with experienced owners or
alternatively the dog should be destroyed to avert someone getting
bitten or worse. In the correct hands, these Alpha dogs can be
some of the best Boerboel quite often well used stud dogs are alpha dogs.
I have heard of Boerboel that bite without provocation
in inappropriate situations, this typically is the end result of a
dominant dog that has been raised incorrectly without the necessary
structure. Many people claim “he was never like this, he
just turned” this is not correct. The dog has been moving
towards this action in a steady progression since the owners brought
him home as a puppy. The owners enabled and unknowingly ushered
the dog towards this end.
Warning signs of your dog trying out dominant behaviour:
Your dog jumping up on you or guests placing its paws
on your chest.
Your dog bumping you or seemingly accidentally
knocking over your children
Ignoring your commands
Lying in doorways or across pathways to make you go
around them.
Not waiting for your command at feed time, or knocking
the food from your hands.
Pushing past you as you go to walk through a gate or doorway
There are other signs of dominant behaviour, if you
suspect dominant behaviour in your dog, you may need to find some
reading material on this subject of seek help from a professional
canine behavioural specialist.
Skittish or Shy Dogs
“The Boerboel is self confident and fearless”
I have known many tough and hard dogs; dogs that have
battled boar, worked cattle, I have even witnessed dead-game fighting
dogs in countries where this practice is legal and yet I have never
seen a dog that is without fear.
The dog that would rather die than yield in battle
will still jump at an unexpected sound. I have owned dogs that
will battle 130kg Boar by themselves but will still jump or back off
a 6 inch long harmless lizard weighing only ounces. Generally,
I do not like skittish temperaments. My opinion is that a
Boerboel should be stable of nerve. I have however encountered
Boerboel who, although skittish, have still proved useful as family
guards. I have noticed in working breeds a higher percentage of
shy dogs, yet a lot of these dogs still excel in their chosen working
fields. These Boerboel often give ground to an intruder but
will then advance on the intruder from the side or behind. I
think that a Boerboel who took something head-on every time would
have had a short career in the old days when they were protecting the
oxen and people working the plough in the fields from lion attack.
I have noticed in my hunting dogs that the dogs I
prized for their courage, the type that would hit Boars at full speed
head-on did not last as long as the dogs that hit the animal when the
time was right. Both dogs do the same job, but one does it
smarter. Now I breed the dogs with the latter traits.
I am not making excuses for shy dogs but I have had
some show me things that displayed correct Boerboel Threat Perception
Instinct and they acted upon it. I have come across others who
were too paralysed by their fears to be able to display any of the
necessary traits for me to consider the dog a decent Boerboel.
I have these dogs destroyed.
In Conclusion
The Boerboel is a versatile dog. It is smart and
athletic enough to be used in a number of canine pursuits.
However if crossing the Boerboel with another breed improves the
Boerboel at this task, then it is obviously not the Boerboel’s
primary function. For example: You cannot cross a
greyhound with any other breed to make it faster.
Some of my Boerboel hunt wild Boar, if I wanted them
to improve, I would cross them into my hunting dogs. The same
with the herding instinct, many Boerboel have it&ldots;it is
definitely there, but crossing with a working Border Collie would
improve it. The same has already been said about bite work, the
same can also be said of the Boerboel’s tracking ability.
However there is no breed I could cross my Boerboel with that would
enhance its Threat Perception Instinct or develop its habit of
staying close to its owner, or to move between its owner and a
perceived threat.
The Boerboel brain is wired differently to other
breeds. I had some difficulty in understanding it at the
start. It took me some time to begin to work out why they acted
in certain ways and in certain situations, hopefully this article
will help benefit others from my experiences.
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Last updated: August 5, 2008
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