"Welleen Yster", owned by Johnny Schickerling, Namibia.
Picture from John Blackwell.
The Boerboel of South Africa got an interesting history.
It is said that when Jan van Riebeeck came to the Cape in 1652, he brought his own dog to protect him and his family
in this wild and unknown country. This dog was a
"Bullenbijter", a large and heavy mastiff-type of dog.
The settlers who came after Jan van Riebeeck also brought along their strongest dogs
to protect them against all the unknown dangers of this strange land, thus dogs arrived from many different countrys.
As the pioneers moved further and further inland and settled on remote farms, the dogs were forcibly isolated and a
lot of inbreeding took place which had the result that the characteristics of the original assyrian dog
started to reappear. Survival was of the outmost importance and it was here that the hardiness of today's Boerboel
was per force bred into the dog.
During the Groot Trek, starting in 1838, the Boerboel had most of the features that it has today and is clearly recognizable from
old drawings. In the period after the trek, on the distant farms, the Boerboel inbreed further and only the biggest
and strongest dogs survived.
His pioneer owner required him to be a friend of the family, a worker, provide protection, they could not afford to
have a disobedient, moody, finicky, sickly dog-they had to be able to rely on him to protect the family and to work.
Boerboels playing.
Owned and pictured by Reidar Kristian Bildoy, Norway.
At the turn of the century the characteristics of the old, original dog were clearly visible and the dog was generally
known as the "boel". The years that followed brought tragedy to the Boerboel. Urbanization caused cross breeding with
anything that could bark and the typical "boel" started to dissappear.
In the early 1900's the englishmen brought their Bulldogs and Mastiffs to South Africa, and some of these dogs were bred into
the Boerboel population. Later, in the late 1940's and early 1950's Bullmastiffs were bred with Boerboels. This is a known fact
with farmers in the North Eastern Free State, Northern Kwa Zulu Natal and some parts of the Transvaal.
It was only
in the eighties that a serious search started again for the original farm dog.
Jannie Bouwer of Bedford and Lucas van der Merwe of Kroonstad set out on a search for the original Boer dog, covering
5500 km. In this search 250 dogs were seen but only 72 selected to be registered.
Selective breeding started, many disappointments followed, but also immense joys. At last the dog of the
old south african pioneers was ready to be registered as a pure breed.
Gretchen Penny, 90.2% HD 0/0, owned by Gretchen Boerboels.
Picture by Sascha Ernst, Akira Boerboels - South Africa.
Today the Boerboel have many admireres all over the world. The breed have gained much popularity outside of South Africa,
and many exports from South Africa have found their way to USA and northern Europe, the areas outside of SA where the popularity
of the Boer dog is greatest.
Gretchen Carlos, 84.4, HD 1/1, owned by Gretchen Boerboels.
Carlos is a son of Gretchen Penny and Roenard Martiens.
Picture by Sascha Ernst, Akira Boerboels - South Africa.
