Boerboels are intelligent, reliable, and obedient, with a strong watchdog instinct. They are self-assured and fearless, but responsive to the needs of the family. The Boerboel was specifically bred to be protective without being aggressive. They are loving, playful, even-tempered, athletic and intelligent. At the same time, they have strong protective instincts. It is a unique combination which blends into an overall wonderful character. Boerboels are very confident. Their sense of self-assurance can present some challenges to training at times. The more you bond with your Boerboel, the more he will want to please and protect you.

A Boerboel in your home instinctively becomes the family pet. They especially bond to children - usually deciding that the smallest child in the family is their own special personal responsibility, and is to be looked after under all circumstances. They become the child’s best friend, playmate, guardian, and companin. When a Boerboel is not actively playing with a child, you will find him in the yard "watching" over the children, ready to alarm and defend as needed. Many a story has been told about a Boerboel spending hour after hour guarding a little baby in a crib. He feels the whole family belongs to him and his sole purpose is to protect them, with his life, if necessary.

The Boerboel - Ancient History & Roots

The history of the Boerboel fascinating, tracing its beginnings back to ancient times. In about 640 BC, two Assyrian Kings, King Asarhaddon and King Ashurbani-pal, were recorded as having used large dogs to hunt lions and wild horses. This information is evident from the Assyrian chambers at the British museum.

The king of Albania presented Alexander the Great with a dog. Alexander the Great was highly impressed wth the huge dog, until he tried to use it, first, to hunt bears and later wild boar and deer. The dog showed no interest at all and just ignored everything.
Alexander the Great, the mighty king, the well-known conqueror, was enraged by the laziness of the dog and ordered the immediate excution of the dog. The news about the tragedy soon reached the king of Albania. Without delay he sent Alexander the Great a replacement together with the following advice: "Do not waste the dog's time with minor things. Give him a lion or elephant to fight." If it was going to be used for hunting, it would need a challenge. The dog was offered both lions and an elephant... and impressed the leader greatly.

Long research has revealed that the ancestry of the Boerboel can be traced as far back as the time of Herodotus and to Tibet, Assiria and Babylon.

In Assiria dogs were used as soldiers, even covered with reinforced material to protect them. When Assurbanipal conquered Egypt. These dogs were also taken along and thus they were spread further into the known world.

Canus Molossus has had an important effect on the large dog breeds of today. It was originally used in the times of the Roman games. The activities of the Romans resulted in the spreading of the breed throughout Europe, including the British Isles. As trading between East and West started developing and the trading routes around the Cape of Good Hope started being established, Jan van Riebeeck was sent by the Dutch East India Company to establish a trading post at the southern tip of Africa. For his protection, van Riebeeck brought with a "Bullenbijter", which was a large and strong variety of the mastiff type of dog. Other colonialists brought other large mastiff-type dogs with them. These dogs and their 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.

So here is where the dogs of Europe and Africa met. The large European dogs were bred with the strong African bloodlines. The resulting breed are the dogs then accompanied the Boers on the Great Trek into the northern parts of South Africa.

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 Boerboel - South Africa's Mastiff

The Boerboel has a long and illustrious history as one of the outstanding dogs of Africa. The African side of the boerboel story starts in southern Ethiopia, where a tribe called the Cynomones used dogs described as "Indian Dogs". These dogs had their origin in Babylon. They are described as large, strong dogs, able to fight with lions. The Cynomones used their dogs to protect them from migratory wild animals as well as for hunting. They even used to milk the bitches. Folklore, or maybe just ancient marketing techniques, suggested that these Indian dogs were a cross between a dog and a tiger. As many African tribes migrated southwards, they brought their dogs with them.

The Boerboel developed, from 1652 up to about 1900, in a hard school by tough farmers in South Africa, who were threatened by every kind of dangerous predator, in testing terrain and a challenging climate. Hard-pressed pioneer farmers, however resourceful, didn't have the circumstances which exactly encouraged the conservation of rare breeds of dog. They had a need for brave powerful virile dogs and breed good dog to good dog untill they obtained the desired result. Performance directed every breeding program. Pure-breeding, handsomeness and a respect for heritage doesn't usually feature highly in a pioneer hunter-farmer's priorities. The Boerboel was developed from the best mastiff-type dogs available in South Africa, and brought here by soldiers, colonists and settlers from Europe as well as migrating African tribes.

Whilst the most recent developments in the breed have been recorded as having taken place within Southern Africa over the last three hundred and fifty years, the typical characteristics of the breed are very similar to those demonstrated in contemporary pictures of Assyrian dogs of the period prior to 700 BC.

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.

The Modern Boerboel

Since 1980 and with the forming of the SABT and later the HBSA and the EBBASA, selective breeding of the dog has resulted in what is recognised today as the South African Boerboel. The emergence of this fine breed from its native land, and its subsequent stabilisation into a distinct canine race, is not only a tribute to its loyal fanciers but also to the dogs themselves.

"How virile they must be to survive the climate; how robust to survive the terrain and fearsome wild opponents; how dependable in remote locations to inspire their owners to continue with them and how strong the genotype to triumph after a century of anything but pure-breeding." This information accounts for the fact that the boerboel has a structure far superior to any other mastiff-type breed.

The development of the boerboel is therefore a true South African success story; today's boerboel is as ideal as a home protection dog as his ancestors were. 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.

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. 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.