Riley March 2014

Here are some new photos of Riley so everyone can see how he’s coming on. He is still showing little aptitude for the assistance training which is a real pity because we were looking forward to him being my partner’s assistance dog BUT he is more than a wonderful therapy dog so that makes up for it somewhat.

Riley new photos

Happy Christmas Everyone

From all of us, especially our lovely Riley we would like to send a really big thank you to all of you who have visited this blog over the past few months and who have sent so many kind messages of support.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a really Happy New Year.

Lessons Learned – Part 1

OK
Over the past 6 months we have learned a few things about our new puppy and had some of our earlier assumptions challenged somewhat. Here are a few of those things:

Sleep:

Do not be alarmed if your Boerboel puppy seems to sleep a great deal. This is, from our experience, perfectly normal. You puppy is growing at an enormous rate even if you are controlling this nutritionally. My Riley is growing by 2kg per week. This will tire a puppy out even if he does nothing else during his day, but an active puppy, plus massive growth = tiredness. At 5 months or so our puppy was sleeping about 18 hours a day. We called our vet just to be on the safe side and she assured us it was normal for puppies to sleep a lot, especially giant breeds. If in doubt consult your vet but dont worry too much – the very best thing you can do for your puppy is to give him good quality food, either a BARF diet or human grade meat based kibble with no grain and a really nice, warm, safe and soft place to sleep and grow, he will do both, well.

Night Time Blues:

All of our dogs are crate trained, all of our dogs are crate trained from the moment they arrive with us as 8 week old puppies. Most of them have absolutely no problems adapting to a crate and in general they look to their crates like a den to retire to away from the hustle and bustle of a busy and sometimes noisy house. However, sometimes things just do not go to plan. We experienced some strange behaviour with our little one shortly after we moved his crate into the kitchen. Our routine was to let the big dogs out for their business, crate them and then pop a lead on Riley, take him out for his last pees and poops and then crate him and shut the house up before we went to bed. Very often in the following morning we would be greeted by a very subdued puppy indeed. No waggy tail, no “greeting” and very often he would simply sit in his crate in what seemed to be a state of confusion, bewilderment and uncertainty.

We mentioned this to a friend of ours who just so happens to be a dog behaviouralist and, over a coffee and a scone or two we tried to look at things from his persepective. Boerboels are very protective and very human oriented dogs, above all things a boerboel needs to be with his humans. Taking a Boerboel away from his humans can, in some dogs, be seen as a punishment. So, we changed our routine, we got rid of his crate, we installed a baby gate so he could see that whole of the downstairs of the house for reassurance, we installed a nice soft bed piled high with blankets and pillows to make it as soft and comfortable as possible for his growing bones and connective tissues and half an hour before his “normal” bed time my partner and I would move into the kitchen, find some dishes to wash or prepare the coffee machine for the morning etc. His natural curiosity would inevitably bring him in to see what we were doing. We would then, brush him or otherwise groom him, give him a little massage, turn the lights off and sit with him until he went to sleep.

Almost like magic all our issues with him refusing to go to bed or being like a rabbit in the headlights in the mornings went away. Now he follows us into the kitchen with no prompting, settles down (almost) all the time and is (normally) asleep withing about 10 minutes. He sleeps all night and has a great waggy tail in the mornings. Problems solved.

Exercise:

You must never over exercise your giant breed puppy. If you want to avoid stressing out his growing joints, bones and connective tissues you will take him for two short to medium length walks every day, ours (at 7 months) has a 20 minute walk in the morning and a 40 minute walk later in the day typically alternating between dusk and full night so he can get used to how the world looks under different lighting conditions. The rest of his “exercise” comes in the form of romping around with the adult dogs (now he is big enough), obedience training and letting him play his energies out.

Once he is a year old we will look at a fuller exercise programme for him, including; formal obedience, agility, weighted collars, weighted backpacks, jogging and going for bike rides but not until he is AT LEAST a year old.

Limpy Legs:

On several occasions, starting probably at about 3.5 months we noticed that our puppy would have very stiff legs, usually first thing in the morning or just after he woke up from a snooze and that he would display a prominent limp in one or more legs on a walk. We are abit paranoid about this type of issue so we rushed him to the vet the first time it happened BUT the vet reassured us that this kind of stiffness in the legs of large and giant breed dogs is to be expected. We increased the amout of oily fish and/or salmon oil he gets in his diet and we bought a really soft mattress for him to lie on to cushion his joint. This has worked somewhat but he still limps from time to time.

If you are worried about this issue OR if your dog is persistently limping or showing marked discomfort when walking then get him to the vet. Several years ago I had a dog who at around 24-26 weeks developed a limp which I put down to puppy growing pains. I was wrong, it was the early signs of hip dysplasia and he eventually needed both hips replaced. I will never make that mistake again and it is worth erring on the side of caution. It is too important an issue to take any chances with at all.

Living With Your Boerboel – The First 6 Months

So… you ignored the advice from all those good folks who told you to get a goldfish or a Pomeranian or a Jack Russell. You wanted a Boerboel… so OK… you did all the right things; you found a good breeder, you met the mum and dad, you saw a bunch of pups, you settled on one and you shelled out the £1,750 – £2,000 required to become a member of this rather small club.

Well done you!

You are now the proud owner of one of the most wonderful dogs in the world but now you have to take him home and live with him and the only thing between your 4kg bundle of licks and waggyness and an unruly, disobedient, destructive, house eating, life destroying, aggressive 200lb nightmare is YOU.

So what are you going to do about it?

This article, like all the others on this blog is based solely on my personal experiences bringing up my new Boerboel puppy, bought to replace my partner’s German Shepherd disability assistance dog who died several months ago. It is in no way meant to be some kind of “Boerboel Owner’s Manual”. On every article I write covering this topic I always ask people to do their own research, you should go out and meet Boerboels, Boerboel owners, Boerboel breeders. Read about the breed, pick up the phone and talk to people who know about the breed, most of us are very friendly people who will gladly answer any and all questions put to us if we can and put you in touch with people who can if we cant. If you cant be bothered to do even this small amount of work prior to buying a Boerboel, or any large dog for that matter, then please DO NOT get a Boerboel. They aren’t for you.

Equipment

Before you get your Boerboel puppy home, or at least within the first few months of getting him home, you will, most likely, need most if not all of the following;

• Puppy Pads
• Poo Bags
• Dog Blankets
• Feeding and Water Bowls
• Puppy Food or Raw Food if you have taken my advice and decided to feed a BARF diet
• INSURANCE, Micro-chip, vaccinations, Boerboel owners paperwork
• X Pen
• Dog Crate (big enough for an adult Boerboel, you can reduce it’s internal size with large boxes if necessary)
• Fan for the dog crate. (Dogs, especially small puppies feel the heat and humidity just the same as we do. If you are hot, think how much hotter you would be wearing a fur coat – now get the damn fan. Look you just spent the best part of two grand on a dog and you’re bitching about a fan?)
• Soft Dog Mattress
• Dog Toys (small, medium and large versions)
• Large Storage Boxes – for toys (dont leave toys lying around, they are YOUR toys not your puppy’s), supplements, treats etc
• 50′ line
• Stake (for the 50′ line)
• Collar and ID tag (bear in mind you are likely to go through 3 or 4 collars in the first 6 months)
• 4′ lead
• 6′ lead
• Harness
• Brushes
• Nail Clipper and File
• Worming Treatment (it is almost 100% guaranteed your puppy will arrive with worms. They are passed on from mum to pup in the milk. Talk to your vet.)
• Ear Mite Treatment (talk to your vet)
• Ear Cleaning materials (cotton wool balls and 100% virgin olive oil will be fine – the highest quality you can find)
• Spot – On or Advocate
• Puppy Shampoo
• Training Treats
• Treat Pouch
• Chewing Items (high density rubber bones, antler, knuckle or other recreational bones etc – NO COOKED BONES EVER!)
• Supplements (probiotics, apple cider vinegar, goat’s milk (never use cow milk), vitamins (constituted for dogs), kelp powder etc)

Your Puppy

The best thing to do when you get your puppy home is to place him in his x-pen in a quiet room with some pee pads, a bowl of goat’s milk, his blankets and a small selection of his toys and leave him for a couple of hours to sleep, get used to his new environment and all of the strange sights, sounds, smells and comings and goings of his new home. As weird as it will be for you, the first couple of days for your puppy are a minefield of excitement and stress.

Just remember, a couple of days earlier, your pup was a member of an active bundle of tumbling teeth and claws and fighting, nibbling, yelping, licking, snoring, sleeping, cuddling litter mates. Now, he is, at least until you form your pack, an orphan. His mum has gone, his dad has gone, all his brothers and sisters have gone, in fact everything in the world that he knew, was comfortable with and felt safe in has gone forever. Now all he has is you and what you will provide for him. He will rely on you for his warmth, his food, his water, his comfort, his enjoyment, his excitement, his place in life, his place in society and most importantly, his safety.

You will be his teacher, his mentor, his friend, his playmate, his protector and his guide for the rest of his life. You will be a cross between Moses and Yoda and if you do your job properly your Boerboel will give you 12 years of friendship, laughter, unswerving loyalty and will protect you, your family and everything you hold dear with his life.

Is it worth it?

I spend at least 4 hours every day interacting with my new puppy, bear in mind he is sleeping about 16-18 hours a day and the rest of the time he is either bonding with my partner, my other dogs or just goofing off, learning how to interact with the family on our terms and not his. Riley has between 6 and 8, 5-6 minute sessions of “formal” training every day and many other short sessions of informal training woven into his play sessions. He is a major time sink, all puppies are but if you want to successfully bond with your dog you too will need to give of yourself to him. This early investment will pay serious dividends later on in life.

He is naughty, he is feisty, he is independent, he is infuriating, he is stubborn, he digs in the garden, he nips, when he doesn’t want to do something he just flops down and lies there but when he screws up I know it’s because he is just a baby, a child and it’s because I haven’t done MY job properly, he is my mirror and I have failed him not the other way round and I owe him better. So when, in the quiet parts of the day, I watch them just being dogs in all their massive magnificence, a perfect blend of power and grace, I feel absolutely honoured to share my life with such incredible animals. And of course, it’s worth it. Every single second.

The Early Days

One of the most important things to remember when you own a Boerboel or any Mastiff for that matter is not to expect too much too soon. We take the approach that our puppies never have formal obedience training or any kind of special training (protection, schutzhund, agility etc.) until they are around 8 months of age. We believe that they develop best, as dogs and as members of our pack and family, if they are allowed to have a decent, stress free puppy-hood. That means just letting them be puppies.

Teaching Begins

Of course we teach them the basics and this starts the day we get them home but the basics are really just the rules of the house and to do little things like sit, down, come and not to jump up at the bars of the x pen and when we approach his pen or crate he doesn’t jump around and act like an idiot. This behaviour is ignored, the behaviour we want is rewarded, it is a simple but very effective method to use with a young puppy, especially as we do not believe in using physical corrections (to be covered at length in a later post) until they are 8 – 12 months of age by which time, if I have done my job properly the need for physical corrections will be few and far between. In the early developmental phase of a young puppy’s life we only use voice corrections and deprivation.

Voice corrections are simple enough but we add a small twist – whispering. In most of our normal every day dealings with our puppy we use a soft, low, calm voice, almost at a whisper. This has two effects. The first is that the puppy has to concentrate on the low tone and initially will only be rewarded for responding to a “whispered” command, the whisper then is the normal level of communication in the first few months. Secondly, when “whisper” is normal on the odd occasion when a raised and more forceful command becomes necessary the contrast between that and the normal level of communication is very marked and makes the harder vocal correction much more effective.

Deprivation is simply a case of depriving your puppy of that thing he wants most in the world, usually that means attention from you. Boerboels are people dogs on steroids. They need their humans like fish need water and the most important thing in a Boerboel’s life is the quality and quantity of his interactions with his humans. This is important to keep in mind as it is a vital training tool.

In its simplest form if you approach your puppy in his pen and he jumps around, jumps at the bars or generally acts stupid give him a firm “No!” and turn your back, wait until the noise dies down or count slowly to 10 and then turn and give your puppy your full attention. Rinse and repeat until your puppy learns that being an idiot gets him nothing, being calm does. The other side of the coin obviously therefore, is when you approach your puppy’s pen and he is calm or gives you good confident eye contact give a firm “YES!” (we use marker training and always mark good behaviour with a “YES!” More on this later), accompanied by a treat. The reason we use this method is twofold; we recognise how human oriented Boerboels are but also just how sensitive Mastiffs are. By turning your back, turning to stone, looking at the sky or the floor and becoming totally impassive you give your puppy no attention whatsoever. Boerboels and Mastiffs in general crave human attention whether that attention is positive OR negative and you do not want your Boerboel to start craving negative attention.

There will, of course, be times when you simply aren’t in the mood to deal with your pup. He has nipped you one too many times, played too rough (again), grabbed your trousers or got under your feet or done one of the million and one other things that get under your skin. DO NOT yell, shout, or lose your temper. Calmly remove yourself from the situation or put your puppy in his crate (that is what it is there for after all) and walk away. Make a coffee, have a cigarette, take a deep breath and allow the situation to calm down and settle. Remember, if your puppy misbehaves it is because he is a baby, he doesn’t know any better and he doesn’t know any better because YOU haven’t taught him any better.

When your puppy first arrives in his new home, he will have had 8 or 9 weeks of rough and tumble inside his pack of litter-mates. If you have little experience of dogs and you are unaware of the way puppies play, how they fight, how they compete with each other for dominance within their group then please take some time to familiarise yourself with this. Head to you-tube, there are plenty of vids there of puppies playing, fighting, chasing and running in a normal healthy way. You need to familiarise yourself with what is normal. It is vital you understand the world of rough and tumble he has just come from so when he paws at you and catches you with a claw, or nips you (and he will – LOTS!) or bites at your clothes you are aware of where it comes from and why it happens.

Perversely all of these bad behaviours are things that you want to happen, and as early in your Boerboel’s life as possible. It is MUCH easier and far less painful to teach a Boerboel to have a soft mouth at 2 months than at 6 months. Boerboels have a bite strength of about 650lbs per square inch, a PitBull has a bite of 235lbs per square inch, believe me, you do not want to be bitten by an adult (or even an adolescent) Boerboel even in play. I have been and I have 2, 3″ scars on my right wrist and nerve damage in my upper right forearm all because I was lazy, over confident, made mistakes, took my dog for granted and I didn’t do my job properly. I deserved everything I got and I hope if I ever do the same thing in future I get bitten again just to remind me what stupid feels like.

In the early days then bad behaviour is in fact a blessing. Your pup has just come from a world where rough play, nips and bites and scratches and wrestling are all part of the every day routine. He now lives in a world where razor sharp puppy teeth and soft pink human flesh do not mix well. He needs you to show him the new rules of his new pack. If your pup doesn’t nip you how can you teach him not to nip or how to moderate his bite strength? This of course is a challenge, you will need to excite your pup to the extent that he nips or mouths (which inevitably means a certain amount of pain) whilst remaining calm enough to teach correct behaviour. There are hundreds of different books written on this as well as thousands of articles on the internet so I wont go into all of the different techniques related to stopping biting or creating a soft mouth here except to say we found blowing raspberries in the face of our little one to be an effective way of stopping such undesirable behaviour. Of course, this method may be totally useless for your dog, your dog could react quite badly to it as well so start off gently, which is why you should look at a range of techniques and see what works for you.

Another very effective technique for dealing with excitable puppies is called capping. Capping is a technique used to bring a dog out of drive thereby “capping” it’s excitement or enthusiasm for a particular task, redirecting that drive to an obedience command and then bringing the dog back up into drive again. For example; my puppy loves rag tugs, his very favourite toy is an old pillow-case tied to a rope. I will start by getting him nice and excited, well up in drive, then I will take possession of the tug and then give him a fast, strong command to “SIT!” or “DOWN!” As soon as his butt touches the ground or the down is complete he gets an enthusiastic “YES!” and he is given the tug as a reward (instead of a food treat) and energetic play continues as before – again Rinse and Repeat until all the enthusiasm he is putting into playing with the rag (or other toy) is put into the sit or down before introducing any distractions. “Capping” is one of the techniques I refer to when I talk about “informal training”.

The practical applications of capping are, for example, if you take your dog to a new place or he is confronted with a unique situation that he hasn’t been previously socialised to, like his first walk in a deer park or meeting cows or a strange cat running away from him his initial reaction may be to get all excited and either chase or otherwise muck about in an inappropriate or possibly dangerous way. A dog who has had “capping” as an integral part of its training is much better equipped to deal with strange or unique situations, is used to having his excitement checked and is much more likely to respond in a calm and obedient way when confronted by environmental stressors.

Assuming you take your puppy at 8 weeks of age, this gives you a window of 2 weeks before you can have his second set of vaccinations done, after which you have another 2 weeks before his first fear period window begins to close (I will discuss fear periods and other developmental phases at a later date), some dogs (mostly giant breeds) are late or slow developers which could give you an extra week here but do not count on it. Take it as Gospel that from the time you have his second set of jabs done you have two weeks to take him to as many different places, expose him to as many different people, experiences and things as you possibly can. This can mean an awful lot of work but it doesn’t have to. Ask the neighbours to help. Invite a different friend or neighbour in every day, get them to bring their kids, introduce your puppy to children, skateboards, bicycles, horses, cows, sheep, shopping centres, other dogs, cats, mobility scooters and anything else you feel your puppy may come across in his life that may cause him stress. Write a list and tick each item off when he has encountered it and remained calm. It is your responsibility as your pup’s pack leader and protector to ensure that all encounters your pup has are supervised, controlled and proceed in as calm and stress free a way as possible.

Teething

After being play-nipped about 100 times you may find the idea of teething a welcome one BUT this is where his mouth full of little razor sharp needles gets replaced by a mouth full of bigger ones. Again, there are plenty of resources on the net or in books which will tell you about teething. I will just tell you what has worked for us.

Back in the late 80s when I owned a pitbull I don’t recall doing anything special, this may well have been because they have a very high tolerance to pain or just because he had an easy time of things. Our German Shepherd had a bad time but we found things like frozen carrots and frozen, quartered apples were great as were tea towels, quartered and soaked in water then rolled into cigar shapes and placed in the freezer. If you dont have a dog who is determined to pick every thread and tear them to shreds as they thaw, these are particularly effective. Another thing that worked for us was making chicken or beef stock ice cubes. It’s a bit fiddly because you need to make your own beef or chicken stock from bones and veggies, I really wouldnt recommend using those cube things, and you need to make sure you dont use onions or other vegetables your dog may have a reaction to but the end result, poured into ice cube bags and frozen is a great mouth cooler your dog will love and has good nutritional value.

Strangely enough we found this little thing very handy for our puppy. We were VERY sceptical at first, mainly due to its size and apparent flimsiness but we were pleasantly surprised and bought two so one could be in the freezer while the other was in use. I would also suggest getting an antler to help him cope with his need to chew and any rubber ball with knobbly bits on so he can work his front teeth.

Illness

Get a good vet. Make sure your vet is comfortable with giant breed dogs, not all are and very few are up to speed on BARF diets. If you can, shop around. We are very lucky, our vet is South African who not only knows giant breeds but Boerboels specifically. Another vet at the practice owns a boisterous pack of German Shepherds. It is important that you have a good relationship with your vet because your puppy WILL get sick. Your pup will likely arrive with worms and should be wormed once a month but of course you will need to talk this over with a vet. Your pup will also likely arrive with ear mites, again talk to your vet. Also you need to be aware that weaning, leaving the litter, and moving into a new home are all stressful for your pup, these things can have a cumulative effect and can contribute to suppressing your pup’s immune system and resistances to all sorts of things like coughs and colds and tummy upsets and skin issues like mites (mange), yeast infections, seasonal flank alopecia, dermatitis and so on.

The most important thing of course is not to panic. Keep a couple of tins of pumpkin in your cupboard for puppies with bad tummies, also diced chicken (poached in chicken stock) and rice is good for pups with diarrhoea of which there are two types, the kind that is like thick custard or pure water. If your pup is passing dirty brown water, phone the vet, make an appointment and go. If your pup has thicker but still loose poop then stop his normal food, make sure he has lots of water to drink, give him a few tablespoons of pumpkin and monitor him. Water is very important as is food made with lots of water like broth or stock, this is because puppies can dehydrate VERY quickly. Talk to the vet.

From time to time your puppy will limp in one or more legs or exhibit some occasional limb stiffness. Generally this isn’t necessarily something to be too concerned about. You have a giant breed, they will grow fast and they will put on a great deal of weight quickly. Mine is piling on 1.92kilos every week so growing pains and some stiffness should be expected. That said, you can take measures to guard against it. Feed your dog a BARF or high quality “human grade” kibble, situate his sleeping area away from draughts and buy a decent mattress for him to sleep on. In all such cases though it is always a good idea to phone your vet.

Exercise

Boerboels are generally a very healthy breed. However, like most large and giant breeds they can suffer from hip and elbow dysplasia. Most of the Boerboel breeder associations have very strict criteria regarding which dogs and bitches may enter the stud registers. This has done a great deal to eliminate many conditions prevalent in other breeds, unfortunately they cannot eliminate handler error. Over exercising your puppy or subjecting your pup to periods of high impact exercise like running, chasing and catching frisbees before he is 12 months is a no no and may damage joints and connective tissues leading to major issues later on in life. This does not mean they shouldn’t be exercised simply that caution and common sense should prevail.

Riley is now 6 months old, he gets 5 minutes walk per month, so a 30 minute walk every day. Because he is a very slow and ponderous walker who likes to explore everything and investigate everywhere we give him a 30 minute walk twice a day. This obviously isn’t enough for most puppies and isn’t enough for ours. We supplement these walks with free and supervised/engagement play in the back garden where we basically let him tire himself out and short formal training sessions which exercise his mind. Be aware that it is perfectly normal for a dog, any dog, pretty much every dog to have a “funny five minutes”. This usually happens in the late evening or just before he settles down. It is a way that some dogs get rid of excess energy. Our adult male ran around in the garden like a lunatic until he crashed and our little Riley barks at the living room carpet for a couple of minutes until he gets it out of his system and settles. It’s no big deal.

After your Boerboel has been in your life for a few weeks you will have an idea as to his energy levels and the kinds of games he likes to play but also when putting together a training/exercise schedule remember that your puppy is expending a MASSIVE amount of energy just growing. Riley was 4.2 kg when we got him, he is now just over 40 kilos. He has put on an average of 1.92kg a week, every week, this is tiring for your dog and can also be painful. Our pup has low energy levels and likes wrestling games (a lot and he is VERY strong) and tug, as a result he is relatively easy to tire out and a tired puppy is a happy puppy. Our German Shepherd however, was extremely active, had a massive engine and a very high prey drive and would chase a ball 24/7. Tiring him out whilst maintaining a sensible level of stress on his joints was difficult and often led to frustration. That said, I would rather find strategies for dealing with frustration than have to deal with a dysplasic dog.

And So

We have had our new puppy for four months, he is officially six months old tomorrow (3rd September 2012) and in general it has been one of the most pleasant, trouble free four months I have had with any puppy and I have had dogs in my life for the best part of 40 years. Sure, he had a period of about 3 weeks or so when he got stroppy and had a biting phase which was painful. All pups push the boundaries. They are simply testing the rules and finding their place in your pack. If you are a firm, fair and above all else a consistent pack leader these things will pass with minimal difficulty. In rare cases some dogs are naturally dominant, these make great breeding stock because a dominant dog is usually a very confident dog and you want to have confident pups of course, however, most dogs are only opportunistically dominant and there has been a massive amount of over-hyped nonsense written on this subject which has, I have absolutely no doubt, scared dog owners and scarred dogs who have been wrongly corrected (and therefore over corrected) for behaviour their owners wrongly read as being “dominance”.

Believe me your pup does not lie awake at night planning to annexe the spare bedroom or enslave the cats, he just wants to know where he stands. Life is simple for your puppy if YOU are the pack leader and all he has to worry about is where to snooze and which toy to play with next. With his needs taken care of (pack, food, warmth, shelter, safety etc) your dog will be very happy to simply allow you to be the pack leader, all you need to do is lead and the two most important things for this are fairness and consistency. For our puppies we have a very simple daily schedule and rule-set (deliberately so) which we apply rigidly.

All in all he has been a pleasure, he has had a few sick days, it took us a while to suss out his likes and dislikes though we are still looking for all of the right buttons to push, he has had a skin infection and teething was a pain but we have been incredibly lucky that our puppy comes from a brilliant breeder and from awesome bloodlines. We have socialised him, he is great with cats, dogs, kids of all ages, horses, sheep, goats, cows and he absolutely adores adult humans of all ages. Strange noises, sights and sounds seem to be no bother either. One of the first things we did with him was take him in the car to where they are building a small housing estate and introduced him to the noise and smell and vibrations of large machinery and pneumatic drills and big trucks and all the hustle you would expect. Yesterday he was asleep on our patio when a jet fighter screeched low and fast over our property, he opened his eyes for a few seconds and then went back to sleep as if nothing had happened.

Riley’s temperament is fast approaching bombproof status but he is also approaching puberty and his second fear period which affects males much more than females. We are not out of the woods yet and the next six months will be every bit as important to his development as the last six have been. I am looking forward to every single second and every single challenge because I know my friend Riley will be there supporting me when it gets tough, teaching me when I screw up and loving me unconditionally just because. That’s the kind of guy he is.

Our Little Visitor

This wonderfully friendly little chap wandered into our lives yesterday.

At first we thought because he is so tiny that he had to be a puppy, the picture above is rather misleading, his head fits neatly into my hand and I dont have large hands, he is however, older than we first thought though difficult to assess properly due to his poor condition.

We washed him, brushed him, fed him, watered him and gave him somewhere nice and safe to sleep and this morning gave him a thorough once over. Poor chap has bad teeth, poor skin, matted fur, has several large, worrying and as yet unidentified lumps; one on his chest and one on his tummy, hasn’t been house trained, hasn’t been neutered, hasn’t been given even the most basic of obedience commands, doesn’t really know how to play, didn’t have a collar, no ID tags, no chip, no tattoo, worryingly nervous and quite hand shy.

This folks, is how NOT to be a responsible dog owner.

He will now be vet assessed, brought back to full health, rehabilitated, trained and looked after either by ourselves or friends.

UPDATE: For legal reasons we have had to hand the wee bloke over to the Feds, they need to have him in custody for 7 days. In that time they will assess him, try and find his owners and of course relieve us of the worry of being accused of stealing him if his irate if erstwhile owners do eventually turn up. After 7 days he enters the system and we will then take it from there based on what they and their vets advise.

My Little Boerboel

Feeding Your Boerboel – Welcome to The Poop Watch!

So, you didn’t listen. You ignored all the advice and went and got yourself a big dog after all. OK… well… you know best but now you know you’ve got to feed it right?

BARF

First of all I am not a nutritionist, a vet, a nurse or in any other way involved in the “industry” bit of the dog industry. I am a dog owner, I respect dogs, I care about the health and welfare of dogs, I have owned, trained, rescued and rehabilitated dogs for very nearly 40 years. My family have variously owned, bred, trained and worked rough collies, border collies and welsh collies as well as working spaniels and retrievers. Many of the dogs I have personally owned have been large, powerful breeds; German Shepherds, PitBulls, Staffordshires etc. each with exacting nutritional demands. In the article which follows I will be detailing my experiences of feeding my puppies and grown adult dogs a BARF diet and why I think so highly of it.

BARF stands for “Bones And Raw Food” and in my opinion, feeding a dog a BARF diet, any dog, every dog but particularly large, extra-large and giant breed dogs, is probably the single most important thing you can ever do for your dog and its health.

Please, DO NOT listen to me. All of the information contained in this article is based on my experience of feeding my dogs my formula and configuration of BARF my way, at my level of convenience and comfort. Your dogs are not my dogs, your schedules are not my schedules, you may look at all the information contained here and decide you simply cannot deal with it. That’s fair enough but if that’s the case and if you really care about the health and welfare of your dog you will need to consider finding a good brand of “human grade”

As this very informative South African site puts itdog food or kibble (more below). Read the information here, that’s great but you must do your own research, read everything you can, there are many guides to feeding a BARF diet and they are very easy to find. Every single link placed on this blog is to a site, a book, a source of information or a product I have found to be incredibly informative or useful in some way. A very good starting point is here, for Boerboel owners here and “power” dogs here. Many good, easy to digest (sorry) books can be found with very little effort including this one, this one and this one and if you want to know why you should never feed your pets a commercial brand of food ever again a good place to start would be here, here and here.

Animals , just like people, are still using digestive systems that evolved thousands of years ago, systems designed to provide us with nutrients derived from wholesome foods. Our companion friends, designed as meat eaters, rely on us to use some logic and common sense in caring for them. But make no mistake, being a carnivore does not mean that our dogs should eat an all-meat diet. Carnivores such as our dogs have evolved to derive their required nutrients mainly from eating other animals, including those animals’ muscles meat, bones, organs and stomach contents (vegetables) – all raw.

A carnivore’s body has been designed to derive its requisite nutrients from raw food. Since few of us are willing or able to provide whole prey animals for our dog to eat, making a well-designed homemade diet of raw foods is just as good.

Having fed dogs and puppies commercial brands of wet food and kibble in the past and feeding BARF now I can enthusiastically agree with increasing number of responsible dog breeders, owners and nutritionists as well as a growing body of vets (most however, are still incredibly ignorant about this topic, my own vet included) who say that kibble, especially that type of kibble high in grain content is essentially junk food for your dog with many of the ingredients having little or no nutritional value whatsoever.

So why BARF?

The benefits of a BARF diet to your dog (or cat for that matter) are enormous. Several years ago I had a German Shepherd who was fed on a commercial brand kibble, I lost count of the amount of times, for no readily understandable reason, he would have explosive, watery diarrhoea. My vet told me that German Shepherds were known for having sensitive tummies and that when it happened to give him some chicken poached in broth or stock with some rice or some tinned pumpkin and wait a few days. Not once did my vet suggest that it might have been something to do with his food. So often did this happen that we became very worried he had a major problem but other than his diarrhoea he was a very happy dog.

A dog trainer friend of ours suggested that we change his diet over to BARF and that very often these kinds of unexplained tummy upsets were down to allergies or other negative reactions to the crap they put in commercial dog food. I’ll be honest, at that time I thought BARF was some crackpot, bunny hugger fad doomed to spend eternity on the shelf with fluorescent leg warmers and pretty much dismissed it out of hand. It wasn’t until the late 90s that I struck up a conversation with a Rottweiler breeder who told me he had recently changed over from kibble to BARF and was amazed at how well all of his dogs were doing on it. I went home, started my research, bought Dr Billinghurst’s book “Give Your Dog A Bone” and within a week decided to make the change. Now, having done so, I would never, ever, feed any dog anything else ever again unless there were significant medical reasons not to.

The benefits I noticed, some quicker than others were pretty much the same as these from here

• Shinier, healthier skin
• Fresher breath/cleaner teeth
• Improved digestion
• Improvement with allergy symptoms
• Decreased shedding
• Increased stamina
• Firmer, smaller stools
• A general increase in overall health

Another reason you should feed large, extra-large or giant breed dogs in particular, a BARF diet, is to reduce the possibility of bloat. Make no mistake bloat in some breeds is a major issue and bloat can be fatal. In Great Danes for example the lifetime risk is 37% and mortality rates range from 10 to 60% even with treatment. Feeding a good, high quality diet, where you the owner can take responsibility for what your dog eats plus feeding at least twice a day instead of the usual one large meal (adults) is a good start towards reducing the chances of your dog getting and dying from this awful condition.

For puppies, especially puppies of the larger breeds, a BARF diet should be seriously considered as a way of making sure your pup has as even a growth period as possible with less severe growth spurts. If your puppy grows too quickly then strain on the joints and connective tissues can occur storing up major problems for later on in life. While large pups are growing into large dogs the rule should be lean and ribby. You should be able to see the last two ribs and good muscle definition. We currently feed our Riley between 5 and 6% of his bodyweight, weighing him on a Monday morning and adjusting his amounts on a weekly basis. He is currently putting on an average of 1.8 kg of weight per week and even though we can clearly see his last two ribs our vet has advised slightly reducing his food and keeping it at a lower rate for a few weeks because he is a little bit stiff in his rear legs.

Puppies fed on a BARF diet are generally happier, healthier and calmer than puppies fed on a kibble. They have more energy, smaller and firmer poop, softer coats, stronger jaws, necks and shoulders and smell nicer.

What Can I Feed My Dog

Whatever you do, never, ever, ever feed your dog cooked bones. Cooked bones become brittle and these can splinter and seriously injure or kill your dog. ALSO it is important to understand you shouldn’t feed your dog a mixture of raw and kibble. Raw and kibble digest at much different rates and you can make your dog very sick. There are plenty of excellent guides on the net which will show you how to transition from kibble to BARF.

On the BARF diet you can feed your puppy/dog

• Muscle meat; chicken, turkey, beef, tripe, ox heart, lamb, fish (pilchards in brine are perfect), rabbit, ox tail, quail, etc.
• Offal; we use mainly liver; pig’s, lamb, cow and chicken are all OK but keep rotating to keep the flavours changing,
• Raw Meaty Bones; rabbit, chicken wings, chicken carcass, chicken necks, turkey necks, lamb ribs, lamb necks and ox tails,
• Veg and Fruit; leafy green veg such as kale, carrots, pumpkin, peas, green beans, apple, banana (potato, onions and rhubarb should be avoided).

We will also give our puppy a “recreational” cows knuckle bone to chew on in his crate in the evenings. At 17 weeks he is big enough and can manage it with ease. Many smaller dogs wont be able to but there are alternatives, talk to your butcher, the last box of knuckle bones we bought was 21kg and cost us £25. Each knuckle bone is lasting him about 2 weeks at the moment.

Please though, exercise caution and common sense when feeding a puppy chicken wings or other bones. Initially (from about 10 weeks to 14/16 weeks) you will need to supervise/teach your puppy how to eat his bones. Some people say you can give a puppy bones at any age no matter how young, I disagree, I think it depends entirely on the dog, the breed and his size. Generally I feel that before they are 9 weeks of age they are too young, their jaws too immature. While teaching your puppy hold the little end of the chicken wing and get the pup to chomp down on the knobby end. Most puppies will get the hang of this quickly and after a few days will be enthusiastically crunching to their hearts content. Hold tight onto the little end until your pup has crunched sufficiently to allow him to swallow the bone and that’s it. If your pup is a greedy bugger and has a tendency to try and swallow them whole you could try freezing them which should encourage him to chew a bit more. Of course adult dogs may well need no such supervision. From 16 weeks of age a large puppy should have the teeth, the jaw power and the skill to crunch down a chicken wing by himself though the first few solo flights should be supervised just in case. Once this skill has been learned you can slowly start to introduce different types of bone like ox tails, lamb ribs and chicken necks.

As each dog is different and everyone’s ability with a BARF diet is different you may find yourself modifying your dog’s diet quite a bit. This is fine, within limits. The rule of thumb should be if you can see the last two ribs AND your pup has plenty of energy you are doing OK, it then comes down to The Poop Watch. If your puppy is constipated, if his stools are too hard or too crumbly then he is having too much bone, if his stools are too soft then he is having too much liver or not enough bone. Too much liver will make your puppy’s stools very soft. DO NOT WORRY! It took us 4 or 5 weeks tinkering with our little one’s balance before we got to the right place and we keep it under weekly review.

How Much Should You Feed Your Dog

OK there are several schools of thought here. The main two suggest a) you feed your puppy/dog a % of his body weight depending on activity levels or b) a % of his final target weight. We feed a % of body weight depending on his activity levels because we feel it gives us greater control and flexibility, also it makes a lot more sense for a giant breed puppy. For example, his target weight is 90kg+ therefore, 2.5% of this is 2.25kg of food every day and 3% is 2.6kg. We are currently feeding him roughly 5.5% of his body weight or about 1.3kg of food a day and the vet has told us to hold it at this level for a few weeks as his back legs are a little stiff. Clearly then, in our case if we followed the other method he would be getting far too much food. This method may work for others, it may work for smaller breeds or higher energy dogs but it doesn’t work for us.

So, in our case that 5.5% is made up of 65% muscle meat, we prefer a mix of either chicken, turkey or beef with a tablespoon of either ox heart or tripe in it. 10% offal, 15% veg and fruit which we blend together and mix into the muscle meat and at the moment 4 or 5 chicken wings a day or an equivalent amount of necks, carcass etc (you can give as one meal or a wing or divide between each meal). On a Monday morning he has a (drained) tin of pilchards in brine. Once a week he will have an egg (shell included) mixed into his food. We also supplement his diet with Goat’s Milk (100ml goat’s milk mixed with 100ml water) usually once a day. We supplement our dogs diets with kelp powder and add Apple Cider Vinegar from these guys to their water. You can add fresh or dried herbs to your dog’s food for a little extra interest, they are good with parsley, mint and basil. For a list of foods you SHOULD NOT give to your pup/dog see here.

Believe it or not, preparing 3 days food at a time takes 30 minutes, just remember to take enough out of the freezer the night before you need it.

Supplies

Right, you will need a chest freezer and possibly, depending on the size of your puppy/dog, a grinder (little dogs are less capable of eating things like chicken wings so they can be ground and added to the muscle meat) and that’s kind of it.

Of course you can use supermarkets for your meat and chicken parts we are in the UK and occasionally use Morrisons or Tesco for their chicken wings, beef heart and other bits and bobs but mainly we use these guys and our local butcher who does us a great deal on heart, liver, necks when he can get them and other bits because we order in bulk. Trying to get things from abattoirs in the UK is almost impossible thanks to the ridiculous, nanny state, health & safety bullshit, so unless you know someone who works in a abattoir don’t bother but do talk to your local butcher, it may take 2 or 3 different calls but people, in my experience are genuinely willing to help or do a deal if they possibly can, even in difficult times.

If, after reading all about BARF, you feel you have neither the time nor the inclination AND you have what’s best for your dog in mind, you will need to look long and hard at getting a good high grade nutritionally beneficial food of a similar quality. Believe me they are hard to find but products like this or this seem to be ok, you will need to satisfy yourselves as to the nutritional value to your dog, I am not in any position to do that nor do I endorse any pet foods. BARF equivalents like “EVO” from Natura are not available in the UK but I do know many dogs seem to like Orijen well enough.

As far as cost is concerned, to feed our pup at the moment is costing about £30-£35 a month and that includes a bit of left over liver and heart which we fry and cut up to use as high value training treats. To give him a roughly equivalent nutritional deal from a high end kibble w0uld cost about £50-£55 a month. A 90kg adult male Boerboel should cost about £70pcm on BARF whilst on kibble about £40 – £110 pcm depending on quality. It is bizarre that a product as good as EVO dog food isnt available here in the UK, it is probably as close to BARF in a kibble form as you can currently get.

Summary

It is my opinion that the BARF diet (or an adaptation of) is probably the single best thing you can do for the overall health, welfare and well being of your puppy/dog. It is a lot less hassle than you probably think and doesnt have to cost the earth, unless of course you choose to feed your dog filet mignon in which case, fair play to you and can I come too?

Wossa Burble?

A very nice part of owning a Boerboel puppy is just how bloody cute they are. They are chunky, have a lovely black mask, wrinkles, floppy ears, soft faces, softer fur and great big dewy puppy eyes. Because of this they attract a load of attention from everyone and even short walks can take two or three times longer than originally planned. This is not a complaint, this is wonderful, it is also an excellent opportunity for early puppy socialisation and a great way of meeting people in your neighbourhood who you may just have nodded at in the past.

Remember though, puppies are excitable and in the early stages of development have very little self control. They also have sharp, needle like teeth and they can nip, they can play rough, they can grab at their new fan’s clothes or they can urinate out of pure (over) excitement often over people’s feet. It is important then that you use these opportunities to teach your puppy how to behave in the presence of humans. It is also a marvellous opportunity to teach humans how to behave around dogs. MOST do not! In fact I would go so far as to say most humans are utterly clueless when it comes to dogs and sadly that includes many dog owners.

Always take with you high value treats for rewarding correct behaviour and a high value toy for distraction purposes. I like my dogs to feel comfortable and relaxed in the presence of humans, confident enough to approach a human without any timidity but not so interested that the human becomes a distraction that I, the owner need to work past in order to regain the interest of or control over my own dog. My adult dogs have always been taught to have a “take-em-or-leave-em” attitude to humans who have been invited to our home or who they encounter in other social situations like at the vet’s surgery or on long country walks. Humans who haven’t been invited into our home or on to our property… well… that’s a different matter.

As with most things in life and particularly where dogs are concerned, there is a balance to be had here. If you prevent a genuinely friendly puppy from making any kind of contact with a human there is a risk that frustration will build in the dog, frustration can lead to aggression and that aggression can be redirected at the handler. It can also lead to a “myth” being set up in the dog’s mind. You the owner may think you are keeping your energetic, bouncy, excited pup away from humans to keep them safe, to stop their clothes getting messed, to stop them getting jumped on, drooled on, whatever. The dog may think, “my owner is keeping me away from humans because there’s a problem with them”. On the other hand a completely laissez-faire approach may encourage your puppy to look to others, even strangers for its fun and excitement when YOU the owner should be the main focus of your pup’s attention. The balance then is between managing your pup’s excitement and allowing a sufficient amount and variety of scenarios and experiences in order to fully socialise your dog. It is up to you then, as the owner to take responsibility for teaching your puppy good manners and how to behave in all the situations they may encounter. There will be much more on this in later sections on; socialisation, pack structure and training.

New owners then will need to get used to total strangers stopping them in the street going… “Awwwwwwwwwwwww he’s so cuuuuuuuuute…. ummm… what is he? The exchange will then develop as follows… “He’s a Boerboel”, you will say helpfully, the person fussing over your puppy will then look up at you and say something along the lines of … “Eh? Wossa Burble then?”

Well…

According to wiki a Boerboel is a large mastiff dog breed from South Africa, bred for the purpose of guarding the homestead. This is only part of the story.

Baden Boerboels of South Africa puts it like this

The Boerboel is a family dog, often spending hours playing with the children and accepting the protection of the whole family as his duty and cares for all of them.

Our forefathers required the following from their Boerboel:

During the day the dog must go to the veldt with the children to guard the livestock. Whilst with them he should also catch them some lunch, probably a rabbit. He should also protect them against all danger including leopards. At night it was his duty to protect the entire family from any possible danger. The Boerboel is a well bred working dog, and they love working. A Boerboel is a loyal and devoted family guardian that loves children especially. They very seldom bark, but when they do you can be sure it is for a good reason. One of the early kennels said of its Boerboels that they were, “faithful, fearless, but not ferocious”. This sums up a well-bred Boerboel today just perfectly.

The modern Boerboel can be traced back to the mid 1600s and is usually associated with Jan van Riebeeck’s arrival as Commander of the Cape in 1652. It is believed he brought with him at least one Bullenbijter similar to the Bullenbeisser extinct now but having many similarities in both conformation and usage to the Alano Espanol or Dogo Argentino of today. The Bullenbijter would have been bred with other large dogs brought to the Cape by soldiers, explorers, pioneers, farmers and migrating tribes, some of which had very large, powerful hunting dogs, able to fight with lions. The hunter-farmer of the day would have paid no heed to looks, their dogs needed to have enormous stamina, great speed, the ability to track wounded prey and seize it, work cattle, protect the herd etc. They needed hard, fearless dogs for a hard uncompromising climate, to this end they bred good dogs with good dogs and

slowly the “Boer Boel” or “Farmer’s Dog” in Afrikaans emerged.

A Boerboel today is generally a very healthy and robust dog in part due to its genetic history but also due to the fact that in order to save it from extinction several breed associations were set up with the specific aim of strengthening the breed, widening the gene pool and reducing hereditary illnesses and other debilitating conditions. Boerboel International for example have an exacting set of conditions for breeders registered to their association. It is generally the case that you cannot breed your dog (and call your pups Boerboels) unless your dog is the offspring of registered parents AND your dog has been assessed by a qualified appraiser. SABBA/SABT appraisal criteria can be seen here and a typical appraisal sheet here.

So, a Boerboel is a big, strong, powerful, energetic, healthy, family friendly, working breed that’s great with kids. What’s not to like right?

Wrong!

THIS BREED IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.

A Boerboel is a people dog, the reason it is as good as it is in a family situation is that it requires human interaction and attention. Long periods of social isolation will lead to the pup/dog becoming destructive. If you cannot give this kind of dog the amount and level of attention it needs, do not, under any circumstances get one. Please.

A Boerboel needs an owner who is experienced with large powerful dogs who can tend towards dominance, stubbornness and protectiveness. If you are not experienced, if you do not tend towards assertiveness and you have no experience with dogs like Bullmastiffs, pitbulls, American Bulldogs, Rottweilers or bulldogs then for God’s sake dont get a Boerboel. Dont even think about getting a Boerboel.

A Boerboel is a working breed, their South African brethren work on farms all day every day, they have a great deal of stamina, energy and very often high prey drive. Unless you are capable of taking your (adult dog only, see section on exercise) Boerboel for a long walk of about 5k every single day come rain, snow, hail or shine AND you have the skills and knowledge required to challenge and channel your Boerboel’s prey drive DO NOT GET ONE.

Boerboels require a firm, consistent owner, many owners of large dogs seem to think that “firm” means you have to bark like a Sergeant Major, you do not, you merely need to convey to your dog that you will take no nonsense whilst ensuring your dog understands the rules. Those rules are firm, they do not change from day to day, if your dog is not allowed on the couch today it should not be allowed there tomorrow, if your dog is corrected for something today and not for the same thing tomorrow then he will quickly work out there is no consistency in his pack and work to his own set of rules, usually this leads to disaster (more on this under; training).

So, if you can give your puppy the time, respect and attention it needs. If you can challenge its attitude. If you can offer it the exercise and physical challenges it needs to fulfil its requirements as a working dog and if you can be a calm, confident, firm, assertive and consistent owner, your Boerboel will defend you, your family and your property quite literally to the death.

My pup is 17 weeks old, he is 25kg, his dad is 95kg, his mum 83kg, owning one of these magnificent animals is a massive pleasure, honour and privilege but it is also an absolutely massive responsibility. Think about that before thinking about getting a Boerboel.

Some Background

When my partner was diagnosed with MS in 2008, we decided, for a variety of reasons, to get her a pup and train him up to be her assistance dog. As her dog was going to be a combination of service/assistance/companion/ and stress busting guardian (we live in the country and I am very often out for long periods, leaving her alone in the house) we didn’t think the usual Lab or Golden Retriever type assistant was going to cut it. Against the advice of several trainers and service dog charities we went for a German Shepherd and I am very pleased to say that as an assistance dog he turned out to be absolutely bloody brilliant. He was easy to train, eager to learn new things, fiercely loyal, calm, gentle, sociable, a fantastic companion and good company/play mate for my own dog. From the moment he entered our lives he and my partner were pretty much inseparable. Unfortunately 6 months ago he got sick and 12 weeks ago, at 3 and a half years of age he passed away leaving my partner utterly devastated.

Seeing how much of a difference he had made to her life I suggested she should consider a new dog but this time of a different breed. Personally, I believe that the German Shepherd breed has (along with many others eg. CKCS, Bernese and Leonberger) been pretty much ruined by irresponsible breeders and irresponsible breed standards. Of course there are good examples out there and there are good working blood lines but they are, I’m sorry to say, as rare as rocking horse shit. We’re not in Higgs Boson territory but we’re getting there and I say this with a huge amount of sadness as a I am great admirer of the breed. I hope that the working lines are strengthened and the pitiful creatures often described as “half dog, half frog” are bred out.

My partner was understandably reluctant to agree to having another dog but eventually she relented and for a whole bunch of different reasons, many of which I hope will become obvious I suggested we got her a Boerboel. And that, essentially, is what this blog is all about. The Boerboel, Mastiffs, molossoids, giant breed dogs, bringing up a big puppy, feeding, BARF diet, exercise, training and the turning of a rambunctious, often obnoxious, powerful, independent, strong-willed, high drive, working line puppy into a calm, gentle, beautifully well-mannered, highly trained, 90 kg+ disability assistance dog and Ambassador for big dogs everywhere.

It will be a massive challenge but he comes from an impeccable bloodline, has been wonderfully well-bred, loves people, loves other dogs and seems, at this early stage at least, to enjoy training, well he loves getting treats and praise which at 17 weeks is pretty much the same thing. So this is a pic of our “little” Riley at 8 weeks.