The Changing Shape of the Boerboel

by James Brennan

Why does the vast majority of the registered Boerboels today not resemble in any way the dogs who were gathered together by the Breed Founders to form this breed? Their vision was the preservation and development of the breed as the large mastiff breed that they had developed on the family farms of South Africa which, while substantial, was mobile, and athletic, yet big enough to be a manstopper when necessary. It was not a giant breed because giants are useless and incapable. It was the ultimate working mastiff, substantial and powerful; muscular; yet mobile and athletic; with a functional physical conformation that allowed it the stamina and strength to WORK in hot and difficult environments. It also had a temperament to match which is also rapidly disappearing and is absent from the vast majority of registered Boerboels but that is not the subject of this note.

I could post hundreds of pictures of giant, oversized, overboned, droopy, drooling, excessively skinned dogs but I cannot because their owners and breeders would take it as a personal attack on them which it is not. These dogs bear no resemblance to the original functional dogs introduced by the Founders of the Breed. They are to all intents and purposes a new breed, a random mastiff breed whose only function is to puff around a show or appraisal Ring and to snooze on the lawn. Why is this happening because it did not have to be this way? They are not an improvement but a clear signpost of the direction to the ultimate destruction of the authentic boerboel.

I have always bred boerboels to have the same functional physical conformation as the original dogs with the same original temperament. That was a choice, a deliberate choice, not an accident; just as changing the majority of the registered breed into an oversized, overboned, dysfunctional giant was a choice.

To illustrate examine the pictures below. They are two legends of the breed born in 1995, about 12 years after the original dogs were gathered into a breed with a Breed Standard so “Type” would then have settled down somewhat. It is also 20 years before today. It is also about 7 to 10 years before the rot in type really started. The pictures are of Roenard Martiens and Piona Lugar, two legends of the breed. Lugar had some genetic issues which caused him to pass on some negative issues to some of his offspring but his physical conformation was exactly what the founders were creating; that of a functional, powerful, large, athletic, and mobile working mastiff.

Roenard Martiens (born in 1995)

Clearly a large and powerful dog with excellent musculature for power and stamina. Also clearly capable of mobility and athleticism. Physically capable of manstopping? Definitely.

Coomore Hariri (Female, Born in 2006)
Great Grand Daughter of Roenard Martiens
Born 11 Years after Martiens:

Not much change in physical type. Still clearly a large and powerful dog with excellent musculature for power and stamina. Also clearly capable of mobility and athleticism. Physically capable of manstopping? Definitely.

Coomore Pharaoh (Male, Born in 2010)
Grand Son of Roenard Martiens
Born 15 Years after Martiens:

Not much change in physical type. Still clearly a large and powerful dog with excellent musculature for power and stamina. Also clearly capable of mobility and athleticism. Physically capable of manstopping? Definitely.

Coomore Akula (Male, Born in 2015)
Great Grand Son of Roenard Martiens
Born 20 Years after Martiens:

Very much the same physical conformation. Still clearly a large and powerful dog (but NOT a GIANT) with excellent musculature for power and stamina. Also clearly capable of mobility and athleticism. Physically capable of manstopping? Definitely

Why no significant change in Physical Conformation over 20 years? Because a choice was made to stay true to the Breed and its original functional type and capabilities. Absence of change and consistency of conformation does not happen by accident. Change to a dysfunctional, drooling slob does not happen by accident either. It happens by choice.

Why was the production of dysfunctional, drooling slobs deemed an improvement to the breed. Beats me! That change would surely not have been made if it was not deemed an improvement. Surely not?

Piona Lugar ( Born in 1995)

An early picture of Lugar. Clearly a large and powerful dog with excellent musculature, but NOT a GIANT. Also clearly athletic, fit and mobile. He weighed 50 Kilos. A very good working size.

Coomore Demir ( Born in 2015)

A young dog, very similar in type to Lugar but he is no relation. Staying true to the original functional conformational vision of the breed and maintaining consistency and integrity in the authentic functional physical conformation over the years can be done. You must just want to do it and choose to do it.

Why has the vast majority of registered Boerboels changed into a totally different and largely dysfunctional animal in working terms? Why does it look nothing like its ancestors? Why does that majority look like a totally different breed?

Clearly somebody thinks that that is an improvement.

James is one of the Boerboel breeders that I most admire. I have written about him before here and here. He breeds old-school working boerboels. All his Coomore dogs live together in a pack and he works with them every day in harsh terrain. I am thrilled to publish this article because he is a fantastic breed ambassador and has been breeding dogs for decades. 

The Boerboels I grew up with from the 1960s in South Africa were not like many of the ones that you see today. They were working dogs and they had to be functional – able to work all day every day in blistering heat and tough terrain. Nowadays many people breed for form and fashion rather than for function. When a breed becomes popular I think fashion definitely outweighs function, which is quite sad because the development of the German Shepherd has gone rapidly downhill in later years – from a proud working breed to a deformed looking show dog.  The German Shepherd that was the 2016 Best of Breed winner at Crufts was a disgrace. 

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Find a complete index of my Boerboel posts here