Alice White
Boerboel is an athletic “fighter” with whom it is not scary to walk through the most disadvantaged areas and dark alleys. Capable of repelling any surprise attack in seconds, this fawn brutal is always alert and ready to defend his master 365 days a year. It will not work easy to get along with the Boerboel: this is a dog-personality that respects the owner not for beautiful eyes, but for real dignity. But if you still won his favor and trust, you can be sure – this is for life.
#1 Boerboels settled in Africa in the 17th century, but it is quite possible to trace their history.
It is believed that the ancestors of these severe dogs were European Molossians, who emigrated to the southern part of the African continent along with immigrants from the Scandinavian countries. As time went on, animals interbred with aboriginal breeds, as well as other dogs arriving on the mainland, which became a prerequisite for the birth of the Boerboel clan.
#2 At the beginning of the 19th century, the blood of English Bulldogs and Mastiffs was mixed into the phenotype of the breed.
The animals were brought with them by the British, who rushed to Cape Town to defend it from the encroachments of Napoleon. The Afrikaner farmers also made a modest contribution to the development of the working qualities of the Boerboels, who selected only the most assertive and aggressive individuals to protect their own farms. This made the Boerboel's first-class watchmen and bodyguards, capable of single-handedly fighting a whole group of burglars and other lovers of easy money.
#3 The 20th century brought with it widespread urbanization, and with it the oblivion of the breed.
Peasant farms collapsed, their owners moved with their belongings to the cramped suburbs, so the need for large dogs-bodyguards disappeared. Left to themselves, the animals slowly degenerated, so that by the 70s there would not have been a pair of purebred Boerboels in the vicinity of Cape Town.
