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Date Posted: 21:57:36 12/26/10 Sun
Author: JennyW
Subject: A few harsh words and home truths

Before I start, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year and point out that this post is not directed at anyone in particular, just a collection of thoughts that have been preying on my mind over the last year. A New Year approaches so let's air them. You may of course agree or disagree with my views I don't really care either way as long as you stop and think a while about where this breed is and where it's headed under your own plans.

I guess this will offend many people, piss of a few very badly and crush a few egos, if you're one of those, too bad! Do your own post on this forum and tell it your own way. This is mine and I'm going to kick some ass!



Breeders:

New Breeders (or wannabees).

Suddenly everyone's a breeder. A lot of what I'm seeing are crass commercial ventures dressed up as "improving the breed". Yeah right, what makes you think you can improve the breed? What makes you any different to those that just want to buy dogs to breed from regardless of anything other than how many puppies they can have and how much they can charge for them? Just how qualified are you to improve the breed when you've owned a dog of any particular breed for only one or two years? What are you personally bringing to the party?

I see more and more owners buying one puppy as a pet and then within a very short time buying more and more and all of a sudden they are a "breeder" with a kennel name, website and all the accessories. Zero to breeder in under 2 years? Worse, I see new owners wanting to buy "ready made" adult dogs purely to breed from. This is a phenomenon unique to this breed, it doesn't happen in any other breed I have ever known and I would suggest it is one of the keys to the poor and worsening state of this breed. Too many dogs being bred by too many people who have little or no experience or knowledge of how to breed dogs. People like me 8 years ago who thought experience in another breed gave them a head start. I soon realised it doesn't, this breed is nothing like any other breed you have ever known and it takes years to get a handle on it.

Genetics? Oh yes, everyone's an expert, they've read it on the internet or heard it somewhere and know all the right words but haven't a bloody clue how it works or what it means to the dogs they breed or intend to breed.

The fact is until you have lived closely with a member of a breed to maturity and into old age, you don't know a breed. Until you have put in thousands of hours of research and study, you don't understand genetics. Until you have reared and successfully raised a number of dogs in a breed, you don't know what you are doing. Unless you have a real purpose in mind when you breed, you are just adding to the burden of average and below par dogs in this breed and there are far, far too many of those already.
I would suggest you do a 5 year apprenticeship in the breed before even contemplating breeding and only then if you have a superior dog and an experienced breeder willing to mentor you. In the meantime you should enjoy exploring the capabilities of these dogs and appreciate them for their companionship, loyalty and sheer joy of ownership. Leave breeding until you can give it your best, there's no race and no cup for being yet another breeder to breed a litter of average dogs.

Now to the other side of the same coin - established breeders.

What are you thinking? Some of you are selling dogs to totally unsuitable homes and you are selling totally unsuitable dogs for breeding. You are selling dogs to people that have no idea what they are getting themselves into and misrepresenting these dogs. You are saturating the breed with crap dogs and telling people they are getting breeding dogs at 8 weeks old. Come on, you know as well as I do that we are lucky to get one potentially good dog out of a litter by the time it is mature, let alone whole litters. Get real, you don't know how a pup will turn out or whether it will be good enough to breed at maturity, if you did, you'd keep it, not sell it to a newbie owner who is more likely than not to ruin it. Take some responsibility for the future of these dogs and this breed and if you sell a dog for breeding to a novice be prepared to stay involved and give back your time and experience. In most cases this breed has earned you a good income and you owe it, not the other way around.

Everyone needs to ask themselves, if someone broke into your place and sterilised all your dogs tonight, how many of them would you keep? One? Two? If that's the case, you don't love these dogs, you love the money and kudos they bring you. Don't wrap it up in "improving the breed" or "for the love of the breed" it's something else completely, more like "for the love of the greed" and "improving the bank balance".



Puppy and dog buyers.

Please stop being misled. Stop and ask yourself why you want a breed bred to protect and work under harsh circumstances. If that isn't what you want or need, get another breed, don't be part of creating a market for incorrect dogs bred to suit you. That is a bastardisation of a historic breed and makes a mockery of everything a Boerboel should be.

Be prepared to commit to your dog and expect it to give you some hard lessons. These are not Labradoodles or any other designer breed, they are a whole heap of trouble waiting to happen if you let it. They are also the most rewarding and loyal dog you can own if you get a good one and put the work in, but don't let anyone tell you they are easy.

Don't buy a dog on looks and appraisal scores (see below).

Be aware that most commercial breeders will not sell you a good adult dog that they think will breed good puppies UNLESS you pay more than they can make out of the dog in 3 litters or more. Why would they? Good dogs are very rarely for sale unless there is a very good reason. Dogs with problems are often for sale at quite extortionate prices, make sure you know what you are getting and get it in writing with money back guarantees. Good breeding dogs are like hens teeth and worth their weight in gold IF you can find them. Ask yourself why? Because of constant bad breeding by too many people this breed is a mess and there is no consistency in type, health or temperament. No-one can tell you what a dog will produce and buying a puppy is a lottery, that's why a lot of people won't take the chance on buying and rearing a puppy for breeding and want adult dogs, it's the only sure way to know what you are getting. How you are going to change this when you don't know how the dog developed, what issues it may have gone through as a puppy and little about its parents or grandparents. That's what you face as a breeder and you need a plan to change it over many, many years to break the cycle.



Appraisal Scores ( also known as the Holy Grail)

I have to ask why some highly appraised dogs have such poor or disfunctional conformation? An appraisal score is supposed to represent an assessment of conformation and breed type. If it does, it doesn't explain why dogs with classic conformation faults still get high scores or why no two appraisers can reach the same opinion on something in plain sight in front of them. I had a dog appraised twice this year by two different appraisers, the final score was almost identical but more than 20% of the items on the list were scored differently by each appraiser. I can't explain that. Same dog, nothing had changed, yet two appraisers saw two different things on 15 points. The appraisers may as well just give a final score and be done with it as the actual conformation point system doesn't seem to make much sense. I've seen dogs with very, very straight stifles be given "correct" for hind quarter angulation and those with far better given "acceptable". I've seen two dogs completely different on the same point be given the same score for that point. I've seen dogs almost disqualified over one aspect being given top score for it the next time. "Acceptable" seems to be the default score in most things now and "acceptable" means not good enough. The score sheets make about as much sense to me as modern art, nice colours but no basis in fact and not a true representation of real life. Buying a dog on an appraisal score is a nonsense and you won't get what you wanted or thought you wanted. A dog is a whole being that should be cherished for its character, what it can do and how it does it. Sure, it needs good conformation to do that but an appraisal score won't tell you the important things and what it does tell you is not necessarily true.

Some people hold the appraisal system up as "the saving grace" of this breed. It isn't, it's the downfall. If we didn't have an appraisal system, people wouldn't chase scores and less people would breed Boerboels. The appraisal systems have not protected this breed, they have provided a reason to breed it and a sales tool to sell puppies. Many people that had no intention of breeding from their dogs go to an appraisal, get a passing score and all of a sudden feel that they have a "good breeding dog" on their hands and hey presto another breeder is born.
To be of any value to the breed an appraisal has to be consistent, hard to pass and discriminate against poor quality and serious and damaging faults. Only the top 10-15% should pass, not 95%+ as now. It also has to find a way of measuring the whole dog and include the unseen as well as the seen aspects. Until then it's just fancy packaging on damaged goods. We should treat them the same as shows, a bit of fun and fluff and not the basis of a breeding program.



After 7 or 8 years I'm no expert on this breed but I do genuinely love these dogs and want to see them better than they are. It grieves me to see them abused and exploited, locked up, chained and turned into breeding slaves to serve a market that doesn't appreciate them for what they are and what they are capable of. I am having a real hard look at this breed and it's future and it's not looking rosy. If you truly care about this breed you should do the same.

I've said some hard things here, not because I want to upset anyone and quite possibly this will not do me any good personally, but I never did crave popularity, just good dogs and to breed better.

Jenny Wells
QuoVadis Boerboels

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