Pups born on 19-01-2012
4 males and 2 females
About us
In 2000 we first came in contact with the Boerboel in South Africa during work. We were very impressed by the calm, confident and impressive dogs. After having visited several breeders we decided to import a Boerboel, Marvell Betyar. Betyar was not the perfect breeding dog but he had stolen our hearts. After several visits to South Africa, we decided to import our first bitch, Jura Nabila Niobe. With Niobe the first Bavana's Pride Boerboel pups were born in 2008.
The love of the Boerboel is still growing and growing. We attended several courses such as SABT breedercourse, BBI breeder training, nutrition, naturopathy, KK1, conduct training, etc. Besides this, we spend much time in following seminars and lectures related to genetics, evolution of behavior and nutrition.
Our kennel name is derived from 'Bafana Bafana which probably sounds familiar in many ears after the World Cup in 2011. It means "our boys". Given that Africa as a continent has captured our hearts we felt it appropriate to have our kennel name with an African touch.
Our plans for the kennel
We strive to breed beautiful, healthy and reliable Boerboels. For this we will keep on importing and selecting dogs.
Enjoy our website!
The Boerboel
The Boerboel is an impressive, big, strong dog and is a friend for life. The ideal height for a male is 66 cm and weight between 55 and 70 pounds. For a female the ideal size is 61 cm and weight between 45 and 60 pounds.
The Boerboel is the only breed that is bred to guard and protect without being aggressive. The Boerboel is friendly, calm, reliable and an intelligent guard dog that also has good instincts features. They will protect your home, family and friends with their lives.
If you are not home they will not let anybody in except those they know well. The Boerboel basically has little trouble with people who often show up here. However, if the people are unknown they will closely observe them.
The Boerboel does not only accepts one leader, but accepts the whole family as his leader. It is a courageous dog that is hard for himself and he will go through fire for his own family. The Boerboel is absolutely not a kennel dog. When you have the Boerboel kept in a kennel you are not taken into account his need for attention and companionship. The Boerboel needs to be part of the family. The Boerboel is not fully grown until 2 ½ - 3 years both physically and mentally.
Raising the Boerboel is not one of the easiest tasks. It is certainly not a dog for a beginner. Like other breeds, the Boerboel benefit from a positive, honest and clear leadership. To properly socialize the Boerboel you need quite some time. The Boerboel must be ,in today's society, well adapted. This does not mean that if you properly socialize your Boerboel, you're doing him a favour to take him to the city or market. The Boerboel is very intelligent and very inquisitive and loves to do things with the owner / family.
The Black Boerboel
The black color was always part of the Boerboel breed.
This popularity of the black dog in those years could in part be ascribed to good breeders concentrating on black dogs and therefore the progeny of his dogs would dominate in that area. What is very important though is that the local indigenous population had a very deep rooted fear of black dogs because of ancestral beliefs. To this day the black guard dog is very important to the remote farmers that are prone to farm attacks. Throughout the world the black color is the most popular color for a guard dog. The obvious benefit of the fact that you cannot see the black dog at night makes it the logical color for a guard dog. Breeds like the German shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman, etc, illustrate this point.
The quality of the black Boerboel compares very favorably with the rest of the Boerboel population. Because the black dogs are almost still farm dogs, they tend to look more like the working dogs of 20 years ago. That usually means an athletic dog slightly higher on the leg and less muscled than the present day high scoring Boerboel.
The overwhelming advantage of the black dog is of course the fact that you could not see him at night. The advantage of the great fear that some people have of black dogs was mentioned as well. In the African sun, pigmentation is very important. Breeders are always trying to improve the skin pigmentation of their dogs to prevent sunburn on the nose etc. In the black dog that is of course not a problem. The skin is totally pigmented except where you find a white spot that sometimes goes as deep as the skin itself. Whether any Boerboel breeder intends breeding with the black dogs or not,
it is very important that we unite our efforts to get the black dog recognized and registered and thereby assuring the future of the black Boerboel. Bavana's Pride Boerboele is actively going to help to assure the future of the black Boerboel!
Jura Layla (alias Nabila Niobe)
Born: 08-06-2004
Jura Flash x Marvell Ben
SABT: 85.4% Stud register
HD: A/A
ED: 0/0
Entropion/ectropion: free
Prolaps: free
The combination of Jura Flash (SABT 84%) en Marvell Ben (SABT 82.6%) has produced a very special litter. The influences of Van der Bijl Bullet and the well known Tovic-line are well combined in Niobe. Niobe has good muscles, is very athletic and compact. Her character is as a Boerboel should be, very self-assured, protective towards her own family and a good guard dog when she is alone. Strange people who see her walk are immediately impressed by her appearance, movement and looks. That this combination was very successful also appears from the fact that her brother became champion of the Province in South Africa.
Click the picture to enlarge the images
Bavana's Pride Asante
Born: 02-01-2008
Jura Layla x Raco Bandit
SABT: 83%
BBI:?
HD: B/B
Asante is the daughter of Niobe and is a very female like Boerboel. She is very compact and agile and has very good movement. She is easy going and is a good guard dog. She is muscular and athletically built with good muscle and good bone structure.
Bavana's Pride Bahiya
Born: 27-11-2008
Jura Layla X Lionheart Wolfman Jack
BBI:??
SABT: 77.8%
Bahiya is also a daughter of Niobe and thus a half sister of Asante. Bahiya is also a very female like and is even more agile and athletic then her half-sister Asante. Her movement is also very good and she is very mkuscualr and agile. Besides this she is also a good guard dog.
Bahiya is wearier towards strangers and needs some time to accept strange people to pet her for example. Although she has a strong personality, she is best friends of her family and familiar people.
Lundie Olivia Fouchee
Born: 27-02-2007
Bullet Nina X Middelpos Simson
SABT: 89.4 %
Middelpos Simson is the sun of Nostras Middelpos Janus (SABT 88.2%).Bullet Nina is a daughter of Avontuur Anton and her mother is a daughter of Nostradamus Jock (SABT 89.6%). In the line following is a daughter of Venitas Tom Tom (SABT 86.7%) and a son of Bankfontein Maybee (SABT 87%). These well known successful dogs in the pedigree of Olivia, makes Olivia a high quality female.
Olivia is a large female with good movement and spectacular looks. Her good and self assured character in combination with her great looks and health and good bloodline makes her a real asset for our kennel.
Middelpos Koos
Born: 02-05-2008
Middelpos Zeranti X Welbekend Kojack
SABT: 83.6% (at 1.5 jaar)
BBI: ??
Pennhip: left: 0.52, right: 0.55
No signs of DJD
The covering of Welbekend Kojack (SABT 87%) with Middelpos Zeranti (SABT 85.7%) has turned into a great litter. Welbekend Kojack is known of producing some of the world most outstanding Boerboels and in combination with Zeranti he again produced a very beautiful male.
Middelpos Koos is in height an average dog, but he has an incredible head, chest and shoulders. He is the perfect male to get more substance and compensation of heads, shoulders and chest. Koos has a lot of strong points however one of his biggest assets is his character. He is just like his father not dominant. He is easy to deal with and loves to work for you.
Bavana's Pride Eros
Born: 23-04-2010
Middelpos Koos x Spitsvuur She Jam
Sabt: 83.4% (at 14 months old)
BBI: ?
Pennhip: left: 0.44, right: 0.44
No signs od DJD
The combination of Middelpos Koos and Spitsvuur She Jam has given us a promising litter. Eros is just like his father very compact and in height average. However he has the head, shoulders and chest of his father. He is of course very young and needs to fully grown into himself, but he looks very promising with the great assets of both his parents. Eros attends training and he loves working for you. He is a happy and open male and loves attention. We hope he can strongly contribute to your kennel.
At this moment we have two young dogs for our kennel
Nutrition
Often a difficult issue for many people: both food for humans and animals. We are very interested in both. We feed our dogs BARF, which stands for Bones and Raw Food (or Biological Appropriate Raw Food). Why you may wonder, since there are already so many types of kibble on the market.
The two main reasons are as follows:
1) The dog is about 10,000 to 14,000 years ago domesticated by our early ancestors. This is in evolutionary time frame a short time. You can actually say that a dog still walks with one paw in nature. Of course everyone sees the difference between the wolf (the ancestor of the dog) and our current dog. By our selection and domestication many different races were born and they all differ in appearance from the wolf. However, on some points dogs are almost identical to wolves. Dogs are carnivores (and so is the wolf), meaning they are supposed to eat raw meat, bones etc. Secondly, they have scissor teeth meaning they are supposed to pull and tear. Third, the intestinal track of a dog is nearly identical to that of the wolf. Our point of view is why would you want your dog to eat something artificial (pellet) when they are supposed to eat bones and other raw food?
2) About 70 years ago kibble was introduced by major food companies. Since they came up with mountains of garbage there were some smart guys who came up with the idea to turn the leftovers into pet food. It was perfect, the waste products and leftovers were reduced and you could sell it for huge profits.
But how did these smart guys exactly know which ingredients should be in dog food? Exactly, they looked at what wolves ate and they tried to imitate the ingredients artificial in the kibble. With much trial and error kibble has become as we know it today. Artificial food that a natural carnivore is not supposed to eat.
Our interest in nutrition, digestion and excretion of the residues goes pretty far. Our simplistic view is that we look at the evolutionary position on what an animal should eat, so where the body is built for .With these natural ingredients your dog is getting exactly what he/she needs and will therefore perform best.
BARF
BARF consists of raw meaty bones, meat, organ meat and some vegetables / fruits. The concept of BARF is that everything is raw and not to give complete meals every day, but to spread all the necessary ingredients for over for example one week. Our dogs eat for example hare, rabbit, chicken, duck, goose, lamb ribs, raw tripe, heart, liver, etc. They must therefore use their teeth to tear and pull. Just because they have to pull, tear and chew, they dont have tartar on their teeth, which is one of the negative things of feeding kibble.
Puppies and BARF
As you may understand we wean our puppies of course not on soaked kibble or porridge. The reason is probably now clear. Puppies simply are not supposed to eat this. If you feed this to pups, the pups will get a lot fatter then for example pups who are weaned on BARF. Pups who are weaned on kibble look quite fatty, people also affectionately call it quite often puppy fat, but it is unhealthy and puts considerable pressure on the digestive system of the puppy.
We wean our puppies (according to many very late) when they are around 3 ½ to 4 weeks. Until then, they only get milk. We have never been bothered by bitches who do not have enough milk. Our bitch Niobe, for example, gave milk to her 13 puppies for 4 weeks with ease. For many, this is surprising because many breeders begin a lot earlier with weaning. The reason why we do this is actually also quite simple. The intestines are not fully closed when the pups are born, which means that there are small porous holes in the intestinal wall. After about 3 ½ to 4 weeks the holes close and the pups are actually ready to digest solid food. The risk of allergic diseases later in life is much increased when you start with solid foods before this time. That this is true not only for dogs but for most species (including humans) has been proved again in a recent study which was published in 2010 in the USA. The study was conducted among a population of chimpanzees and the effects of early weaning in relation to allergies and chronic diarrhea. The results showed again what is mentioned above.
As said, we wean our puppies around 3 ½ to 4 weeks, and the first time they get a solid meal it consists of raw muscle meat. From that day on we increase and vary their food . We start with chicken necks so they can learn to start chewing. If the pups are around 8 weeks and are ready to go to their new owners, they can already eat duck parts, rabbit, pieces of tribe, chicken carcass etc
Past and future
When we started about 10 years ago, the BARF diet was not really well known. The dog kibble was very popular. However, if we look back we certainly see a trend towards awareness for healthier eating. Both for humans and animals. BARF is gradually becoming an established concept. Not because as some will say its just a hype, but rather because people live more consciously and watch what they and their pet are eating. Also if we look at the number of requests we get from people to help switch them over to the BARF menu, we can see a trend. When we started we got about 1 or 2 requests per week, now we get at least 1 to 2 requests per day. Both individuals and kennels national and internationally are asking for help to switch from kibble to BARF. A diet that we stand 100% behind and therefore highly recommend.
You can always contact us regarding the BARF diet!
Development and raising of the Boerboel
In recent years more and more people are asking about the character of the Boerboel. We regularly get phone calls of people telling us that the Boerboel is still used to catch lions in Africa, that they are fighting machines, they attack anything they see, etc. Nothing is further from the truth.
Most people / breeders who know the true nature of the Boerboel will say that the Boerboel is their best friend and that there is no better watchdog. What exactly is the character of the Boerboel?
A Boerboel is manageable, reliable, obedient and intelligent with a strong protection instinct. Also the Boerboel is self-assured. Boerboels that are uncontrollable fearful or aggressive are not accepted.
Genes and behavior
If we just move briefly deeper in to the matter, it appears that natural genetic predisposition play part in the behavior of our dogs. Each race is genetically predisposed to certain traits. The Boerboel has a strong protection instinct, but how these traits inherit is also important. You have monogenic inheritance, polygenic inheritance and multifactorial inheritance. The character of the dog is often the result of multifactorial inheritance.
What does this mean exactly? It means that the dog has a genetic predisposition for behavior, but environmental conditions (including education) are kneading this behavior to the present form. Returning to the Boerboel with such strong protection instincts, you could say The Boerboel is genetically built "to protect the family," but we humans have to mold this behavior into a shape so we (and our surroundings) find it acceptable.
Many behaviors are inherited, however the degree of heritability can vary from very small to very large and this is important to know. We are often told that the Boerboel is aggressive or even an entire line is aggressive. Aggression seems to have a rather low heritability factor and it is multifactorial as mentioned above. On all other behaviors in a line that people label as undesirable, as long as no patterns of inheritance has been established and it is not clear whether monogenic or multifactorial inheritage plays parts we cant say much useful about it.
Should there be monogenic inheritance, molecular genetics can point out the carriers of these genetic unwanted behaviors (of course it will take a lot of time to research this). However, does the unwanted behavior inherited mulitfactorial, it is impossible to develop a molecular test. This is obviously all a bit too easy, but maybe you are now more aware that behavior is a complex matter.
Education
Well, how does all this apply to raising a Boerboel. Hopefully it is now clear that the Boerboel has genetically determined behavior. Otherwise, for example, the behavioral standards of the Boerboel could never be written, it is breed specific and breed-dependable.
How the Boerboel develops its genetic behavior, is up to the breeder and for a big part up to the new owner. It depends thus on the raising of the Boerboel. Because of this you will also notice that one Boerboel follows the owner, another is pulling, another is growling or attacking everyone he/she sees etc. It's too much to treat everything, but every Boerboel develops differently because he / she is getting a different upbringing. The raising of a Boerboel is not an easy task and there must be a lot of time and energy put in to it, if you want a good end result. It ultimately depends on what you want to do with your Boerboel. We know many people who just have their Boerboel running on their own property. They guard very well, but if the owners say that they have to stop then they follow up on that. If they do not come for a hug, are these dogs then not social? Maybe even aggressive? No, these dogs are raised like this and they dont know better. We also know people who put their Boerboel in a shop, strange people come into the store but she finds it ok and is very relaxed about it. Why? Because she is trained like this. As you can see, it could go either way.
But there are also many people who take a Boerboel and dont have any idea what they are doing and this is often asking for trouble. The Boerboel is put to sleep, or is brought to a shelter. Often through not correct training of the Boerboel. An understanding of dog behavior and standing firmly in your shoes, is a must if you want to buy a Boerboel.
And of courses attending training classes with your Boerboel is very informative and fun!
A pup from Bavana's Pride Boerboele
Once the pups are born, we will contact the new owners. The first three weeks, the mother needs absolute rest and no visits will be allowed. Only after the third week, the new owners can come to admire the pups. Of course the new owners will receive updates and pictures during this time.
After 3 weeks, the pups occasionally explore the world outside.
On sunny days the pups are allowed to go outside when they are around 4 week sold, During this time, the pups gain much experience and we will assist as much as possible. The pups will learn a lot foreign sounds and objects. Also the pups, after their first inoculation, will go for walks on the leash, visiting the forest, school, market and driving is also a regular activity. Around 8 weeks, the puppy can go to their new owner. In the weeks before they leave, the characters of the pups properly analyzed . Together with the new owner a suitable pup will be picked.
What can you expect from us as a future owner:
Without prior consent from us as a breeder, no dog from our kennel may change hands. If you are not longer able to care for your Boerboel (for whatever reason), then please contact us. Together, we will find a solution and if necessary take the dog back.
What we expect at least from the new owner:
If new owners do not comply at least with these issues mentioned above then we unfortunately cannot give a pup.
