Page 67 - ShowSight Express, January 7 2021
P. 67

and carting dog. Through its ancestral lineages, the British created the breed we know today as the Mastiff, or English Mastiff. Art- work from the middle 1800s depicts a dog similar in scope to the Mastiff we know today, though not as heavy in bone or substance or with the same head dimensions.
During and immediately after World War I, the breed’s need for substantial amounts of nutrition (that could otherwise go to feed hungry people) almost caused its demise. By the 1920s, they were almost extinct. Fortunately, the breed had been exported to the US and Canada, and was popularized there. It was offspring from these dogs, in part, that served to repopulate the Mastiff breed in Eng- land post-World War I. During and immediately following World War II, the Mastiff again went through a period of decline. Again, stock from North America, primarily Canada, provided a rebirth. The post-World War II gene pool of Mastiffs that continued on into today’s pedigrees consisted of 14-16 dogs. Contributing to that very small gene pool was a French Dogue de Bordeaux bitch imported to the US in 1959 and registered as a Mastiff.
The Mastiff of today is known as a gentle companion, albeit still vigilant of its people and property. Compared with Mastiffs from the first half of the 20th century, today’s breed has, on the whole, greater substance and a shorter head length. Although some mem- bers of the breed participate in performance sports, their popularity in these domains is not as significant as it is with other breeds. There are no formal performance recognition programs by the parent club and simulations of the prior types of work are also not available.
A Mastiff-type dog was brought to the Cape area of South Africa in the mid-1600s to protect a family, their belongings, and land from unknown dangers. During a migration in the early-to- mid 1800s, these Boer dogs were distributed all over the area that
came to be known as South Africa. Breeding with native dogs and in-breeding led to the early development of a tough, strong dog, renowned for its loyalty, obedience, strength, protective nature, and its intensity. This dog eventually came to be known as the Boerboel, which derives from the South African Afrikaans words meaning farmer (boer) and bulldog (boelhond).
With the ending of the Second Boer war in mid-1902, the Boer- boel was cross-bred with the Bullmastiff and various long-legged Bulldog types brought by the British. This yielded a stronger and tougher dog. Again, in 1938, a Bullmastiff used to guard diamond mines was crossed with a Boerboel and the resultant offspring were instrumental in the continued development of the breed. In the early 1980s, two individuals began a search in South Africa for the original Boer dog. A very large search area was covered and yielded about 250 Boer dogs. Of these, 72 were found suitable for registra- tion. Due to various issues, the tumultuous history of South Africa has kept numbers of the breed to a low level. It wasn’t until 2006 that the Boerboel was included in the AKC’s Foundation Stock Ser- vice, with entry into the AKC Working Group made in 2015. The AKC registry was kept open until early 2020.
Comparison of existing photographs of current Boerboels in their country of origin and in the US demonstrates a dog that is the same on both continents. Photographs of earlier Boerboels show a dog much like that of today, though with the inclusion of more pie- balds. The breed is versatile and is titled in many of the disciplines available to AKC registered dogs, including farmwork.
I’ll look forward to your commentary and questions on this article, as well as the ones that follow in this series. Feel free to send your comments to info@aramediagroup.com or to me at jollytime- hounds@northstate.net.
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