Arizona Boerboels

Ancestry of the Mastiff

The mastiff is believed to be decendants of the large Syrian dog. The South African boerboel (the South African Mastiff) has two main sources of genetic material, both stemming from the Syrian dog. The one source came via Holland in the 16th century and the other via Ethopia and Africa down to South Africa.

Boerboel versus Bullmastiff

Often new comers to the boerboel breed comment that the boerboel looks like a bull mastiff. For those people we do a search on for boerboels and bull mastiffs, randomly pick a few sites with pictures. We will then ask you to compare (1) the heads in both shape and size (isn't there a tendency for the bull mastiff to have small bulldog shaped heads?), (2) toplines, (3) pasterns, (4) angulation, (5) body volume and so on. If you want to see how they are different, pay close attention to the structural differences -- there are many.

Boerboels versus other Mastiffs

The boerboel was not exposed to other European dog breeds for as long as other mastiff breeds have been exposed to them. This is believed to be one of the reasons why the boerboel is structurally built better than the other mastiff breeds.

The boerboel appears to feature all the best attributes of the mastiff breeds like immense power combined with great faithfulness, physical stature combined with admirable tolerance and a temperament capable of placidity or ferocity, if its family is threatened. The boerboel breeding program is performance oriented. Breeding for solely handsomeness and a respect for heritage doesn't necessarily deliver functionality. This is what distinguishes the boerboel from the other mastiff dogs.

The English Mastiff is now bred for bulk rather than activity. Recently the Tibitan Mastiff's height requirements were increased by two inches. Is that why we see Tibetan Mastiffs in the shows that cannot gallop and why some of their lines now not even reach 7 years of age?