Children vs Boerboel. Educate me, please

[Kathryn Averill-Cusello <3]

As a breeder of a considered "dangerous breed" I always thought it best  not encourage the introduction of their strength and what they are truly are capable of.  Instead they were raised with love, affection and respect. I believed this to be the recipe for success. This maynot be true. I don't know but as a mother of two small children believing in this gave me a sense of comfort.

My children have one of these beautiful pups at their dads house. Not sure how old but what I do know I hear from my children and that is the puppy is in a cage all day and night with a few hours in between to play outside, discipline consists of little taps and yelling. There's a lack of love and affection. This pup is also in protective training. I feel unsure with the lack of love, affection,and attention and hardly enough human interaction. 

Will this cause a problem with how they behave around with my children?  Will she become jealous of the children?

All things considered this pup knowing what shes capable of makes me want to learn more.

I'm interested in any and all information, education and or advice regarding this subject.

Thanks!

<3

[Marco]

Hello Kathryn, thanks for posting, and sorry for the delay in responding.  Any dog locked up in a crate all day will normally always create some type of behavior problems.  This can create some serious issues with a dominant dog breed such as the boerboel especially around children.    How much, and what type of training has been done? How old, and has the dog been fixed?  Just some things that can factor in on some behavior issues.  The children should always be supervised while with the dog in my opinion.  I am not trying to scare you but proper training, and socialization is a must.  Everyone in the family should know how to be around, and work with a dominate breed.  Definately do what you can to get involved.  Heres a great article to read about dealing with the dominant dog.  You can also find tons of other information there as well.  I wish you all the best, and please keep us updated!

[Kathryn Averill-Cusello <3]

Hello Marco,The dog is under a year old and probably will not be getting fixed. I'm pretty sure he will be using her for breeding. I'm not sure how much social interaction the pup gets but I do know she gets a lot of kennel time. Thank you so much for your input. The article was very helpful also. Feel free to send me anymore you may come across. I will keep you updated as I learn more. Thanks again. 

[Shamita Moodley]

Hi Kathryn

I also have 2 children (6yrs and 4yrs) and 2 boerboel pups (8months and 6 months) They are not caged but roam freely around the yard. They are given alot of love and attention and as a result they play very well with my children and are extremely protective over them also. But as you mentioned they are seen as a dangerous breed. I always believe that prevention is better than cure, so we do not allow our children to play with the dogs (ANY dog for that matter) unless supervised by an adult. From what I am experiencing, my dogs are not a jealous but the children do tend to irritate them sometimes and children are children and they do things without understanding. As an example, my 4 year old is tiny in size and thinks that she can sit ontop of the dogs or sometimes squeezes their heads with love. When the dogs are feeling hot and bothered (especially the female) then they tend to give a small growl. This is warning enough for me to give the dogs their space.

When dogs attack kids I do not believe that it is always the dog's fault as sometimes kids can be very annoying and my bet is that whenever a dog  attacked a child(in most cases) there was not an adult around. Also there will be the odd scratch or 2 as these gentle giants don't understand their size and like human kids when they are playing then they are playing.

So in conclusion I think that your kids will be fine with the dogs as long an adult is supervising. Boerboels are very sweet dogs and it is a pity that they are misread.