New Owner Question

[Paul Dang]

Hi, we have a 10.5 month old Boerboel Male. We are are completely in love with him. He puts all other dogs I have owned or met to shame in terms of personality and intelligence. We have a couple questions though, regarding his development. The Sire was 28" and 185lbs, his grand dad was 30" and 200, so I know he comes from a larger than average bloodline on his father's side. The Dame was 26" and 120lb and her dad was 26" and 157lbs.....our pup is about 125 lbs now (scale fluctuates 121 to 128) and we have not measured his height in a while. Is his weight in line with his age and bloodline? Also, at what age does the average Boerboel male stop growing in height? As I understand it, he will fill out till he is 2.5 to 3, and although he still looks gangly and out of proportion now I assume he will fill out considerably. Also, in terms of protective tendencies and that natural guarding instinct....when do they start exhibiting those qualities? Or is it that we have been fortunate enough not to have a situation in which he had to show it yet? I am assuming that at 10 months his testosterone has not kicked in and therefore the adult "weariness" and cautiousness and also that classic Boerboel muscular build will come with that, or should we be seeing that already? Thanks in advance.

[Savas Pilarinos]

Hi! I'll give my opinion even though I'm not 100% sure. I think your dog is quite big, and my guess is that he will go over 160 pounds. They start to fill out or get more muscle after 10 months of age. And fully grown at 2.5 years. 30"?? That's like a great dane... :/ (I might be wrong on that but I think 1" is 3 cm so he was like 90cm...?)  About height i don't really know, I would add maybe 2 more inches than he is at 10 months... 

You have to wait a little more for him to mature. I guess you mean he's more aware of his movement and causious? I think you will see it on his 2nd year. After 1.5 years old. 

Maybe others will give you better answers. Anyway. Take care! And have fun with your T-rex pup :)))

 

[Marcella Burgess]

Hello Paul,

 

Let's start by answering your questions one at a time;

1.  Is his weight in line with his age and bloodline?   You have not mentioned who his parents are... so going by bloodline information is a little bit difficult at this time.  However... typically the male puppy's within a litter take after their mother's phenotype and the female puppy's within the litter will take after the father's phenotype. Now there are always exceptions to this rule especially if your pup was a product of linebreeding or inbreeding.
2. Also, at what age does the average Boerboel male stop growing in height?  The majority of the boerboels height is gotten by 1 year of age, from there you may get another 1/2 inch to a full 1 inch more.. but not much than that. From there, you will have until he is 4 years old for him to add width, density and muscle definition to his structure.. you want to keep him LEAN as possible ( visibly see the last two ribs when standing still ) without any additional padding as his joints and growth plates will be hindered that much more with added unneeded bulk.. and remember that his growth plates do not close until about 18 - 24 months.
3.  Also, in terms of protective tendencies and that natural guarding instinct....when do they start exhibiting those qualities?  Some dogs NEVER do!  Some dogs has serious nerve issues that leads owners to think that they are VERY protective when in reality this is so far from the factual truth... Right now you have a young pup and all you need to be concerning yourself at his age is socializing in a positive light, and training in a social situation setting ( classroom with multiple other dogs )... Males tend to mature at a much later age than females and if correctly temperamented you will start to glimmer's of the puppy trying on his big boy shoes by the time he is about 2 years old..  this again however goes back to his lineage and how sharp or sweet his parents/grandparents were/are. Remember also that boerboels are not bred to be overtly aggressive and until there is a REAL reason in the dog's mind.. there is no issue to deal with... they are very intelligent dogs for the most part.

Hope this helps

Marcella

 

[Paul Dang]

Thanks for the reply....so he is 10.5 months now and we should start seeing him fill out now, he is definitely starting to get that muscle in the last month but i was just curious about the height issue, I am deployed right now and my wife has not measured him at the withers, she thinks around 26 inches at the moment... I think he is doing well though, so another 2 inches is about what we should expect? I know what you mean about the 30" grand dad..I was shocked too, but then I saw pictures of him and all the awards he won as a Int' champion, ridiculously large Boerboel.

Savas Pilarinos said:

 

Hi! I'll give my opinion even though I'm not 100% sure. I think your dog is quite big, and my guess is that he will go over 160 pounds. They start to fill out or get more muscle after 10 months of age. And fully grown at 2.5 years. 30"?? That's like a great dane... :/ (I might be wrong on that but I think 1" is 3 cm so he was like 90cm...?)  About height i don't really know, I would add maybe 2 more inches than he is at 10 months... 

 

You have to wait a little more for him to mature. I guess you mean he's more aware of his movement and causious? I think you will see it on his 2nd year. After 1.5 years old. 

Maybe others will give you better answers. Anyway. Take care! And have fun with your T-rex pup :)))

 

[Paul Dang]

thanks for the info, his parents were ZSA ZSA and Leonidas Maximus from Meyer Blue Kennels (www.meyerbluekennels.com), Leonidas's father was a very impressive Boerboel with multiple wins in shows, one of the finest looking dogs i have ever seen. So I found it interesting what you said about the temperament issues....some dogs seem very protective but are in fact suffering from separation anxiety or nervousness? You're right, he is very young and we socialize him with dogs and kids on a daily basis....but he always seems a little weary or judgmental of men according to my wife, which I guess is a good sign, not aggressive...just cautious. I had a nother question for you regarding tripe, i was going to buy some frozen tripe online but then i found a much cheaper solution....canned tripett from doggiefood.com...any thoughts? i was going to incorporate it with his raw diet of whole tilapia, turkey necks, cut up whole chicken, and chicken livers,gizzards and hearts. I figure he is going to need the enzymes since we are switching him from orijen and blue buffalo (we tried raw earlier but i dont thnik we were doing right or maybe we didnt let him adjust properly because his stools were loose and unpredictable)

Marcella Burgess said:

Hello Paul,

 

 

Let's start by answering your questions one at a time;

1.  Is his weight in line with his age and bloodline?   You have not mentioned who his parents are... so going by bloodline information is a little bit difficult at this time.  However... typically the male puppy's within a litter take after their mother's phenotype and the female puppy's within the litter will take after the father's phenotype. Now there are always exceptions to this rule especially if your pup was a product of linebreeding or inbreeding.
2. Also, at what age does the average Boerboel male stop growing in height?  The majority of the boerboels height is gotten by 1 year of age, from there you may get another 1/2 inch to a full 1 inch more.. but not much than that. From there, you will have until he is 4 years old for him to add width, density and muscle definition to his structure.. you want to keep him LEAN as possible ( visibly see the last two ribs when standing still ) without any additional padding as his joints and growth plates will be hindered that much more with added unneeded bulk.. and remember that his growth plates do not close until about 18 - 24 months.
3.  Also, in terms of protective tendencies and that natural guarding instinct....when do they start exhibiting those qualities?  Some dogs NEVER do!  Some dogs has serious nerve issues that leads owners to think that they are VERY protective when in reality this is so far from the factual truth... Right now you have a young pup and all you need to be concerning yourself at his age is socializing in a positive light, and training in a social situation setting ( classroom with multiple other dogs )... Males tend to mature at a much later age than females and if correctly temperamented you will start to glimmer's of the puppy trying on his big boy shoes by the time he is about 2 years old..  this again however goes back to his lineage and how sharp or sweet his parents/grandparents were/are. Remember also that boerboels are not bred to be overtly aggressive and until there is a REAL reason in the dog's mind.. there is no issue to deal with... they are very intelligent dogs for the most part.

Hope this helps

Marcella

 

[Marcella Burgess]

Hi again,

 

Yes, Leonadis from what I understand is a larger than life dog! In all sense of the words!!!

Regarding your question of buying canned tripe.. DON'T waste your money... it is all garbage.. get the good stuff.. GREEN TRIPE.. find an abatoir near to you and make arrangements to get some on a weekly basis...

As per your comment of "  (we tried raw earlier but i dont thnik we were doing right or maybe we didnt let him adjust properly because his stools were loose and unpredictable)"   I would automatically assume you did not have enough bone incorporated into his diet... the ratio that you NEED to follow is either one of the following ; 60% muscle meat, 30% bone, 10% fruits/veggies... or 70% muscle meat - 30% bone ratio... if too much bone- dog will become constipated.... if too little bone - dog will have loose stools.

hth

Marcella

 

[Paul Dang]

yup, with leonidas, his gigantic father Venita's Byeboer, and on the mom's side Madala's Dopper (amazing physique) in Tony's bloodline we are expecting a very impressive outcome, he is already showing so much resemblance to Leonidas. So about the canned green tripe...i knew it had to be good to be true, dammit it would have been so convenient too, oh well, looks like we will have to get the frozen variety and swallow all the shipping and dry ice costs till we can find a local fresh supply. Also, I do remember us feeding mostly flesh meat like skinless breast and ground beef....not enough organ and bone, this time we will go for more necks and backs and less flesh. thanks.

Marcella Burgess said:

Hi again,

 

 

Yes, Leonadis from what I understand is a larger than life dog! In all sense of the words!!!

 

Regarding your question of buying canned tripe.. DON'T waste your money... it is all garbage.. get the good stuff.. GREEN TRIPE.. find an abatoir near to you and make arrangements to get some on a weekly basis...

 

As per your comment of "  (we tried raw earlier but i dont thnik we were doing right or maybe we didnt let him adjust properly because his stools were loose and unpredictable)"   I would automatically assume you did not have enough bone incorporated into his diet... the ratio that you NEED to follow is either one of the following ; 60% muscle meat, 30% bone, 10% fruits/veggies... or 70% muscle meat - 30% bone ratio... if too much bone- dog will become constipated.... if too little bone - dog will have loose stools.

hth

Marcella

 

[Marco]

Theres also a transition period a dog goes through from kibble to raw that can cause loose stool, right?

[Paul Dang]

as i understand it , yes, so with all these factors in play the best course of action i think is patience and consistency, ill post the results starting tuesday, he'll be going off an orijen large breed puppy and blue buffalo fish and sweet potato mix and starting a strictly raw diet (turkey necks, whole chickens, beef liver, and whole tilapia or sardines) supplemented with green tripe and some pumpkin (apparently it helps with stool consistency) plus we give him a complete multivitamin from Nuvet labs and also glucosamine and chondroiton tablets.

[Marcella Burgess]

yes there CAN be a transistionary period... but this does not last long... and like i said previously... just make sure that you have 70 - 30 muscle meat to bone... even overdoing liver and kidney is not a good idea... this will cause loose stools also.  The only reason that I give pumpkin is to help with loose stool issues.. other wise.. our menu consists of  chicken carcas's for one feeding and the other feeding is the muscle meat... if we have left over veggies or fruit at some point in time then it is cooked down or juiced and poured over the top of the food...  we also use fish oil from time to time...

one last little thing to mention here... and this is just MY PERSONAL OPINION.... we no longer supplement BECAUSE we feed a complete raw diet!

[Oshile Olayinka]

hey,am on my way out/