This is my favorite Dog !
Need I say more ?
I Love this f&^%ing dog !
Smartest, bravest, best nerves out here. He’s the only dog out here I won’t go to make a point with empty handed, and he’s the gentlest and most graceful around young kids, two or four legged; a lotta heart, a lotta grace… equals class.
He’s something special, he’s something to build on. More on him later, for now I just want to get some photos up.
Oz’s Penn hip ( exceptional also .28 .28 )
Oz at just over two.
2 years old
Ever wonder why dun with a black mask is the default color of so many creatures ?
Oz at 14 months
Oz at 14 months
Oz under a year here, all arms and legs. The Boerboel is an honest 160lb. good looking bastard, that I never used cause he’s not even close to right temperamentally or mentally ( he’s retarded )
Every time I look at the photo below I’m reminded of the earnest scolding I got from a well educated and worldy Turk in Istanbul who was adamant that Kangals simply die if taken from their dry native Eastern Turkey region ( chuckle ) Urban Turks, turns out, often know even less about dogs than urban Americans, and spout all manner of proud and often foolish gibberish about their National dog the Kangal.
Below Oz risks sure death in one of the ponds in my woods
Oz at 8 months
5 months
Oz here at 5 months, witnessing his first kidding. Most people that deal in livestock guardians would scold me for even allowing a pup this age unfettered access to this, but I was willing to lose a kid to see for myself if there was any real truth to the claims. And sure enough, as rambunctious as was at that age with the big goats, all he wanted to do was lick this kid. He never needed teaching from an older dog or to be separated till he was older; that’s probably not a fair expectation to set, but it’s true of him. Now as an adult he’s the teacher and I rotate young dogs/pups into a pen with him and young kids, said young dogs and pups promptly get hammered by Oz if they even think about getting rough with the young goats.
Oz here around 10 weeks, shortly after we made it back.
Oz here at about 8 weeks, in Istanbul
O
8 wks again, with me in Istanbul, preparing for the final leg of our great adventure
Sevdi’s Penn Hip ( .27 .27 ) I don’t think anybody in the world can put to better scores together than her and Oz ( .28 .28 )
The most striking thing about Sevdi for me is the way she moves, talk about floating, she’ll be the first dog I shoot video of. She came to me as an adult, so I don’t have quite the same bond or knowledge, as I would a dog I raised; but she’s good with my goats and my kids, and always on the job. She’s also got that same steady temperament I see so often in Kangals, no nervous energy at all, self contained. I’ll start with a couple shots of her just after arriving at my place after a few days on the road with me and my 14 year old, this is her meeting two of my younger children for the first time… needless to say I trusted her implicitly by then, she’s a very sweet dog, she was a family dog in her first home.
below; Sevdi and Oz
The world belongs to a good looking dog that can dance
Could be love
But it’s not all roses
11 pups born on the coldest night of the year, a record breaking 5 degrees that night I heard the little shrieks of newborns not happy and went out to find she had some how dumped about 5 of them still wet from being born, out the opening of the dog house and into the snow. I put them back in and I went back inside. I don’t believe in helping. They all lived. The Kangal, as a breed, has not been babied, it has not been ruined; It is I’m sure the healthiest and most hardy of all that I work with.
Touchdown !
I have no excuse for showing this photo… except I love it :) My fascination with genetics baring the ultimate fruit :)
“Hope” mother of my current three “Tallwater, Agressa, Boelbella”
Hope was a pretty good bitch; tough, smart, protective, and eager to please.
She, like her daughters, was constantly looking you in the eye
Hope, just under a year here, with one of my sons
“Dopper Bafana” Sire of ” Tall Water”, ” Agressa”, ” Boelbella” all from “Hope”
Bafana was an outside male I used; He was well put together as you can see. And I know he had good penn hip scores, for a Boerboel- .37 .37 because I made testing a condition of the agreement, despite being shown excellent hips scores out of S. Africa. In hindsight, I guess I never did trust the owner; but the dog was stable, confident.
The owner turned out to be the most twisted character I’ve yet to meet in the often strange drama I’ve come to refer to as “As the Boerboel Turns,” if not Dogdom on the whole. An individual, turns out, so bizarre I’m disinclined to type his name, cause I don’t want to be associated with it, even incidentally, even by search engine.
if ever I needed an excuse not to give a guy a dog (which was supposed to be the stud fee) his story surly provided it ( chuckle ) The truth however is, we were exchanging threats before I even knew his bio, cause he tried to con me. But it actually worked out to be a pretty good deal, for me. I expect I’m on a very short list of people that managed not to get Bleeped dealing with him. I got a nice litter out of it. Gratitude and or bullets remains all I have to offer in return.
The brindle below was named “Doc” out of “Night Train” and ” Blackwell’s Vegter” and dam to my “Hope”
“Doc” again
Doc again
Doc belonged to a gentleman by the name of Jerry Heater, who if memory serves, said she was the best he ever had, he also said she had exceptional penn hip scores.
Doc was bred to Blackwells Vegter with Penn hip scores in the .3’s if memory serves. A breeding repeated several times by the Kansahoma kabal and Blackwell kept and bred several bitches from it heavily.
” Night Train” sired ” Doc ” dam of “Hope” dam of ” Tall Water,” ” Agressa,” “BoelBella”
“Night Train” ( now deceased ) belonged to a breeder by the name of David Harris who basically built his kennel of him. John Blackwell the founder of the USBA, also used this dog very heavily. A lotta folks in a Boerboel centric circles of the Kansas/oklahoma region seem to think Mr. Harris walks on water, I know better. But what ever one might say about these two gentlemen nobody can deny they bring an extraordinary amount of dog experience and dog knowledge. And they saw fit to build on this dog, like no other. He’s probably the single most bred dog in USBA history.
Night train was purported to have Penn hip scores of .28 .28 which was the best score in Boerboels for a considerable period of time.
“Night Train” again below, The foundation stud of the Harris/Blackwell jugernaut
Daughter of ”Hope”
Boelbella’s OFA
“Boelbella” is the most athletic of three athletic sisters, you would be hard pressed to find a dog this size that move as well as she, I really need to get some video to do her justice. As eager to please as all three, if not quite as quick to understand as Agressa.
Boelbella here getting ready to make some pups with “Apache”
Daughter to “Hope”
Agressa’s OFA
Agressa is the smartest of “Hope’s” three daughters, the alpha of her litter, the natural leader. She’s the type of dog that has always got her eyes trained on yours; she’s a thinking dog. If i’m going on a trip and I want to take a boerboel, she’s the one.
Below you see” Agressa” (center) as a pup with sister “Tallwater” on the left and sister ” Boelbella” on the right; you can see who’s ready for direction.
See the difference in the eye contact, just a subtile moment, but a good example
Below: Agressa all grown up
Agressa head shot
Agressa with two of her 1/2 Dogo sons ( see “Dobo” )
Agressa, like her sister Boellbella here, and like any dog I keep, is quite athletic
And they’re off
