Boerboels can be super clingy to their owners and will follow them everywhere.  My boy was socialized from the day after we got him. Out in public with lots of people, noises and smells. Now just 8 months old and has always loved being out and meeting people, loves kids and is a flirt with the ladies. Lets hope this breed doesn't go the road of pitties and bullies and get over popular, over breed and dumped when ignorant lazy owners don't train and socialize them properly.  You can still have a well trained and socialized dog who will defend their family and house.

Unfortunately here in SA, we are forced to train our Boerboels to not accept food from strangers due to our criminal elements using a poison called 2-STEP/Aldicarb to kill the animals to allow them to break into the homes. It's terrible for the animals so we have to socialise them another way. Sad but true!

We started socializing ours at around 8 weeks, we've had 4 over the years and never had issues. Such great dogs. Some people should just stick to poodles.

I never knew what a Boerboel dog was until I went to adopt some kind of a Mastiff after having two mastiff mixes. In my life I’ve just found my dogs keep getting bigger and bigger. I went to Arizona mastiff rescue after filling out a very long form for adoption. I lived in the LA area so it was a drive. They had a Boerboel for adoption that was about 2 1/2 years old. Due to my application they were really hoping that I would be the right adopter. The dog would always be inside with me and I needed to be able to take him to my office (I am a therapist) I had never never thought that I would get such an incredible dog. When I got him home I discovered that he had already been to Boot Camp because when I walked him I found that he was healing to the left side and because I was walking later at night at CSUN (i used to live across the street from the campus) I decided to let him off leash and he never left my left side. I thought I was gonna have to take him to Boot Camp but I knew right away he’d already been there. I can’t imagine who or why anybody would’ve given up this incredible dog. He is now starting to slow down and I probably won’t have him for too much longer. I have absolutely love this dog and I’m an older lady I’m about to turn 70. The only problem that I had with him is that he would not let other dogs around me. I managed to get it so that a dog could get within 4 feet and so I would tell an owner that my dog is not really dog friendly but if you keep them at a 4 foot distance everything will be fine. I guess he decided I was a sheep and he needed to guard me😂 because this is not a well-known breed I couldn’t seem to find a trainer that knew how to help him get along with other dogs which apparently he’s been able to do at the adoption center. I had read up on their training and everybody that I ran into had a more harsh way of training them to be OK around other dogs. I knew from my reading that this was wrong. Probably like all mastiffs they need a firm hand that is also a kind hand. He was standoffish of people in the beginning but I would take him to outdoor malls to walk him around sometimes and people would want to pet him. So what I did was to make him sit and I could tell he had a business face on😅 So I would tell him he’s OK he’s OK until I saw the wrinkles and   Guarding business Drop off. Then I would tell the person that it was OK to pet him. After a few months of doing that he began to become more relaxed in public. I can say you never have to worry about them losing their guarding instinct by making them friendly to people outside. I don’t even think you could get the guarding instinct out without actually killing him😮 i’m going to miss Bruno very very much when he goes and I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve already thought about what kind of dog I would get next. I live by myself in the mountains in a small community, and I would love to have another Boerboel because I fell in love with the breed. My only concern is this ,we jokingly call this place Dog Holler because there’s about 35 people in the neighborhood along with tons of animals and about 45 dogs. For those of you who owned Boerboels or know more about them I’m wondering if there’s any way that I could guarantee he would get along with other dogs. Literally it would be the only drawback I could see to getting another one. Because of my age I would probably take him to Boot Camp at the same time I would not mind adopting again. I can’t imagine how a Boerboel feels that gets dumped. I have never had a dog as loyal and to be dumped it’s just inconceivable to me.

I love how calm you are, Garrett.  I breathe easy watching your videos.

Good job with the puppy , this breed is being destroyed by most breeders that only focus on beauty contests , this breed is very sensitive and needs experienced trainers like you , it’s not a breed for everyone but when you do find a proper boerboel this dogs are the best in the world . Again good Job and the puppy is gorgeous I’m pretty sure it have some dogs that are on most of our dogs pedigrees as I know that type of head well ;)

The hardest part in being a dog trainer even an awesome one at that is training the crazy owners, especially when they don’t have a clue of what they’re doing. I praised the dog owners that actually move forward in getting themselves trained along with their dogs, but there’s so many of them out there that don’t have a clue, ruin the dog and make a bad name for the breed and there you have it.

He's adorable.

4.5 months old and he's already 85 lbs. The crazy thing about animals that are 120 lbs+ and muscular is that they don't even need to open their mouths to do serious damage, a good tackle or lunge and you will be seeing stars and possibly breaking a few bones. The shining light about mastiff breeds and other "scary" dog breeds(German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman) is that they are all highly intelligent and they have a love for learning. Good training makes all the difference in the world.

So glad you finally have this breed on.

That’s a nice fit 85 pounds. Notice the abdomen is tucked not swole. Nice work!

I can't afford the courses but even seeing the longer YouTube videos is a big help

I love this breed, can't believe I missed your upload yesterday. Keep on killing it Garrett, give us all you got!!!

My Cane Corso is the same way. Extremely nervous and will not take food. He gets better with repetition but it has been a lot of work for sure. The funny thing is he has more confidence at night. I’ve never heard anyone address the difference between night and day. It’s like Cringer during the day and Battle cat at night. 🤔

What a beautiful dog … those eyes!

If you do more work with this pup would love to see the training sessions and progress for Macho.  Awesome for the owner to have reached out at 4.5 mos and not waiting.  What an incredible beast of a dog!

To the owner of the dog:
your baby brother wants his shirt back!!

I think you will have to weigh him again because at 4.5 month and weighing 85 pounds (38kg) is insane. My boerboel at 6 month is currently 40kg. His weight at 4.5 month is too high

We adopted during Covid, our pup was still socialized and trained. I’m all for taking precautions and we did, we also knew it was going back to normal and we couldn’t have a freaked out pup at the end of it.

This puppy flinched when a hand got near his face. This level of anxiety is learned and makes me sad for this dog.