Greetings! A "fan" of my dogs pointed this thread out to me a bit ago & urged me to write in, in case I may be able to add to the "pro" side of the working Boerboel. LOL!
I'd *like* to be able to, but the truth is that most breeders involved in the breed have little-to-no working experience, & about the same desire to prove out their stock before beginning to produce (expensive) pups. Regardless, there ARE decent quality BBs "out there", & a couple people trying to prove their stock & improve the breed.
I work both a male & a bitch BB, the female "Batu" I got as a pup, & the male "Kala" didn't come to me until he was around 3.5yrs. Obviously it's not a big deal title-wise, but both have passed the CGC & ATTS as adults, & last year I attended a German-style TT w/ my bitch. I have a few videos of that test posted on YouTube, which show Batu going over a teeter & changing positions on a wobble board. Obstacles that I don't have video of that she also went through were for the dog to jump up in a wheelbarrow & be pushed around, walk through pooled aluminum cans with sheets of more cans strung together to form a curtain, going into a tent whose floor is covered with more cans & bottles to retrieve an object, there was also a bundle of bottles & cans that were tied together (are you sensing a theme? *G*) where the other end of the rope was then strung over a tree branch (with the bundle on the ground) -as the dog walked near the bundle, it was suddenly yanked up in the air.
-Sorry, I know I'm not explaining some of the obstacles very well!
My bitch did quite well, despite not having seen any of the obstacles previously. IMO, a dog with poor environmental nerves wouldn't have "passed" these obstacles.
Also showing good nerve, Kala (& I) competed in a nighttime Protection Tournament, very shortly after I started training him. His OB is terrible in the videos (I DID mention I had just started working him, right??), but he was ONE of the VERY FEW dogs that went through the First obstacle where approximately 40-50 pounds of water was dumped on the dog as s/he entered a corridor on the way to the agitator. Immediately after the water dump, the dog had to go over a jump that had high-powered sprinklers set into it, ~then~ the dog had to run through a bunch of hanging pool noodles to get to the decoy. The water dump shut down just about every other dog there.. only 2-3 other dogs went through it with no/minimal problems.
Kala had never had water dumped on him, never jumped through sprinklers, jumped a car, or jumped into the back of a van for a bite. He had never been on this field, & I had no idea what the obstacles were even going to be, before we showed up there to participate.
Before critiques are offered on my poor handling: I KNOW, I KNOW! Shortly before this was recorded, another competitor's dog left the competition field to attack my Bouvier pup while we were waiting in the staging area. And I do have "ring nerve" issues to boot! >=^P
I'm not certain of board policies yet, but here are the links for the videos:
Batu at the Temperament Test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcD8wHwIcv0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKwlDRHyknA
And Kala at the Protection Tourney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13KcSrISKaI (skip the 1st 1/3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDywLD323m4
I'm aware of our short-comings, but wanted to post up some stuff of some BBs working & showing good nerve. Tashi
Re: The working Boerboel
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. I always love to see different breeds take a crack at protection sports. Keep up the good work.
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