Friday, November 28, 2008

I’ll take a Rottweiler or Pit-Bull over a Boerboel any day!

"a South African Boerboel"
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There are three dogs at the village – Cassie and Mordechi are Boerboels and Lydia is some special breed used to herd goats. The boerboels are for protection and Lydia lives with the goats and herds them all day. Mordechi is a 9 month old flesh eating beast of a dog – he is unpredictable and absolutely does not like me. The Mink’s, Jessica and Melissa, have told me that he will warm up to me eventually – well it’s been 4 weeks and no change. Again I read an excerpt from a book that sums up my experience with Mordechi very nicely:
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“Sheeee-it!” said Magena. “I’ve never seen anyone do that to Mombo (in my case, Mordechi) before. Ha! And did you see the way my lion (dog) is such a clever boy? He went straight for the weakest link,” he said turning to me. “How do you like that? He sensed you were the wee-wee in the group and you were going to be snuffed (killed),” and he laughed. I attached myself as closely as I could to K (Jessica) and we negotiated the rest of the journey to the house. The lion (dog) tried again and again to insinuate his way past K’s legs (Jessica’s legs) and launch himself on me, but K (Jessica) roared at him and gave him a hefty kick in the chest and the lion backed down (actually Jessica took off her flip flop and beat the dog over the head several times).
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Mrs. Mink tried using a shock collar to teach Mordechi to leave me alone. She called me into the pen and he quickly charged me and chased me out the gate. Conjure up the most frightening satanic growl you can muster and that is what Mordechi sounds like when he is in kill mode. Mrs. Mink chuckled to her amazement that it took cranking the shock collar to 12 (it only goes up to 15) before the dog would back down. I was not chuckling – he’s actually gotten worse since then toward me – hmmm I wonder why. I really did try to suck it up – the kids kept saying “don’t act scared” – ya right okay I’ll try that. How do you not act scared? Beating him into submission is the only way the others have gotten him to leave them alone. I don’t have one ounce of the kind of back bone it would take to do that. One night Jessica and I were walking over to the main house for dinner and Mordichi came charging at me. Jessica pulled off her flip flop and went swinging to no avail. She grabbed his collar and he pulled her through the sand – she yelled “Tina run! I can’t hold him!” It was just like in the movies – I ran as fast as feet in soft sand can and when I reached the gate, I fumbled with the gate lock for what seemed like eternity before getting to the other side and pushing it shut against Mordechi’s mouth. I didn’t have time to relock the gate – I had to stand and push against the gate to keep him in. Jess got to the gate and locked it, freeing me from the struggle. I was so glad Jessica witnessed his behavior – he is chained up most of the day now – freeing me to walk about in safety. He broods as I walk by – I just know he’ll have a piece of me before I leave.

4 comments:

Mary said...

He does look very intimidating! Keep your distance and stay safe. I'm sure Devon will be very glad to see you when you get home as will the rest of your family and friends.

Amy as Herself said...

Oh Tina! Sorry you are having such trouble with that little puppy! I saw Devon sitting on your parents' porch the other morning and I thought of you. I told my dogs about your troubles with the BIG dog, and they want to know what you did to anger him! :) I miss you. Anyway, keep a stick at the ready, and maybe some sort of food stuff you can throw at him until you can run away. When you get back, you and I will be able to run together!
Amy

Meghanne said...

I would like to vouch for this breed. He does not sound like a well bred boerboel, or he's not been trained properly. All boerboels should have VERY even temperaments, and should listen to their owners at all times, if trained properly. This guy sounds like he was very poorly bred and also like he believes he's the alpha of the family. What does this mean? He's dangerous, and a very BAD representation of the breed. Stay safe, and I hope you meet a "real" boerboel that shows you why the rest of us that love the breed have come to this conclusion.

A-J-Lamb said...

I have to agree with Meghanne. As a person who has been blessed by two wonderful boerboels, one male, one female, I can vouch for them as much as I can vouch for my pit bull. It is all in the way they are raised, treated and trained. And by treated I don't mean raised like one of the children, but taught respect and love in a way that a dog understands. Dogs have a completely different psychology from us humans and it needs to be understood and respected. Plus Boerboels can be easily upset by too rough of treatment, just as a pit bull can. These are not dog breeds for beginners.
I hope you can meet a good example of this breed someday. Ours are known by name in many of the town stores that allow dogs.