The media plays a great role in creating bad press and stigmas about animals. It is human nature to always look for the negative aspects in everything, and attach a label to it. Sadly these stigmas have a tendency to stick, and it requires a continuous dedicated act of love to remove them.
Most of the news stories and articles you find regarding Boerboel dogs fall into the bad stigma category. These stories are mostly based on; attacks on children, fights with other dogs, claims against Boerboel owners for attacks and gruesome disfigurements. The bad stigma attached to the Boerboel caused it to be banned from Denmark and hit the number 6 six spot in a top ten list of banned dogs.
The case of the Boerboel closely relates to the case of the shark, where you will find lots of negative press and mentions of all the bad aspects of the animal. They are depicted as human eating monsters and ferocious creatures, and all the positive elements are simply ignored. Only after years and years of research have been done and ample facts have been found to prove contradictory to the deep rooted beliefs shift in the direction of the news events will happen.
The main reason for all this negative press only has one single root cause; the dogs have either been abused or have not been trained properly. A properly trained dog will not attack without reason.
All is not lost though; if you search hard enough you do find a couple of stories with happy endings here are a few of them:
- A man from Pembrokeshire was shot in the hand during a budged armed robbery on a farm in South Africa. Luckily for him Jessie a 9 year old Boerboel attacked the gun wielding intruder and chased him off. Jessie saved a whole family from being needlessly murdered.
- A young boy that was attacked by a bullterrier in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was saved by a Boerboel. The Boerboel jumped over a fence and attacked the bullterrier while he was mauling the child. The Boerboel even dragged the attacking boy away from the child. If the Boerboel had not intervened the boy surely would have died.
As the Boerboel is still a relative new breed in countries other than South Africa, you will hardly ever find positive news articles related to the Boerboel in those countries. It is however encouraging to witness the amount of time and dedication spent by lovers and breeders in their attempt to remove the stigma.
