Standing Stone's Philosophy

I cannot stress enough to you that when you are in search of a breeder, your first priority is finding an ethical breeder whose program is focused around breeding for the betterment and preservation of their breed. 

During your search for a breeder, you will discover that every breeder has a different philosophy, as to what their program stands for, none of them are wrong however the breeder you choose should be a reflection of what qualities are important to you. The breeder's philosophy is a way of thinking and how they interpret the standards, ethics, beliefs and their set of ideals when it comes to their breeding stock.

Standing Stone Boerboels was established with the self demand to breed utilizing six crucial elements including health, temperament, character, livability, structure, and ability. 

Health: All breeds are prone to certain health traits in which some we theorize to be a deal breaker when it comes to utilizing a dog in our program with a trait that will heavily impact the quality of life. It is impossible to to guarantee that any animal with be free of health issues; the best we can do is be honest about what potential anomalies reside within our genetics and pedigrees. Those anomalies are either a deal breaker and those animals are not utilized within our program or due to the advanced health screening options and countless hours placed in researching our genetics and pedigrees, certain anomolies can easily be an environmental/nutritional impact in which brought on such anomalies. It is our duty to determine such cases and proceed in a direction where improvement will be achieved. 

We thoroughly screen our Dogs for anomalies in order for us to make the best decisions; health screening is a tool for breeders to breed better, NOT necessarily to determine if the baby gets thrown out with the bath water and certainly not a tool for breeders to sell puppies. 

When you invest in a Standing Stone Boerboel, you can be assured that your Boerboel comes from a meticulously planned pairing where health was the foundation of that pairing following several elements that we determined to be appropriate. Despite our best efforts, things can go wrong; as mentioned before, there is no way to guarantee that any animal will be free of unwanted health traits however should any Standing Stone Boerboel  Owner have the unfortunate luck of discovering that their dog has a congenital, hereditary, genetic, or other issue, we’re here to provide help and support. Always.

Temperament: A dog's temperament is the aspect of their personality that is innate. A dog's temperament also is contributing factor for how an individual dog responds to the world, and it is predominantly driven by genetics. This is crucial for careful selection of breeding stock with proper and compatible temperaments which is the key to our success in selecting prospects for our program. Diving into the pedigrees and gathering the knowledge of those dogs in the pedigree behind those prospects is also important for us to draw the conclusion of what we are working with. It is important for us to be able to evaluate and understand our dog's and puppy's temperaments in order for  us to determine proper home placement, training, socializing and de-sensitizing tactics in order to ensure the best quality of life.

Character: Unlike temperament, a dog's character is influenced by the world around them; training, socializing, de-sensiting, lifestyle and the experiences that dog encounters all contribute to the molding of a dog's character. Every breeder will have a desired list of character traits in which their dog's are expected to have; we like our Boerboels to be outgoing and friendly, yet to be ready to alert us of suspicious activity, we expect our Boerboels to be easy going around our children, our Boerboels join us at our pet resort where they will come face to face with other dogs and strangers and in these cases, I expect them to be sound and easy going in those situations. We love that our Boerboels are complete goofbals and are beyond loyal to us and we love seeing them make new friends! In my experience in being a pet professional in addition to breeding dogs, I have been fortunate to be able to have my hands on almost any breed you can think of and I have found the Boerboel to be the most genuinely loyla and dedicated to their master. 

We do have Boerboels that do not take to strangers always as we have purposely raised those dogs to do so as they have a job to do which is to protect our family and farm; these dogs have a job to do and are molded in a way to follow commands and know their boundaries however when utilizing these dogs in our breeding program, we can confidently say that their temperament is comparable to what is expected for a sound-well rounded Boerboel temperament and thus the character of such dogs was molded for their daily duties.

Livability: Livability is a function of both temperament and character. For us, the best Boerboels for our lifestyle are those who are easy to live with; they’re content, patient with children, don’t bark excessively, never potty in the house, take to crate training easily, just to mention a few traits and adapt well to new people and environments. You will find Boerboels that have a higher drive and require more mental and physical stimulation, you will also find more Boerboels that do not have a whole lot of drive and would be perfect for a family with children. As mentioned above, those working Boerboels that we have, those dogs are high drive, their stimulation is provided daily in various forms and that helps to keep them happy and out of trouble. If I were to place a high drive Boerboel in a home that could not provide a job for that dog, that would not be the ideal livable situation for that dog and chances of them being returned to me(which would be required if the owner could not keep them/provide a quality life). Our job is to appropriately place our puppies; you will discover that our puppy application will ask questions, some may seem repetitive however this is only for us to approprietly place each puppy. 

Structure: The Boerboel Breed Standard is considered to be the blueprint of the Boerboel in which has a lot to say about what a the Boerboel's structural appearance should look like. It should go without saying that Standing Stone Boerboels successfully strives to meet the majority of the written standard. Keep in mind that it is impossible for one single dog to meet 100% of the breed standard although we can come fairly close to doing so. Our measure of success for adhering to the breed standard lies in the accolades our dogs have received by licensed judges through the sport of AKC conformation events and breed appraisals.

Ability: While the breed standard does not necessarily lay out a more specific guideline as to what the Boerboel should be capable of, for example, herding dogs must pocess the ability to herd, if that is not an ability, then they probably aren't going to meet the criteria where ability is concerned. 

We expect our Boerboels to be capable of fitting the structural standard in order to move freely, poor structures only contribute to various skeletal draw backs hindering a dog. Some programs specifically pride themselves on overly massive dogs alone and this is not ideal for the Boerboel breed, or really in any giant breed as somewhere down the line, these dogs will completely fall apart and lack the ability to perform. Temperaments also must be predictable and confident.

Our own Boerboels who live with us are expected to be our family and farm guardians, they must be predictable to ensure they can safely perform the duties of keeping an eye on our farm without causing unnecessary harm to humans or other animals. We expect our Boerboels to have the ability to thrive in their daily lives as working dogs and/or family companions without restriction of poor structure, or health complications that could have been prevented in some cases, or temperaments that would restrict them of a quality of life as those dogs are generally a liabilty. 

This breed is included in the Working Breed Group and when you think of a Working Breed Dog, these dogs are meant to be able to push, pull, drag, whatever the event may be without claus. 

These dogs are our shadow keeper and all of the above traits mentioned should provide them with the ability for a quality life.