Remy is in heat

Although the timing could have been a little better Remy is in fact in heat.
I would have like for her estrus to have started after the appraisals but based upon preliminary information from mock appraisals, I am going to put Remy & Moe together to produce one of the most anticipated Boerboel litters in North America. Remy & Moe are in top physical condition so the mating should be quite simple. Moe and Remy both come from excellent pedigree so this pairing should produce some noteworthy offspring.
More info about this pairing will be available here and at Exotic Boerboels If you are looking for a south African Boerboel based upon pedigree I think you will be quite please with this pairing. Remy and Moe compliment each other in so many ways this pairing is sure to be legendary, particularly here in North America.

Boerboel obedience

This video was extremely fun to shoot. Darris and Remy did a fantastic job. Of course we did it all in one take. Darris has been working with Remy quite a bit and sometimes she gives him a little trouble, I think it has to do with him being the smallest in the house but I am very proud how far both of them have come.

Remy is now six months old

A couple of weeks ago Remy reached her sixth month, Feb 28. It seems like she has been around a lot longer but it also seems like she just got here. Since Remy joined our family she has marked several milestones. I am very proud of my Boerboel. I am not sure if she is exceptional for a South African Boerboel but she is exceptional to me. She has learned the rules of the house so far and has not made potty in the house in over 3 weeks. I attribute this milestone to several things, first and foremost being that my big Boerboel baby is now sleeping thru the night and secondly to vigilintly sticking to the regular routine of taking trips outside.
Remy has also gained a great deal of confidence and is taking to friendly strangers met on our daily walks that would make not only any Boerboel owner but dog owner in general extremely proud. Remy has only showed aggression on two occasions both of which I found to be very appropriate. In one instance I sent a friend to my truck thinking Remy would allow him in with no problem, but I forgot, she had never met him, image my surprise when a minute or so later him came in and told me how fiercely Remy had protected the truck and prevented him from even opening the door. On the other occasion we were visiting family and someone approached me from the rear and she took a defensive position to my suprise.
Early on we decided to limit Remy's training to the most basic commands but as she has reached six months expectations are being raised and he training is going to intensify. I plan to work regularly on obediance and physical training. My goal is to train Remy to be a family orientated dog with an emphasis on family protection. I know that the Boerboel has these capabilitys and I believe that these goals are well within Remy's reach.
At this point I must thank my brother the breeder at Exotic Boerboels for Remy she is a wonderful puppy and has a beautiful temperament, she is full of energy but very manageble inside the house. She is also wonderful around children making even the most hesitant and cautious youngsters feel comfortable under her watchful eye.
I am not going to comment too much on Remy's growth as I plan to post some picture soon and I would like to know what you think. I for one must say that when I take her around other Boerboels her age I am pleasantly pleased and surprised at how much she has grown.

General update

Time seems to be flying maybe I am now living in dog years. My beautiful boerboel Remy is growing so fast. This is a general update a progress report of sorts.
Remy is now about 5 1/2 moths old and doing great. The house training has been going pretty well, we had a couple of minor incidents over the last couple of days, but each time I have got to say the blame rests solely on the human members of my pack. I think we have been taking for granted how well Remy has been doing and have not been sticking to her schedule.
The issue we were having with her barking has all but dissolved occasionally we will get a little growl when people approach the house, when we are out, at the dog park she is a perfect little lady. The dog park seems to be her favorite hangout because she not only is the star of the show as far as the humans are concerned but she is quite popular among the other dogs. I am always so surprised how many people are in awe of her and those who have heard of a Boerboel, most have never even seen one. She gets a lot of attention and even more compliments and handles it all in stride, in fact I don't think I would be exaggerating if I said she looks forward to it.
I am continuing to train her and so far it seems to be going pretty well in fact when I think she doesn't get it I have found out at other times she knows full well what its going on she just is being stubborn. I am always looking for new ways to challenge her and she keeps rising to the task, although like I said sometime she comes thru at the most unexpected times.

As I mentioned I am Raw feeding, Remy, it seems she likes everything, but the basis of her diet is beef tripe and chicken leg quarters. Occasionally I will give her some salmon and also some crushed egg shells.
Remy is a very good girl but sometimes I forget she is a Boerboel and, even as a puppy she is a big dog, many times when I am out walking her off leash and we come upon people they are a little intimidate by her, but once they see that she is a nice puppy they cannot get enough of her. I must remember that not everyone looks at her and sees sure a wonderful little puppy like I do .

Now on to teething

Remy just turned 4 months old on the 28 of Dec. and she is obviously teething. I have noticed her appetite has diminished a bit and she wants to chew anything and everything. She is also sleeping a lot.
As for the chewing I am very fortunate that my wife is so excited to have and care for Remy, because she purchased almost every kind of chew toy Petsmart had from teething rings to chew sticks.
Since Remy is teething I have added alot more chicken leg quarters to her diet so that she can have the bones to chew on I am also giving her apples and carrots out of the freezer, so far Remy seems to be dealing with the teething well be sleeping quite a bit. As you see in the picture she still loves play time it just seems she loses interest a little sooner.
Remy is my first Boerboel and I have been doing a lot of reading on the breed mostly courtesy of the Boerboel forum , thanks to Casper the board moderator and the rest of the Boerboel community I have been very well prepared for Remy's teething behavior, and we are getting thru it together.

Beginning training

Before I go to far I need to amend somethings, as I stated we are using the crate method to train house break Remy, I said things were going great, I just wanted to let you know I may have overstated things, so I will correct myself and say things are going well. I just do not want to give anyone the impression that my dog is super duper yet. Remy has an occasional mistake but so far it has only be a little pee pee. When she makes mistakes we do not strike her but admonish her with a stern "bad dog!!!" which seems to shame her and let's her know we are displeased.
As a family (my three boys and my wife) we have been working on basic commands such as sit, come, stay and wait. She is doing alright so far sometimes she is a little hard headed, when she is not listening we try to get her attention by stomping or making a loud noise and then repeating the command in a firm but calm voice, when she listens we give hearty praise and offer treats on alternate consecutive positive responses. We generally work with her for 15 minutes at a time twice a day., and we try to make it fun for Remy and the family, and so far it seems to be working out for everyone, I have noticed that after training the kids are more involved with her during freestyle play time which generally follows our training sessions. We are having a harder time with the stay and wait commands but I am noticing improvement in those areas as well. At feeding time I will generally set her food out in the garage before I let her out of the house and have one of the kids let her out before she gets at the food I will block her call her name and say sit, and then wait I will continue to block her until she complies and the give her some more of that hearty praise she seems to love so much and the set her loose on that tripe. Lately I have also been trying to meet her at the door and give her the stay command backing up two steps at a time until we reach the food and then giving the wait command. I am trying to work in small steps but continuing to build upon what we have been learning.