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Litter Announcements

One point that was made by many breeders during the Dutch and Belgian appraisals was that they wanted the litter announcements put back on the website.

Their reasons were many but one that was repeated by several was that they will not advertise on commercial sites where the wrong people come to look for a Boerboel, for all the wrong reasons.

My problem with litter announcements, as I stated in an earlier item, is that the SABT cannot be seen to endorse individual litters, but I do see people's points regarding other advertising methods. I have therefore decided to set up a new page for litter announcements, matings. BUT there will be conditions.

Please see the page Litter Announcements for more details. I am happy to hear from any of you that have suggestions about this.

Nestaankondigingen

Een steeds terugkomende opmerking van vele fokkers tijdens de Nederlandse en Belgische keurdagen was, dat ze heel graag de nestaankondigingen terug op de site zouden zien verschijnen.

Zij hadden verschillende redenen hiervoor, maar de meest terugkomende reden was het feit dat ze liever niet hun pups gaan adverteren op commerciële websites waar verkeerde mensen komen zoeken naar een Boerboel voor alle verkeerde redenen.

Mijn persoonlijk prbleem met nestaankondigingen, zoals ik reeds vroeger duidelijk maakte in een eerdere verklaring, is dat SABT niet garant kan staan voor elk individueel nestje, maar ik begrijp het standpunt van onze fokkers in verband met andere adverteermogelijkheden.

Daarom heb ik het besluit genomen een nieuwe pagina op te starten met nestaankondigingen en dekkingen, maar alleen onder strikte voorwaarden!

Check de pagina Nestaankondigingen voor meer details. Tevens sta ik open voor alle suggesties die jullie kunnen aanbrengen.

met vriendelijke groeten,
Dolph

8th August 2007

Summer Appraisal Tour 2007

Here we all are, safely back from another European appraisal tour and I thought some of you might like an update. Our Senior appraisers from South Africa were Johan Blomerus, the SABT Vice Chairman, and Aldu le Grange.

We started off in Berlin on Saturday 28th July. This appraisal was hosted by Lutz Hilgenfeldt, our SABT country rep in Germany. This was Lutz's first appraisal and being a little remote from everyone else he was basically left to organise everything with only some written guidance. I am delighted to say that the appraisal was a huge success with dogs from both Germany and some eastern European countries. The arrangements for those people travelling long distances, the venue, the whole event in fact was superbly put together. There was even an evening barbeque and a live band - the whole event was very memorable.

Obviously I want to publicly thank Lutz and his wife Maria for their incredible hard work in putting this together, but I have to also thank the WHOLE of Lutz's extended family for pitching in and enabling him to pull this off so successfully.

My special thanks go to Nadia - the most brilliant and patient interpreter a man could hope for!

Up at five the next morning for a five hour drive to Asten in the Netherlands. As we have come to expect from appraisals in the Netherlands - the whole thing ran like clockwork. Our only problem was with the public address system. Apologies to those who could not hear their dogs called.

We were joined on the day by two members from the UK, Tracy Lilburn and Jan Mitchell, who, having passed their breeders courses in May, decided they would like to put their learning into practice in the ring. Aldu was very patient and happy to spend time with both girls discussing points and decisions. He was so good in fact that they got the appraiser's bug and turned up again later in the tour!

But to continue with Netherlands. A great venue - Carine Bollen, our European Secretary, as usual worked tirelessly to ensure that all dogs could be accommodated and not delayed for too long - no mean feat when you consider we could not commence the appraisal until the afternoon. Netherlands and Belgium have a great team of helpers in Nancy, Ruud, Miriam and Boudewijn - not forgetting Marc, and my thanks go out to all of you for your hard work in making this appraisal a success.

The appraisers travelled on the next day to Denmark where Margit Thor, the Danish representative and her family took care of them for a few days. I hear they had a good time sightseeing and getting to know the country a little. Both Margit and her daughter took time from work to look after Johan and Aldu and deserve our thanks.

The appraisal took place on Friday the 3rd of August. I could not be there unfortunately, but I understand there were some superb dogs appraised. Congratulations to all owners and breeders on some brilliant scores.

In Norway we were surprised by a huge total of 53 dogs! Finn Gjetanger, the country representative for Norway kindly hosted this appraisal. Tracy and Jan made a last minute decision to travel over to Norway to practice their appraisal skills, having decided after the Netherlands that they might just take this further. They arrived, pitched their tent and Tracy was immediately called upon to share her experience with registering dogs and working out the score sheets. Luckily she has plenty of experience in this department!

Norway has always been a bit of an end of year party and this year was certainly no exception!

Finn - thank you for your hard work in pulling this many owners, breeders and dogs together and for making, as usual, a holiday of the SABT Norway appraisal. And to the many owners and breeders who travelled great distances, pitched their tents, lit the fire and settled in for a weekend of great boerboel company, my thanks for making the event such a success.

At the end of the appraisal Tracy and Jan took their Junior appraisers exams as did I! I'm pleased and relieved to report that we all passed and are looking forward to some more practice next year or even over in South Africa - who knows?

Appraisals are a huge part of our calendar in the SABT. We have many members all over the world to consider. We can only do this due to the help and dedication of all of the volunteers mentioned here.

As usual, my camera didn't make it out of the case so If any of you have any photos you would like to share with us then please send them to me and we'll try to include them on here on the website. Also in our haste to get the paperwork to South Africa we have some gaps in the information on the results page which we would be happy for owners or breeders to help us fill.

Baie Groete
Dolph

Previously I lived for three years in Brussels.   I speak Afrikaans, English and Dutch. I have been around this wonderful breed for most of my life.

One of the reasons I was happy to be nominated the first time around was that I felt that South Africa didn't understand the differences between what was required of owners and breeders in South Africa and what is needed here in Europe with our much stricter dog legislation. I believed then and still believe now that I am in a unique position of being able to see both sides of this.

I have been a loyal SABT member for almost 8 years now. I haven't always agreed with everything that comes out of Kroonstad, but I have always believed that the SABT is the best organisation and that by belonging to this organisation we can work together for the improvement of our breed. That is improvement both in health and temperament and, in these difficult times where our breed is being noticed by the legislators in various countries, promoting our breed in the best possible light.

Being the first European Board Member wasn't an easy task. Firstly there were some in Europe who understandably didn't like the selection process.   And secondly there were those in South Africa who saw the overseas posts as something of a novelty and still wanted to make decisions on the future of the breed based solely on the needs and wants of the breeders in South Africa. It took a long time and a lot of hard work for myself and my American colleague to be heard.

One thing I am proud of is that I have always acted impartially. I have no time for those who wish to bend the rules. I have no time for those who believe that they should have a greater say in the future of our breed here in Europe, simply because they have a louder voice. I have in the past and will again do everything in my power to ensure that the will of a few individuals with their own agenda is not imposed on the majority. There must be an open debate and a vote showing that the majority of European members support whatever is proposed.

I believe the lack of transparency of the SABT board needs immediate improvement. Until recently, even board members were only told of certain decisions after that decision was made. I have fought hard in these last few months to stop that happening and I will continue to fight as hard as I have to, to ensure that ordinary members are aware of what is happening in South Africa and have a voice.

Members can only have a voice if they are informed, beforehand, of discussions that are to take place and decisions are to be made.   If I continue in this position I pledge that I will do everything in my power to ensure that this is how things will work.

One issue that seems to divide all of us is KUSA recognition. Some believe that this will protect the breed; some believe it will be the downfall of the breed. Wherever we stand on this issue, it seems inevitable that it will happen. What we need to do now is to ensure that we have our say, as part of the largest breed organisation, in how and when this happens.

I believe that this election is the first time that members in Europe have been able to express their views. I wholeheartedly welcome it! If I am elected to serve as Board Member for Europe for the next two year term I would like to see members balloted more regularly for their opinions on the issues, which will affect the future of the breed. In particular I would like us to have a greater say in how the revenue generated from within Europe is used to further the breed here where it counts for us.

I hope that you will give me a clear mandate to present Europe's views and needs forcefully and directly to the new board of the SABT and help them to understand the very different environment here.

Kind regards
Dolph Carstens

Even though I am registered as a breeder with the SABT I have not had any litter yet.

I came across the Boerboel by accident six years ago when I read a portrait of the breed in a dog magazine. Before that I had German Shepherds and Rottweilers. After one year of extensive research, lots of mails and telephone calls we could finally pick our first dog, Nelson, from Anne and Shaun Ewing in Denmark. Three years later, our bitch Happy from Marianne und Domien Coppelmans completed our quartet.

I have been a member of the SABT from the beginning because I think the membership in such an association gives the members the possibility to keep in contact with other Boerboel owners, to exchange experiences and to get help if if they need it.

Furthermore, breeding regulations and the breed standard should provide clear guidelines for their breeding plans.

During my membership in the SABT I have noticed some things which should be changed and improved for the benefit of the members but above all for the benefit of our dogs. One of these things is the improvement of the communication with the members, another issue is the financial equality of all members worldwide. Furthermore, I think it is very important to make detailed information about the appropriation of the association's finances accessible to the members. Last but not least, I think it is very important to reach an agreement with the other existing Boerboel associations in order to obtain an international recognition of the breed to protect our dogs from possible legal restrictions for dangerous dogs.

From my point of view, the task of the European board member is to be committed to our dogs and their owners - no matter if they are breeders or not. I would consider it my most important task to represent the interests of our breed and of the European members.

Boerboel greetings

Lutz Hilgenfeldt