About Us

We are Sandra and Harry Brownlie and we live on a farm in the beautiful Clyde Valley in Scotland. We are around half hour drive from Glasgow airport, 50 minutes from Edinburgh and about 1 hour from Prestwick for those people who wish to visit.

We have a joint history in many breeds over a large number of years, so you can guess that we are no youngsters! Harry was a great terrier and lurcher man with an enviable knowledge of lines and the working aspect of these dogs having travelled the length and breadth of the country to see dogs at work or to work his own. Since the ban on hunting with dogs came into force we now only have 2 pet terriers who accompany the gang on our treks across the fields.

We have both previously owned between us large breed dogs, including a Rottweiler, Dobermanns, Boxer, German Shepherd and we still own one Akita. We have successfully owned, bred and shown Akitas for a number of years, our first being a rescue dog which we called Chieftain. We had a very enjoyable time with the Akitas and our hard work paid off with a win at Crufts, one of the largest dog shows in the world and possibly the most prestigious.

In 2002 we started to look for a new breed to join us at Sandaharr to be a house dog and companion for myself. Breeds we researched and visited all over Britain include the English Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Cane Corso, Presa Canaria, Dogue De Bordeaux, Bouviers and also Russian Black Terriers. As much as we respect and admire all these breeds the 'WOW' factor wasn't there until Harry saw a picture of the Boerboel in a Dogs magazine and then we were committed to finding out as much as possible about this breed. Then followed a lengthy time of research and visiting the breed and we were very impressed with what we saw on visiting Anthea Jones in the South of Wales with Celtic Connection Boerboels. Others who helped us in our early quest for knowledge were Lynne and Gareth at Accolade Boerboels and also Attie Badenhorst from Baden Boerboels, their help and advice was invaluable.

We got our first female 'Razina' (means strong and patient) in January 2004. We had picked a puppy with attitude as the Akitas play rough and can be dominant and she would have to be of strong character to deal with this. She proceeded to settle in wonderfully well forming a very special bond with our old male Akita, Chieftain, who has sadly passed away since then. Over the next 3 years our interest in the breed grew to a time and life consuming passion, (hence the move to a farm) and we are proud to say that we have made many great friends and contacts at home and worldwide through the breed. We hope to take you on our journey through the world of the Boerboel through our News page.

Written by Sandra Brownlie.

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