Written by Haley Price
Professional photography by Nat Gold ZA
We adopted Marley on the 28th of January 2025.
We’d been waiting to add to our animal family for a while, and I’d been keeping a lookout on different rescue sites specifically looking for a Boerboel, as we used to have them, and we love their nature and loyalty.
I came across a post on my local community Facebook group from Jo-Jo Bayvel – there was this beautiful big boy and I had to message her to find out more.
We arranged to go and visit on the weekend. I told my husband and my little boy and we were all very excited. During the weekend we received a message saying that the people who came to see him before us had decided that they’d like to take him home and we were just devastated; our hearts were broken.
I let Jo-Jo know that if anything changed, she should please let us know – and I’m so glad I did, because the following day she messaged to say that the family had returned him. This made me a little nervous, but I know Boerboels and they’re very trainable.
We immediately went to meet him, and we ended up taking him home. We did change his name from Max to Marley, and he’s fitted in amazingly. He’s part of our exercise routine because he takes us for walks, but he’s responding well to training and treats.
He’s fitted into the family and rubbed off some lovely traits onto his little brother Coal, another rescue of ours who’s been a little bit of a challenge.
Our little boy loves him. He’s a big pup and loves a cuddle on the couch and also tries to sneak onto the bed.
One thing Marley loves more than anything is FOOD. We call him Tiger Shark as he circles us at the table; we’ve learnt really quickly that leaving a block of butter on the counter isn’t recommended, so now everything lives in the middle of our counter or in the fridge. As soon as I open the dog food bag he begins to salivate and gets the cutest drool bubbles (giggle, these aren’t for everyone); I’ve been trying to get a pic of them since we got him but keep missing the moment.
We can see him learning daily that he WILL get fed and he doesn’t need to sneak a treat, and he now sits before his food, doesn’t eat it in 10 seconds flat, and even gives paw.
He’s such a cutie and is LOVED! So glad he found us!
.jpg)