Cane Corso Appreciation Society UK
The Cane Corso Appreciation Society UK was created by a passionate and dedicated team of individuals, who have come together in order to start a breed club for the Cane Corso in the United Kingdom.
As most individuals are aware the Cane Corso is not yet recognised by the Kennel Club in the United Kingdom, we hope in the near future this will change with your help.
We strive to promote the Cane Corso in a positive manner and provide education on the Cane Corso its traits and temperament. We are looking to promote and preserve the integrity of the breed and provide and open and civil platform for Corso members and enthusiasts to support the Cane Corso in our quest for Kennel Club recognition.
“Striving to promote the breed in a positive manner”.
A Brief History of the Cane Corso in the UK
The first Cane Corso to be imported into the UK were Capo and Nala in 1997. The two dogs were imported together by Nino of Lo Raso Cane Corso. Nino met the breed whilst he was on holiday in Ribera, Sicily and instantly fell in love.
Nino, who still breeds today, had visited Giancarlo and Anna Malavasi in October 1996, one of the founders of the breed, and after his visit with them in Mandriva, Italy he knew it was the Cane Corso he wanted to breed.
Over the next three months, he started the process of importing the two puppies into the UK. Giancarlo and Anna selected the ideal specimens to introduce into the UK in February 1997, and the two puppies entered quarantine kennels.
Nala, a brindled bitch, ( taken from the Lion King film) and Capo, a grey male ( which means boss in Italian).
Both puppies arrived relaxed and happy despite the long journey. They spent 6 months in quarantine which felt like a very long time for Nino. Nala was always by Ninos side when out of the home, whilst Capo loved to explore the outdoors.
Nino recalls how Capo reminded him of “Scooby Doo” when he was a young pup. Unfortunately, Nala never produced a litter, but Capo produced a litter in 2001 with Bedra. They had 12 puppies.
Thank you Nino for your time and for sharing your experience with us.
UK Cane Corso History continued…
In 1999, the first Corso litter was born. The breeder was Alan Bates of Brandoux Dogue de Bordeaux and Grant Slater. The litter was born in quarantine, shortly after they had been imported from Dell Abazia. Ursula the dam was imported pregnant to Fidel, a son of It, Ch. Boris.
In 1999, the first conference was held for the Cane Corso (pictured here). Christopher Habig, a Molosser Expert, spoke at this conference. There were a total of 13 Cane Corsi in the UK at this time.
In the year 2000, Kenny Contado became established in the UK. He purchased a male from Simone Tanzarella and another male Franco from Southern Italy. He also purchased a female puppy from Nino, from the Bedra and Capo litter.
Alpagri Asperi Cane Corso imported 6 Cane Corsi into the UK and Lo Raso Cane Corso imported two further females from Ribera Sicily. The breeder was Nino Leto of La Mirage.
In 2001, William Argent became established. He shared the following with us
" I have been an animal lover and have had dogs around me my whole life. Although I don’t currently own a Cane Corso, the breed was a big part of my life for many years.
It was in the year 2000 my wife wanted me to help her choose her first dog for our family. I knew how to help and enjoyed researching breeders bloodlines etc. So we found her a beautiful black Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Beau.
This gave me my passion back and led me to find a dog for myself. As a breed, my first choice would have been the American pit bull terrier. I owned a female pit from the age of 12. She was a beautiful athletic dog who never had a fight or showed any aggression. She loved play fighting with other dogs and that’s what we would do for hours in the park. Dogs would play and owners would talk, share stories and talk about other peoples’ dogs we liked.
However, because of the Dangerous Dogs Act, the Pit Bull wasn’t an option. I ended up studying four breeds: the Presa canario , American Bulldog, the Boerboel and the Cane Corso.
After researching each breed in detail. I decided on the Cane Corso. As well as the outstanding looks and physical attributes, I liked the way it is an “intelligent-thinking” guard dog, that wasn’t breed solely for fighting.
At the time there were only a few breeders in the UK. The dogs had a lot of variation, and even though some of the dogs were nice, some of the offspring were not to my preference.
I was particularly impressed by a group of dogs that were imported from Sicily to The UK. Three pups imported from ‘All. Dell Abazia’ kennel: Lucia, Franco, Vito. Others were imported from Sicily and main land Italy around this time, but these were the ones that I was interested in.
So me my wife flew to the middle of Sicily to find the kennels. When we got there, nobody had heard of the place, and all we had was an internet print out with an address, that nobody could understand.
Finally, a cab driver knew of it and took us there. We knocked at the door unannounced, to be met by 6 adult Corsi going crazy at the fence.
A tall balding Italian man walked out in overalls and asked us in Italian what we wanted. Once he understood we wanted to see the dogs, he kindly put the dogs away invited us in, and gave us a cold drink and some oranges.
Lucky for us, his niece was there and she spoke a little English. We stayed for a coupe of hours looked at the dogs and negotiated. He had 2 litters due from two different females and would keep us two pairs to choose from. He couldn’t have been more helpful. You could see he loved his dogs and had a passion for how the breed should be. So we made plans to come back in 3 months to choose the two we wanted and take them home. Our second trip was another nice holiday, I was so excited!
We picked the strongest two pups, Henry was double the size of his brother. He was all bones and nose. The breeder took him at 3 weeks and hand fed him, he put him with Grace’s litter who was a few weeks older. Grace was beautiful elegant pretty female.
So we finished our holiday and he met us at the airport with the dogs. We went home and the dogs went into quarantine for 6 months and then they came home .
They were not socialised with other dogs, and Henry was a dominant bully. Grace was electric and a complete live wire. She wasn’t nervous and she was trustworthy and submissive with us . But if something wasn’t right she was up on her back legs. Actually, they were both up on their back legs for the next 5/6years, barking and guarding one thing or the other.
Once Mature they were both striking. Henry especially. I couldn’t go more than 100 yards Before someone would stop me and ask what breed they were and how beautiful they are. Cars would stop regularly.
I used to enjoy running them beside my bike and loved grooming and taking them to the forest.
It could also be stressful, as they were both dog aggressive. Henry would only tolerate females, whilst Grace was a pure hunter. She would kill a cat or squirrel without hesitation.
They were a labor of love. I had two litters from Henry And Grace in 6 years, and covered Henry with multiple females.
Unfortunately, one night, Grace had multiple seizures after a phantom pregnancy and I had to make the pain-staking decision to have her put to sleep. She was seven years old.
Henry died in his sleep. My wife found him in the garden curled up peacefully. He was nine and a half. That was over 8 years ago and we now own two crazy pugs that are just as fun, but without the work!
From my experience, the rustic type Cane Corso needs to be in the right environment to thrive and live to its full potential."
More UK History of the Cane Corso
In 2002, Telesto Kennels purchased Puma from Val D’Erro. Puma was bred to Panther and Alpagris’ Nero was bred to Alpagris Luna. These two litters were the start of the Telesto programme.
In 2006, Boleyn Cane Corso brought Baila Di Fosso Corno to the UK at the age of five years, and had two litters in 2006 and 2008.
Boleyn also imported Amelia from Marco Pe Pecorino, Vanugular (Vanny), Coplogrosso (12) who was the son of Bora. Bora was the first Italian Champion used in breeding in the UK.
Coccon – Di Fosso Corno was imported to the UK and produced litters in 2008.
Many will be aware of the Corso who were in the Game of Thrones. These dogs were owned by Kenny Contado, who also collaborated with Boleyn Cane Corso.
Boleyn Cane Corso also worked with Terry Sanders, our chairman. Terry Sanders has now set up his own kennel Ronin Cane Corso.
In 2012, after researching the breed for two years, Blue Cane Corso UK imported their first dog, Rocco from Denmark. They have never looked back since.
Initially, they had no intention to become breeders and had looked into various large molosser breeds, but were drawn to the intelligence and confidence the Corso could provide.
They are not a large kennel and never intend to be. They became the first FCI registered Kennel in the UK and promote Hip, Elbow, Heart and Patella testing. They use both BVA and Penn Hip on all their Corsi, at veterinarians based in the United Kingdom. They also use embark DNA and genetic testing.
They work weekly with Alan Woods a highly respected and experienced IPO/IGP Schutzhund trainer, which enables them to ensure, before breeding stock, so that Alan can asses that they have the correct temperament.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Email
canecorsoappreciationuk@gmail.com