Reach Out Today

Sometimes when a breed of dogs becomes extinct breeders are forced to use a mixture of modern breeds in an attempt to recreate the extinct breed. Examples of some of these breeds are the St. Bernard, Irish Wolfhound, Hovawart, Leonberger, certain Mastiffs etc.

In the case of the Cane Corso this breed was only on the verge of extinction. Thanks to the diligent work of Dr. Paolo Breber whom was able to travel the rural parts of Italy and locate some of the last true specimens during the 1970’s, many of us today get to enjoy the direct descendants of this once legendary and illusive breed that was known for its great bravery, loyalty, intelligence and ability! So it’s better to say that this breed has undergone a great revival rather than a reconstruction.



The beginning of the story. Paolo Breber

In 1973 I was living and working in the province of Foggia in the south of Italy. In my spare time I was studying and writing about the Aprutian pastoral dog (misnamed the Maremma sheepdog). Having read an article of mine on the subject, a man called Giovanni Bonatti wrote me asking if I had also come across a dog in those parts looking somewhat like the Perro da Presa Mallorqueno. He himself had actually never seen it and was simply passing on information obtained from another student of dogs, Francesco Ballotta, who had observed many of these mastiffs/catch dogs in the province of Foggia back in the 1930s. This was the cue that set me searching. I began looking around and enquiring. Everyone seemed to know the animal well but no one could tell me where to find it. From what I gathered, it had been a common working dog till the 1950s and then practically disappeared in the 1960s. But a breakthrough came in 1974 when at a dog show in Foggia I was at length able to see six CCs in the live. I did not let pass the occasion and promptly bought one of the females there. Mirak, this was her name, became the foundation of all that came later regarding the breed. When she came into heat I looked up the owner of Alioth, one of the males I had seen at the dog show. The two were actually quite different: Mirak was short and stocky while Alioth was tall and rangy. But judging by results their genes combined very well. On November 14th 1975 Mirak gave birth to seven really good puppies of which Brina, a female, and Dauno, a male, I kept track of for my breeding program. In the mean time I had located another male to the name of Picciutt which I later used with Brina who on 15th January 1978 gave birth to ten puppies.

In May 1979 I received a letter from Stefano Gandolfi, who was then sixteen years old, saying he greatly desired to participate in my project of reviving the Cane Corso. I was very glad of this offer because I had quite soon realised I couldn’t continue all by myself. By this time I had produced many puppies but because of my limited means I could only keep Mirak while the rest were given out to friends and others, most of which became inevitably lost to my breeding program. Thus any collaborators were greatly appreciated. Gandolfi was living in Mantova, in the north of Italy, and was friends with the Malavasi brothers who ran a commercial kennel. In September 1979 I took them all on a tour of my local Cane Corso contacts in the South. I also transferred Dauno, Brina and Tipsi to the Malavasi kennel, Tipsi being a daughter from Picciutt x Brina. Various litters were produced during this collaboration but all within the gene pool of Mirak, Alioth, Picciutt and another unrelated dog, also named Picciutt, that I had later found.

At this stage another person broke new ground in the quest of the Cane Corso. Paolo Paoletti moved independently but he kept me informed of his results. He discovered more very good rustic Cane Corsos from a much wider area that I had explored. He set up his own kennel and produced an excellent line which, however, has since been disbanded.

On 24th December 1980, a litter out of Dauno and Tipsi was born at the Malavasi kennel. One of the male puppies entrusted to Fernando Casolino, a local fancier, turned out to be the best looking specimen we had produced so far. His owner became so enthusiastic with Basir that he, together with Gandolfi and the Malavasi brothers, decided the time was ripe to apply to the Italian Kennel Club for recognition, using Basir as the type specimen. In October 1983 we founded the Cane Corso Breed Club to this purpose. In all this there was only one thing that I really wanted for myself: the writing up of the Standard of Points. But at this point of the story, the others decided I wasn’t needed any longer and so from then on excluded me completely in the business of getting the breed recognised and defining the standard. The standard they produced, besides being too elaborate and mainly concerned with conformation, has one really very bad fault: it allows for an undershot jaw! This happened because Basir, the reference type, had an inverted-scissors bite. As I have at length explained elsewhere the Cane Corso is a working catch dog and therefore requires

a perfect set of teeth and jaws i.e. the scissors bite. Any other type of bite is simply faulty. To really clinch matters these other people acquired a blatant Corso x Boxer mongrel called Otello with a grotesquely undershot jaw and worked his genes into their blood line. So those pedigreed Cane Corsos looking like 19th century boxers that you see at the dog shows are the result. Of course this has betrayed all that I had in mind. I wasn’t interested in creating something novel for the fashion market but in saving a cultural heritage. However, not withstanding all these awful pedigreed mutts, there are also very many authentic Cane Corsos in circulation and in the end they will prevail, if not for any other reason, for being far more handsome.

Paolo Breber

May 19th. 2020

How the Cane Corso behaves. Paolo Breber

When one looks for information about the Cane Corso the feature that always comes foremost is its fighting temperament. We read about how the Roman legions took it into battle to attack poor barbarians. How much this tale is based on history I cannot say, but it is true however that the Cane Corso is a catch dog whose job has always been to tackle with reckless courage such dangerous and powerful animals as bulls, hogs, wild boars, bears, and others. This capacity is interpreted by some as fierceness, and the dog is sometimes listed among the breeds unsafe to keep. But the combative and fearless temperament of the Cane Corso cannot be simply defined as mindless savagery. In actual fact, its nature is quite the opposite. When not aroused it is a calm and low-strung dog, very much a family dog. The ancients considered the mastiff/catch dog, of which the Cane Corso is a perfect representative, as a cross between dog and tiger. This idea, which by the way is very difficult to believe biologically, was inspired by its cat-like temper. Like a cat the Cane Corso loves to laze on a soft couch in the warmth of a home, preferably next to its owner. But then, like the tiger, turns into a juggernaut when it triggers off. And then of course the stripes of its brindle coat fancifully suggest a tiger ancestry. Among dogs the brindle coat originated with the mastiff; any other type, like the greyhound, which shows these stripes indicates an influence of the former.

The dream situation for a Cane Corso is to live constantly by the side of its master. It is a companion to be owned singly without other dogs around; its extraordinary potential will hardly emerge properly if it has to live long hours by itself in a garden or pen without anything to do. By keeping it by your side from the time it is a puppy it will learn to read your mind. The anecdotes I garnered on this aspect from old-timers suggest a quasi-supernatural understanding between man and beast. How else can one explain the following story. The setting is a typical rural town in the south of Italy and the events recounted here are from the recent past. A man has been for days in the throes of deep agitation. He has been slighted and can find no peace. I do not recall the reason given me for this state of mind but I am sure it would have been of the usual sort: inheritance, money, land, or women. The man cannot rest, he is black with rage. The moment comes he cannot stand it any longer. He gets up from where he is lying and staggers to the closet for his shotgun. It is decided; there is no other way; he must blast his enemy to kingdom come. But what about his corso Tigrò? Up to now lying there silent and thoughtful, it promptly reacts to the turn of the situation and places himself between man and gun. “Get out of the way Tigrò!” says the man, but receives a growl and a hard look instead. The man still does not get the message and Tigrò shows his teeth. Hesitation sets in, the paroxysm subsides and then it is gone. The man never tired of telling me how Tigrò stopped him from ruining his life. Who can rationally explain the workings of the canine mind in this latter episode?

This marked empathy with its master is not a prerogative of the Cane Corso but is a common feature of the mastiff category when in pure and original condition. Documents bear witness to this over the centuries. I cannot do better in this respect than cite the work of the famed Dr Caius: Of British Dogs, published in 1570.

“Mastiffs have the merit of loving they masters and hating their enemies. And so guard them on journeys, defending them from thieves and keeping them safe and sound, and so might also feel be called Defenders. And if ever their master is attacked by a multitude of men and falls, it has been found that they do not desert him even in death, but will lovingly and for many days endure hunger and cold, and if it should turn out will kill the murderer or at any rate betray him by they bark or anger or hostile assault, as though a witness of their master’s death.”

Notwithstanding the dominant fighting instinct in the dog, it is always controlled and controllable. I will quote another old source showing how the nature of the traditional Cane Corso is typical of the pure mastiff type. William Harrison in his Description of England printed in 1586 thus discourses.

“Some mastiffs are dangerous only at night, that those which are allowed to go loose about the house and yard are so gentle during the day that children may ride on their backs and play with them as they desire, but some are so jealous that if a stranger embraces or touches them the dogs will attack him furiously. The one that I kept would not suffer any man to bring in his weapon further than the gate. Or if I punished my children the dog would gently take away the rod from my hand with his teeth.”

Two centuries later the special nature of the mastiff is confirmed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Gmelin (The Animal Kingdom, 1792).

“Some mastiffs will permit a stranger to come into the yard, or place which he has been appointed to guard, and will go peaceably along with him through every part of it, so long as he touches nothing; but the moment he attempts to meddle with any of the goods, or endeavors to leave the place, he informs him, first by gentle growling, or if that is ineffectual, by harsher means, that he must neither do mischief nor go away; and never uses violence unless resisted; will even, in this case, seize the person, throw him down, and hold him there for hours, or until relieved, without biting.”

I can bear witness to this behavior from my personal experience. An old-timer friend of mine who has a dairy farm down in Puglia, one of the very few places where one could find pure Cane Corsos back in the 1970s, always leaves his main dog the free run of the grounds. There is no problem for a visitor who turns up unexpectedly during the daytime. As one gets out of the car this muscular, rather daunting corso comes up to inquire who it is, always well-mannered and without hostility. He will let you pat him on his head. It is advised, however, not to approach where the cows are kept. If you are careless in this he will place himself between you and the cows shed, and glare at you warningly straight in the face.

If in some other occasion the confrontation with a corso precipitates into an actual assault this does not necessarily mean being torn to pieces, as might generally be expected. I know about the circumstances of two episodes of aggression that really took place. In the first case the future victim decided one day to pay a visit to a friend. This friend bred cani corso which were usually kept in pens within the large courtyard of the house. Arriving at the gate our man called out but received no answer. It was early afternoon and the owner must have been taking his nap. After a while of waiting the man decided to let himself in anyway. He looked through the gate bars and saw no sign of loose dogs. He lifted the latch, opened the gate and started to walk towards the house. Suddenly, a large dark animal materialized. It was the personal dog of the owner of the house and therefore left free. It went straight at him, grabbed him by his arm and started to pull. This is the typical of the mastiff: there is no warning, no barking; at the approach of the stranger the dog first crouches and then leaps forward silently. Fortunately the man knew his dogs and kept his cool notwithstanding the painful grip; he managed to sit down on some steps, and tried to appease his foe by keeping perfectly still. In the face of such composure the dog settled down also, somewhat slightly relaxing its jaws but keeping a steady glare on the prisoner. Even the slightest stirring of the man caused an agonizing increase in pressure. At long last the owner appeared at the door. Alarmed and upset at the scene before him, with a quick word he freed his friend. Mortified, he inspected his arm but there were no lacerations; only a swelling and later bruises emerged to show for the vice-like hold. With its master on friendly terms with the visitor, the dog lost all trace of aggressiveness towards the recent intruder.

The other episode occurred in the similar situation of a man entering a home without telling the owner. The corso leapt at the intruder and knocked him down. In the effort to block him the dog fastened onto his shirt front and held him there. The man had to wait like that for an hour before the owner turned up and freed him. Aside from the unpleasantness of the experience the victim was unharmed.Sometimes when a breed of dogs becomes extinct breeders are forced to use a mixture of modern breeds in an attempt to recreate the extinct breed. Examples of some of these breeds are the St. Bernard, Irish Wolfhound, Hovawart, Leonberger, certain Mastiffs etc.

cANE cORSO hISTORY

What do we focus on?

At Warriors of Valhalla we strive to keep the Corso Traditional and focus on functionality. After all it is a working breed. If we forget this the Cane Corso will drift in to something else. In our breeding program we consider the health, temperament, working ability, amazing guardian traits, maternal instincts, correct structure, and a superior overall functionality to be the desired areas where we seek excellence.