While on holiday in Ribera, Sicily in 1995 I fell in love with a breed of dog called the "Cane Corso" (Corso dog), I saw at a local dog show.

Initially I was struck by their appearance. A medium to large dog powerful and sturdy yet agile and elegant. I hadn't seen such a dog before. I bought a book on the breed to discover more. It is ancient Italian breed dating back to Roman times, but not officially recognized in Italy until 1992. By the F.C.I. it was recognized in 1996. I was pleased to discover that Corsos, have a lovely temperament and are easily trained. I contacted one of the founders of the breed Giancarlo and Anna Malavasi and decided to visit them in Mantova, Northern Italy. Which I did in October 1996.

I was originally a German shepherd man I had always dreamt of breeding shepherds later in life. After this visit I knew it was the Corso I wanted to breed and it would be sooner rather that later.

Over the next three months I started the process to import a dog and a bitch, which were selected by Giancarlo and Anna as ideal specimens of the bred to introduce to the UK in February 1997 we received two puppies at the Quarantine Kennels. A four month old brindled bitch we called "Nala" (taken from the movie "The Lion King") and a grey dog of three months we called "Capo" (this means Boss in Italian).

Surprisingly, after a long and tiring journey for any puppy they arrived relaxed, happy and ready to eat!! After regular visits to the kennels we couldn't wait to bring them home. It was a very long six months.

Our main concern about bringing Capo and Nala home was for our eleven year old German Shepherd and how it would adjust to the new arrivals. We need not have worried. The boys hit it off straight away and were even sleeping together in the same kennel within days. Nala stayed at the Quarantine Kennels for another week as she had come into her first season. Her arrival home went as smoothly as Capo's. Considering they can have little memory of their lives before quarantine, they have emerged unscathed by their experience.

On the continent and in the USA Corso, are being used for police, security and tracking work and are gaining much popularity. We look forward to an equally bright future in the UK.