I discovered this wonderful breed while researching
Rottweiler breeders in 1993, I was immediately drawn the regal beauty and noble
expression. It was love at first sight, and this was only from pictures in the
dogs USA annual. I later settled on a Rottweiler breeder, who by chance also had
a few Corsi in her kennel. The first bitch I saw, looking back was not exactly a
great specimen, but good enough for me to realize that I knew we would one day
own one of these magnificent dogs. I would have too say 9 months went by, again
by chance someone in our obedience class had a Cane Corso that they where having
trouble with, our trainer knowing my already burgeoning passion for the breed
persuaded the beleaguered owners to sell us this dog. We quickly addressed the
behavior problems the dog was having, and had ourselves the first Cane Corso on
our block. I was not satisfied to only own a Cane Corso, I needed to know more
about the breed, our vet suggested we try going to a couple of rare breed shows
(since the Cane Corso is not an AKC recognized breed. Rare breed shows where the
only place to find them in number) His reasoning was that we where likely to
encounter people who had a considerable amount of knowledge about the breed at
these shows, and it would give us a chance to see other Corso’s up close and
personal. We went to the old USNMC show at Mullica Hills New Jersey and did we
ever see Corso’s, this particular show was judged by Gonnie Sheafer, and
boasted about 20 Cane Corso’s including CH. Roman’s Numero Uno, CH. Bel
Monte Bear, GR CH. Di Guardia’s Prince, Peadra’s Majic Zephyr. Prince was
the Best of Breed dog that day. While at that show we met a number of helpful
and knowledgeable people like Lee Hodges, Marty Giarocco, Linda Sannino and
Gino Ottimelli who where more than happy to talk to us
about the breed. Later that year we attended the old Tri-States show, this time
we brought our "Jake" along for the ride, the Cane Corso community
(mostly ICCF) where very supportive and somehow talked me into entering Jake in
the show. I had never seen a dog show prior to my limited experience at the
Mullica hill show, much less entered one, but I did it any way. To my surprise I
actually enjoyed it, the judge was rare breed veteran Marjorie Tuft who promptly
told me that I have a nice dog but need to learn how to handle him. I am not one
to back down to a challenge so I signed up for breed handling classes and
learned the art of exhibiting a dog. The more shows I attended the more I became
friendly with people like Lee Hodges, Colleen Lloyd, Sam Liu and Ed Hodas. These
people where at the time all ICCF board members. I had offered my services to
Lee, telling him that if he needed anything that I could help with that he could
count on me. Having already been an ICCF member for a few months Lee immediately
drafted me to the Directors board in the title of "Ways and Means
director" a position he created for me. Having spent an ever-increasing
amount of time around these people I was impressed with their knowledge and
dedication to the breed, particularly Ed Hodas from Bel Monte Kennel. Eddy and I
became fast friends, he possessed knowledge of the breed second to none in
America, and he had been to Italy 3 times already and had Italian books, videos
and pictures. He was a founding member of the ICCF and I learned everything I
could from a very willing teacher. Eddy also owned the sire to my Jake, the late
great Grand Champion Nero, who I absolutely loved, even though I could never
beat him in the show ring. The following year I was asked to run for Vice
President, which I did, and won. Lee had in the past year grown further removed
from the ICCF and was almost non-existent in its operation. Shortly after
winning re-election to the Presidents office Lee resigned. I had already assumed
the responsibility of the newsletter, and running much of the clubs business so
the transition was relatively a smooth one. Little did I know that the next four
years my office and this breed would dominate my life. Under our leadership
(myself, my wife, and various progressive board members) the ICCF enjoyed
unparallel success and growth. Among our accomplishments are bringing the
membership from scarcely 90 members to well over 300 members (the largest Cane
Corso club in the world, at that time), the ICCF information pack, welcome to
the club pack, persuading ARBA, FORB’s, Penns Creek and various other rare
breed clubs to use the ICCF standard at their shows, the complete renovation of
the ICCF website, the first ever ICCF supported entry shows, the largest Cane
Corso specialty ever held in America (the 1999 ICCF Nation Specialty over 70
dogs participated), the formation of the various ICCF committee’s, the Puppy
of the year award and the memorial Michael Sottile trophy, the ICCF annual
awards banquet, authored and published several articles on the breed that have
appeared in Cani Da Presa magazine, Rare Insight magazine, Rare Mastiff magazine
and the ICCF quarterly newsletter, was the driving force behind the now defunct
ICCF recommended breeders list. Probably the most important contribution we made
was opening formal relations with the Renzo Carosio and the AICC. This marked
the first time an Italian Cane Corso club and the ICCF shared common ground
since SACC and the ICCF parted ways in the early to mid 1990’s. This new
relationship of which I am most proud, paved the way for us to be able to make
modifications to the ICCF standard, which put it more in line with the world
wide accepted FCI standard for the Cane Corso. In October of 2000 I headed up an
ICCF delegation to Italy, our itinerary was to meet with ENCI (the Italian
Kennel club) to discuss common problems facing the Cane Corso in America and
abroad, Attend the AICC show and TAN test and to visit with as many breeders as
possible. In January of 2001 I resigned from the ICCF, the club and I no longer
shared the same vision for the future of the Cane Corso, there are some good
people still in place and I wish them the best of luck with the guardianship of
our breed. My resignation has afforded me more time to devote my energy’s to
helping the Cane Corso in different ways, I have taken it upon myself to help
educate the judges in this country as to exactly a correct Cane Corso is, most
don’t have a clue. I have authored the judge’s manual that ARBA and the ICCF
have adopted to help with the education of their judges. I was honored to give a
seminar on the Cane Corso at this years Cherry Blossom Classic. I was also
honored to judge the puppy sweepstakes at the 2001 ICCF National Specialty and
the ICCF Regional Specialty this past October in New Jersey. I truly enjoyed
judging and hope to pursue more assignments in the future. In June of 2001 I
returned to Italy to attend the AICC discussion/meeting on the future direction
of the Cane Corso. Prior to the meeting I had time to visit with some breeders
and interview a number of old-time Corsari. After the meeting was the AICC show.
I was offered and jumped at the opportunity to Stewart under Judge Carosio in
what was the largest Cane Corso specialty show ever, 107 Corsi! Recently we
where interviewed and our dogs were featured on the Outdoor life networks
coverage of the 2001 Cherry Blossom Classic.