Boleyn Cane Corso — how did it all start?
I first fell in love with the Cane Corso in 2003, my journey
since then has been both rewarding and heartbreaking. My first
Corso was Chiaro e Tondo Viggo, imported from Holland, bred by
Jose and Eric De Vries. Eric and Jose soon became very dear
friends, I found my time with them invaluable.
Our
monthly (and sometimes more often!) visits expanded my knowledge
and were crucial, laying the foundations of my own breeding
program.
In early 2005 I fell in love with a very young Corso, Eclissi
di Luna from Allevamento di Fosso Corno, and spent online time
investigating this Abruzzi kennel. I discovered that I liked
their direction with the Corso, and was pleased to learn of the
depth of experience held by Alberto and Sergio, and that they
shared such a similar passion to my own. For a year our
relationship blossomed, culminating in April with our import of
the pregnant Baila di Fosso Corno. Sergio and Alberto have been
invaluable in helping me set up my breeding line and their
experience and friendship are sacred to me. Sergio and Alberto
are much more than breeders or even friends. They are now my
family.
Boleyn Cane Corso had its start in the early hours of
Tuesday, the 23rd of May 2006, with the birth of 7 healthy,
beautiful Corso puppies at our home in Essex. Baila was a
fantastic mother, and we are now looking forward to further
expansion with addition of new lines and litters in 2007 and
beyond.
Update July 2008
Oh my goodness, so much has happened since I wrote this, I have no idea where to start.
In September 2007 Marc and I imported Amelia HDB from Chiaro e Tondo kennel in Holland. Amelia was a dog I had fallen in love with on my visits to see Viggo, and when she became available I jumped at the chance. Along with Amelia came Amanda HDA from Denis Ali, Valle Orsi Ali kennel in Romania. It was love at first sight for me with Amanda, a dog that in the past two years has brought me many moments of happiness and togetherness, something I will always thank Denis for. We timed the trip at the same time as the Dutch Raduno, staying with our old friends Jose and Eric. Alberto was the judge of the show and we had such a wonderful time, we also visited a few breeders in Belgium with Sergio and Alberto and met a wonderful dog called Zelio, a dog I am very happy to have met.
Another phone call that changed my life, is when I was shopping with my mum in Norfolk a lovely man called Jerome called me and arranged to come and see Amie for potentially a pup from her, it was a great fit with me and Theresa and Jerome from the start, and I offered them the chance to foster Samba as I had kept both daughters back from and they had reached the 6 month age it was difficult to walk them together, so off Samba went for a temporary period and I cried all day . they fell so hard for Samba and I knew breeding her would be so difficult for Theresa so in March 2007 - she became all theirs and I got two friends that would support and help my Corso journey.
Christmas 2006 was spent at Fosso Corno, Marc and I had such fun and our relationship with the guys now went beyond the dogs. Being around some of the most beautiful examples of Cane Corso, my Christmases really had all come at once. We were met at the airport by Sergio and Alberto with Sergio holding a formentino puppy called Vaniglia (Vanny) . she was quite simply the most beautiful thing I have ever seen; I was totally in love. When we got home I had another joy in store, the .three. Clio, Cocoon and Commodore . who were six months old and were bred by a friend of Sergio and Alberto, Filippo Pizzoferrato. I remember getting those feelings that I get, emotion welled up inside me . I could not take my eyes off them, their heads, angles . everything. Alberto and I have this running joke because I always say to Sergio. .Oh Sergio this is the most wonderful (fill in the blank) I have ever seen..
We even cooked Christmas Dinner . with Tacchino (turkey) and everything. On Boxing Day we went to visit Filippo and Marcello to see a litter that has been sired by Colpogrosso . sire of my first litter and meet Clio and Cocoons mum Dafne Del Dyrium, one of my Corso moments to remember.
Every time I would leave Italy, I would go home with fire in my belly, I was determined to have a kennel as wonderful as Sergio and Alberto and be able to produce the wonders that they have.. little did I ever dream what the future would bring.
Sergio and Alberto came to the UK in March 2007 for Crufts and it really was fantastic having them at home with us, they were very happy with the puppies from Baila x Twelve and also the condition of all of my dogs...
Perhaps this is what led to what happened in April 2007 . Italian Champion Bora and Clio came to Boleyn!!!! It was another chapter in my Corso journey and although my life became a little harder with the .pack. it was so very enjoyable. I was lucky they all got on, with the exception of granny Bora . Rumba and Clio would play for hours in the garden . well what was left of my garden.
After going to the Raduno of the year in Lodi and the World Dog Show in Poland in 2006, I still could not decide on a stud for Amie that would carry blue and therefore give me some blue puppies, back then I really wanted this colour in my kennel. One day while looking through the net, I found Carlo owned by Ali Bark from Telesto Cane Corso, after looking at his pedigree I knew he was the one. Marc assured me I would get blue and I made the call . in these days the Corso Community was very fragmented, if there is one moment in my life that changed my Corso journey it was that call to Ali. Two years on and she is like family to Marc and I, a wonderful breeder and lover of Cane Corso and a very dear friend to us all. Amie had 8 wonderful puppies in March 2007, but alas none were blue!!!! So of course, me being me, I named them after all things blue.
We found another group of outstanding wonderful owners, some of them now best friends and the Amelia x Carlo litter turned out 4 wonderful hip scores - of 4 dogs scored! Ali and I kept two girls from the litter, Zukra (Zukie) and Kalani (Naddy) . Naddy stayed with Ali and Zukie went to live with Jane, Dave and their children and is a really fine example of the Corso as a family pet.
July 2007 . saw me, Mariana from Babinta Cane Corso and Jackie owner of Saltarello di Fosso Corno, going to a .puppy mill. to collect some Corsos under the .Cane Corso Rescue UK. banner. Jackie fostered one girl Orla, who had been used extensively in breeding and who.s hip score was in the 60s, Mariana took home Lila, a dog scared of her own shadow and I took home BB a heavily pregnant bitch, who looked like she was going to have them on the way home.
BB had her puppies 2 days later. It was an awful thing to watch a dog so scared go through hard labour; she had 4 puppies, great owners were found and I became even more determined. Subsequently, two of the four of these puppies are unwell; one has HD and the other Epilepsy, testament to what happens if you get a dog from a breeder who only breeds for financial gain..
It also was the time when I decide we needed a bigger house. Marc was totally against it, we had only really just moved into our home as it were and I was asking him to move . I became very ill and sitting in my hospital bed in September 2007 I saw a house for sale and said to Marc, that.s it . that.s our new home!
In December 2007 the .Corso Massive. as its affectionately known went to the Raduno of the year in Rimini . we had so much fun, and are very lucky that we are all of the same mindset and goals for this breed and of course we are all quite frankly insane. It was so nice to take them all to Fosso Corno to meet all the dogs, Carlie could meet Twelve, father to her Saunto and we met Cocoon once more . there are no words for the first time I saw him again, I knew that his sister was turning out into an outstanding example of the breed but seeing Cocoon . well it was another one of those moments.. Then when I thought things could not get any better . Vanny became available for me to buy.. I called Jerome and asked him if he could help . Vanny was in our sights..
At that trip it was agreed that Cocoon would come to England to mate with Baila and for me to get him ready for the World Dog Show...
In February 2008 Cocoon came to our home in Coggeshall, we joke now that he came as a boy and will leave England a man . he had spent 20 or so hours in the car and got out walked in our kitchen and promptly began to mate with Baila . he really is a stud muffin..
In March 2008 . my life totally changed when we moved home, that house I had seen in hospital was the house we bought and it was such a long and hard and rollercoaster journey.. It still does not seem real. Our new home has over an acre and LOTS of room for the dogs. It's my own piece of paradise, it really is.
I was so impressed with Cocoon, his temperament and structure that I decided to put him to my first born Rumba, to start my second generation. I have not been disappointed and Cocoon, Rumba and Baila gave me 18 outstanding wonderful puppies, Baila's were all sold before they were here and Rumba had her own fan base of owners waiting for one of her puppies they all now have wonderful homes and I have Quinto, quite simply the cutest puppy in the universe!
Denis and I decided to use Cocoon again with Amanda and after a difficult C Section 5 puppies were born on my son's birthday, Amanda was spayed on the table and will remain with me forever, my beautiful Amanda who I love so much.
In April 2008 Aldebaran di Fosso Corno (Alda) and Vanny came over from Italy and Alberto and Sergio wanted me to work my Corso magic on Alda to get her ready for the World dog show. Myself, Ali and Marc all went to Sweden and had some of the most fun you can have, stuck in a car for nearly a week. Alda became Vice Junior World Champion, handled by me (my first ever show) and I nearly peed my pants!!!
So as I sit here today, another generation of Boleyn puppy owners being, I hope, as dedicated to the breed as those before them, I really think they will be, as this breed really needs it.
In three weeks time it's the Cane Corso Discovery Day in Manchester. Sergio and Alberto will be in attendance and hopefully it will be a wonderful day to learn about and celebrate this wonderful breed.
My Corso journey has been the hardest and most rewarding journey of my life, my dogs leave me breathless and I am very proud of what I have been able to achieve, both in my breeding and friendships...
I look forward to writing the next chapter of Boleyn in the future.
