Well, where do we start with this? Jojo is covering the show aspects of the weekend, so I (Anna) am aiming to make this report as enjoyable for ‘laypeople’ as possible, and hopefully shatter some myths about dog shows in general.

The criticism is often levelled at Corso show dogs, that they are ‘show ponies’ who are incapable of doing anything more than trot around a ring looking pretty. The next person to think that thought should take very close note of what I observed on the morning of the Cane Corso show.

We entered a field featuring a hide, and a helper, dogs with the most amazing drive and excitement visible all around. I wondered if this was simply a demonstration of trained dogs, but no, these were the animals who were to enter the ring later that day.

What an amazing sight! Dogs were scanned for their chip before working, to ensure that the dog on the field was the dog about to work, then they were put through their paces with their handlers – I think the photos speak for themselves here! Dogs then had to greet and react calmly to a circle of strangers standing very closely to show that their drive was just that, drive, not nervousness or fear, but a genuine enjoyment and understanding of their job. This was such an important part of the weekend for me – I have been saying this over and over again, the breed MUST switch off as well as on. This proved for me that this is as important to the Italians as it is to me.

You'll notice here that we have followed one dog, Axel, throughout the process to illustrate every aspect of this article.

SACC (Società Amatori Cane Corso – the BCCS equivalent in Italy) the day before had spoken about making these tests (called CAL 1 and 2, the equivalent of some of our SCH levels) even harder in the aspects of nerves. Specifically that dogs will be tested more thoroughly for nerves, and that instead of one dog being tested, the qualification would be sought for whole litters, giving a mean score across the board, this will be databased and allow the Italians to start tracking temperament as well as health issues.

This is such an important step in improving the temperament across the board – extra tests such as gunshots in the ring are to be introduced, the dog should show no aggressive of fearful reaction to this sudden noise – not that it can’t react - but that the reaction should be appropriate to the reaction of the handler (who is expecting it) and not left to the decision of the dog.

SACC reached out to the whole World during their seminar, finally speaking out loud that the breed, whilst it would always be the “Cane Corso Italiano”, it is now an international animal, and SACC need to be guiding breed clubs all over the World rather than remaining insular and allowing the Corso to veer off in any direction. We need their support here in the UK, until we are strong as a regulatory body, and able to get the breed recognised on the import register, then SACC must be a close mentor to us, they have proved that they are committed to change and I would now suggest that we need to invite them to guide us as a club so that our members can see parallels between the Mother Ship and the UK, hopefully leading to us being more present in Europe.

SACC are, for the first time, starting a true rescue programme for Italy for the Cane Corso, this is so exciting for me, and a way we can yet again forge stronger bonds with SACC. We are looking into the possibility of an ‘exchange’ of rescue dogs, one Italian to come to the UK and one UK dog to go to Italy.

Judges at the seminar spoke with amazing passion about the difficulties facing them, essentially being criticised for decisions where they simply had to pick the best of a bad lot. SACC are commited to change here too, the show the next day was structured so that no 1st second or third were placed, but dogs of merit were singled out. Dogs of no merit were, brilliantly, also singled out – in one class at least there were no placements at all! For those not familiar with the structure of shows, this is completely unheard of. There were comments made openly by the judge about dogs with disgusting conformation being in the ring, you cannot be a Corso simply from the neck up…

This was a shock for some, and a loud and clear message that SACC are determined to move in the right direction for health and temperament as well as the standard, it was so refreshing for me, as a hater of the dog show in general to see dogs with obvious cruciate, hip and joint problems, not rewarded for having a pretty face. I have some very controversial views about some of what I saw in the ring, I am making a decision about how best to inform the UK without insulting the rest of Europe…

This gives us new hope, and new ideas, we met so many excellent judges, many of whom have expressed an interest in coming to the UK, and it will be such an honour to show what we have achieved so far. Pet owners in the UK – some of your dogs would have done very well in Italy, so we will bring Italy to you! It has confirmed my thoughts that a Society cannot just have one event a year, but must have several smaller ones as well as the big show, in between my rescue work I hope to help achieve this for the BCCS, forging better links with our Worldwide Corso friends.

Most importantly it tells us that there is no need to be in the dark about SACC and the Italians, they are actually facing exactly the same problems that we in the UK face, but they have more experience to make it work better from now on. 

This is my overview report, for those wishing to follow the technical aspects of the seminar, I am waiting on some vital translations which will follow shortly.