I have loved dogs as long as I can remember. In the past I had working breeds (Border Collie Rescue and Belgian Shepherd). Stephen’s family had Samoyeds when he was younger.

Due to work and other commitments we had not been in a position to own a dog for a very long time, so it was with great joy and excitement when the time finally came to get our new dog. I had spoken at length to Stephen my partner, and my two sons who still live at home. We thought of getting a recue dog, and visited Battersea on several occasions, although the right dog never seemed to come up. In the end we drew up a checklist of what we wanted from a dog, and also what we, as owners could offer.

The result was; a shorthaired, medium/large female dog, easily trainable, low shedding, (I have since found out that Corsos can shed quite a lot) protective but discerning, and not barking at every little thing. It was also important that the dog should be reasonably calm around the house once mature. We don’t have a large house, or large garden, and this obviously needed to be taken into consideration. We knew that we could offer lots of exercise, love, guidance, companionship, training, and more. Basically, we were looking for a new canine family member.

It was Stephen who first came across the Cane Corso and fell in love, as neither of us had heard of the breed before, we started to trawl the internet for information, and then looked to find a reputable breeder, as we really wanted to find out as much as possible before going ahead. I guess the rest is history, as we came across Boleyn website and after several phone conversations with Jo Lueck, everything just seemed to fall into place.

Jo invited Stephen and I up to Ali Barks kennels, Telesto, in Sunderland, a 600 mile round trip for us. There were puppies available, from Twelve and Naddy, a collaboration between Telesto and Boleyn kennels, so off we went. (Not actually knowing for sure whether we would meet the strict criteria that Jo and Ali set for all their new puppy owners). But all the same we bought all the puppy paraphernalia, and like excited new parents started our Corso journey.

We arrived on the Saturday evening, having booked into a Hotel for the night, and turned up at Ali’s the next morning. After about 5 hours of Gestapo style questioning (only joking) and meeting some of Ali and Jo’s dogs, plus other owners and their dogs visiting at the time, we were invited to meet the pups. All of them amazing, after some deliberation we picked Cyclone, a beautiful brindle girl.

After completing the paperwork and spending time getting to know everyone, we started the long drive home with Cyclone in her crate, proud new Corso owners. Initially she barked for all she was worth. Where am I? What’s happening? This is weird! I don’t like this at all! I feel sick, lonely, I want to go home! That was the first 10 minutes of the drive. We stopped gave her a cuddle, cleaned up her crate, she squirmed on my lap for the next 10 minutes, and then we placed her back in the crate. She fell asleep immediately, only to wake just as we arrived home.

Luchia, as we have called her settled in very quickly, and I have to admit that I did sleep on the sofa with her in her crate for a couple of weeks (we do have a very comfy sofa)!

Our experience with Luchia so far, has been thus, she is very friendly to everyone, she is clever, learns things easily (especially for food). She was fully housetrained within a couple of weeks. She can be very boisterous and loving, (large puppy style), but she can also be incredibly calm and loving, and sometimes seems wise beyond her years. She follows me everywhere, and generally won’t let me out of her sight, unless she is in a very deep sleep. Even then she will often get up and follow me, plonking herself at my feet, only to follow me back again two minutes later, with a sigh, to lay at my feet. On walks she always stays close; constantly checking where we are. Her recall up to now has been excellent, she loves Josh and Jake my two sons, she is good on the lead, and improving every day. She will eat pretty much everything and anything, except iceberg lettuce, (although we are very careful with her diet). She is very accepting to all visitors, greeting everyone with gusto, only on two occasions has she shown an inclination to be protective, both occasions were when something out of the ordinary happened. She is the dog that we always wanted but never knew existed.

I honestly do not think there is a downside, I think because we were fully prepared for all eventualities from the start but at a push I would say she is excellent at excavating lawns and pruning plants. Not always a plus point unfortunately. (All my pots with spring bulbs have been moved to the front of the house, well what was left of them). So think carefully indeed if the garden is your pride and joy. Big muddy paws too, we make Luchia sit by the door to have her paws wiped, but sometimes she saunters in when I have forgotten leaving a trail behind her. These are things you would expect from any dog, but the bigger the dog, the more cleaning up! The other thing to consider is that owning a Corso can be expensive, regardless of the initial substantial outlay, (equivalent to purchasing a small car)! Insurance in particular, but we feel it is an absolute necessity unless you have a substantial bank balance to cover all eventualities. We feed her a raw food diet, which in itself is not particularly expensive, but needs thought initially. She also has joint supplements and virgin hemp oil to ensure the correct balance of Omega’s.

To compare Luchia (at 5 months old) to my Belgian Shepherd is difficult. They are different dogs with different drives but I have found that Luchia learns just as quickly as my shepherd did, and retains the knowledge too, even from a short training session. She is definitely easier to handle, much calmer around the home most of the time and a lot less destructive, more sensible really. But it could be a gender thing; or even just an individual personality thing.

Luchia is now entering her adolescent phase, and I am sure there will be challenges along the way. We are constantly learning though, how to be the best owners we can be. We love Luchia. She has made our family complete.