This coming weekend, Orso and I will be heading to Palmetto, Florida, near Sarasota, for a two-day show. Orso will be showing in the open class at each of the two shows with his handler, Daniel Sanchez, which will be held both days at the Manatee Civic Center, 1 Haben Blvd, Palmetto, FL 34221.
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For those of you who have been following this blog since the beginning, it will come as no surprise when I say that Orso totally abuses Luna. It is relentless! He bites her, he chases her around, he body-bumps her and even knocks her to the ground – this is every single day around here! Luna, however, has learned to defend herself by biting his cheeks. Sometimes she forgets to let go and Orso gets soooo mad – as mad as Orso can get considering that he doesn’t have an ounce of aggression in him! Below are two video clips – short ones, I promise – of Luna and Orso going at it, enjoy! Round one: Round two: I found these funny Cane Corso bumper stickers while playing on the web… ABSOLUTELY my favorite one:
This morning, I took Orso to Kennedy Park in Coconut Grove to be tested for his Therapy Dogs International (TDI) certification. Dee Hoult of Applause Your Paws hosted today’s testing; thanks, Dee! Amaris Hess Garneau was the evaluator for the test; thanks, Amaris!
TDI is an organization dedicated to the regulation, testing, selection and registration of qualified dogs and handlers for the purpose of visitations to hospitals, nursing homes and facilities or any place where therapy dogs are needed. Click here to see what Orso was tested on; it’s like the CGC test he did a long time ago but with more steps. I always said that I wanted to certify Orso as a therapy dog so he could bring smiles to the faces of people who need that happiness the most. Orso is a very special dog who is very kind and loves people. He is our gentle giant and we are thrilled that we can use him as a tool to help others. Yay, Orso! Yay, TDI!
SACCI RADUNO RECAP – WORKING EVENTS – ORSO IS A LOVER, NOT A FIGHTER! – 06.04.2011 & 06.05.20116/6/2011 Part 2 of our SACCI Raduno Recap is all about the working events that Orso participated in, specifically Deterrent Dog (DD), Working Dog Evaluation (WDE) and CAL1. On June 3rd, when we arrived at the Dayton airport, we ran into a few fellow Corso folks, including Oscar Mora & Ron Ackerman. Oscar Mora trains working dogs and had offered to help us prepare for the working events that Orso was participating in. We made plans to meet up later at Jeff Hall’s house to practice the exercises that would be required of Orso. As planned, we headed over to Jeff’s house to meet up with Oscar Mora. Upon our arrival, we immediately met a whole bunch of Corso folks whose names we had always heard but had never actually met in person. It was very cool to put faces to names and actually be around some of the people who had revived the Cane Corso breed. We also met Roy Rojas of El Mesquital Cane Corso, who was helping Oscar introduce Orso to his working event requirements. We started to practice and pretty much went through every exercise of each event successfully, so we felt pretty good about giving Orso a chance to try out some of the fun working events being offered during the weekend! Many thanks to Oscar Mora and Roy Rojas for all your help! On Saturday, Orso went through the Deterrent Dog (DD) and the Working Dog Evaluation (WDE). On Sunday, he went through the CAL1. He was so awesome! He scored excellent on almost all the exercises he was asked to do and he was such a trooper because all of it was new to him and it was VERY hot out! We are so blessed to have a dog like Orso who has such a stable temperament and is so confident! What a fun experience it was for Orso and me! We can’t wait to do some more working stuff with Orso when he is a little more grown up! We could not have asked for a better dry run! Needless to say, we were very excited about attending these events because it was more than your traditional dog show beauty pageant. We got to see Orso participate in some very cool working events and demonstrate to us what he was bred to do – WORK! Below is a very long video clip of Orso going through the Working Dog Evaluation (WDE); it’s almost 13 minutes long. The voice you hear in the background toward the end of the video is Jeff Hall of Cherubs Cane Corsos. You can tell in the video that it was the very end of the day because Orso was exhausted! Below is a very short video clip of Orso going through the tail end of the CAL1 with me.
The two-day 2nd Annual SACCI (Society in America for Cane Corso Italiano) National Dog Shows in Ohio were, without a doubt, the longest two days of Orso’s life! On June 3rd, we took Orso out to Dayton, Ohio to participate in the largest gathering of Cane Corso enthusiasts and exhibitors that we have ever been a part of. There were five conformation shows and a ton of working events over a two-day dog show. Thanks, SACCI, for putting on a great event! Originally, when I started to draft this blog entry, it was turning out to be very long and wordy. After reconsideration, I rewrote it and cut out most of the words, LOL. Basically, the weekend was a great experience. We met a ton of Corso folks, got to see many gorgeous dogs and spent some valuable quality time with our Buckethead. Over the course of 2 days, there were five conformation dog shows in which Orso competed with professional handler Ashley Cuzzolino, who also handles GR CH PrideNJoyz Afterglow. The judges for the shows, who were to include four Italian judges, were supposed to be Dr. Pierluigi Scalia, Mr. Danilo Giorgio, Mr. Daniel Rosa, Mr. Roberto Giannuli and Mr. Alessandro Bigozzi. An unexpected emergency did not allow Mr. Danilo Giorgio to make it on his flight from Italy to Ohio, so his judging assignment was given to UKC Judge Ms. Nancy Beeman. Overall, Orso did alright. He earned two seconds, two thirds and a first place under UKC Judge Ms. Nancy Beeman. Orso could officially be considered a small pony, so we didn’t expect him to steal the show! Below are a whole bunch of photos from the conformation shows; they are all mixed up but I tried to caption them as best as possible. I want to thank everyone who took lots of great photos and posted them to Facebook or emailed them to us, specifically Ruth Surface, Ayalla Ruvio, Krissy Sauers & Sheri Ard. Some of their photos were used in this blog entry, so we really appreciate your photographic efforts! Most importantly, we want to thank Ashley Cuzzolino for doing a great job handling Orso and we would like to thank Orso’s regular handler, Daniel Sanchez, and his awesome wife, Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez, for putting us in touch with Ashley! Favorite headshot of the weekend, courtesy of Ruth Surface: Ashley Cuzzolino practicing with Orso, courtesy of Ayalla Ruvio: Awards up for grabs: Show 1 – Judge Pierluigi Scalia: Show 2 – Judge Nancy Beeman: Winner’s Class under Judge Nancy Beeman: Show 3 – Judge Daniel Rosa: Show 4 – Judge Roberto Giannuli: Great headshot, courtesy of Krissy Sauers: Show 5 – Judge Alessandro Bigozzi: Random photos & nightlife:
After traveling most of the day, Orso and I finally got home! We have a break of almost 2 weeks before our next set of shows, so we truly are THRILLED to be home! As a reward for Orso doing so well this past weekend at the SACCI shows in Ohio, we gave him a big, meaty bone that his Grandma bought him. Below are a bunch of photos of him hanging out with us in the patio while enjoying his prize, enjoy! A special thank you goes out to our friend, Ileana, who took awesome care of Mouse & Luna while we were gone AND to Nichelle for constantly checking on them via text message while she was in Spain! Love you both!
We are proud to welcome Impero Russo Cleo di Costa Bel to the Costa Bel Cane Corso family! Cleo, as our little girl will be called at home, was born on February 11, 2011 and is a black brindle female with an expression that will melt anyone’s heart. She was bred by Yulia Washington of Cane Corso de Impero Russo. Cleo comes from some interesting lines on both mom and dad’s side. Her dad is Stanley Pat Nif-Nif, a Marneo grandson, and is affectionately called Ace. Ace was recently imported from Russia by Yulia Washington and is co-owned by our dear friends, JoAnne and Steel Campbell of Blue Ridge Cane Corso. Look for Ace in the AKC ring very soon! Cleo’s mom, Alitalia de Impero Russo, is affectionately called Pinky and is the daughter of International Multi-Champion Stanley Pat Mister Darth Vader, grandson of Juli Della Porta Dipinta. Cleo will be coming home to us in July at just over 5 months of age. She was born at the home of Kathi Wisdom of Wisdom Kennels in Colorado. Kathi has been training and competing dogs since 1974, so we are excited that she whelped and reared Cleo and her littermates. Kathi and Yulia have described Cleo as very confident, fearless, social, high drive, assertive and eager to please. We are excited to meet our little girl next month and want to thank Yulia Washington, Kathi Wisdom and JoAnne Campbell for working together on this special litter. As JoAnne eloquently stated, “Corso fever has struck again!” Photos from June 1st, 2011 at almost 15 weeks of age, courtesy of Kathi Wisdom: Stanley Pat Nif-Nif aka Ace, Cleo’s dad: Alitalia de Impero Russo aka Pinky, Cleo’s mom: Baby pictures – look for the puppy with the red ribbon:
If you would not eat it, why should they?!?!? Think about this statement for a minute. Really think about. Take it in. Do you know what you are feeding your dogs? We do. We both know it and fully understand it, but we didn’t always make the best nutrition decisions for our dogs. It was not until 2004, when I lost 4 dogs to cancer and illness back-to-back that I started to educate myself, join forums and topic lists, attend workshops, READ LABELS, etc. We encourage anyone with pets to go through this same “soul-searching” of sorts and truly challenge themselves to learn about canine nutrition and wellness. Back in October, we posted a blog entry about canine nutrition and specifics about how we feed our dogs. Since then, there have been some major changes in our feeding regimen at home and some new articles have been released. Since we are pretty big into nutrition, for not just ourselves, but also our furkids, we thought we would repost the entry with some updates. It’s amazing how many times per week we get questions about what we feed our dogs, so we feel this repost is long overdue. While struggling with finding the right food for Luna, Mouse and Orso the last few months, we bounced around quite a bit. We went from Wellness Super5Mix Large Breed to Fromm Family Gold Large Breed to Precise Holistic Complete Large Breed to Red Barn Rolls to where we are today with Orijen Adult Dog Food. All of these foods are excellent and contain human grade ingredients, but none of them were working out for us until we switched to Orijen. We seriously considered transitioning everyone to a RAW diet but decided against it since we travel with (and without) Orso way too often to feed RAW. RAW diets are not easy on the road and creates a mission for our dogsitter. Instead, we decided on a food that is the closest we can come to RAW without the mission of feeding RAW. We are now feeding Orijen Adult to all of the dogs and are THRILLED with the results. No one is leaving food behind, we are seeing enthusiasm at feeding time, stools are reduced in size and are firmer and all the dogs look amazing! According to Orijen’s website, this is what they had to say about the food we selected for Luna, Mouse & Orso: “BY NATURE, DOGS OF ALL BREEDS AND SIZES ARE EVOLVED AS CARNIVORES — BIOLOGICALLY ADAPTED FOR A DIET RICH AND VARIED IN FRESH MEATS, WITH SMALLER AMOUNTS OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND GRASSES. Formulated to match your dog’s natural diet, ORIJEN ADULT is loaded with the protein-packed meat ingredients (80%) that Mother Nature intended all dogs to eat — including free-run chicken and turkey, whole eggs and wild-caught fish that are farmed or fished within our region by people we know and trust. Passed ‘fit for human consumption’ ORIJEN’s regional ingredients are delivered FRESH EACH DAY, so they’re never frozen, preservative-free, and bursting with unprocessed, biologically appropriate proteins and fats to nourish your dog completely. Carbohydrate-limited and grain-free to replicate the natural diet, ORIJEN supplies a full 20% of regional fruits, vegetables and botanicals — including kelp, juniper berries and marigold flowers — that are naturally rich in phytonutrients, B-vitamins and essential trace minerals. Made with pride in our award-winning factory here in Alberta, Canada, ORIJEN ADULT keeps your dog healthy, happy and strong.” Basically, it comes down to this – if WE wouldn’t eat it, why should our dogs eat it? With regard to supplementation, only Orso is given additional supplements with his food. Orso travels a lot with us and he is under more stress than the other dogs, so he gets some extra stuff in his food to help him stay strong and healthy. He gets 6000mg of fish oil daily, which works out to 3 softgels with breakfast and 3 softgels with dinner. This helps with cardiac and vascular health and helps keep his coat shiny and healthy. He also gets his recommended daily servings – split between breakfast and dinner – of 3 different products that Nature’s Farmacy makes: Dogzymes Ultimate, Dogzymes Digestive Enhancer and Dogzymes Phyto-Flex. Dogzymes Ultimate is a supplement that contains necessary vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and essential amino acids with no preservatives or additives, no added sodium or sugar. Dogzymes Digestive Enhancer is an egg based digestive bacteria and enzyme product that contains the highest levels of 5 beneficial bacteria types and 6 enzymes, making it the most complete digestive product on the market. Dogzymes Phyto-Flex is a bone & joint formula that contains an exclusive herb package for maximum nutritional support of bones, joints and connective tissue, making it ideal for the geriatric dog, agility dog or puppies. Every once in a while, we add egg yolks, canned pumpkin, plain yogurt or cottage cheese to their food. We also often substitute an entire meal with RAW food, whether its chicken backs, necks, quarter legs, meaty bones, anything with substance that would be a suitable replacement for a meal. It’s important to remember that this is served RAW! Don’t cook it! We also give fruit and raw veggies every once in a while. For treats, we also try to buy snacks for them that are in line with our feeding philosophy – all natural, human grade ingredients, grain free, etc. In the show ring, we bait Orso with either sliced Natural Balance Rolls or plain baked chicken breast meat. Although Luna, Mouse & Orso’s diets may have changed, there are still some basic things that haven’t changed around here. We still rely heavily on the The Whole Dog Journal, an online resource and publication that is very informative with regard to proper care for pets, including annual recommendations of human grade dog food. As an example of the great stuff The Whole Dog Journal publishes, click here to read to read an article from February 2010 about how to pick the right food for your dog and click here for their 2010 list of recommended dry dog food. If dog nutrition and holistic wellness are topics that seriously interest you, you can get a realistic and unbiased glimpse of what really goes into commercial pet food, including “4D” meat, which means the animals used in the food are dying, dead, diseased or disabled (this also includes the use of household euthanized pets), by reading this book: Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food, by Ann N. Martin. I have made decisions about our dogs’ wellness routine, which includes nutrition, vaccination and supplementation, based on research and help from professionals well-versed in canine nutrition and wellness, such as veterinarians and licensed experts on this topic. Vaccines and disease have been linked. Traditional commercial pet food and disease have been linked. Low quality supplements and disease have been linked. All of our decisions are driven by research. There is a plethora of information on the internet, which makes educating yourself very difficult and confusing. Also, the marketing dollars spent by most of the big-name commercial dog food companies, such as Iams, Purina & Science Diet, make it very attractive to believe that your pet is receiving top quality pet food – research and investigative reporting strongly indicate otherwise. You owe it to your most loyal friends – your dogs – to educate yourself and make a feeding decision for your dogs that will help them live long and healthy lives. Happy learning!
On June 3rd, Orso and I are heading to Dayton, Ohio for the 2nd Annual SACCI (Society in America for Cane Corso Italiano) National Dog Shows. According to SACCI, this event “…will be the largest gathering of Cane Corso enthusiasts in the United States in 2011. With five conformation shows including four Italian Judges and ten Working Events plus breed seminars there will be tons of fun for everyone.” The event will be held on June 5th and June 6th and from what we heard through the grapevine, there will be over 70 Corsi there!
Over the course of 2 days, there will be five conformation dog shows in which Orso will be competing with professional handler Ashley Cuzzolino, who also handles GR CH PrideNJoyz Afterglow. The judges for the shows, who include four Italian judges, are all very well-respected in the Cane Corso community. The judges are as follows: Dr. Pierluigi Scalia, Mr. Danilo Giorgio, Mr. Daniel Rosa, Mr. Roberto Giannuli and Mr. Alessandro Bigozzi. Along with the conformation shows, the 2-day event will have plenty of working events that Orso is entered in, specifically Working Dog Evaluation (WDE), Deterrent Dog (DD), CAL1, Weight Pulling and Lunge. It will be Orso’s first time participating in a working event and we know it’s going to be a wonderful experience. Needless to say, we are very excited about attending this event because it will be more than your traditional dog show beauty pageant. We get to see Orso participate in some very cool working events and demonstrate to us what he was bred to do – WORK! Every few weeks, the remnants of once-new toys are gathered from throughout our house and discarded. We rummage through all the bedrooms, bathrooms and our dogs’ favorite hiding places to make sure that nothing is left behind. Toys are inspected and either kept for future bouts of destruction or tossed due to irreparable damage. Naturally, we have to replace these toys, especially the tug toys that seem to bear the brunt of the abuse and dismemberment around here.
Several days ago was “online doggie toy replenishment day” and we ordered a bunch of stuff online for Orso, Luna & Mouse. Today, I got home from the gym to find a large box sitting on the kitchen counter filled with what will be next week’s destroyed toys, LOL. Below are some of the goodies that our furkids got in today’s shipment, enjoy! May in Miami brings with it incredible heat and humidity and it only gets worse from here. At times, it gets so steamy outside that it’s unbearable and it feels as though the air is smothering you. Because of this, I had already started to practice Orso’s trotting at strange hours when there was no sun out. We had found that this practice wasn’t really working too well because his feeding schedule was getting thrown off. To beat the heat around here, we have decided to teach Orso how to use the treadmill. I am lucky enough to own a gym, which means finding a treadmill for Orso was easy and he took to it so easily. He was unsure at first and I treated him for smelling it and standing on it. We left the motor running for a little while so he would get used to the sound. Within minutes, we managed to get him on it at a walk just to familiarize himself with the feeling of the belt below him. Below is a video clip of Orso’s absolute first time on a treadmill. The clip is about 5 minutes long. Orso is a brave dog, very confident and does not need too much coaxing to try new stuff! Enjoy! Leading up to this past show weekend, we had entered the Ft. Myers, Florida and Perry, Georgia shows. No event announcement was posted because we did not know where we were going until literally the very last minute. We finally decided to take Orso back to Perry, Georgia, for 4 days of showing with the Columbus Kennel Club, Inc., the Southeast Alabama Kennel Club, Inc. and the Macon Kennel Club, Inc. We dropped in on Henderson Village again, the most amazing B&B around, and were assigned to an outstanding stand alone cabin! It was huge with its own front AND back patio! Orso, like last time he visited Henderson Village, spent a considerable amount of time lounging in bed with us, see photo below. On to the shows… The first three days of shows were rough for us, but day four was a blissful way to end the trip. Orso took first place in his age group and then took Reserve Winners each day. On the fourth day, Orso was taken into the ring by long-time working dog Handler Daniel Sanchez and won first place in his age group, Winners Dog, Best of Winners AND Best of Breed, getting us closer to finishing Orso’s AKC Championship! We were very excited to see how well Danny and Orso got along! They had worked together once when Orso was a 4 1/2 month old puppy and I even posted a blog entry about it on November 1st, 2010. To revisit this post, click here. Below are the professional show photos from Sunday with Judge Mr. Burton Yamada. Many thanks to Judge Mr. Yamada and, of course, to Daniel Sanchez and Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez of Vandas Kennel for a wonderful beginning to what I anticipate will be a long and successful relationship as Orso’s new show handling team. We also want to thank Sheila Lieberman of Loving Obedience Dog Training for having introduced us to Danny and Vanessa last year. Another cool thing that happened this show weekend is that Orso got to meet a half-sister of his! I had the pleasure of meeting Gina Dilello and her beautiful female Corso, Mar e Sol’s Zenyatta, who is almost 2 years old. She is the daughter of Saggio, who is also Orso’s dad, and Ramona. Below is a photo of Orso (horribly stacked by yours truly) with his half-sister Zenyatta. Great to meet you, Gina!
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