A Friend For Both You and the Breed

Breeding is a democratic art affordable for everyone. Personally, before getting my first litter, I have studied the various breeding techniques by attending some courses at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Milan, one of the oldest schools devoted to the study of animal diseases and livestock. I have read and studied some fundamental books about cynophily such as: "Lezioni di cinognostica” by I. Barbieri, "Zoognostica del cane” by F. Bonetti and "Sunto delle lezioni di zoognostica canina" by G. Solaro, just to mention some of the best ones. I have known and spent time with some great breeders, such as Piero Scanziani, Clifford Ormsby and Fred Sindelar (I quote some of my favorite but passed away ones).
I started from the mid-70s to attend the Italian ENCI-FCI dog shows. In 1985, I met the first Am Staf in Los Angeles, California, and in 1989 I attended for the first time to the STCA-AKC National Specialty in America. Only ten years after I had my first encounter with the breed, I allowed myself to breed two Am Stafs, having then puppies and selling my first "De Paco".

Meanwhile, I had spent a lot of time and money in the only way that my parents had taught me: for "knowledge" and to "aim at the highest level" because, even in the breeding of purebred dog, quality is peculiar to a few and never by chance. The question about which breeding method to use is certainly subjective and I must say that in recent years I have "a little abandoned" the idea of breeding with continuity. After two decades, I decided to share my knowledge not only through my books about the art of breeding, but more directly by encouraging some breeders, emerging and established talents, full of authentic passion for breeding: people who, like me, really care about the future of American Staffordshire Terriers and prove it with their breeding choices. I want to remind to these good breeders of Am Staf who, with so much passion and commitment, are trying to emerge or be fulfilled in this moment of great confusion for our dog breed that, today more than ever, there isn’t any future in the breed for those who don't have solid and serious basis. Knowledge is always essential, take advantage of this "difficult period” to study thoroughly every detail. You will need a good preparation based on deep knowledge of Standard, genetics, blood lines and the real health issues of our dogs. You will need a breeding program and a real CV – not a virtual one - showing your dog objectively achieved results with your selection of dogs, your generations bred and confirmed by the quality of life expressed by the average number of dogs you have bred and sold.

Everything should be done in the name of and in respect of the animals treated and the people consequently involved. First of all each of us should approach the Breed and, in general, every living being, with respect, on tiptoe, amazed at how nature with the complicity of some good breeders has managed to produce; amazed at how, despite everything, still manages to retain. Many of us should look elsewhere for alternative sources of income: it would be one of the first steps needed to put the selection at the service of the future of the breed itself and simply of its Standard.

Resist, it won’t be long!…