While many people lament the realities of Mike Sottile and his Cane Corso hoax, I see this as a good thing. In the end, I want the best family protection dogs, not necessarily the purest when it comes to breed.
We now know Mike used his Ch. Del Querceto Brutus as one of the foundation stud dogs for what he would later wrongly come to call, "Cane Corsos." More than likely, the Super Six dogs produced by Sottile's Alaric Kennels came off Brutus. Why is this not totally a bad thing?
Brutus was an awesome dog with awesome bloodlines! Brutus was off of Astro, a Mario Querci, Di Ponzano Kennels dog. Mario was the premier Neapolitan Mastiff breeder in Italy from the 1950 until his death in the 1990’s. Mario is accredited with making the Neo a true breed rather than a type of dog, he created his own true bloodlines and produced a more athletic and slightly slender Neo than what was being produced at the time.
No wonder Brutus was twice selected as the standard for the Neapolitan Mastiff here in America! Here’s Brutus on the August, 1990 cover of Dog World magazine.
Mike Sottile didn’t acquire Brutus directly from Mario. Mike purchased Brutus from Oak Park, Illinois breeder, Frank Marottie.
Our America Cane Corsos started with good blood. Just not pure blood!
