As some of you may know, co-owning Eden with Jo has been on the cards for a while. There were a few things that we needed to sort out at home, not to mention having her down for a weekend a couple of months ago to see if she would eat the cats or not. She passed the test with flying colours and now she has come to live with us!

Whilst all this has been going on, I have either bored people at work to tears by telling them all about Eden and Corsos in general or driving them mad by telling them all about Eden and Corsos in general repeatedly .
One group of people we didn’t inform was our families. We wanted to keep her a surprise and boy was she a surprise when I visited my family on Christmas Eve! Both my Mum and Dad behaved in the way I predicted. My Mum was telling me off whilst at the same time trying to entice Eden over with some treats, and my Dad did his obligatory eye roll and sigh, and tried calling her over after said obligatory actions had been completed! . It appears that my parents dote on her almost as much as Chris and I do. My Mum has already gone out to try and find places where she can get meaty bones and pluck for her!

The following day Eden met my 15-month-old nephew for the first time, and after she rapidly recovered from her startlement of a small human approaching her like Lurch (arms outstretched), they got on fabulously, with him trying to give her cuddles whilst at the same time avoid her wet slobbery kisses!

Eden is settling in comfortably in our home and we love having her here. The cats have started to realise that she isn’t going to eat them and are starting to claim her as theirs. She has shown signs of wanting to play with them, but they still find her size rather intimidating, and when she tries to put her paw on them to have a good sniff they almost disappear underneath it! She is learning to be gentle…

I will try and get some photos of her to post soon!

We will be going to her first obedience class tomorrow, so please wish us luck!!

Hi again everyone, Thought I would wish you all a very happy 2009 and try to put a few photos on here so you can see how I'm getting on. This first one is of me when I was just 8weeks old and still at momma Jojo's.



As I told you earlier my new mum and dad, Jim & Sue, have taken me to France where they live and this is me on my first day in my new home on the terrace with Sue.



There are three other dogs here already, Toby a labrador, Bonnie a Cocker spaniel and Noodle a spoodle(Cocker x poodle), they are all great and as well as them we also have some other dogs come to stay when their owners are away so there are plenty of friends to play with. Jim & Sue seem really pleased with the way I am behaving around all these different dogs but it's nothing really and I even get on well with strange dogs when we are out and about. The others tell me that they often get to go on long walks down the river but Jim & Sue say I am to young to do this yet, I am just 4mths now, but we have been down to the river a couple of times, just for a little play and see how I get on. Here are a few pictures of Toby and I down at river, it's a lovely spot and I can't wait until I can go for a proper walk there.





Well that's about it from me for now just one last photo, when I get back from a walk or have been playing with the others there is nothing I like better than to have a little rest and a snuggle with my best mate Toby.





I hope I have done this right and it's not too long otherwise I will have to delete it all and try again later, here goes.

Tito.

Party No 1: The Cane Corso Christmas Party.
This was a huge challenge for Sophie. As we arrived it suddenly dawned on me that despite entering a hall the week before with dogs and their owners successfully, we did not have Sophie's mentor George the Rottie with us.
I forget that my hair is so distinguishing and as soon as we got out of the car Shelley (moobag) was calling 'hallo Bev', I rudely had to ask 'who are you?' (to several people)LOL. What a wonderful experience to put faces to names and to feel really welcomed.
Fortunately there was lots of space in the equestrian center so after visualising Sophie walking in with me, we took our time walking in calmly and slowly, ignoring Sophie and allowing her to find her feet. We were then greeted by Tiff and then Jo who ushered dogs and people out of the way so that Sophie could continue her positive experience.
Sophie did have her scaredy face on all day, those that knew her story ignored her and gave her lots of time and space and she recovered well from the few times people approached quickly.
I pretty much kept her in an observer position for the day and noticed how much she was using her nose when people and Corso's walked by, taking in the experience at a safe for her distance.
She had a great time socialising with some of the younger dogs, giving her confidence for strangers to be close by. She met Eden, Eden's brother who's name has left my head, Terry's Cleo and a little fella who was very interested in smelling her who I think was called Congo. We stayed for just over two and a half hours and by the end Sophie was getting overwhelmed and flighty, mastering her way around the halti and pulling a few times with sheer power from her chest.
Needless to say she snored all the way home from mental exhaustion (after a scrummy pigs ear that Daryl eloped with).

Party No 2: Lunch time get together.
On Sunday we called into a friends house, her son was there with his Lab and Spaniel. With their dogs out of the way we took Sophie into the house with George. She was very wary of the new people and stayed out of the way for about 10 mins until everyone was safely ignoring her or yawning at her (it's great that everyone follows our dog language instructions so happily, it really drives the message home to her), then she laid at my feet under the breakfast table. After some coffee we let George into the garden with the other dogs and when I went outside Sophie joined us to join the playful pack. There's a video on the video page.
We came home feeling so good for her, she gets so confident with people if there are dogs there. She accepted sausage from new people and ended up laying in the dining room all relaxed as we had lunch, surrounded by the legs of strangers.
I cannot reiterate enough that yawning at her and ignoring her reinforces her confidence to be independent and explore people.
So Sophie (or Sofia as I've discovered she responds well to) is having a great festive party experience. Weather permitting she'll be attending George's obedience class's party this week and signed up for class in the new year.



Enjoy your Christmas party's! Bev

Hi everyone,
My name is Tito, son of Bora and Cocoon for those of you who don't know me, please excuse me if I mess this up as it's my first try.
Well last Friday evening out of the blue this couple turned up, I had seen them once before about 5 weeks ago and they seemed quite nice so I figured what's the harm in being polite and saying hello, they certainly seemed pleased to see me.
On Saturday morning I knew something was up because there were several new faces around, human and Corso, and there was that couple again taking me for walks round the garden, now worked out they are called Jim & Sue, then around mid morning they and Marc took Ares and I to see the vet, for a change he didn't stick anything in me, just checked us over and did a bit of paperwork and let us go.
When we got back to the house all hell let loose and everyone piled into cars and we were off to some kind of party in a stable, where there were lots and lots of other dogs and a lot of people all seeming keen to make a fuss of me and apparently I'm "really cute" whatever that means, so all in all the day was going well.
Then just as I was getting into the idea of all this, I was just making another tour of the stable and Sue whisked me outside and put me in the back of the car again, I didn't think I'd done anything wrong, well apart from one little growl at Viggo and I'd been told off for that already, but before I could say "where's dinner" we were off. The next bit of the story is frankly rather boring, we drove and drove and then drove a bit more, we stopped and I was taken out for a little walk and a wee and Jim and Sue seemed very pleased with that, seem easily pleased this pair, then it was in the car and off again. after a while we stopped again and this time we all went to sleep for a few hours.
Early the next morning we were off yet again, apparently "not far to go now", well let me tell you they have a different idea of "not far" than I have, anyway we stopped a couple of more times before finally arriving at what is now home in Valbonne, France at around 1pm on Sunday.
It seems pretty good here, weather's not bad, food's good and there are three other dogs here who are really friendly and have filled me in about some of the house rules, once I got used to their funny accents, all in all life seems good. Well must go now, I will write again soon and maybe try to put on a picture or two of me and the others so you can see that I am doing OK.

All the best for now,

Tito,

P.S. Thanks to momma JoJo for finding me what seems a really nice home.

In which Presley demonstrates her inner talents and the FOCC gains a new member...

Presley and I have been spending time is Sussex over the past fortnight, she loves the countryside, my sister (who insists on blowing raspberries on her belly) and my niece (who enjoys the fact that Pres is a good candidate for dressing up) as well as all the new smells and experiences.

Chichester cathederal for those of you who haven't visited, has fantastic cloisters with a cafe which is excellent for this time of year as it allows Pres to enjoy being outside with the additional benefit of lots of people traffic with no other dogs. The calm atmosphere of the cathedral and the people visiting had an almost immediate effect and the World's calmest big dog became...well, a rug!

Of course she attracted her usual attention, but these were all exceptional people, my companions for lunch didn't get a word out of me for nearly two hours as the star of the show did her bit for big breed relations! Our first group was a large party of people with physical and mental disabilities, after a brief talk with the group leader about initial approaches I allowed Pres to shine as she displayed a beautiful side to her nature that is intrinsic to her, knowing how much space to give someone, giving paw oh-so-gently on command and allowing her ears and face to be touched quite roughly. Some dogs can have difficulties with the direct eye contact, sudden movements, bits of equipment and different energies that are projected by people with disabilities.

Not Pres, if I didn't know better I'd say she understood.

Next up were 3 groups of old ladies, a priest, and a lady who had never touched a dog before because of a phobia! This lady hadn't even noticed Pres until she'd nearly walked into her, and something about her drew her back. After a brief chat I suggested as she had come so far she might want to try for a cuddle, and regardless of the energy that was clearly pouring off her, Pres did exactly what was needed - nothing. She was a relaxed bit of soft furniture and the lady acheived something I bet she wasn't expecting that day!

Pres carried on around the town, and I've never seen anything like it, she was like a superstar, women with buggies were bringing babies over to meet her (Pres is perfect face/buggy height) and she charmed everyone to bits.

After a nice walk (in which she decided to have a wade in a pile of cow manure - yuk) stinky the wonder dog and I got on the train to London due back in rush hour! We thought we'd be unpopular but even the fact she smelt like a farm didn't stop the Presley love-in. The lady guard, who again amazingly, had never touched a dog before, sat for a cuddle on her second round of ticket collection, again Pres had been so calm, she was nearly on top of her before she even noticed she was on the train!

Next up was a railway worker who was so enamoured he phoned his wife to join the FOCC from the train and is hoping to add a foster Corso to his pack next year.

All in all, a pretty good public relations visit!