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ABOUT US
Cane Corso Breeders - Bob & Leilani Souza
Bob and I were married in Sausalito, California in
March 1997. We started our careers in the real estate industry in 1999 and have
had much success together and have owned our own real estate company since 2000.
Fortunately, this enables us to spend lots of time with our dogs and has allowed
us to travel to many dog shows across the country. Currently, we are building
our new home on 20 acres in Livermore, California and hope to complete it by the
summer of 2008!
 In 2001, we discovered the Cane Corso after our
Boxer passed away. During our extensive research, we found what we were
looking for at Morgan Cane Corso in Genoa,
Italy. After Romeo was born, Morgan helped us find a suitable female, one
that would complement his bloodline in case we decided to start our own
breeding program. In 2002, we began obedience training, showing in
conformation, and temperament testing. Our love for the breed prompted us
to create the website CaneCorsoRescue.org
in 2003, and is now maintained as a donation to the CCAA Rescue.
In August 2003, we have added another Cane Corso
to our family, Nicoletta. In January 2004, we produced
Litter A with Romeo x Giulietta...a total of 13 little darlings (9 formentino and
4 fawn)! We kept a formentino male and female from this litter, Cyrano and
Cypress, who are now the absolute joys in our lives! We have simple-but-strict
standards for breeding: temperament, health and type. All dogs that will be a
part of our breeding program must have stable temperaments, a clean health
history with passing hip scores and possess good overall type. Breeding is a
hobby for us, not something that we rely on as a source of income so we breed
only on occasion and to enhance our own breeding program.
All of our dogs live indoors with us and even
co-exist peacefully with our Persian cat, Chanel (who was my only
pet since 1993). When we leave the house, Romeo has full house privileges,
but when it's bedtime, all five dogs sleep on their beds in our bedroom. We
do not believe in "kennel dogs" as the lack of human interaction could
result in poor temperament and can pass on to future generations. We're
fortunate enough to be able to spend almost all of our time with our dogs
since our self-employment allows us to do so.
In 2006, we joined the
CCAA
Breeders' Guild, which is the only organization in the world that sets
a standard for its members.
Litter B (Romeo x Giulietta) was born on July 26th
with 2 males (both fawn) and 10 females (6 formentina, 6 fawn).
Litter C (Romeo
x Nicoletta) was born on July 28-29th with 5 males and 4 females (all
fawn). They are raised in our home's Puppy Nursery (behind the sliding glass
door in photo #3 below), with a room divider between
the whelping boxes. Here are photos of our interior courtyard, where the puppies
play:
(Pictured below is
Morgan Ivaldi with Mastro del Morgan, owned by Jennifer Skinner, and Bob
Souza with Romeo del Morgan, taken on October 10, 2004 at the National
Specialty in Woodstown, New Jersey.)
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