We picked Della up from a local shelter, Wayside Waifs. When she first came to us she was afraid of absolutely everything! Ladders, guitars, bugs, the dark. You name it and she was probably afraid of it. She was also heart worm positive. The shelter told us she was afraid of men too, but she got along right off the bat with my husband. She also was completely house trained, was good with the kids, and seemed to really understand a lot of what we were saying. Still, as the months went on, she just seemed to get be getting kind of down. It was then that we decided that maybe another dog would be a good option. We looked around and finally decided on adopting a dog from the Mid-America Bully Breed Rescue.
At first we looked at adopting older dogs. Puppies are usually sure to get adopted out, but I know that older dogs are difficult to find homes for sometimes. There always seemed to be something that wasn't a good fit with our home though. Some of the dogs weren't used to being around kids, and the other ones Della didn't care for. There was one beautiful boy that they brought over so we could introduce Della to them. She was having none of it! We decided to give it one last go, this time with a puppy. We decided that if it didn't work with a puppy, then she would probably be happier with being an only dog.
One of the volunteers for the rescue was fostering a couple of puppies, so he brought them over. Both of them were completely adorable. Black fur with white spots. So huggable! Della and one of the puppies hit it right off. It was amazingly cute. We adopted Ivan and he and Della continued to get along great. Ivan was about 5 months old when he came to us and wasn't afraid of anything! He's been a bit crazy, but truth be told (don't tell the other two) he's probably my favorite. That brings us to Chibi.
My husband initially told me that we would never have three dogs at one time. Maybe I should've listened, but I love our life. He does too. He even admits that having three dogs is a lot of fun. We did get Chibi from a breeder. I know, tell me I'm a terrible person for buying from a breeder. Ok, done? Cool. Anyways, I had researched resuces, breeders, and the Cane Corso before deciding to buy. Besides Della's history with not caring for older dogs, none of the rescues had dogs suitable for small children at the time. I found a breeder that looked like it was pretty good and gave them a call. I didn't expect that we would be able to get a puppy for at least another 6 months to a year. They told us that they had one female that hadn't been spoken for, so we decided to go check her out just to see what we thought of the breed in person.
All of the pups were still at home at that time, and it was so wonderful to see all those puppy faces running around and having a blast. My husband absolutely fell in love with them. We asked the breeder some questions about how they run their breeding business and we saw the conditions in which they kept their dogs. It was a family run business and the children were as active in it as the mom and dad. Their dogs were all indoor and outdoor dogs, extremely social, and bred for good temperament as well as health. They only bred their females twice before fixing them, and you could tell that they absolutely loved every dog they had. We put the deposit down and then when the pups were ready to leave their mother, we went and picked her up.
It's been a lot of learning and laughing. Chibi was our first puppy puppy. It was challenging, but she's probably the most affectionate of the three. I've loved watching how the dogs interact with one another, and it's been a lot of fun watching Ivan and Chibi grow. Their antics are hilarious too. Ivan and Chibi get into a lot of mischief together, while Della is definitely the Alpha out of all the dogs. My hope is that someday I can start a Mastiff rescue. They're such wonderful dogs with big hearts. They can be a bit stubborn, but I think that just gives them extra personality.
If you would like to adopt an animal or donate money or supplies to either Wayside Waifs or Mid-America Bully Breed Rescue, they are both wonderful organizations.
Mid-America Bully Breed Rescue
Wayside Waifs
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