Il cane da porcaio

The swineherd’s dog

translation by Federico

The swineherd’s job was very similar to the goatherd’s, because it took place both in the country and in the village. Even the swineherd, in fact, led his and others swine to the fields and he was rewarded in kind at the end of the season.

Also the Corsos were similar; they had a strong character and they were used both for guarding, personal defence and hunting. The swineherds used to make their dogs fight against boars as a show for the people. The fight ended when the boar, bitten in the nose or in the ear, was submitted and bound by the swineherd.

The swineherd’s Corso watched at the pigsty during the night, tethered by a chain near the door; during the day, the Corso stayed with the herd of swine in the woods (helm-oaks, turkey-oaks and oaks), to protect them from wild animals and robbers.

When night fell, the herd and the dog went back to the farm, and the swine were fed with “mash”, a mixture of water and wheat, very appreciated by the dog.

In the summer, in many regions of southern Italy (Molise, Puglia, Campania e Lucania) swines grazed in the coolest hours of the night and in the day, they were kept under the shade of great oaks near the rivers.

If the sow was nearly to give birth, it was allowed to leave the group and dig a den in the wood or in the forest in a quiet and safe place. The swineherd left everything to the natural course of events and, after three or four days, together with his Corso, started searching the sow and the puppies to recuperate them. Without having the essential help of his Cane Corso, the swineherd could have serious problems because the sow use to attack anyone who tries to take its babies. The Cane Corso, smelling the ground, followed the spoors while the swineherd walked behind it riding a donkey that had two wicker baskets fixed on his pack-saddle. Found the sow, the Corso attacked to block its ear or snout. The high grunts attracted the attention of the swineherd who, once reached the den, put the babies in the baskets and headed to the farm or to the pigsty. Then called back his dog, because the sow would have quietly followed its babies. The Cane Corso’s puppies were trained to this kind of task keeping them together with the adult ones so they could learn naturally how to do it.

The female Corso, a good stud, used to feed little swine and kids when they were too many for the swine stud.

A particular kind of job, midway between the swineherd and the butcher, was the “swine castrator”, the one who spayed the swine for fattening. The testicles or the ovaries were cooked for man’s diet or given raw to the dogs.

The Italian writer Carlo Levi, in his “Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli” describes “the intervention and … the dogs’ attack” in a way so realistic to let emerge all the crudest aspects.