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NEGLECTED SPECIFIC QUALITIES : “ Cane Corso’s tegument “and various considerations – First Part – (translation by Federico)
Introduction
Jaw bite, skull-facial axles parallelism, muzzle squaring, skull muzzle ratios…..: the diatribe among cinophiles, breeders and Cane Corso’s lovers keep on focusing just on particular aspects, seeking the help of assumptions that, even when not erroneous, due to their partial view of the problem, risk to be misleading, let alone of scarce influence to the aims of an holistic1 view of the Dog. This diatribe (= to an hand-to-hand fighting between parameters measured in millimetres and in decimal degrees!!!) uses, very often, motivations on support of this and that thesis that, when not pretext, after a careful exam they appear with no fundament or real meaning. In this way, just for example, to add to the value to the efficacy of particular dog’s functionalities, comparisons with physics theoretical models have been used, valid in a mechanical system but not applicable (or without influence) to a biological reality which attitudes in responding to specific needs results just on the mutual interaction of all the elements (among which –we will always repeat it- particular importance take the character qualities)2 . We are firmly convinced that a correct analysis of a Dog which memory is lost in the ages cannot but proceed through the study of the environment’s history and of the socio-economical context in which it lived3 . In particular, we think that only through a careful examination of the history of a breed is possible to understand the reason of a particular structure or construction of a peculiar character. Our dog is born as a war-dog, hunt dog and watch/defence dog and these tasks have moulded forms and character according to the biological principle that is the function that makes the “Type”. Recovering for us means “taking back restoring4 and preserving” all that has not been polluted by intentional crossing or by cinometric forgery not relating to the functionality and chained to rigid bonds, which only aim is just to cherish the request of a market educated, for economical reasons, to a mayfly and a fickle aestheticism5 . Sure of these considerations and firmly opposed to anybody who boast6 about Cane Corso a type of dog that has never existed justifying with fake motivations what they couldn’t select, we continue to present You the “Corso” in the way we have learnt from the study of its history, in the way in which our People have described it and present it to us and in the way we have learnt from Them to love it and preserve it.
A neglected specific quality: the tegument To some of the most important characteristics of Cane Corso, seldom is given the right importance. Among these, beyond the behavior (toward which the standard is extremely generic - we will discuss deeply this topic in a specific writing -), particular relevance has skin, hair and the color of the coat. In our description sometimes we will only apparently get over the main topic in order to take the opportunity to enrich the treatment with questions of wider nature. Skin, hair, nails and glands constitute the main elements7 in the tegument organs of a dog which primary purpose is the protection from external agents of various type and which specific and particular structure is due to – where we refer to a genetic homogeny8 itself – to the environment adaptation (biological, weather, geographic, of task, etc.) on which, during the ages, Mother Nature has worked very hard. Besides working a protective function, being an important part of some of the most relevant vital process of the organism, the tegument co works to the well-being of the animal (functionalities as, for example, the thermo regulation, the secretion, impermeability etc. are essential to the organism) and co works in the visual expression of its general health conditions. In the dogs, the skin’s thick – bigger in the superior body parts – even changing – according several scholars – between 1 and 6 millimeters, has not a specific reference value for the different breeds. So, remaining into these measure limits, we use to talk about skin in the terms of “thin, relatively thin, relatively thick or thick”. Other peculiar elements of the skin are its elasticity and its adherence to the subcutaneous9 . In the Cane Corso the skin is relatively thick, elastic and quite adherent to the subcutaneous tissue except, obviously, for the inferior part of the neck. These peculiarities allow a solid resistance to the hits inferred by its rivals and an easier recovering from the traumas toward which it is inevitably exposed. The skin’s constitution was subjected to a careful valuation in the choice of a Cane Corso which had to carry out works that, inevitably, would expose it to the risks that we mentioned before. It was pulled to the level of the neck, of the withers and to the level of the chest (parts that were particularly privileged by its enemies during the fights) and, detaching it from the body, it was touched to value the characteristics. In the dynamic of the physical fight, the skin’s thickness represent an obstacle of resistance toward the bites, the no-adherence to the subcutaneous tissues results in a disadvantage in the enemy to plunge its canines in vital parts and the elasticity contributes in a large way to the superior wounds recovering. In the badger and porcupine hunt, in the fights for the female conquest or in the dispute for the domination of the pack, in all the situations into which it was exposed due to a not always hospitable habitat, the above-mentioned specifics constituted a fundamental value10. In those zones of the Southern Italy in which it is still considered a human auxiliary and not a means of vain ostentation in beauty shows, “Pellicciatore” is the attribute given to those Cani Corso that are able to stand up to the enemies attacks with stubborn pain resistance. “La pelle del Cane Pellicciatore è sempre bucata” (The hair of a Pellicciatore Dog is always pierced), says an ancient popular saying.
To the tegument organs belong the hairs11 that, except for some African Mexican and Chinese breeds (“naked dogs”), cover the most part of the dog’s body constituting “the coat”. On its conformation (texture, hardness and hair length, distribution, presence and consistency of the subcutaneous12 layer, brightness, color…) have influence environmental factors – such as, temperature, the light, ventilation, the clearness, etc. -, physiological, healthy, nutritional and mechanicals. The Corso is a Rustic13 dog that developed a coat particularly adaptive to the extremely variable weather in which it has always lived: from torrid heath of Puglia region tableland to the cold of the Abruzzese-Molisano-Campano Apennines. Its hair is strong and very dense, lucid14 , adherent to the body and with a glassy texture (for similarity it is called “cow hair”). Although it is defined as “short hair” is important to notice that the hair’s length is not inferior to 2 cm; in particular, in the back, in the hips and in the tail it reach and surpasses (even if not much) 3 cm. especially in the subjects belonging to breed groups traditionally employed in particularly rigid climatic zones. The under-hair layer, which is accentuated in winter, is high-piled, soft but not downy, and prominent in length (never surpassing the one of the main hair). These characteristics, together with those saw for the skin, being very essential to the dog’s health in the environmental context in which it has always operated, are so distinctive and qualifying for the Cane Corso to assume high priorities among the concerning evaluative parameters.
Unfortunately not always (if not never) this logic is applied in the beauty shows: how many times did it happen to see a judge pausing on the skin and hair’s structure of a Cane Corso? It would be easier find one hundred and one that, armed with nonius, compass and millimeter tape, try to square the circle between the longitudinal skull facial axes convergence, the muzzle square, the skull length/head length rate, etc., that find only one analyzing, with the only help of the finger’s sensitivity, the skin’s consistence and the hair and under-skin layer’s structure! The standard, on the other hand, while is strictly regulative for some parameters, is extremely generic concerning what is more correlated to the health, to the behavior and to the character of our dog. What are we asking at this point is if the modern dog’s shows are still keeping the original zoo-technique purpose to improve the breed aiming to the health, to the character and to the functionality, or if, on the other hand, they have become just moments of commercial15 promotion.
In the second part: the coat colour
_________________________________ Notes 1 Holism (from the Greek “holos” = all, entire): biological theory asserting that each living organism shows its own characteristics, which cannot be referable to the mere sum of its parts. Its vital manifestations can be explained on the basis of the functional connections among its different elements. 2 For example, starting from the correct assumption that “in the dog’s masticatory organs there is a third type lever”, has been affirmed that “the light undershot bite in the Cane Corso has been sought, wanted and possibly kept”, adducing to motivation even the fact that “the light undershot bite brings to a mandible’s curvature and a muzzle’s shortening with the consequent approach of the resistance (object to compel with the teeth) to the power (temporal masseters muscles) with evident advantages in the force of the bite”. Granted that we are referring to an undershot bite of max 0,5 cm: a) Even remaining, just in a theoretical level, to the model of the third type lever, considering the measures “idealized” in the CC for the “Force Beam” and for the “Resistance Beam”, applying the Equilibrium Law (PxBp=RxBr) …“the evident (!?!?!) advantage in the force of the bite” results to be…just nearly…2% and so is negligible! b) Believing that the traditional user of CC (“massaro”, farmer, herdsman, butcher, hunter or may be landowner) has inferred, even if in an empiric way, a so (sic!) “…evident advantage” and has consequently “…seek, wanted and kept” the light undershot bite would be credible as one of his (that is the one of the herdsman, landowner etc.) valuation of the dog based, for example, on the respect of the rate of 3,6/10 among the entire length of the head and the withers’ height or of the rate of 3,4/10 among the muzzle length and the total length of the head! Other factors have been judged in the choice of the “useful dog” and among these, those concerning the cinometric peculiarities were considered insignificant compared with those gifts that best contributed, and still contribute, to mould the waited behaviour. So, just to keep on talking of the jaw bite, its efficacy was not attributed to the differences of some millimetres but was just and simply inferred as the result of other more important dog’s characteristics: tenacity, resistance, pain tolerance, determination, motivation, etc. Trying to exclude from the reproduction the undershot bite affected subjects, was not to be attributed to the fact that, in an absolute way, some has considered the bite efficacy reduced by this characteristic (in the presence of more accentuated qualities of that kind it could have been the opposite!): undershot bite, despite what some, ignoring, affirms saying that “it was sought, wanted and maintained”, was avoided just because the herdsmen have always knew what some “soloni”16 of our days have not understood or pretend they not understand: the prognatism is a degenerative defect. There is no doubt about that, just like eminent scholars and cinophiles have always said and explained! If it is needed another point of view, we would like to mention the one of Doc. A. Manetti reported in the treatise “The Dog; A. Vallardi ed.” when he talks about the British Bull-Dog: “It, like all the bull-dogs, originated from a couple of subjects that for genetic anomaly had jaw undershot, very common even in other species. Humans then, used these teratological cases to create a race with the aspect of a “wild dog”. Consequently, the anomaly became hereditary and it has been kept with constancy in all the descendants”. We cannot but express our thoughts according to which when the biological dysfunctions are considered as values, an act against nature has been committed. To go on with what expressed by Doctor Manetti, must be specified that, talking about the bulldogs, we are referring to those Molossians that have always been used in bullfights as their main function. They come from the Roman Molossian, spread in the ancient Rome and in all the conquered regions. The roman Molossian, actually, was a functionally complete dog used during the battles, as a watch dog, for the defence and for the hunt, and also, in fights against wild animals and gladiators in the amphitheatres during the “ludi gladiatori”. In particular, the bullfights were carried out in the Theatrum Tauri. In Rome the bull fights were restored ages after the fall of the roman Empire as shown in some Belli’s poetries like a 1831 sonnet called “La giostra a Gorèa”: “ What a damned bull! To five of the dogs he tore away the innards and hurled the others a mile away”, and in some Pinelli’s incisions, and also, according to what can be read in a 1819 public notice in which is offered a prize to those “dogs that, without any help, will block it holding its ear” (M. Verdone: “Parties and shows in Rome”). The Roman Molossian, in the lands conquered by the roman legions originated dogs used for the same function: In Spain he originated the Spanish Perro da Presa and in France the Dogue de Bordeaux; using the same Anglo Saxon’s expression referred to the task, these dogs were generically called “Spanish bull-dog” and “French bull-dog”. The creation of the “British bull-dog” race dates back to 1155 and it’s the resulting of a Molossian and a “Spanish bull-dog” crossing, both strongly affected by undershot bite; this choice was made to satisfy the need to raise the spectacularity of the fights melting the aggressive behaviour of these dogs with a particular wild morphological aspect; it was thought that, that “look” could have been expressed by the undershot bite and by a round eye. So, after this selection error of the English, during the years the anomaly has been “fixed in the race”! 3 This way, when during the very first part of the race recovering the elements in disagreement were due to a not always shared vision of the original Cane, was just “started” – because the “iter” imposed it as an obligatory stage for the acknowledgement - to be consequently abandoned when it was understood that the “product” –far from any good expectation- started to “yield since the beginning” and that, was conquering that part of the market made available by the fall of the “Mastino Napoletano” (the other side of the “Italian Molossian”) unrecognisable in the morphology, in the health and in the behaviour due to the sick logic of modern expositive competition that, nowadays, lacks of any zootecnical content 4 Meaning the reintegration of what has been compromised or damaged and the conservation assurance. 5 In Cinognostics, a subject is more beauty the more its morphology and behaviour make it suitable to the function that the subject itself has to work; in other words, the idea of beauty is tightly related to the function, consequently, in zootechniques it has always been taken in high consideration. Beauty comes from the addition of all the values that may be found in an animal. In Cinognostics there are 4 different kinds of beauty: Psychic, Utilitarian, Harmonic and Conventional (or aesthetic); ● Psychic: Taking its behaviour in consideration, establish the right balance in the animal itself. It’s fundamental in any animal. ● Utilitarian: represents the harmony between appearance and function; so, it is indispensable for the animal to work its function; ● Harmonic: consists in the balance of proportions. Is very important and wanted. The complete conformation’s harmony of the animal is more important than the singular peculiarity. Harmony is requested for any canine race and the possible disharmonies go to make serious faults. Anyway, there are some races in which the disharmonies are requested by the standards, for example Basset Hound, British Bulldog, several kinds of Terriers, etc. Is important to underline that many race standards accentuate the disharmony of the profiles, like, for example, in the Boxer. ● Conventional (or aesthetic): is the one requested by the current fashion. Every day, commercials, films and mass media exert a strong impact on today’s trend using animal’s fascinating images. While “beauty” expresses, according to the previous classification, the peculiar values of a subject, the “Type” characterizes the typical peculiarities of a particular race. It represents not only the whole morphological characteristics of a race but includes the psychic qualities too, that is, those indispensable qualities to the optimal accomplishment of a function. According to this concept, surveying that a dog is “in Type” allow us to understand that we are facing a subject that not only has – appropriately built – the suitable physical characteristics for a function, but that, “incarnating the race spirit”, is able to translate those potentialities in optimal performances. Not following these principles – that should always accompany the work of a conscious breeder – means resign to the decadence of race and to its substitution with another one more suitable to the task. For the “Cane Corso” the decadence process is accelerated by the effects induced by the beauty shows (See Notebook: “Beauty shows in the opinion of a Great Master of the Cinophily“) on the selection strategies used by the breeders; in these shows the CC is judged just upon the suitability to the morphological characteristics described by the standard. Very seldom who judges values the conformity of the dog’s characteristics to the functions of the race and so fails to comply with the postulate “Function Type” increasing selective choices based upon useless morphological criteria and uprooted from its purposes according to which “the race is born and existed”. 6 Extol with words even with no right or fundament. 7 The entire covering tissue, actually very complicated, is not object of this treatment 8 Intentionally, we did not use the term “race/breed” in order to avoid the misunderstanding with its “modern” meaning 9 Two extreme examples of thickness, elasticity and skin’s adherence to the under-skin tissue, may be represented by the Grey Hound and by the Neapolitan Mastiff saw in its “modern expositive version”. In the first one, the very thin and adherent skin makes possible to see the bone and the under-skin structure. In the second one, we are in front of a pathological lymphatism characterized by a so exasperated flaccidity that even the correct conclusion of some organic functions is compromised. While for the Grey Hound is clear the functional influence of its “chisel” in the fox chase during the old times hunts (or their movements after one of their simulacra in the modern racing-tracks), we still cannot understand the motivations that led to this morpho-functional degeneration one of the two expressions of the Italian Molossian (the Neapolitan Mastiff). For a while we could think about cinognostic concept of “conventional beauty” but maybe because we lack of that decadent aesthetic sense that is very in vogue today, we are incline to exclude this hypothesis! 10 In Zoognostics, we talk about “value” when a part of the body is completely suitable for a requested function. The opposite is what we mean for “defect”. Defects and values may be of the “relative” kind (that is typical of specific races) or of the “absolute” kind (that is valid for all the races). The “absolute” kinds are always incompatible with the health and the functionality of the dog. As example of “relativity”, the extremely thin and tight skin is a value for the Grey Hound and a defect for the Cane Corso (Molossian). The enognatism and the real prognatism, on the other hand, are “absolute” defects (besides go to make a serious defect …in the humans too!). 11 The hair is a formation of a horn like substance put in a particular cutaneous “lodging” (follicle) inclined respect the skin surface; together they form the primary visible covering. In the follicle, beyond the presence of erective muscles – that allow the erection of the hair, revealing in the dog a particular condition of excitement – find an opening the sebaceous glands that produce the “sebum”, an oily waterproofing substance (formed by fats, paraffines and other compounds) that, beyond having a very protective function, determinates even the brightness of the hair. In relation to its length, the hair is classified in “long” (over 5 cm), “semi-long” (from 2 cm to nearly 5 cm) and “short”. In the common lexicon, a short hair dog characterized by a marked adherence of the hair to the skin, it is called “smooth-hair/pelo raso” (as for example the Boxer, that in its standard it is classified as “short haired”). The texture depends by the hair cellular structure and by its chemical composition –formed mainly by “cheratina” which content of sulphur determinates its hardness- is generally classified in: “glassy” (resistant but not rigid) “semi-glassy”, “bristly”, “semi-bristly”, “silky”, “soft” and “woolly”. 12 From the same “main hair lodging” (sometimes called “gem”) start “groups” of shorter secondary hair, in a variable number for each group from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 15-18, depending by the breed and the body region; on the superior outline of the back and on the sides of the body each group is relatively more numerous. Even their length and hardness changes starting from a minimum consistence comparable to the bristle (very short in relation to the main hair and extremely soft). So, the dog’s coat is constituted by covering hair and by the under-hair layer, according to a structural configuration that grants the efficacy of the thermo-regulation function to the climatic events of the habitat in which the dog lives. In particular, is the “suite constituted by the hair” that, mainly, grants this function: actually, it is particularly thick and impermeable in the Nordic breeds, it reduces during the springtime and it gets thick again in autumn. Just to give another element, even the central section dimension of the hair constituted by the “marrow”, works in the thermo-regulation process because is the air in the infra-cellular bubbles that compose it that give a sort of thermo isolation; this is why in the animals its thickness can reach the 50% of the hair’s one. 13 “Rustic”, in our meaning, identifies the prevalence within Cane Corso of those characters that are most relevant for the excellence of the “functional beauty” even if to the detriment of the “conventional” characters so much awarded in the shows. (See F.A.Q.: “What do we mean for “beauty” in a dog”) Briefly, and surely not exhaustively, we will here enumerate some of those characters which cannot but descended from a particular structure, moulded during the ages, by the functional employment: • Great physical resistance in job (even in critical environment contexts); • Great adaptability in hostile habitats (for example, the presence of the undercoat and a thick and resistant skin allow it to live in any different kind of weather condition and allow it to be resistant to whatever may cause wounds); • High food assimilation (rustic Corso, even if it’s greedy, adapts easily itself to frugality and it’s able to make the best of the available food); • Disease tolerance (it has an amazing physical condition and react in a very natural way to different kind of “not-so-serious” diseases”); • Balanced character which expresses, especially in conflict situations, trough an event adequate reaction; • Prevalent adaptive and instinctive intelligence (applied in a rural context) compared to the “intelligence to obey” . [Where, in the opinion of the American psychologist Stanley Coren: the “adaptive intelligence” regards the dog’s ability to pass over new circumstances and problems working out a behavior that is suitable for the new situation, the “instinctive intelligence” includes the skills and behaviors that are within the genetic heritage of the dog (for ex. “fetching” in Labrador Retriever and the flock’s protection in the Mastino Abruzzese) and the “intelligence to obey” is inherent to the ability of learning and apply commands.] • Physiognomic heterogeneity linked to a good genetic variability internal to the race, derived from original stocks sometimes specialized from the functional employment point of view, but highly representative of the traditional morphology of Cane Corso; • ….. • ….. 14 Have you ever noticed, in an expo, how much of cure is given to the make-up (!!!!) of a Cane Corso? And what about the use and abuse of spray? 15 Relatively to the health, today the interest is focused only on the dysplasia, as if it would the most invalidating and unique disease that hit our dog; unfortunately, other not less serious diseases affect the “newly Cani Corso”. Diseases that are the “logic and physiological” consequence of selections made in close consanguinity in the chase of an exasperated uniformity with no utility. To these people we want to remind the 5th Article (Reproduction) of the European Convention for the safeguard of pets: “Anyone who selects pets for reproduction, must consider the anatomic and physiological characteristic, and its behavior, which have such a nature to put in danger the health and the wealth of the progeny or the ones of the female” (Strasburg, 13th of November 1987). 16 ”soloni” : the term is sometime used in Italian language to refer someone which presumes to own knowledge that really he does not owns.
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