Diffusion of Shih Tzu in Italy

In Italy, shih tzu came in the late 60s. Mrs. Mara Belli bought some subjects from England and she started to breed them with the ‘Hydra’ kennel name but unfortunately her premature death didn’t let her to diffuse this breed. Mr. Alberto Ferrelli of Sabaudia, breeder of collie, became interested in this breed and his first imports were English. Then introduced in the late 80s Scandinavian lines, creating his own type of shih tzu but in the 90s he stopped to breed. In 1972 I was trembling for the desire to buy a beautiful shih tzu and I asked to an English lady who lived in Rome, some people described the many qualities of her dogs, I wanted a dog for show and I decided that my future was to breed this dog. I was born with the passion for the dogs, but the love at first sight for this breed started when I read about their temperament.  My first buying was the contrary of what I hoped, because she was a funny delicious pet bitch who was all a shih tzu shouldn’t be. I bought a very useful book, ‘This is the Shih Tzu’, written by the reverend  Donald Allan Easton. It was very helpful, in fact it explained very well all the story of the shih tzu and of the bloodlines; then I bought other American books, whom were very helpful to clarify my ideas and to understand what I wanted and what I had to buy. In 1975 I managed to buy an adult male from a German kennel. His name was ‘Yak Von Tschomo Lungma’, a beautiful male who won all over the Europe and he has been used by many breeders; he was an outstanding dog, his bloodline was completely Scandinavian and he descended directly from the dogs of the Chinese imperial palace. ‘Yak’ was bred by Mrs. Geusendam of Lubecca, although it had been sold by Mrs. Eta Pauptit because she was ending to breed. I got the luck to meet these two fantastic women, whom made the story of shih tzu in Europe. I met Eta Pauptit because in a couple of years she was retired from the rings and she was selling all her beautiful subjects in Europe but especially in USA. I had an excellent relationship with Erika Geusendam because she continued to show until the early 80s. They were my first teachers. Many times I spoke with Mrs. Pauptit and Mrs. Geusendam about the bloodlines in Europe and we all agreed on the fact to breed with purebred dogs, without the introduction of English dogs in these bloodlines, because of they had Pekingese’s blood in their pedigree. Going forward with this choice has been very difficult in Italy. Said that shih tzu was a poorly known breed and the judges were used to the type of the few English dogs in the rings, when they saw the subject imported by me, very different, they were a little bit disoriented. I must say that I was a teenager and I when I explained my reasons, full of conviction and desire to breed, they didn’t hear me with much conviction. Despite a difficult begin, I managed to let understand my reasons with my tenacity, and so, they started to appreciate this type of shih tzu in Italy too. The situation was very different abroad, and ‘Yak’ started to win everywhere he was shown. Soon he became Italian, French, International, Slavic, Hungarian, Social and Reproductor Champion. Going back he can be found in the most important European pedigrees; he won also in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Swiss, Germany and Holland. He won many groups and BIS, becoming the founder of my kennel. The kennel name ‘Casa Corsini’ was officially registered in 1977. he was a perfectly built dog with a wonderful head of excellent proportion and he had an incredible class in the ring. ‘Yak’ was born 11 June 1974 and he died on 10 May 1988, leaving me wonderful sons. After him, I bought several bitches of the same line.