May 2003
BOB ARBA Show
Most pictures at this page can be enlarged
The Dogo Canario Tianna
Breed: Dogo Canario (Presa Canario)
Name: Oakleaf's Star Tianna
DOB: 29th May 1999
Sire: Batur of Red Star, BST 1
Dam: Red Star Cheetah, BST 1
Owner: Cathy Thomas, Oakleaf Ranch
Breeders: Alex and Irina Vyatkin, Red Star Kennel
Affiliations: I.A.P.C. – International Association for the Presa Canario
Tianna as a 8 weeks old puppy.
Meet my girl Tianna – the Presa that can “do it all”.
To me, Tianna epitomizes a functional Molosser: a devoted, pleasant family companion,
a capable protector – courageous, agile, strong, calm and confident.
Tianna has been very special to me from the start.
She is a result of performance breeding, and went through intense socialization as a puppy,
as well as professional training when older.
I raised her on a raw-meat-and-vegetable diet, and am very pleased with the results!
Above is a picture of Tianna only 11 weeks after giving birth to her first litter
Tianna is everything I could hope for in a dog. Besides attending confirmation events,
we have been having most fun competing in working dog events.
I admire Tianna's "working ethics": she always gives it her all, while remaining my trusted
and constant companion. Tianna is almost four years young and I will continue to compete with
her for as long as possible - she loves working with me!
So far Tianna has achieved the most variety of titles of any Presa in the U.S. and she is the first
Presa to achieve titles with a *
-BSTII: International Assoc. for the Presa Canario Breed Suitability Test II
-IAPC TT: International Assoc. for the Presa Canario Temperament Test
-Protection Sport Assoc: PSA 1 *
-ARBA Grand CH: American Rare Breed Association * (Qualified for and waiting for Supreme CH)
-International All Breed Canine Association: Multi Champion
-Confirmed "Very Good" at Presa Specialty 2001
-PPDA IronDog: Personal Protection Dog Assoc. IronDog - Chicago, First Place in 50 & over category*
-IWPA Working Dog: International Weight Pulling Association - Pulled at least 12x dog's weight at 4 santioned events.*
-WABA OB 1: Working Amer. Bulldog Assoc. Obedience 1 *
-GDT: Guard Dog Test from Working Amer. Bulldog Assoc. *
-IDT3: IronDog Triathlon *
-Ranked ID Female: Third Place in IronDog Lodi Triathlon, 2003
|
|
Here is what Dave Putnam, the founder of the IronDog, had to say about this very memorable day for Tianna and I.
Thanks for the summary Dave!
“The 2003 Lodi Irondog Triathlon saw a group of nearly evenly matched dogs giving their all. The winner's were:
1) Lucillano's Q - 26 points 2). Javier Martinez's Thunder of LeClerc - 25 points . 3) Cathy Thomas' Oakleaf Star of
Tianna - 25 points.
There were several tie scores that had to be broken with Hardest Hitting,
an indicator of evenly matched dogs. History was made when Tianna achieved ranked status.
his makes the Tianna X Cona breeding the first ever ID ranked Presa breeding.
It is interesting to note the difference between Presas and American Bulldogs
as they go through a Triathlon. Every American Bulldog did the Sprint Race as
an escape bite; that is the decoy ran away from the dog and the bite occurred
past the finish line with the decoy still fleeing even on the point of impact.
However Tianna did the Sprint Race as an attack on handler bite. The decoy
grabbed Kathy and started beating her as they both stood a few yards beyond
the finish line. Cathy then screams as if her life were actually in danger.
Incidentally Tianna was the fastest dog in this event. There were two take-downs
by American Bulldogs in the Sprint Race bite. All the dogs were moving swiftly
and hitting hard in the sprint and the HH.
Judge Natalie Oliva chose to have the decoy/bite helper use a clatter stick for
the Hardest Hitting L pattern courage test event. She decided to use a Schutzhund
USA bite helper that recently worked the western regional Schutzhund trials
a top notch decoy). Q was the only dog to earn the ? extra point for outing in the HH event.
Q also won this event. Irondog rules state that to earn the extra ? point the dog must out
within 3 seconds after being given a single command at a distance. The three-second time
limit is tough, I believe one dog outed in about 4 seconds, and therefore didn't earn the ? point.
There were some nice hard hits. The clatter stick during the charge and the drive didn't affect any of the dogs.
Cathy and Tianna stole the show during the weight pull event. As always Tianna was baited for the
weight pull by having a suited decoy attack her. At one point in the pull the decoy had his hands
around Cathy's neck and was whip sawing her head back and forth. Blonde hair was flying everywhere.
Tianna went crazy to get at the bad guy and pulled enough weight to take second place in the weight pull.”
Working dog events is a wonderful venue to pursue with your dog. Having started out as a novice handler with Tianna,
I am convinced of that - it greatly strengthened a bond between us and is SO MUCH FUN!
Personal Protection dog events have been the most trying but also most rewarding to us. Here is a great example
of what I consider a well rounded event:
Ultimate IronDog - a two-day event at Red Star Kennels in Hudson, WI:
Day One.
Day two.
Tianna took 2nd Place overall in 2002!!!!
Here is a link to a video of one of the scenarios, which Tianna scored high at.
I, as the owner, was ordered to come over to the tunnel and send Tianna through at the “bad guy”.
As soon as Tianna got a hold of the bad guy, a wall went up and another decoy blocked me from escaping
the tunnel. Tianna’s task was to protect me from both attackers, so the job consisted in figuring out
how to get around the tunnel (it wasn’t possible to return the same way),
and to protect the “trapped” and “assaulted" me. In addition, when Tianna finally got to the second decoy,
the first decoy dropped the parts of the wall on Tianna, just to see if it will spook her away. It didn't one bit!
When beginning this scenario, as the rules had it, I did not know what to expect! All we were told was:
"Get to the tunnel, stop the bad guy and protect yourself at all cost".
Tianna took third place the first day and second overall. I was very proud of her that weekend!
Here is another picture, this time from a different scenario (left).
And an agility shot from day two at right.
On our Spring 2003 list of competition events is the PPDA Iron Dog race in Chicago on April 27th,
and the K-9 ProSports trial at Red Star Kennels on May 4th.
I believe it is a responsibility of every conscientious working dog owner to have one's
dog pass a type of a traditional pet stability tests/evaluation to showcase how well-adjusted,
superblyl-socialized and safe for the public our dogs are. I have had Tianna pass as many as I could find available:
ATTS: American Temperament Test Society
TDI: Therapy Dog International
CGC: Canine Good Citizen
TAN: FCI Temperament Test
I believe that any breeding animal, especially a Molosser, must pass certification of healthy hips as a minimum.
Tianna's health testing results were:
OFA Excellent: Tianna and her sister were the first Presas to score an Excellent on their OFA score
CERF: Eyes checked and certified free of any genetic diseases
Tianna has recently become a mother. She was bred to Cona from Red Star Kennels,
and I have kept a male from this litter, whom I have named Tahgor. Cona is a performance Presa in every regard:
his progeny is earning themselves a reputation as capable personal protection companions, and his credentials
include being the First WABA Irondog Ranked Presa, as well as wins and high placements in various personal
protection and weight-pulling events all over the mid-West. Cona is rated OFA “Good” and, in my opinion,
complimented Tianna in every respect - as another exceptional representative of a performance Mollosser.
Below is a picture of Cona at 120 lbs going over a 6-foot jump - an amazing athlete!
