My Dogo Genesis

I've been involved with the Dogo Argentino since 2001, I brought my first dogo Argentino puppies (Yes, 2, something I would never recommend) into my home in November of 2001. Argo and Ananaki were about 4 months old from North Carolina, a pair of older women who were both in ill health and unable to care for the dogos they had in residence had these two puppies. I literally paid $500 for both pups. Ananaki was a bilaterally deaf fireball acrobat. Argo was a pirate male. Both pups had digestive sensitivities, Argo significantly worse then Ananaki. The father was Legend and Sugar, both parents were on property, I suspected that these guys were bred on purpose and for money purposes, but both pups were riddled with worms and were so shy, completely unsocialized nor house manners in the least. The parents were both extremely obese and Sugar was easily held on a leash, sweet girl. Legend had growths on his skin that were extremely odd. I took pictures of the parents and brought them home, AGAIN this is something I would never recommend. My heart tends to go before my head. This decision lead me into a huge change in my life.
Prior to having the Dogo Argentino in my life I had dogs as a child - unmemorable mixed breeds until the age of 5, a Cocker Spaniel named Toro when I was 7-8 years old, a German Shepherd/Collie named Baby as young teenager and a Pekingese named Benji in my late teens. I was the child who brought home all the hurt and dying animals on my way home from school. I rescued birds all the time. Kept aquariums since the age of 8, parakeets, gerbils, rabbits and even a pet chicken. But I always pestered my parents for dogs. I worked at my local SPCA for about a year where we had pretty common breeds, while there I adopted a Shepherd Husky female, named Mona in January of 2001. I really truly never had any experience with dominant dogs before taking on the Dogo. I am being honest because I want people to know the truth of learning things the hard way and how many hard knocks I had with Dogos. There's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and then there are those grey ways that can be incredibly difficult, challenging and just seem riddled with obstacles - you can probably guess which way I chose to go.
When I brought home these pups initially all was great - I got them both crates, set-up their stuff, they were cuddly affectionate and just completely sweet. Argo was the leader - he pushed his way to the front, picked up commands quickly, challenged things and seemed to always be trying to figure things out and think them through. Ananaki, shortened to Naki, quickly proved to show her acrobatic skills by climbing furniture, crates and fences; her mischievous nature shined through her sweet brown eyes. Mona was the momma - she helped teach the pups manners and when they weren't cooperative they got pawed hard or scruffed by her. She seemed to enjoy her position in our growing pack. At the time I still fostered other dogs - Great Danes, American Pitbull Terriers, Siberian Huskies and a Doberman.
Please, do not get the idea that these first few months were blissful, they were anything but. The pups were not becoming crate trained or housebroken or learning anything about where their urine or feces should go. They'd both fill their crates up with messes, I'd never bought so much paper towels in my life. Also Naki was a constant loud pitched barker that was horrid. They'd be covered in feces in urine while crated when we came home from work. When we'd go outside every couple of hours, they'd still not get the concept of using the bathroom outside. I suspect while they were with the ladies in NC they weren't being cleaned often enough. Naki and Argo both had raging ear infections for the first few months of their lives. Their feces were never firm - just squishy watery nastiness and we struggled with all types of kibble. I'm sure there are many message boards still carrying my desperate messages from those days. I would be crying between their crates trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Crate training had never been an issue for me before. Their poop messes were horrendous, I couldn't figure out what to feed them. I was spending more money on their food then on our own - and absolutely none of it seemed to work. We de-wormed them multiple times. I can't imagine how many people had experienced such a horrendous beginning with dogos and can still willingly share their lives with them.