The Project

Why I started this Project

The decision to start profiling “Dogo La Cocha” kennel, is based on my personal experience spanning over 10 years with this specific bloodline. I personally knew the people running La Cocha, I visited the kennel several times and I have been extensively hunting and breeding working dogs in souther Argentina for seven years. Among the many dogs I had over the years, I owned 8 pure Dogo Argentino from La Cocha bloodline. These dogs came straight from the La Cocha Kennel in Alpha Corral – Cordoba. Five out of those eight dogs were either diagnosed with severe dysplasia or died for genetic related health issues before even reaching the age of 3 years.

Since I’ve been extensively hunting, sharing my my life and breeding Dogo Argentino for about a decade I feel like having a qualified perspective of the overall picture.

About Dogo la Cocha Kennel and Argentine Breeders.

Here is a brief but extremely important guideline to understand how to avoid major issues when buying a dog from an Argentine breeder.

– Never base you trust exclusively on breeder’s name and popularity, that’s not saving you from a bad deal, to the contrary!!!

– Always ask for real guarantees, sign a proper contract and track your financial transactions.

– Never fully pay a dog in Advance, always keep an “open window” when closing a deal.

– Require extensive and reliable Pedigree and Genetic documents.

– Require a full Medical Check-Up. Complete XR- Rays for Dysplasia on both Hips and Elbow, Baer Test (hearing test), Cardiac examination, ecc.. All these datas must be provided both for your pup/dog and at least for its parents.

– In Argentina there is no “DNA” database, that means you have no real guarantee that your “Pedigree” shows the real dogs involved in that specific breeding line. You might have a perfectly official pedigree, issued by the FCA (Federación Cinológica Argentina), and you will never know what’s in there!

– Many irresponsible breeders cross dogs that have a very close blood tie. While this practice might be carefully used to keeping certain traits on a specific bloodline it’s often abused for practical and economical interest, eventually compromising the breed. Even high end breed champions can be affected by extremely serious genetic flaws, from severe dysplasia to heart issues, ecc.. but are still prized and used for breeding purposes.

– Go get your dog personally, is the safest way to get a healthy dog and to eventually save money, time and frustration. Meet the breeder, see how dogs are kept and handled, see the animals involved in the breeding program. Get X-Rays and a complete medical check-up done by a reliable center nearby, on site is the safest way to have things done properly. Unfortunately in Argentina is common to get medical records and paperwork done in unclear way, that means you might get exams done on a healthy dog “passed” to another “flawed” dog.

– You might consider to pay a deposit when you book your dog from home and then give the final payment once you get your Dogo, with all the proper paperwork and medical check-up, in Argentina. Shipping your dog back home from Argentina is very expensive while taking it with you, on a regular flight, might be an overall good option. In order to safely fly back home with you new Dogo I strongly recommend to contact a reliable agent that handles all the bureaucracy and hassles involved for a fair price.

– If a breeder is reluctant to show proper documents, medical results, ecc.. just move on to another one. Don’t hesitate! NEVER BY A DOG ON A RUSH!

– I strongly recommend to get a pup around 6 months of age because from that age you can already evaluate, through a proper early predictive health check-up, if any major problem is already there. From behavior evaluation to body structure and proportions, size, skin issues, early dysplasia marks, proper dental occlusion, pigmentation, heart illness, ecc.. all these parameters can be evaluated with good approximation. It’s always better to invest on a grown up pup than “betting” on a younger one. The money you invest for an “older” pup will always be WAY less than all the medical costs and frustration you might end up later, saving lots of pain and suffering to your future dog and frustration to yourself. A properly bred and raised pup from a responsible breeder will easily adapt to its new family, do not push for a very young pup!