Episode 75: Keith Siler and Siler's Cane Corso's

He has been called a dog whisperer.

     The familiar adage, dogs are a man’s best friend, rings true for over half a million households across the United States. According to the Forbes Advisor, 66% of Americans own pets, totaling nearly 89.6 million homes. Of that 89.6 million, 65.1 million are dog owners. (Information based on Pet Ownership Statistics 2024)

    The numbers mentioned are based on registered ownership of dogs; however, they don’t account for the countless number of people who have picked up strays or acquired a dog from a friend of a friend. Needless to say, owning a dog is a part of American culture, but what’s not typical is finding legitimate breeders who take pride in ensuring the animals they breed are worthy of their bloodline. Keith Siler is anything but typical.  

    Keith is a breeder of the Italian Cane Corso. “The Cane Corso is a large breed originally called Italian Mastiffs. They are a beautiful breed and intelligent protectors,” Keith explains.  

     The Cane Corso’s lineage goes back to ancient Roman times, and the breed’s name roughly translates from the Latin as ‘bodyguard-dog.’ Keith shares he was initially attracted to the Corso because of their beauty and their complex reputation. According to the American Kennel Club, the Cane Corso is smart, trainable, and of noble bearing. They also identify the breed as being assertive, confident, and fearless protectors.  

     Throughout Keith’s life, he has always loved dogs. “As a kid, I always loved animals. It didn’t matter if it was a stray mutt or not. I just loved dogs,” Keith explained. “When I was eleven, my mom bought me a pit bull terrier as a pet, and I’ve had a heart for the breed ever since.”

     Keith would begin his breeding journey with the American Pit Bull Terrier and shared that, like the Corse breed, American Pit Bulls are often misunderstood. “Pit Bulls are no more dangerous than any other breed. They require love like all dogs, but most importantly, you have to know how to train the animal.”

     In his late teens or early twenties, Keith started to study breeding, and he wanted to become an advocate for the pit bull terrier. “My goal wasn’t just to breed the dog but to help save the bloodline. I believed that with proper breeding, I could create a stronger breed of the terrier and help change its reputation,” he shares. The American Pit Bull Terrier was categorized as a fighting dog breed in 19th-century England for just that purpose. The American Kennel Club doesn’t recognize it as a distinct breed, but its cousin, the American Staffordshire Terrier, is. 

    The love of the breed and seeing American Pit Bulls flourish is what has kept Keith going for almost thirty years. During this period, he was faced with the challenge of helping the American Pit Bull Terrier escape its image as a savage fighter. “As a kid, I didn’t know what I had. It was a pet, a friend, and a companion to me. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I learned what the Pit Bull breed was created for and why people wanted them. I felt like they were given a label because of how people chose to train and use them, not for what they were. For me, they were affectionate, protective, friendly, and playful, and I believed they could gain a different reputation with proper breeding. Yet, no matter what I did. I couldn’t seem to move the needle,” he says.

     Breeding and boarding animals is an expensive business that can yield big dividends. Still, buyers didn’t want to invest in the quality that Keith had poured his soul into. “The biggest issue I came across was that people wanted quality but didn’t want to pay for it. I had a good reputation, but because I was from the area, people assumed my dogs were subpar,” Keith explained. “In truth, I was able to achieve my goal of creating a stronger bloodline with the American Pit Bull Terrier, but no one was willing to pay for the quality of the an