In hindsight, his shoulders were straight, the angle in his tibio-tarsal was too open, there wasn’t enough difference in the texture of his hair (goat on the front of body and woolly on the back), and weighing in at over 88 pounds, he was far too heavy. Other than that, “Alpino” was a good Bergamasco. Good enough, in fact, to have served as an important point of reference in the drafting of the official breed standard in January 1958. Indeed, many Italian fanciers regarded Alpino as the greatest sire in the modern history of the breed.

Alpino

His full name was Alpino Di Valle Imagna, and he was one of two puppies born to a dog owned by a shepherd. The owner of the farm on which the puppies were born, a businessman named Pietro Rota, took one of the pups for his own. This was Alpino, and he was one of the first Bergamschi to have been entered in Italian dog shows. He is considered to be the ancestor of the modern Bergamasco.

We fast forward to an article published in Dog World in 1982 in which author, Walter Fletcher, wrote that a jet black dog named Marcopai Dei Lupercali may have been first Bergamasco imported into the United States. The dog brought back from Italy by Contessa Diana Masieri as a gift for her husband, Ernie Byfield, had Alpino in his pedigree three generations back. Two years later, “Sabrina” from from the Lupercali kennel in Italy was added to the family, and after deciding that New York was no place for two sheepdogs, the couple moved to horse property in Virginia where they bred the first litter of Bergamasco puppies born in the country.

What ever happened to Alpino?

In an article written by the fabulous dog writer, Ria Hörter, it’s said that when Pietro Rota was sent to Africa during WWII, Alpino, “more dead than alive,” walked to the train station every day to wait for his return. According to rumor, Alpino died on the station platform. It is a heartbreaking story if true, but one we can believe given the accounts of other dogs who did much the same thing (remember Hachi, the famous Akita).

There is so much history behind every breed, and behind every breed are dogs that served as foundational cornerstones. We wanted you to meet one of them, Alpino.

Image: Adobe clip art