She first got acquainted with the breed many many years before she decided to go into Breeding; she was four or five years old when new neighbours moved in and went to live two houses away from mine, in Estoril (Portugal). They were british and had a pair of immense and good looking dogs, “Rosie” and “Bully”. Two fawn Bullmastiffs, that were the kindest souls on earth, whom She adored. Each day as She returned from School She went to their place and jumped the fence, to spend a little while playing with the two. From then on, She knew She would one day have my own Bullmastiffs.

“Khalim”, Ch. Spain and Portugal SUPERBULLY DE LA YOSA was the first in the “CASTRO-CASTALIA” saga; a huge fawn, beautiful, kind and quiet. Bred in Valladolid he resulted from an open cross where a mixture of bloodlines and prefixes prevailed, with no real intention (as She found out later) to produce anything but a bunch of puppies, regardless of the genetical sources and result. The fact is that as She later understood, “Khalim” was bred in a puppy mill by a guy who bred many other dogs, such as Beagles, Teckels in all the varieties, English and American Cockers, three sizes Schnauzers, German shepherds and God only knows what else. But at the time, in the middle 80s there weren’t too many other options in Spain if you wanted to purchase a bullmastiff.

Thanks to “Khalim” and somehow spurred on by what She saw there and what She later found out about the conduct of that pseudo-breeder, and all the negative issues in my relationship with that guy in the months and years to come, She started asking myself whether it was at all possible to make things the other way around to improve them. And that is how She became interested in knowing as much as possible about the breed, its characteristics, its History and everything that had to do with Bullmastiffs. That is also how, little by little, She got it into my head that She would once become a Bullmastiff breeder, and a good one too. She was pretty sure that with determination, effort and knowledge, things could be done differently.

Later on, while he was never aware of his influence, She came to meet Clifford L. B. Hubbard, “Doggie” Hubbard as he was better known, at an Open Show in Birmingham. We spoke for quite a while under a blue and white stripped tent, where he had his stall of ancient dog books, as She approached and bought a first edition of his “THE BULLMASTIFF, A HANDBOOK” (1957). He was already in his eighties and a delightful man, whom She remember with admiration and  fondness, and when She told him about my interest and my feelings about the Breed he came up with many interesting opinions and pieces of advice, while he mentioned that according to his experience Bullmastiffs were at that point in an blind alley in the UK, since there had been no brush up in the bloodlines for ages (due to the quarantine imposed to dog import from other countries) and theirs were gradually fading away and impoverishing due to the endogamy depression. He also came to say that the breeding of Bullmastiffs was wandering aimlessly because there was “no interest, no passion, no compromise”.

Those words kept pounding in my head on my way back to London and in the days and weeks to come and that is how, unknowingly, She became determined to start my own breeding programme with interest, passion and compromise. Needless to say that She was a complete novice in terms of Genetics and had no first hand experience in the breeding and rearing of puppies, although She had the determination and the will and other than this she also had been surrounded by dogs and horses since childhood and She had learned enough about animal behaviour and reproduction through my parents, who were very enthusiastic in dog and horse breeding. And she still had another “secret weapon”: she could easily speak and write seven languages which enabled me to contact easily and openly with breeders from all over the World.

And with the help of ones and others, with the information she obtained from different sources, with the reading of hundreds of books on Veterinary matters, Genetics, Behaviour, Education and Training, the Breed and other similar breeds, etc. She equipped myself sufficiently in a short time. One thing she was sure of from the very beginning: she knew she had to find a super quality foundational bitch and if she wanted to do things right from the start, my Breeding Programme should always be based on excellent quality females. With that in mind, she started his search

“Garufa”, Ch. España y Portugal ODDROCK HOSTUFF

“Garufa”, CH. Spain and Portugal ODDROCK HOTSTUFF, came to me from Finland. Then it was the turn for “Sarah”, ODDROC SARAH VAUGHAN, and shortly after “Cotilla”, EuroWinner Jr 94 ODDROCK TASTE OF HONEY.

Using “Khalim” at stud She found out that She wasn’t obtaining the results She wanted to achieve; he was a darling, but not the best sire and She decided to take  him away from my Breeding Programme almost from the start, even though from the first litter sired by him, ex “Garufa”, eight excellent puppies were born, amongst which She should point out ”Ankara”, whom She kept, World Champion and Ch. Portugal ANKARA DE CASTRO-CASTALIA and her litter brother “Aeneas”, Ch. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Nordic and International AENEAS DE CASTRO-CASTALIA, whom She exported to Finland. Yet She knew that if She wanted to do things well from the very start, “Khalim” wasn’t called to be one of the mainstays of my Breeding Programme nor any of his sons.

“Ankara”, Ch.J. del Mundo ANKARA DE CASTRO-CASTALIA

I then decided to import “Koira”, EuroWinner Jr. 94 ODDROCK DE CASTRO-CASTALIA, whom She mated to “Cotilla” and to breed my first litter of brindles by mating “Sarah” to an American stud, “Deion”, Ch. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Nordic and International BLACKSLATE’S MISTER HEARTBREAKER, who was a brindle like she was.

“Koira”, Euro Winner ’94 ODDROCK DE CASTRO-CASTALIA

Later on She imported “Fetiche”, MURBISA MARGARITA DE CASTRO-CASTALIA, a daughter of “Zingara”, ZINGARA DE CASTRO-CASTALIA whom She exported to the UK in 1996 and who was to become the first ever Bullmastiff female imported from anywhere in the World into England, and “Oscar”, KINGSREACH THE NAVIGATOR AT MURBISA, who had been considered for two years in a row as the Best Breed Stud.

“Fetiche”, MURBISA MARGARITA DE CASTRO-CASTALIA

Then it was the turn of “Tirana”, HEATHKEEPER’S BLAZE OF GLORY, another Finnish girl and Danish “Tequila”, VIBEGAARDENS CASTALIA, who was a granddaughter of “Aeneas” and a great granddaughter of “Garufa”.

“Tirana”, HEATHKEEPER’S BLAZE OF GLORY

And this is how in just a few years She drew the path through which my Breeding Programme has been running, basically sustained by three pillars/bloodlines which are the BOGERUDMYRA from Norway, through the ODDROCK prefix, the BLACKSLATE’S from the US and the BUNSORO, through the MURBISA prefix, from the UK.

“Tequila”, VIBEGAARDENS CASTALIA

Needless to say that in these 18 years She have done a lot more than this, but without ever staying too much away from these three pillars and She am pretty conscious that thanks to the words and opinions of “Doggie” Hubbard, and the very many opinions and teachings of other people such as Douglas B. Oliff, who wrote the prologue for my second book on the Breed, EL GRAN LIBRO DE LOS BULLMASTIFF Y MASTIFF, Colonel David Hancock, Riitta Maaniemi, Rita Benner (who left us, unfortunately, too early), Christopher Habig, Anne Marie Class, Bay Rowland, Muriel Bisatt and many other dear friends and breeders, She have come to make my dream come true and She have managed to set up a Breeding Programme of reference in the World.

(Original text written by Christina of Lima-Netto and Federico Baudin specifically for this web page and protected with Copyright. Not even whole can be reproduced not partially by any way, without Castro-Castalia's express assent in writing).