a hobby that became a passion

Richard DeBerry is the owner of La Fundación K-9. Richard’s passion for dogs began when his father introduced him to the world of breeding and raising Doberman Pinschers. As a young adult, Richard decided to begin his own program with the rare and unrecognized Blue Nose Pit Bull Terrier. Later in life, Richard was introduced to the Presa Canario for the first time and became enamored with the breed. After intensive research, he decided to purchase his first Presa, Brock. Unfortunately, it was later discovered that Brock had developed hip dysplasia. This was extremely upsetting news for Richard, as it would be for any dog enthusiast. Reluctantly, the decision was made to responsibly rehome Brock with his breeder.

Several years later, Richard decided to start anew with Presa Canarios. Armed with new knowledge about the breeds genetic predisposition to hip and elbow dysplasia, he was determined to ethically source a fully health tested dog in the United States. Sadly, after speaking with multiple breeders it became clear that many individuals had no plans to begin or maintain health testing for any of the dogs in their program.

In an effort to continue the search for health tested dogs, Richard set his sights on the Presa Canarios land of origin— Europe. While there were more programs utilizing health testing over seas, it became very apparent that this was still a major cause for concern in the breed. Eventually, Richard made the decision to import his second Presa, Bella Gracie Kuyumdzhiev, from one of the top breeders in Europe. Within the same year he would purchase yet another dog from the same breeder. Because of his passion for Presas, Richard made the effort to fly from the US to the Canary Islands several times to hand pick what would later become the foundational dogs of his program.

Currently, La Fundación K-9 is comprised of 12 health tested Presa Canarios from championship pedigrees. Richard believes strongly in investing with the best breeders in the Presa community so that La Fundación may produce the one of the most competitive lines of Presa Canario in the world.