Posted: 1/26/2015 1:16:14 PM EDT
| Anyone have experience with this breed? Good and bad experiences welcomed. I'm getting interested in this breed as a new family member. |
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The Cane Corso is a large and very powerful dog that can be quite aggressive. There have been multiple attacks some ending in death that have gotten a lot of media attention. This has gotten the breed banned in some places and has also made it very popular with other people. Dog within a breed are NOT like boxes of cereal, they are NOT cookie cutter the same. You can't really learn about Cane Corso from a handful of anecdotal experience. Even if you could learn about the breed in general through a series of anecdotal stores, that wouldn't really have any bearing on the Cane Corso YOU would end up with. It doesn't matter what the 'average' Cane Corso is like, what matters is what the parents of a specific Cane Corso are like, and how the dog was treated/raised/trained. If you get your Cane Corso from a responsible breeder who has two well adjusted good temperament dogs, who does all the early exposures and training, and when handed off to you, you continue with proper socialization, good training, etc , you will have a great dog regardless of the breed's reputation. You can basically insert any breed in the above sentence and get the same end result. 2 well tempered parents plus good socialization and training = great dog regardless of reputation. But even in the above scenario, if anything ever goes wrong (your dog gets attacked at dog park by another dog and simply defends himself for instance) because you have a breed with a bad reputation your dog is going to automatically get 100% of the blame. If you are handed the same pup but you fail on your end you will end up with a disaster, and unlike a yorkie disaster, your disaster has the power to do tons of damage. Similarly, if you get your Cane Corso from a breeder who is enamored with the 'bad-ass-nature' of the breed who has very aggressive parents, even if you and he both do great training and socialization, at best you have a mixed bag. Get off-track and you again have a disaster. In sum, you are looking in the wrong place for answers, and you are asking the wrong questions. Look at breeders, look at the dogs they are producing and how those dogs are. It really doesn't matter what the rest of the Cane Corsos in this world are doing. Note I would have an entirely different response if you were to say 'Hey let's all share stories about how great these dogs are" but it doesn't sound like you are just after stories, it sounds like you are after information to help you make a decision.
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Quoted:
The Cane Corso is a large and very powerful dog that can be quite aggressive. There have been multiple attacks some ending in death that have gotten a lot of media attention. This has gotten the breed banned in some places and has also made it very popular with other people. Dog within a breed are NOT like boxes of cereal, they are NOT cookie cutter the same. You can't really learn about Cane Corso from a handful of anecdotal experience. Even if you could learn about the breed in general through a series of anecdotal stores, that wouldn't really have any bearing on the Cane Corso YOU would end up with. It doesn't matter what the 'average' Cane Corso is like, what matters is what the parents of a specific Cane Corso are like, and how the dog was treated/raised/trained. If you get your Cane Corso from a responsible breeder who has two well adjusted good temperament dogs, who does all the early exposures and training, and when handed off to you, you continue with proper socialization, good training, etc , you will have a great dog regardless of the breed's reputation. You can basically insert any breed in the above sentence and get the same end result. 2 well tempered parents plus good socialization and training = great dog regardless of reputation. But even in the above scenario, if anything ever goes wrong (your dog gets attacked at dog park by another dog and simply defends himself for instance) because you have a breed with a bad reputation your dog is going to automatically get 100% of the blame. If you are handed the same pup but you fail on your end you will end up with a disaster, and unlike a yorkie disaster, your disaster has the power to do tons of damage. Similarly, if you get your Cane Corso from a breeder who is enamored with the 'bad-ass-nature' of the breed who has very aggressive parents, even if you and he both do great training and socialization, at best you have a mixed bag. Get off-track and you again have a disaster. In sum, you are looking in the wrong place for answers, and you are asking the wrong questions. Look at breeders, look at the dogs they are producing and how those dogs are. It really doesn't matter what the rest of the Cane Corsos in this world are doing. Well said Note I would have an entirely different response if you were to say 'Hey let's all share stories about how great these dogs are" but it doesn't sound like you are just after stories, it sounds like you are after information to help you make a decision. |
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The wife and I had a male Corso for about a year. We raised him from a pup. I have a little experience I can share. George, as we named him never exhibited any aggressive behavior toward people. In fact he was quite the sweetheart who loved to be hugged, pet and climb on peoples laps. George did have an altercation with our older Staffordshire, it was a fight over food. Neither dog was injured bad, but there was a bit of blood to clean off the floor. I didn't witness the fight so I cannot say who started it. I never witnessed any other dog aggressive behavior.
With that being said, he was a very large (90lb) ball of energy. For his size he could run, jump and turn like a world class athlete. It was all this energy that lead to us not being able to keep him. He really needed a large area to run with owners to continually play with him. He was a sweet dog, he just needed more than we could give him. |
| I don't have first hand experience with cane corsos but have been in bully breeds for 15 years. I would not want a dog that large and protective unless I had an estate for it to gaurd and guarding being its only job. They demand a very experienced handler/trainer. Not a pet. |
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[...some wise words...] Dog within a breed are NOT like boxes of cereal, they are NOT cookie cutter the same. You can't really learn about Cane Corso from a handful of anecdotal experience. Even if you could learn about the breed in general through a series of anecdotal stores, that wouldn't really have any bearing on the Cane Corso YOU would end up with. [...followed by many more wise words...] There is much wisdom in this post. |
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here is mine
she is pure bred Great with ALL kids stranger or not...she loves all kids-very strong maternal/herding instinct. BAD with Adult strangers REAL bad. Extreme liability if you dont know what you are doing. Great with all adults who are introduced. Once introduced she never forgets them. My folks can visit twice a year and she will love them to death-no re introduction necessary. Great with little dogs and cats. Unpredictable around medium to large dogs-therefore not around them. Very very protective of the house and fence. That being said, the fence can be left open and she wont go out of the yard. She loves my neighbor to death. When we sail 3 weeks every year he takes care of her. She is 100lbs and is very very lazy. A male is a whole nother ball game. Will wander, will try to get out and fuck with shit and very active. I just dont know if I could deal with one. Btw Ive raised akitas before. This breed is easy as pie compared to them. I would not recommend one, either a male or female if you have never dealt with working/protective type dogs. Also this dog was the runt of the litter. She was kind of passive amongst her mates. Finally, everyone in our family can take food away from her. Now with all this being said no stranger can come to our door- ever without her going ballistic on the other side of it. I have owned Irish wolfhounds, labs, springer spaniels and akitas and general mutts. She and the wolfhound (rip molly) are my favorite... she is 9 now. 
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I've had mine for over a year. And have been around them for many more. They beautiful dogs (but they're huge) and they are loyal almost to a fault. I haven't had any people related issues with mine and she was super easy to train. She loves people and will bark at anything until it will play with her. The only thing with them around a family is they aren't always aware of how big they are and have a tendency to "make" my neighbors kids sit down. (They're not super fond of it)
Bad side is they aren't super happy around other dogs. She get's along great with my other dog, but has started a few fights when around strange dogs or ones she hasn't seen in a while. 
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I have been wanting one of these for awhile but heard mixed reviews so I have been hesitant. Looking forward to reading about them here. We looked at the Cane's but ended up going with the Dogue instead From my experience, the breeder and breeding stock are what makes or breaks these dogs We met some who were the most bad ass dogs you could want but were incredible social, confident and friendly. Then we met some who were not Meet breeders and their dogs and go from there |
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I can only speak from my personal experience with my 15 month old male Cane Corso. I've owned a rott/pit mix in the passed and have had experience with a lot of bully breeds over the years. I've had the dog from 8 weeks on. Average intelligence, not a dumb dog at all but no Einstein. Needs a job, he will come with me to work and look after the shop while I'm there. I work alone a lot so this keeps things secure. I don't have to worry about anything or anyone while working. Does extremely well with the family. If he knows you, he loves you. Anything including other animals outside of the family he does not like and will not tolerate. I still would not leave any dog alone with small kids be it a Cane Corso or Lassie herself. Extremely obedient, I can call him back at anytime and he will listen. 115lbs and very lean.. Very powerful animal, very athletic even for a dog half his size. I take him on 2-4 miles runs 6 days a week or so. During the runs he has no issues with over folks just other dogs. In short... Great guard dog, not social outside of the family. Trusted champion but you will need to stay on top of him or her. Takes the right owner who understands how dogs work. Would not want to be on his bad side ever. Just 8 months old here. He has done a ton of filling out.  |
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It's not really about if a Cane Corso is the right breed for you, it's more about if you are the right owner for a Cane Corso. People think about how much space they have when they think about getting a specific breed, but I always say people should think more about how much free time they have. In the case of some breeds (including the Cane Corso) you need to have a very solid dog-knowledge. For many breeds getting one and reading some dog-books is enough. For a Cane Corso, you really need to have had hands-on experience with dogs to start with. And I should clarify that to say successful dog experience, not just owning a dog, but having a well trained dog, a strong relationship with that dog, and the ability to train beyond sit. |
| A good friend of mine has a Cane Corso that I see regularly and he's a bundle of energy alright. It's taken a while but he's finally getting out of his "puppy" stage and is behaving much better...that and the introduction of a shock collar. The collar is not used often and just the sight of it, or feel of it around around his neck, is enough to make up mind whether he's on leash or off. Beautifully powerful animal indeed. |
my brother has had two. they were both well behaved, magnificent beasts. the first was a rescue, she was a handful at first but took well to training. the one pictured above is from a breeder. My brother also has a presa canario which wrestles with the corso A LOT but when told to behave, they do. |