Hi all,
This is my first post on Leerburg
I'd really like some advice from anyone who has had experience with Cane Corso's.
I volunteer at a Dog rescue in Sydney Australia, and never really planned on adopting a dog... a few days ago they had a private surrender of an 18mnth old male Corso. I ended up going out there to meet him and introduce him to my current dog (an 8yr old Husky). All went well, so I've adopted him and he's coming home on Friday
What I'm concerned with is that he's been through SIX homes in his short life and has had little training. We only know the circumstances of his previous 2 homes - family was deported and left him in yard where the neighbours took him in. And the young couple who gave him up to the rescue said that he was being bullied by their other dog.
How do you think all this would have affected him? He's apparently social to all dogs, people and is afraid of cats... He's also never barked.
I think he might be lacking confidence and trust in people, so how could I build him up (apart from keeping him in a stable home for the rest of his life)?
Any advice would be much appreciated

Jackie

sorry , i have no experience with that breed specifically , but i'd move forward with the attitude that you will do everything you can to integrate him into your home , but if it isn't working out for everyone involved , do your best to prepare him for a more appropriate situation .

good luck .

ps : welcome to the board , i think duane and others have done a lot of rescue and should be able to help .

Edited by ian bunbury (12/17/2012 01:01 AM)
Edit reason: forgot the ps

I had a few rescue and the best is to start training what you want him to do, give a structure life and rules, get help if needed.

Don't think of his past too much.

I'll just start off by mentioning that the proper pronunciation is kay-ney core-so.... I hear so many people pronounce it cane, as in candy cane, that I feel the need to throw it out there for everyone's education. I've even heard owners of the breed mispronounce it. Also, you may hear them referred to as a "corso" on occasion. It's improper to truncate to "cane" which just means dog in Italian but is acceptable to truncate to "corso" which points back to this breed specifically. I've read a lot of varying thoughts on where the "corso" portion of the name originated.

Congrats on the dog... where's the photos? I have a year old female corso named Valentina and she's been wonderful. She nearly never barks either.... I have two others that do and if they get going she will join in but she doesn't bark on her own. She has some irrational fears as well and gets a bit stressed in unfamiliar environments. Bicycles, baby strollers, a new training field, etc; she doesn't mind a vacuum cleaner though which I find interesting. I think it's a lack of adequate socialization on my part when she was younger and weak nerves. I don't have experience otherwise with the breed; she is the one example I can speak to and I wouldn't suggest that all dogs of this breed (or any breed for that matter) are the same.

I'd pay no attention to the breed of the dog and pay all my attention to the behavior. Learn to read his body language. I can tell when my dog is stressed even when other handlers we work with don't have a clue... it's just a matter of knowing your dog after putting in the time.

Many issues can be traced back to needing more exercise. I'd exercise him plenty and figure out his threshold for it. Miy corso sleeps all day if I let her and doesn't develop any bad behaviors. Our 9 month old border collie will chew up everything he can get in his mouth if you don't wear him out chasing something. A bit of trial and error to figure out how much exercise is the right amount is a good idea.

Training, marker training particularly, is a great way to build a bond and learn your dog. I first learned to spot stress in my dog when she wouldn't take food as a reward. I've found that marker training has helped her become more confident as well and has given us a great relationship.

We also dabble in agility training. I do it for fun, exercise, and confidence building but don't have a plan to compete.

Congrats on the new dog!

Bryan

 Quote: Ariane Gauthier

I had a few rescue and the best is to start training what you want him to do, give a structure life and rules, get help if needed.

Don't think of his past too much.

This.

It sounds to me like a dog who would really grateful for a forever home. I haven't done a lot of rescue, but most of the dogs I've had were dogs that were looking to be rehomed for various reasons. I ALWAYS took the approach that it didn't matter what the dog had been through; it was about what I had to offer, and what I could and could not realistically provide.

You must make sure it seems to be a good fit up front. It may not end up working out, so be as deliberate as you can. If you, your family, and your current dog(s) accept and are accepted by the newcomer, a huge part of the work is already done, and you will be enjoying and loving each other, more sooner than later.

How do you add photos onto this? He's a beautiful boy
Mod note:

A new thread about photos
at http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=32940&page=1#370726


He's not in the best physical shape - not much muscle tone and a dull coat. I'm already in the habit of jogging my husky in the mornings for about an hour so I think I might have to slow down for the Corso's sake. I'm also planning on taking him swimming for low impact exercise.
I've just bought some Leerburg DVDs to help me with marker training. I know a few dog trainers but some of them are all about compulsion... I think I'll steer clear of them.
I've also never met a dog trainer with any experience with Corso's, they're SUPER rare here. In fact I was told that my Corso was bought for $6000!
Bryan, I know I'm focusing on the breed a bit, but I've never had a dog like him. I'm used to the lupine sort, not the bully breeds. And can I see a picture of Valentina?
Oh and I named him Mack, as in a Mack truck, because his head is so big

Edited by Connie Sutherland (12/17/2012 05:07 PM)
Edit reason: mod note inserted

Jackie, posting photos isn't too terribly tough. The best thing to do is store them out on the internet somewhere that is publicly visible. Valentina has her own publicly visible facebook page so it's easy for me to insert some photo links from there. I've just right clicked on a photo on facebook and selected the option to "copy the image URL" or something along those lines. You could also use dropbox, flickr, photo bucket, etc.

I then paste that URL here in the post with img tags on either side so it looks like this (but you'll need to use square brackets that are between the P and \ on your keyboard instead of {})

{img}https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/67650_10151315474026392_1490364011_n.jpg{/img}

and the end result is something like this



The other two in the photo are (left) Maggie, who is a 6 year old border collie (we think), and (middle) Bailie, a 7 month old border collie/great Pyrenees mix rescue).

More photos are available here --> https://www.facebook.com/ValentinaTheCaneCorso

Also, two embedded photos are allowed in your bio/intro in this forum:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/topiclist.php?forum_id=146


and one for a dog who has died, in a memorial post here:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/topiclist.php?forum_id=143



Otherwise, all photos should be linked to, not embedded.

So if you have any on a PhotoBucket-type account, it's easy to link us. As Bryan says, on Facebook, you must be careful to make it public because there are several members here who don't do Facebook so would not be able to see them if a login was required.

Thank you!






Moving this to a new thread about photos
at http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=32940&page=1#370726

I'm also curious to hear more about Mack. Any idea what his pedigree looks like? I traced Valentina back to dogs with registry numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc which was really interesting and even found photos of some dogs in her pedigree from as far back as the 1970's.

How old and big is he? Valentina is about 14 months old now and is roughly 90lbs and 24". That's about right for a female... her mother is 95lbs and 24" while her father, who is bigger than typical from what I've found, is 140lbs and 27". Most males seem to be a bit lighter, maybe in the 110-125lb range but 140lbs isn't unique.

What's his temperment like? Valentina is generally lazy and would sleep much of the day in an overstuffed chair if I let her, has decent food drive, and has little prey drive but I can get her interested in a tug with a bit of effort. She's not excessively dominant but doesn't really seem to submit to dogs that act dominant. When I take her to the dog park I'd generally describe her as indifferent. She really doesn't seem overly interested in other people, other dogs, or other toys. She likes to sit next to me and just look cool.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Also, two embedded photos are allowed in your bio/intro in this forum:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/topiclist.php?forum_id=146


Otherwise, all photos should be linked to, not embedded.

Connie, just for clarification, when you say that photos should be linked rather than embedded, does that mean that you'd prefer to see a URL that takes you to a photo instead of an image displayed in the thread using img tags? Or is there a way to actually insert an image file into the forum and that's "embedding?"

I've run few forums and understand the bandwidth usage and storage capacity impact to hosting an image on the forum host but I don't think using img tags to display them in a post from another host has any real impact other than potentially cluttering up a thread with images.

I want to be sure I'm following the site guidelines and I'm concerned that using img tags to display a pic from another host like facebook, et al may be in violation of the rules.

Thanks for helping me understand

Bryan


Moving this to a new thread about photos
at http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=32940&page=1#370726


Edited by Connie Sutherland (12/17/2012 04:41 PM)
Edit reason: mod note at bottom