I haven't heard anyone mention working with rarebreed molossers. I have 2 Cane Corsos and a Dogo Canario(presa) puppy.

The older corso trains in agility, and the younger corso is being worked in Schutzhund. The puppy will be worked in Schutzhund, as well.

I know these breeds don't have the best working reputations, but that is due to the poor quality of American bred dogs of questionable lineage.

I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with these breeds, or had trained with others who work these breeds.

Skipper

Hey Skip,

Aside from Rotts and American bulldogs, I don't have any experience working with molosser breeds. I am curious what lines are your Cane Corsos from? Do they have working titles in the lines? A blue, grey, brindle, or black Cane Corso is, IMHO, the prettiest dog in the world but, pretty is as pretty does. I have never heard anything good about their actual working abaility, just the usual rhetoric they write in the breed standard. What success are you having working with yours? Hope I dont sound like Im putting you down just curious about the breed.

I understand your skeptism. Unfortunately, the breeds were overhyped as the perfect dog for everything.

My corsos are from Italian lines with proven lineage and FCI paperwork to back it up. The pedigrees do not go that far back.

The recovery project for the breed only began in the 70's. The breed is based upon dogs taken from the farms of Southern Italy. The recovery project was organized with the intention of gaining ENCI acceptance.(Italian Kennel Club) The project was in the hands of show breeders for the most part. ENCI and FCI acceptance were eventually gained and the corso has become a popular show dog. Due to the fact that until only a few generations ago the dogs were still used as utilitarian farm dogs the corso can still display a good working temperment.

American breed corsos have been in the hands of show breeders since they arrived here in 1988. It is debatable if they actually came from Italy as there is no proof and nobody knows where they came from. For profit breeders quickly took over the breed, and started churning out puppies. Temperment and health were of no concern, let alone working ability. Type wasn't even an issue as the majority of buyers (and breeders)were completely ignorant about the breed. It was just a cool dog to own. You know the mentality, see my big tough badass dog.

My presa is from a bitch that was imported from the Canary Islands while in whelp. The Presa is better off as a breed because there are dedicated breeders who breed for type, health and working ability. Overall the breed is pretty healthy with the usual large breed complaints. The breed is being dominated by show breeders, but there are those who are interested in maintaining the working ability.

As for the working ability of my corsos I'm pretty happy. Let me qualify what I see working ability as being. It is the dog's willingness and ability to do what ever task you assign it. As far as obedience the corso is very consistent and easy to train. They enjoy working with the handler. My corso in agility is great. She doesn't have the speed to compete with the border collies, but is very consistent and follows direction well. The corso I'm working in Schutzhund with is promising but not on the competative level of a GSD. She has shown suprising ability in tracking, however. The bitework is going very slow as she is showing alot of defense. She has been showing improvement so I'm happy with how things are going.

The reason I like the corso so much( besides looks) is they are very submissive with their owner. They accept your dominate and never try to challenge that. At the same time they don't take correction that well.

I can't say that much about the presa, as he is still a young pup. However, he is definately more dominate and takes correction much better than the corsos.

I train with my dogs because I enjoy working my dogs. However, if I decide that being competative in Schutzhund is my absolute goal I would probably go with a breed that is more better suited to excel at the sport.

One ting I think is important if you are working a rare or uncommon breed is that often they work differently than the more common breeds. That means that you need to train them differently than with more common breeds. The biggest difference is that the rarer breeds tend to have more balanced drives, and not the over hyped-prey drive seen in many of the more common breeds (GSD, Mal). For this reason you may need to be a little more patient and work a little more at developing the desired behaviors. One of the dogs in the group we train with is a cane, and he is doing great. He was a little slow with the begining prey work and now is doing fine and going in with a full calm bite. He is also very excited in situations that he feels he is dominating. Particularly if the agitator goes to the ground after he bites. He becomes more aggressive, counters well and is very proud of himself when he comes back with the sleeve. He is also becoming more excited when the other dogs are worked, he just wants to be in the middle of everything.

Another issue that comes up is that since he is so big the trainers have to remind themselves that he is still just a puppy (for some reason a 110# puppy just doesn't compute). It is easy for them to be overly aggressive with him. The very large breeds tend to mature slower so you need to be patient when you bring them up. If you try to push them as fast as a Mal or GSD it may back fire and you may start defense to early and create avoidance.

Many of these breeds also tend to be a little on the defensive side any way so it becomes important to spend more time on prey to develop it more fully.

ANother thing that i think is a problem for many of these breeds is the sport selected to train for. They are really too big for dealing with a lot of the jumping until they are much older. They are also not going to be nearly as excited about working in primarily prey when they could be doing something much more fun by fighting harder against the agitator.