Cane Corso

Frank151: Where were the first Cane Corso bred?
Ismail Moore: Cane Corsos are from Italy. They actually originate from the ancient Roman Molossus, the Canis Pugnax. Two dogs derived from that dog. One is the Cane Corso, and the other is the Neopolitan Mastiff.
F151: So how do they differ from the more well know Italian breed, the Neopolitan Mastiff?
IM: Well, the Cane Corso is a smaller, more athletic, agile dog. The Cane Corso was also used for hunting. The Neopolitan was a much bigger, less active dog. That dog didn’t really chase anyone, and it was not doing any type of hunting. The Romans used to use them to hunt wild boar and stag as well as badger. This is why they kept the tails kind of long on the Cane Corso. The badgers would mess up a lot of the crops and the men would go out at night and hunt them.  The Corso would go in the holes and grab the badgers. When they did that, the hunters would pull them up by their tails. Once they got it out, they could shoot the badger. The Corso they used was fog-colored, light-colored. This way they wouldn’t accidentally shoot the dog.

F151: For what reasons were they originally bred, say to fight lions or gladiators or something like that?
IM: Yes, the Canis Pugnax was a war dog the Romans used during wartime. They also used to pit them against lions during the Roman Empire. But, as the Cane Corso was developing, it was mostly used as a dog guarding property and guarding flocks.

F151: Can you give me a bit of doggy history?
IM: In its entirety, Cane means dog, and Corso, for the most part, means guardian or a rustic guardian dog. For years people have been calling these dogs Cane Corso, but it wasn’t actually a race, or breed of dog. It was just any dog that had cropped ears, a cropped tail, and guarded property. Not until around the 1970s that a gentleman by the name of Dr. Pablo Breber cried out that these dogs were going to be extinct. They [Breber and his colleagues] started doing recovery programs. They didn’t get accepted officially to the FCPR [Federation Canine Puerto Rico, international registry] until eight years ago when they made a standard Cane Corso. In America, a guy named Mike Sottile had went to Italy and bought some dogs, supposedly in 1988. They started a standard here. But it wasn’t the official Italian standard.

F151: How do you think they came back in demand?
IM: Pablo Breber was the main guy who got them recognized by the FCPR, which was the international registry. Since they got officially recognized by the FCPR registry, it’s been going crazy. People will call from all over the world looking for these dogs.

F151: How big do they actually get? Have they always been this way?
IM: Typically the standard is, for males, from 90 lbs. to tops 125. The females generally should be 80 lbs. to around 105. You can find them much bigger, but they really shouldn’t be too much bigger than that. The dog is supposed to be agile with stamina and strength, so it could do a lot of the things it was originally bred for.
F151: These dogs are big. Is there a right candidate for a Corso owner?
IM: There is a right candidate. It is a person who has owned dogs before, who’s experienced with dominant breeds like Rottweilers, Dobermans, Pit Bulls, or something else that has a dominant nature. The typical owner is someone who has had a guardian dog as a kid, and they may have put their dog to sleep because it was old and wanted to get a different breed. The Cane Corso is different and they heard a lot of good things about it. Then they get one. Normally when they get one, they never want another dog again.

F151: How many Cane Corso are bred per year in the US and how many are there currently in the US?
IM: How many are bred? Whoo! I couldn’t tell you the actual number, but it’s well into the thousands. Roughly, a few years ago, it was estimated around 3,000. I know it’s got to be well over 10,000 now.

F151: How would you describe the wrong candidate for the Corso owner?
IM: First-time dog owner! It’s not for people who don’t want something that’s active or for people who have problems disciplining their kids, because these dogs do need to be disciplined.

F151: What reason are they primarily sold for here?
IM: Well, mostly for a combination of family companion and guard dog. People have families and [the dog] makes sure the family will stay safe in their beds. It is something that is going to help protect the property but not be too overly aggressive.
F151: So you have to be willing to take them out and play with them?
IM: Any large breed needs a lot of exercise. They don’t need extreme amounts, but they do need a moderate amount of exercise. I would say at least roughly about an hour a day would suffice; some running around, playing some games. These dogs—if they are not stimulated and left alone for a long period of time—can become destructive. These dogs do like a great deal of human interaction. They are not the type of dogs that you put out on your kennel and don’t deal with anymore.

F151: How long has the Dream Team Kennel been breeding Corsos? How many do you specifically breed a year?
IM: For five years now. We mainly have about three litters a year.

F151: Any final comments you would like to add about the dog or Dream Team Kennels? 
IM: There are differences between the American and the Italian. For the most part, the American dog that we have been breeding here since ‘88 has actually been the wrong type of dog, especially the dog’s head type. Pablo Breber knew this. It wasn’t favorable for them to tell people it was the wrong type of dog. They were making money. But in the end, people came to find out the head type is incorrect for the breed. Most of the American dogs have nose stops on their heads and have very long and narrow muzzles. They also have the wrong type of bite, which is a scissors bite. The dog should have a reverse scissors bite or undershot. A lot of people misinform. Some people just don’t care. And you got others that have been doing it for so long, they don’t want to seem like they’ve been wrong. They don’t want to change things. If you show it, people are going to have to change because those types of dogs are wanted less and less.