Cane Corso Temperament

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Cane Corsos are powerful and intelligent dogs - and they know it! You might see the breed described as being aggressive dogs. This is true to an extent. The Corso should ONLY be aggressive in case of danger. They may be suspicious to strangers but never aggressive without reason.

Most properly raised CC are friendly towards strangers. They love to play and get attention. Like any other Molossoid breed they are great
with the family, its children, its friends and other pets. But meanwhile the Corso is born suspicious. This means that the puppy has to learn that other people, children, dogs, animals... whatever, are not a threat towards it and its family.

An enderstimulated Cane Corso might very well become aggressive and dangerous, if it is not socialized from the beginning. You may be certain that a dog that has not been socialized with other dogs will be dog aggressive.

The newborn Cane Corso is born both a nice family dog and a powerful guarddog. Therefore it is our task to guide it on the right behavioural road.

To avoid problems one should follow the guidelines in the "How to Raise" page.

With other dogs the CC can be dominant. They should not provoke other dogs to fight but once provoked by an strange dog, the Corso would respond immediately. Therefore, it is very important to obedience train the CC-- especially the "No" and "Stop" commands. This way you can prevent dogfights.

The Corso loves to work and will do almost any job you teach it. They are great as policedogs, as traildogs and hunting dogs. They are intelligent and can work independently. The Corso exhibits fast, athletic movement.

They never get tired on the job. An owner once, unwaringly, played frisbee with his dog until its paws were hurt. On the way home, the limping dog continued to jump up and down to get the frisbee and still wanted to play.

To explain the Cane Corso temperament I will tell you about my female dog,
Delea. We live in an apartment. Delea knows all our neighbours' footsteps and when they pass our front door she is calm and silent. However, if she hear strangers on the stairs she will bark at them. If our doorbell rings she knows that visitors are coming and she gets very happy - sometimes too happy. She will not leave our guests alone and constantly pushes their hand with her nosetip to get caressed. When we walk her she is indifferent towards strangers but if they want to touch her she is very obliging.

If we walk her in the dark she automatically becomes more protective. And if strangers look threatening she barks at them untill they go to the other side of the road. Once a drug addict was following my girlfriend, Delea turned around and stared him straight in the eyes until he turned around and walked away.

She is great with other dogs. With small dogs she plays very gently but the bigger the dogs, the rougher the game gets! Her favourite is to play rough with very big and very mean looking maledogs. She has never been into a dogfight since we control her well and can order her to go away from a provoking dog. If she plays with toys she will not tolerate other dogs trying to steal it from her.

She is bonded very tightly to us. She never wanders away when we walk her. She
always has eye contact with us. She hates to be left alone in the house when we are out. She loves to follow me on my work and protect the car while I visit customers.

Whenever we walk her she is always moving, running and jumping, and she just won't show it if she is tired. When she is home in the apartment she is very calm and usually she sleeps.

She loves to trail and search for hidden objects and persons. In the woods she has found my keys, my gloves and even her own collar once, when she lost it. Trailing is her greatest game and she can work with her nose non-stop for more than half and hour.

She has never destroyed anything in the house... not even as a puppy. We can leave pigs-ear-chewies on the table and she will not take them for days and days without our permission.

To characterize her in a few words, she is a happy and friendly dog and she is very bonded to her family. She will do anything to satisfy us except for one thing-- SHUT UP. The Corso is always described as a silent dog that doesn't bark - - - Delea is the exception. Whenever she is happy, unpatient or suspicious she will bark very loud, and it's hard to make her shut up. Well --- nobody is perfect.

Delea, November 1997

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