To get Cane Corso.
Hopefully you and your Cane Corso will spend many years together and it is a great pleasure to
ABOUT CANE CORSO
What fun that you are interested in our fantastic breed, Cane corso - the mastiff's athlete. Cane Corso was not originally created to be a companion dog, it was a co-worker of its owner and had many tasks on the farm, among the animals out grazing and hunting. Most dogs in Sweden and the world today are not only working dogs but live for most of their lives as a family member and of course provide good company, but it is still important to understand that the breeders' task is to preserve Cane Corson's good qualities as a farm and guard dog. .
CHOOSE RACE
In order for your dog purchase to be successful, it is important that you get a dog breed that suits the life you can offer and that you let the dog purchase take the time needed to get the individual you want. It is also important that you think about what you want out of your dog purchase and choose a breed that is suitable for the purpose. You must be able to meet your dog's every need to get a harmonious dog ownership in return.
Before you decide on a dog breed, it is therefore necessary that you gain a good knowledge of the breed's characteristics and character traits, both physical and mental. A Cane Corso in the right home is generally a great friend, but it's not every man's dog . Below are links to racial information that it is appropriate to read before the decision on Cane Corso is the right breed for you.
It is such a type of dog you will get if you buy a puppy of this breed, you have some influence in upbringing but the basic mentality of the breed does not work and you should not be able to raise it. Cane corso thus needs an owner who wants these breed-typical characteristics and since it has these versatile working characteristics, it will also need more stimulation and more training than some other breeds.
It is of the utmost importance that you carefully consider the responsibilities involved in owning a Cane Corso:
A farm and guard dog breed with versatile work characteristics
A dog that in many cases has a strong guard instinct
A dog that can be wary of new people
A dog with Cane Corson's characteristics and needs requires a lot from its owner
Your dog purchase means that you get a friend with whom you will share your life for hopefully at least ten years to come. All races have, based on their origin and area of use, different exterior and mental characteristics and thus also different needs to feel good and function well in everyday life.
If you are a first-time dog owner and think that Cane Corso is the right breed for you, there is no real reason to refrain from acquiring the breed if lack of dog experience would be the only reason not to. On the other hand, regardless of previous dog experience, it is important that you want and can spend the time required to learn the behavior and characteristics of dogs and the breed and what it means to have a dog. First-time dog owners are advised to turn to a breeder with many years of experience in the breed who can assist with support and advice when needed.
RACC recommends that you buy a registered Cane Corso with a pedigree from the Swedish Kennel Club, SKK, or if you choose a foreign dog, that the dog has a pedigree from the country's official kennel club. If the dog is hilly, you should know that there are few countries where hilly is allowed. Only dogs born in - and hilly in - countries where this procedure is allowed allows your dog to participate in BPH and many other activities within the Swedish Kennel Club's framework.
It is the registration that makes the dog be considered purebred. Please note that if you buy a dog that may certainly have purebred parents but the dog itself does not have a pedigree, it will still be considered a crossbreed and does not have the right to participate in many of SKK's activities.
That your puppy comes from a breeder connected to SKK and that the puppy has a pedigree is an important first stamp of quality and something that is important for the breed in general.
CONDITIONS
A life with a dog can be so incredibly fun and enriching, but it takes time, requires commitment and costs money.
Ask yourself about you and your family and the time, energy, finances and place for a dog, both now and for at least 10 years to come. Many things determine if you can give a dog what it needs.
How do you work?
Where should the dog be when you are not at home?
Do you have time for a dog? Expect at least two hours of active contact with your dog per day.
Can you afford a big dog? Bring dog sitting, food, dog bones & candy, insurance, veterinary costs, dog trainer & courses, equipment and travel when you look at costs for a dog!
Do you have the space and space for a large dog?
How do you live? Keep in mind that a growing Cane Corso should not run up stairs; Do you have an elevator or do you live on the ground floor? Carrying a 20-30 kilo puppy that sputters is very difficult.
Will the dog be welcome with the whole family, with your friends and acquaintances or is it just you who wants a dog?
Think about suspected allergies before buying a dog. A simple spot test at your GP gives answers!
A good tip might be to borrow a dog for a couple of weeks to give you and your family a sense of what dog ownership means.
Dogs are herd animals, they do not want - and are not allowed by law - to be alone all day when you work and Cane Corso as a breed does not like to be without their herd for a long time, they are also more expensive than many breeds in food and insurance and they require more time from you as a dog owner than some other breeds.
A new family member affects the everyday life of the whole family, and all family members must be positive about the decision. Every dog that is born deserves a fantastic life! If there are any doubts, it is better for all parties to wait with the dog purchase until the time is right.
MEET MORE INDIVIDUALS
One of the best sources of knowledge about the breed is the breeders. Most breeders welcome phone calls from puppy stakeholders who want to learn more about the breed and who ask questions. Many also receive visits so you can meet their dogs. Even with breeders, the information can vary depending on personality, different opinions and different breeding goals of different breeders, it is natural and it is therefore good if you call / visit several different breeders to get as broad an idea as possible of the breed and breeders.
There is some literature on Cane corso, some better and some worse, but we can recommend a book and it is considered the "Cane corso Bible". It's called "Il Cane Corso" and is written by Fernando Casolino and Stefano Gandolfi. The original was published in Italian but it is now translated into English and can be bought here: http://www.canecorso-magazine.com/#
On this page you will also find a magazine, "Cane corso Magazine", which can be read for free online or can be purchased via the webshop.
You can also join various discussion groups for the breed on social media, for example on Facebook. Through the Cane Corso owners' posts in these groups, you can get an insight into what it can be like to live with the breed. However, it is important to understand that a certain culture can arise in these groups that gives a certain type of image of the race in one group and a different image of the race in another group. Source criticism is always important.
There are lots of videos on Youtube about Cane Corso, but be aware that even here opinions differ and that source criticism is important.
Once you have read about Cane Corso and think that the breed is right for you, it is appropriate to visit dog shows, activities and different breeders to have the opportunity to study and meet several individuals of both sexes of different ages. It is not uncommon for puppy speculators to focus on the dogs' appearance and preferably also color, which is understandable. But a good piece of advice along the way is to instead prioritize focusing on the dogs' mental characteristics, because that is what will primarily affect how life with your future dog friend will be!
HD and ED
If you have read about the breed's health, you know that it has problems with, among other things, hip and elbow joint dysplasia, abbreviated HD and ED.
Healthy and correctly built joints are very important in the breed partly because it is large and relatively heavy. A hip or elbow that is dysplastic can cause deposits, osteoarthritis, which causes pain just in the hip and elbow with it can also because the dog becomes unstable and moves incorrectly, cause problems with deposits or that ligaments break in other parts in the body and eg problems in the back, shoulder, hock joints and knees.
It happens, of course, that dogs with free and healthy hips and elbows are sick in other joints or that they are sick in other ways. Free hips and elbows are thus not a proof that the dog is completely 100% healthy and wholesome, but only a status for the hip and elbow.
In Sweden we have various health programs for Cane corso which means that parent animals must have done an X-ray of the hips with a result that has become HD AC, for dogs registered in Sweden, HD AB for parent animals registered in another country and X-rays of the elbow joint with known ED status with recommendation to breed on dogs with free result, ie 0.
It is important to understand that it is not just the inheritance that determines what joint health your dog receives. Feeding and exercise exercise play a big role. It is good if the breeder you choose has good knowledge of this and can guide you correctly in how to take care of your puppy while growing up to provide as good growth conditions as possible.
It is also not the case that a dog is always clinically ill and shows pain with a worse HD or ED result, they may never do it or the problems may come later when the dog has grown older.
It is important to breed as healthy animals as possible, with good HD & ED results, to improve joint health in the breed. And it is important to remember that HD and ED X-rays are only one area of very many current health that is important for the breeding work, however, the only one with official status registered at SKK for the breed Cane corso.
MENTALITY & BPH
It is extremely important to breed on mentally healthy parent animals and, for a Cane corso, breed-typical mentality. A Cane corso must have a guard and farm dog characteristics, they have an alarming guard and must have the courage and ability to rush out to meet and scare away the threat with the main shell. The dogs can have more or less sharpness, ie the ability to bite in, for example, a guard situation. Cane corso should be safe and stable in their mentality without major social fears, sound fears, background fears or environmental fears.
Nor should they behave excessively aggressively. Excessive aggression that may manifest itself in the dog making outbursts with sounds and bites or may withdraw but growls and shows its teeth towards, for example, strangers to the dog, although there is no need to suspect that person or any direct threats from him. This behavior is often based on a high level of insecurity and fear in dogs and is not desirable in a breeding animal.
Behavior and personality description dog (BPH) is used to evaluate a dog's mentality by allowing the dog to walk a path with various elements that involve giving the dog a form of stimulus to get a reaction. The reaction is measured by a descriptor that indicates in scale different characteristics of the dog such as playfulness, fear and aggression.
Tips for those looking for a Cane corso puppy:
What fun that you are interested in our amazing breed, the Cane corso mastiff athlete. We would first like to start by pointing out that we strongly recommend that you buy a registered Cane corso with pedigree from SKK-Sweden's official kennel club which is affiliated with FCI or if you buy abroad, from the country's official kennel club. That your puppy comes from a breeder connected to SKK and that the puppy has a pedigree is an important first stamp of quality and something that is important for the breed in general. Read more about the benefits of buying a pedigree registered dog here: https://www.skk.se/sv/hundagande/kopa-hund/5-goda-skal-att-kopa-en-rashund/
1. Time
The first tip is to give yourself plenty of time. Reconcile with the fact that you probably can not, or for that matter, buy a Cane corso puppy the same day, the same week, the same month or maybe even the same year as you started to be interested in the breed. In our time, we have become accustomed to being able to quickly click home what our heart desires exactly when we want, with a few keystrokes in our smartphone, and preferably with delivery to the door. This is how it should and should not work when you buy a new dog, a family member that you will hopefully live with for about 10-15 years.
2. Self-awareness
The first thing you should start with is to think about whether a dog, regardless of breed, fits your life. And not only does it fit your life now, but fits into your life, if you'm lucky, 15 years from now. Many things determine if you can give a dog what it needs. How do you work? Do you have time for a dog? Can you afford a dog? Dogs are herd animals, they do not want to be alone all day when you work and Cane corso as a breed do not like to be without their herd for a long time, they are also more expensive than many breeds in food and insurance and they require more time from you as dog owners than some other breeds.
On SKK's website, there are many tips for you who are planning your first dog purchase www.kopahund.se or www.skk.se and it is also good to keep track of the Swedish Board of Agriculture's regulations for dog keeping https://djur.jordbruksverket.se/amnesomraden/djur/olikaslagsdjur/hundarochkatter.4.207049b811dd8a513dc8000413.html .
3. Knowledge
Once you have come to the conclusion that you can offer everything a dog needs and are interested in just a Cane corso, it is important to further seek knowledge about the breed to see if this particular breed suits you. Again, take the time to apply this knowledge to make a conscious choice of breed, both for you and your future dog. Where can you get this knowledge?
On the breed club's website: www.racc.nu There is, among other things, the Breed Standard - it tells technically what the breed should look like. If you want a more elaborate explanation of the breed's exterior, there is also the judge compendium on racc.nu which, through comments and photos, further explains the breed standard. You can also read through RAS 2013, these are breeding strategies that breeders must take into account in their breeding and the document highlights the problems that the breed has regarding mentality, health and exterior and can give you knowledge that results in questions you can ask the breeders of the breed or breeding officials in the club. In RAS you also have a piece that tells about the breed's history and current uses. It is of utmost importance that you think carefully about whether a Cane corso, a farm and watchdog breed with versatile work characteristics fits into your life and whether you are suitable to own a dog with Cane corsons characteristics and needs. Cane corso was not originally created to be a companion dog, it was a co-worker of its owner and had (and sometimes still has) many tasks on the farm, among the animals out grazing and hunting. Most dogs in Sweden and the world today are not only working dogs but live for most of their lives as a family member and of course provide good company, but it is still important to understand that the breeders' task is to preserve Cane Corson's good qualities as a farm and guard dog. . It is such a type of dog you will get if you buy a puppy of this breed, you have some influence in upbringing but the basic mentality of the breed does not work and you should not be able to raise it. Cane corso thus needs an owner who wants these breed-typical characteristics and since it has these versatile working characteristics, it will also need more stimulation and more training than some other breeds.
On the breed club's website there is also a tab about health, here you will find the articles regarding the diseases the breed suffers the most. Cane corso is a breed where certain diseases, especially joint diseases, occur more frequently than the average of all dog breeds in Sweden. It is good if you are educated about the breed's health so that you can ask the breeders themselves how they work with the important aspect of their breeding work.
If after reading the information available on www.racc.nu If you have more questions, you are warmly welcome to contact the club's officials, contact information can be found here:
http://racc.nu/om-racc/kommitteer/avelskommitteen
Feel free to search for the breed on the homeland's Italy Kennel Club's page:
https://www.enci.it/libro-genealogico/razze/cane-corso
Or the Italian breed club's page:
http://www.amatoricanecorsoitaliano.it/
There is some literature on Cane corso, some better and some worse, but we can recommend a book and it is considered the "Cane corso Bible". It's called "Il Cane Corso" and is written by Fernando Casolino and Stefano Gandolfi. The original was published in Italian but it is now translated into English and can be bought here:
http://www.canecorso-magazine.com/#
On this page you will also find a magazine, "Cane corso Magazine", which can be read for free online or can be purchased via the webshop.
You can also join various discussion groups for the breed on social media, for example on Facebook. Through the Cane corso owners' posts in these groups, you can get an insight into what it can be like to live with the breed. However, it is important to understand that a certain culture can arise in these groups that gives a certain type of image of the race in one group and a different image of the race in another group. Source criticism is always important.
On the medium Youtube there are lots of videos about the breed if you for example write Cane corso in the search box, it is high and low in quality and even here opinions differ, as I said source criticism is important.
One of the best sources of knowledge about the breed is the breeders. Most breeders welcome phone calls from puppy stakeholders who want to learn more about the breed and who ask questions. Many also receive visits so you can meet their dogs. Even with breeders, the information can vary depending on personality, different opinions and different breeding goals of different breeders, it is natural and it is therefore good if you call / visit several different breeders to get as broad an idea as possible of the breed and breeders.
Dog shows or fairs such as My DOG in Gothenburg and Hundmässan in Stockholm can be good places to see the breed and if the breed club has a stand, get information.
List of breeders can be found here:
http://racc.nu/uppfodare/kennel-lista
4. Investigation:
If you have sought knowledge and come so far as to be sure that Cane corso is a breed for you, then it's time to look for a breeder and a breeding combination that you think would give you the puppy you want. Maybe through your search for knowledge you have already gotten in touch with a breeder with dogs that you want a puppy from? That breeder has then certainly informed about his breeding goals, the parent animals' health, mentality and exterior and how the breeder thought that the outcome of the combination should meet his breeding goals. Even if you have received information and in cases where you may not have received it, it can be good to explore the lines in the breeding animals regarding different things yourself.
On the Swedish Kennel Club's website www.skk.se you will find the e-service Breeding Data. All official results for the dogs registered in the club and results for the various health examinations, descriptions, competitions, shows, etc. that the dogs have undergone are registered there.
HD and ED:
If you have read about the breed's health, you know that it has problems with, among other things, hip and elbow joint dysplasia, abbreviated HD and ED. Healthy and correctly built joints are very important in the breed partly because it is large and relatively heavy. A hip or elbow that is dysplastic can cause deposits, osteoarthritis, which causes pain in the hip and elbow, but it can also because the dog becomes unstable and moves incorrectly, cause problems with deposits or that ligaments break in other parts in the body and eg problems in the back, shoulder, hock joints and knees. Of course, it happens that dogs with free and healthy hips and elbows are sick in other joints or that they are sick in other ways. Free hips and elbows are thus not a proof that the dog is completely 100% healthy and wholesome, but only a status for the hip and elbow.
Read more about HD and ED and X-rays here:
https://www.skk.se/sv/uppfodning/halsa/halsoprogram/kontroll-av-leder/
https://www.skk.se/sv/uppfodning/halsa/halsoprogram/armbagsledsdysplasi/
In Sweden we have various health programs for Cane corso which means that parent animals must have done an X-ray of the hips with a result that has become HD AC, for dogs registered in Sweden, HD AB for parent animals registered in another country and X-rays of the elbow joint with known ED status with recommendation to breed dogs with free results ie 0. It is also, for Cane corso registered in Sweden, to recommend that litter index for HD and ED at the time of mating is over 100. Index is a new breeding tool that helps us get a picture about what the dogs carry with them in their heritage regarding HD and ED. For example, a dog with HD A and ED 0 that has a family picture with a high degree of strain - ie individuals with poorer X-ray results are expected to inherit poorer joint health in their offspring and then receive a lower index. It is then important to choose a partner for this dog that makes the index above 100 for HD and ED. Index over 100 at the time of mating indicates that statistically, the offspring should get better results regarding HD and ED than what the breed had on average in Sweden at the time.
Read more about the index here: https://www.skk.se/sv/uppfodning/halsa/halsoprogram/index-for-hd-och-ed/
It is good if you yourself research what the parent animals and their families have for official results regarding HD, ED and index. You do that www.skk.se on e-services: breeding data. There you can search for individual dogs and do test matings between different dogs to get, among other things, litter index.
It is important to understand that it is not just the inheritance that determines what joint health your dog receives. Feeding and load / exercise play a big role. It is good if the breeder you choose has good knowledge of this and can guide you correctly in how to take care of your puppy while growing up to provide as good growth conditions as possible. It is also not the case that a dog is always clinically ill and shows pain with a worse HD ED result, they may never do that or the problems come later when the dog is older. However, it is still important to breed as healthy animals as possible, with good HD ED results, to improve joint health in the breed. And it is important to remember that HD and ED X-rays are only one area of very many current health that is important for the breeding work, however, the only one with official status registered at SKK for the breed Cane corso.
Mental description:
It is extremely important to breed on mentally healthy parent animals and, for a Cane corso, breed-typical mentality. A Cane corso must have a guard and farm dog characteristics, they have an alarming guard and must have the courage and ability to rush out to meet and scare away the threat with the main shell. The dogs can have more or less sharpness, ie the ability to bite in, for example, a guard situation. Cane corso should be safe and stable in their mentality without major social fears, sound fears, background fears or environmental fears.
Nor should they behave excessively aggressively. Excessive aggression that may manifest itself in the dog making outbursts with sounds and bites or perhaps withdrawing but growling and showing its teeth towards, for example, strangers to the dog, although there is no need to suspect that person or any direct threats from him. This behavior is often based on a high level of insecurity and fear in dogs and is not desirable in a breeding animal.
There are two different forms of mental description in Sweden that are official; Mental description Dog (MH) which the Swedish Working Dog Club arranges and Behavior and personality description dog (BPH) which eg county clubs but also private organizers arrange. These are used to evaluate a dog's mentality by allowing the dog to walk a path with different elements that involve giving the dog a form of stimulus to get a reaction. The reaction is measured by a descriptor that indicates in scale different characteristics of the dog such as playfulness, fear and aggression.
Read more about them here:
https://www.skk.se/sv/uppfodning/mentalitet/beteende-och-personlighetsbeskrivning-hund-bph/
https://www.brukshundklubben.se/mentalitet/mentalbeskrivning-mh/
Cane corso has a registration rule that states that parent animals living in Sweden must have completed BPH before mating.
Of course, one should be able to trust the breeder that he does not breed overly frightened or aggressive dogs and that he uses mentally breed-typical Cane corso in his breeding. The breeder has certainly explained his breeding goals regarding mentality and explained why he believes that the intended breeding animals will inherit this for their offspring. They are also usually helpful in explaining their breeding dogs' results of BPH, they may even have movies to show from the time of description.
But it is still good as a puppy buyer to get acquainted with and learn a little about basic mental characteristics in dogs and be able to interpret the protocols for BPH on SKK breeding data to be able to feel confident in their purchase of puppy and because it is important to be able to a part about the dog's mentality and language in your future dog ownership.
Relationships and pedigrees:
It can also be good to do a little research into the relationship around the dogs that you want a puppy for. What does the degree of inbreeding look like, what do the BPH / MH protocols, HD / ED results, competition and show results look like in the family? What has happened officially is registered on SKK breeding data.
Explanation of inbreeding rate can be found here:
https://www.skk.se/sv/uppfodning/avel-och-uppfodning/genetik-och-avel/inavel/
If one or both parent animals were born abroad, you can in some cases research the databases of other countries' kennel clubs, for example the Norwegian and Danish kennel clubs have open databases similar to SKK breeding data.
There is also a non-profit site for pedigree and results registration for Cane corso. However, as I said, non-profit and information can be missing in some cases on that page. For example, there may be an HD result for a dog but not an ED result, although the dog has an official one. But it is good and worth looking at because you can go more steps back in the pedigree for broader genealogy and in some cases also get to see pictures of certain dogs.
Link:
http://www.canecorsopedigree.com/
Exterior:
A Cane corso like all other recognized breed dogs has a breed standard that describes the exterior relatively accurately, all breeders in breed dog breeding should strive to achieve as close as possible to this standard in the outcome of the offspring. The breed standard has a certain degree of interpretation and the taste and interpretation of breeders can vary. It can be good if you read up on the breed standard and preferably the breed compendium on RACC's website so you know in general what a correct exterior looks like for a Cane corso.
What colors the breeder thinks the puppies get in a litter is popular to ask because you may have dreamed of getting a certain color on your future dog. But keep in mind that many other issues are often more important for you as a puppy buyer to keep track of in order to make a successful purchase of a dog and many other issues in the exterior are more important in the breeding work. For example, a correct, functional and breed-typically built dog in all body parts.
The breeders' work includes assessing the exterior of their future breeding dogs in order to choose to breed on those they consider meet the standard in a sufficiently good way and in combination with a partner give a breed-typical exterior result in the offspring. Feel free to ask the breeder how he or she has thought about the exterior of the breeding combination you are interested in.
Dog show is from the beginning and really still an activity that is a type of breeding tool for a dog breeder. By giving a breeding dog and preferably also its offspring an exterior assessment by a purebred judge, a "receipt" is given on how well the dogs' exterior follows breed standard. In addition to the breeder himself carefully evaluating the breed's ability externally against breed standards, it is recommended that a breeding dog has undergone one or more official assessments at an official dog show. You yourself can research the results of the breeding dogs through SKK breeding data. More about dog show here:
https://www.skk.se/sv/hundagande/tips-och-rad/Aktivera-din-hund/utstallning/
5. Contact and presentation
We recommend that you look at, contact and if possible visit many different kennels partly to get a broad idea of the breed and to find the breeder whose breeding work best meets your expectations of your future puppy and whom you trust so you can get support and advice during the dog's life. People are different and we match differently well with each other.
List of breeders can be found here:
http://racc.nu/uppfodare/kennel-lista
It is also good to think about how you present yourself. The breeders are careful about which families their puppies end up in and want to know what life they can expect the puppy to have.
Some breeders prefer to have a first email and then a call and visit, some want calls directly and visit perhaps only when they have a litter.
Feel free to describe yourself and your family (if you have it). Why you think a Cane corso suits you, what your plans are for your future puppy and what kind of life you can offer.
And as the first tip stated, expect it to take time to find your Cane corso puppy.
When you then get your puppy home, you are warmly welcome to sign up for membership in our breed club RACC, some breeders offer the first year. RACC offers some activities and your membership helps the club to manage and improve for the breed in the future.
Good luck!
/ RACC
And as the first tip stated, expect it to take time to find your Cane corso puppy.
When you then get your puppy home, you are warmly welcome to sign up for membership in our breed club RACC, some breeders offer the first year. RACC offers some activities and your membership helps the club to manage and improve for the breed in the future.