Is this a good family dog??

[Houndhill]

I went to a handling seminar last weekend, there was a lovely Cane Corso bitch, who seemed very stable and never put a foot wrong with all the other dogs and people.

The dog that “got into it” with another at the seminar? A Golden Retriever. With a sort of clueless owner.

I agree, “blame the deed, not the breed”.

Surely, they are big powerful serious dogs, not for everyone, but without knowing a whole lot more about that particular dog, and that particular family, I would never condemn them without knowing a little more, nor can you make a blanket statement like, “That is not a good family dog” without a whole lot more knowledge of the circumstances.

Some families should not own a goldfish, others are quite competent to own the right Cane Corso (subject to selection, socialization, training, supervision, etc)

Certainly the breed is far from " Idiot Proof", but so are many others. I know it is subjective, and true idiots are better off with some breeds than others.

My breed (Irish Wolfhounds) is far from “Idiot Proof”, so I can sympathize!

[HalfArabian]

I stand corrected; I was thinking of the Fila Brasileiro. Are these 2 breeds even similar in appearance? Sorry, I had not meant for this to be breed bashing!

Karen

[Houndhill]

You did say the dog you met was a Cane Corso.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the Fila temperament:

“More than any other breed, temperament is given great emphasis in the Fila Brasileiro standard. The breed is known for its courage, faithfulness to family, determination, and self confidence. The Fila is gentle with family children and very docile with its owner, always seeking his company. The Fila Brasileiro is an excellent estate guardian. It does not hide its dislike towards strangers. This aversion, not forward aggression, is known as ojeriza.
The breed is renowned for their faithfulness to family and friends, but this is not a breed for everyone. The Fila needs a confident, experienced, savvy owner who is aware of the breed’s innate tendencies. Filas are not well suited to busy households which entertain many guests, as they do not generally enjoy having guest in their home. The Fila is a natural guardian breed.
Filas bond strongly with their immediate families and show extreme loyalty and protectiveness towards them. They live to protect their loved ones, including children and other pets. Very few accept strangers and many Filas never tolerate any stranger in their home. Like all guardian breeds, no stranger should be left unsupervised with a Fila. These dogs will instinctively bite anyone they see as a threat to their family. Perhaps because of their aversion towards strangers, they are excellent family dogs, devoted to the children in their family. In public a well socialized Fila has a regal presence, it is quiet, confidant and commands respect as it closely observes the activities around it.
Though not typically kept as pets in big cities, a well socialized Fila can and has lived successfully in apartments provided that they adequate exercise. Unlike many mastiff breeds, Filas require a lot of exercise and without exercise a Fila can become frustrated and destructive as can any other dog.”

Again, a serious dog, definitely not idiot proof. Family friendly? Maybe so, in the right circumstances. Not a casual barn dog or a dog that can just be ignored and expected to not cause any problems. (it always floors me when people have these expectations anyway!)

[Alagirl]

@HalfArabian;6538706

I stand corrected; I was thinking of the Fila Brasileiro. Are these 2 breeds even similar in appearance? Sorry, I had not meant for this to be breed bashing!

Karen

judging by appearance, they are probably really closely related…

Those Molosser type dogs seem to be pretty much the same in character…and strength.
if you are their type of owner I am sure you won’t find a better kind.

if not…I hope your liability is paid up…

[HydroPHILE]

[QUOTE=wendy;6538002]
after reflection I figured a lot of people might take that wording as a challenge- Well maybe YOU can’t handle a cane corso, but I’m sure I can! and run out and buy one from a puppy mill to prove the point.[/QUOTE]

TRUE!

There are many dog breeds out there that people see and say, “I got this!” With the infamous picture that went around a year or two ago of the lunging Caucasian Ovcharka dog, everyone was saying, “THAT’S the dog I need!” “Everyone” being people that had only ever owned a Japanese Chin or Chihuahua but assumed that they could handle a C.O. Many highly respectable and well-trained handlers and dog trainers refuse to touch a C.O. with a ten foot pole. But “difficult to handle” and “aggressive towards people?” Yeah - Joe Public thinks that’s what they need to protect them.

[chancellor2]

[QUOTE=Alagirl;6539387]
judging by appearance, they are probably really closely related…

Those Molosser type dogs seem to be pretty much the same in character…and strength.
if you are their type of owner I am sure you won’t find a better kind.

if not…I hope your liability is paid up…[/QUOTE]

Because appearance is a GREAT way to tell if two breeds are closely related…:rolleyes:
When will people learn?

[LauraKY]

What people fail to do, it seems, is choose the breed that is most likely to work with their family situation. The collie rescue I work with has some collies turned in because they herd (small children, adults, other dogs, chickens, etc). Well, duh, that’s what they do. So, if you’re looking for a purebred dog, know the traits of that breed before adopting/buying/breeding.

Interesting how many breeds you don’t see on that list.

[2ndyrgal]

I was quite surprised at the Bluegrass Classic

Dog Show the weekend before last. There must have been 30 of them. No snapping, no snarling, no aggression. Lovely, powerful movement, certainly impressive.

The bulldogs were growling and barking at everyone. So were a few of the Disney looking Goldens.

That said? While certainly powerful, with a raw kind of beauty, they wouldn’t be my personal choice for a pet, though if I lived alone and didn’t want a dog that had a shedding undercoat, and wanted just that “look” that might make a bad guy pause? Maybe, I met a couple and frankly, they were about like a good Rottie, tempermant-wise.

As an aside, there was one young handler (who we saw with other dogs later, so she must have been a professional) that was dressed alot like a hooker. When she had the Corso in the ring, she looked like she had her pimp’s dog.

My thinking is if your skirt is so tight and stretchy when you walk that the bottom rides up to your crotch, you might want to make a different choice for the show ring. JMHO.

[wendy]

if you believe the histories, the Cane corso is descended from italian “bull dogs” that were used to catch cattle and hunt wild boars- an activity the american bull dog was supposedly also bred for, and indeed you see strong similarities in the appearance of these two breeds, probably due to selective breeding towards a “functional type” rather than any particularly close genetic relationship.
the fila, on the other hand, was developed in Brazil as a guardian on large estates. It was used to guard the estates. It looks a lot more like a general “mastiff” type like the english mastiff, which was also developed for estate guarding. Again, this is probably due to selective breeding towards a “functional type” rather than any close genetic relationship- the fila is known to have bloodhound, bulldog, and other types of dogs as well as mastiffs in its ancestry.

this article, see esp. figure 1, http://www.britainhill.com/GeneticStructure.pdf shows genetic relationships between breeds. Unfortunately they didn’t test either the fila or the cane corso.
A good example of selective beeding towards a functional type is the malinois/ german shepherd. Not closely related at all- the malinois is a descendent of the general “sheepdog/collie” dogs, and the german shepherd is a deliberately created breed (late 1800’s) that appears to be genetically related to the retrievers more than to the collies. Yet there is a definitive superficial resemblence between the two breeds today, probably due to selective breeding for a similar function.

[Alagirl]

@chancellor2;6540934

Because appearance is a GREAT way to tell if two breeds are closely related…:rolleyes:
When will people learn?

Let me see…
oh, right, Mollosser type dog, right?

[HydroPHILE]

Cane Corso
[English] Mastiff
Fila Brasileiro
Tibetan Mastiff
Rottweiler
Akbash
Boston Terrier
Boxer
Pug
Bull Mastiff

The only things the above dogs have in common is that they are all considered “Molosser dogs.” You can’t really look at a Boston Terrier and a Cane Corso and say, “yep - those dogs are closely related.”

[JanM]

Actually, to answer the OP. Get the dog that best fits your family, your lifestyle, the amount of time and room you have to take care of the dog, and one that will fit into your life to become a great partnership.

[FLeventer]

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;6538247]
I don’t know that I’d agree with you there. I owned, showed, and trained chows for myself and other people for a couple of decades. I worked with a lot of chows. I came into contact with even more chows. Almost all had been very carefully raised and trained, since they were valuable animals.

Out of all the chows I’ve met - easily hundreds - know how many I’d say were not vicious?

Two.:lol:[/QUOTE]

I have never really been around full bred chows so I am sorry for my ignorance on the breed. I have a mix at the barn that is quite sweet. The one chow that I have known alright was my cousins dog and it was nasty. He kept it locked in a room when we came by but again, not enough to make an assumption on as I have not seen them enough. You on the other hand have, so I trust your opinion on the breed.

I would not advise getting a certain breed unless the person did research and knew what they were getting into. I see to many “family” dogs that just did not work out no matter the breed. Research would save people a lot of trouble.

[Kwill]

I thought Golden Retrievers were very high up on the biting dogs list. That and labs. They aren’t killing people, but they do get aggressive.

People seem to think they are easy to handle but I have heard otherwise, they can take advantage of clueless owners.

Collies are the only dogs that the Us Army couldn’t convince to do protection work, they don’t like to bite people. They do herd, however, as Laura said.

[LauraKY]

My old collie, Dakota, used to play tag with the kids. She knew when she was it and when it was her turn to run. She was a riot!

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Kwill;6544584]

Collies are the only dogs that the Us Army couldn’t convince to do protection work, they don’t like to bite people.[/QUOTE]

Well, it’s a good thing! As smart as they are, if they were willing to use violence, they might just take over!:lol:

My old lady border collie will nip, though, in an effort to control some people’s random movements. She’s never ever done it to me, but she thinks DH needs controlling sometimes. We think it’s pretty funny, but I can see how it might scare a kid.

I’ve seen my younger border collie bite a hateful goat in the face for not moving when she told him to, but yeah, I don’t think the idea of biting a person has ever entered her pretty little head.

[wendy]

I don’t think Kwill meant “Border collies”, but instead meant “scottish collies”, aka Lassie collies.
some people do schutzhund with border collies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yj9FvJ7qns

[wendy]

some people do schutzhund with border collies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yj9FvJ7qns

most of the “biting of people” in protection work isn’t about actually biting people- from the dogs point of view, the dogs are playing a fun tug game. Most dogs who enjoy playing tug can be taught to do bitework. They aren’t being aggressive or attacking, they think they are playing a fun game. Dogs who are actually aggressive tend to not do very well in protection work.

[Horsegal984]

Funny you mention that Wendy, my ACD male will be starting bite work soon, mostly to keep him mentally occupied.

I have found that almost any breed can be a great family dog FOR THE RIGHT FAMILY. And equally as much, almost any breed can be a horrific family dog in the wrong family. Unfortunatly many people gets dogs because they’re cute puppies, or they like the look of the breed, or a friend had a perfect one, etc. Then they expect the dog to learn to fit their lifestyle instead of changing their life to meet the dogs needs.

And I’ll be the first to admit, our first ACD we got because my (now)DH loved her apperance. However once he picked out the pretty face we made sure the even living in an apartment we would be able to meet her needs. She has her moments, and will always be a fear biter, but we adjusted to her in most ways instead of the other way around.

[danceronice]

If I were going to get a dog who’d eat intruders, I’d consider mastiff types. Most apparently are very loyal to ‘their’ family and very defensive. (I can think of legitimate reasons to get a dog that is not going to tolerate intruders.)

Now, a dog I really wouldn’t be comfortable with as a ‘pet’ would be some of the livestock guardian breeds…they’re bred to be such independent workers you REALLY have to be on the ball with training and control. That and I just can’t see them as super-happy without a job.