Sorry, I think that was misunderstood a little bit
What I meant was, we don't want the Corso JUST to be a gaurd dog. You know, how some people get a "big scary dog" because they want an alarm system or to feel protected. I believe thats why alot of dogs end up in the backyard with their collar growing into their necks
We of course like this aspect of the dog, just like I love the way my Golden loves to fetch.
I think that you all misunderstood my post about my Golden too. He is trained, and is a very good dog. He knows sit, down, stay, down stay, etc.. he knows how to catch a frisbee, he can fetch anything, he was trained for agility and is good on almost any course. He is a great dog!! The ONLY issue I have with my Zac, is that he is very very friendly. This isn't something I want to punish obviously, so its hard for me to know quite how to deal with it. He just gets overly excited easily, and the only way to make him stop is to tell him down stay, and then he seems very sad.. and stuffs his head and wont look at me.
He scares people because he is large and gets overly excited when seeing anyone else with a dog. He is used to playing in dog parks and he goes to a doggy daycare sometimes just for some extra playtime and social time, and he thinks that he should be able to play with any dog, any time.
Because we are the same weight, sometimes its stressful when he gets excited. I can control him, but if he catches me totally off guard i don't have time to tell him down, he is yanking me.
If there are no dogs around, he is fine.. he walks with a loose leash. He is not agressive, just VERY friendly and loves other dogs. He is out in public alot, I try to get him de-sensitized to the dog thing that way but I feel like then taking him to the dog park reverses it. anyways. That is one issue that my otherwise very wonderful dog has.
And as far as this rolling business. ALL I MEANT was a small puppy. Do you think I would ever roll a big dog? I wouldn't do that to my golden, much less a big cane corso. and by roll.. i don't mean harshly flipping a dog and scaring them. I meant rolling them gently and holding them for a moment, saying no, giving them a little rub and letting them up. Perhaps this is totally out to lunch. I didn't say I was an expert.
Anyways... sigh.... I don't live with my boyfriend, and usually when he is with me and zac we are at the dog park or somewhere where the yanking me off my feet thing doesn't happen.. so yeah. I am sure we will work on that..
the real point of that message was, what is a fun thing to do with my golden other than agility.. like a hobby we could share together.
Gempress said:
I'm not saying your stupid or being a bad person. And I know that it's not you getting the dog, it's your boyfriend. My fear is that you just don't seem to understand our biggest worry. You specifically said that you don't want a guard dog and will not train the dog to guard. But your corso is born to be a be a guard dog. She will be that way whether you train her to or not.
Let me make an analogy. You have a golden retriever, right? What you're saying about the new corso is like saying, "We're getting a golden retreiver. But we don't like to play fetch. So we're going to raise it and train it in such a way that it will never retrieve."
Doesn't make sense, does it? A corso's need to guard is just as strong as a retriever's need to fetch. It's unrealistic to be confident that any amount of training and socializing will quash that urge. It's also unfair to the dog; you're expecting it to be something it's not.
I guess the big question is this: if you want a social, dog-friendly, non-guarding dog, why are you getting a corso? It is a breed that obviously does not fit the role you're wanting it to fill. It's like you're trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. That's why there are hundreds of different dog breeds out there: each has a very specific role to fill.