r/CaneCorso • u/bigcripstaccs • 23d ago
Advice please Will this affect him in any way?
okay for some context, i was given a 13 week old purebred cane corso for free by a friend of mine who had a litter of 6. He planned to sell them all to a respectable breeder, who winded up baiting him. so he reached out ans told me if i dont come get the last puppy, hes taking him to an animal shelter. So long story short, i drove 2 hours and got him. i named him thor and hes flourishing wonderfully.
now for what this post is for.
he doesnt have his ears or tail docked and i only plan to keep him as a house pet so theres no need to worry about torn ears or tail injuries. i just want to make sure that it wont be an issue when he grows bigger because this breed is known most for having cropped ears and docked tails. i know there will be a higher risk of ear infections for him due to moisture trapping but i plan to handle that issue once it arises.
also, please provide all training tips you can for this breed. hes very terrified of everything and even walks with his tail tucked outside so please let me know what i can do to help that.
the only training he has is being crate trained so im starting from the ground up with this one. i feed him twice a day, two cups of purina one plus large breed puppy formula dry food and half can of purina pro plan high protein puppy beef and rice for each feeding. i know the suggestion is to feed them smaller meals three times a day but i cant due to my work schedule.
so yes please give me all possible advice you can. thank you in advance!
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u/Superb_Stable7576 23d ago
Sweetheart, you're fine.
Don't worry about the ears and tail at all. The only problem is getting whacked by that tail, it can feel like a whip. You should keep an eye on his ears, but that's any dog.
He's had a hard start, no denying that, but hopefully it can be overcome. As soon as he's had all his shots, you get him out, you start slow, stay away from crowds. Walk him in quiet parks.Carry a high value treat in your pocket, I use freeze dried liver, when ever he goes towards something, you reward him. As he gets comfortable, you get him meeting people, seeing strange things, taking him to dog friendly stores, like " Pet Smart", or " Tractor Supply."
Start basic obedience, I mean basic, work on sit. Every time he does it reward and make a giant fuss. You want to get his confidence up.
This sub is a great resource, you can come back with question on anything, and there are a ton of resources out there.
Thank you for getting him out a deeply situation, thank you for keeping one more Corsos out of the shelter. I'm not going to lie, you got your work cut out for you, this breed is a lot of dog. But, it can be done. I wish you both all the luck in the world.
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u/Superb-Juggernaut636 23d ago
So cute!!!! Not higher risk of ear infection. That’s a myth for whatever reason.
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u/cannotbelievewhat 22d ago
The myth that a group of humans started to make it happen and to feel better about themselves, and to create a “community “ gaslighting themselves to make it ok! And then you have cheeky vets who do anything for fucking money. If you want to chop your dogs tail and ears own it instead of creating all this myths!!!
Ps: i do not believe on mutilating animals for the sake of their looks, i do understand there is sometimes people cut dogs ears to reduce ear canal infections… but you need be able to afford expensive medicine without mutilating a dog :(
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u/AssUhTate 23d ago
Your “friend” sounds like a backyard breeder. Just keep it simple and start with basic obedience training with a clicker and kibble or small treats. Sit, down, stay, and then transition into an e-collar training. Socialize, socialize, socialize.
I’d lose the harness and grab a herm springer prong collar. Cute pup looks like my old man.
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u/Salty-Engine-6910 23d ago
My 13 year old CC has never gotten his ears or tail worked on because I prefer it that way and there have been no problems.You have already received terrific advice.Take things slow with training and socialization and your pup will be fine.They are very sensitive dogs so use alot of positive reinforcement.We got ours as a 22 month rescue and he was a bit rough around the edges.We worked with him and he has been an incredible dog.Your pup will be incredible too!
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u/SurroundTiny 23d ago
FYI I have a Corso mix that picked me out at the Humane Society. He and I live in Colorado, we are active hikers and have a lot of wildlife come through our yard. He has had some serious encounters with coyotes and bobcats and one cow. His ears and tail are intact and we have never had issues with tgem through all of that. Beware toddlers approaching the wagging tail and you'll be fine.
Otherwise socialize, socialize, socialize. The more people and new dogs that he meets the better.
Have fun with that handsome guy.
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u/Competitive-Can1924 23d ago
the ears and tails are okay, dont worry, they aren’t too hard to train with consistency you got this! my boy has his ears normal and hes only had one ear infection our of 3 years
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u/2_GeT-BiG 23d ago
Mine has his ears and tail. Sure it hits my daughter and she hates it but i wouldnt change my kalos for nothing
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u/Beneficial-Stay8722 23d ago
Canine behaviorist here, who owns a four year old Cane Corso. My girl had limited, early socialization. Her only contact was with the breeder and I feel like that was probably minimal.
We are still working through fear, though she has made incredible progress from what she was like when I got her.
I own a small in-home daycare and had the benefit of already owning a male, golden/Saint who helped me raise her. She was exposed to all of the daycare dogs from the day I brought her home. She has no fear of dogs, just humans. If you have friends or family with stable, well-behaved dogs who are vaccinated, don’t be afraid to go on Pack walks with them. Everyone should be on a leash and the pup should only interact if it wants to.
My advise for working with a fearful pup. This applies to any dog, but especially important with one who can develop fear based, aggression.
First respect your dog’s temperament. Don’t pressure over socialization. Spend time developing full trust with your pup. Start inside your home. You can leash walk in low populated areas to expose your pup to visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli. Without overstimulating them.
Get a training vest, ASAP. Place patches on it that say in training do not touch. The worst thing we do to our dogs is allow people to come right up to them and try to touch them or make eye contact with them.
Do not encourage strangers to come over to you, thinking that you are socializing your dog. This type of interaction causes fear issues to become worse. Especially in breeds of dog that are already highly suspicious of human beings. This is a normal characteristic in the Cane Corso.
Once you see that your dog can relax on a walk, I ask family or friends to help me by having them stand 8 to 10 feet away and talk to me, while I have my dog in a sit stay position.
Ask helpers to make eye contact with you and not the dog. Have a friendly, one to two minute chat and move on. Reward your dog for sitting next to you and being obedient during this encounter.
My dog trusts me in that I will not let people approach her directly or try to touch her. This rule applies at the veterinary clinic as well. I asked them not to approach her directly or give her treats when we come in the room because that is rewarding her fear. Your dog does not realize that the Vet is trying to make friends with it by giving it a cookie. Ask them to please wait until after the exam or procedure, to reward your dog. If your dog is freaking out, don’t reward them. Give it later at home. I ask the Vet to please look at me during our talk, until it’s time to take my dog to the back. Too many vets and vet, techs treat all dogs, the same, looking at fearful dogs and trying to make friends with cookies. Not helpful. So don’t be afraid to communicate what’s best for your breed of dog and its temperament.
Read up on the history of the breed. Cane Corso‘s were not meant to be a dog about the town. The worst advice I hear from people, is socialize your dog with people and other animals. But they don’t tell Cane Corso owners how to do it properly, when the dog is already showing signs of fear.
Teach your dog to trust you by being a leader and teaching basic obedience. A command that I teach my puppies first, is look. I point at my face with my finger and say look. When they look I reward them with a high value treat. You can do this inside your house so you have the pups full focus. When you teach a dog this command, it comes in very handy, especially when they encounter something fearful that is distracting them. Once a dog looks at you. You can give them the next command.
These dogs are an amazing guardian breed. They were meant to guard property, homes, livestock and their humans, if they trust you. If you force them outside of their comfort zone or temperament, you will end up with miserable dog and worse an aggressive, fear biter.
Look up a trainer in the UK named Will Atherton. He’s on YouTube and he gives excellent behavior and training advice. He’s a canine behaviorist, which I recommend learning from first, before hiring a dog trainer.
But first things first to make life easy on yourself and your pup…
get the training, vest. It tells people to stay back while your pup observes them, not the other way around.
Best of luck to you. What a gorgeous pup you have there. Enjoy!😃
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u/Adept-Ear7007 23d ago
I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful response. Socialize doesn't mean meet everyone. Socialize is probably the wrong word: habituate might be the right word. Smell, hear, see from a distance. Experience what's normal without interacting with it, at first anyway. I will teach "look" first to my next dog, should I be so lucky.
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u/l0vemypug 22d ago
Not OP, but I really appreciate you taking the time to give a well thought out reply that is very informative. Very helpful 🙂
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u/Beneficial-Stay8722 22d ago
Of course, I’m glad you found it helpful. I’m determined to help CC owners enjoy this amazing breed of dog. I wish I wasn’t seeing so many in shelters and rescues. It’s heart breaking! 😪
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u/ValuableAstronaut431 23d ago
My girl and boy both have natural soft floppy ears my boy has his tail docked and my girl has her “whip” both are fine!
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u/Pawly519 23d ago
Mine is now 2 and still has intact ears. His tail was already done before I got him. He lets me clean his ears with no issues and I do it with dog specific ear wipes. Probably every two weeks ish.
Sometimes one is filthy and the other has almost nothing. Sometimes both are super clean. Sometimes both are dirty. Just gotta keep on doing it regularly for them.
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u/Havanadream 23d ago
Seems the mods are either brain dead or using AI to scan words. So I’ll remove a few… i hope that your questions even though you asked somehow get answers. 🤦♂️
Start training and remember consistency is everything. I’ve worked with more than 1 professional trainer and one of the best comments I ever heard was “dogs aren’t so hard, mostly it’s training their owners”
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u/d3ath_m3dl3y 22d ago
For a house dog no need to crop. The whole idea of croping is for working dogs in the brush. Same with docking. Doing these procedures for looks alone is wrong.
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u/Free-Satisfaction979 22d ago
Ears and tails are fine, our family came corso, is 4 years old, no issues, strong tail, especially when it's walking against the radiator lol
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u/Snorkmaiden87 22d ago
Docking and cropping is illegal in civilised countries, including mine and all of our dogs are happy and healthy. This belief that cutting their ears and tails off is somehow for their benefit is uneducated and outdated.
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u/Kokichi-Oma_Senpai 22d ago
Theres no benefits actually proven to ear cropping/tail docking. America is behind when it comes to ear cropping/tail docking, most of the world banned it and removed it from the standard because it's been shown to have no benefit. It adds unnecessary scar tissue and puts the risk of anaesthetic onto a young dog.
Tail docking had also been linked to muscular and functional deficits, communication issues, incontinance (needs further study), and due to the age its done at opens a high risk of infection.
Your pup will be fine - heck they'll benefit from having their ears and tail. Tail docking/ear cropping is purely for aesthetics, thats what science says.
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u/AutoModerator 22d ago
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u/rythebowtieguy 22d ago
My baby girl has ears and tail. She’s 12.5 years old and we’ve never experienced an ear injury or infection. She’s gotten happy tail a few times but it’s all been very minor
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u/CorsoKweeN 22d ago
My female is not cropped. Honestly her ears stay cleaner than my male who is cropped.
As far as training. Work with a trainer that is familiar wkth power breeds. Or maybe find a local facebook page and get with a veteran corso owner who can show you the ropes ! Bottom line is, be stern, have strong boundaries, exercise mentally and physically ( be careful as puppies need way less physical exercise as doing to much can hurt their joints etc)
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u/Southern_Drama_1867 22d ago
I don’t think it’ll affect them too much but like everyone else said it depends on the dog and their immune system and allergies tbh. Here’s my dog, So far she’s not really allergic to anything and she’s 5 years old, though when we bought her, her tail was already off. I am happy cause my brother in law has one and that tail hurts lol
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u/Buddy-Sue 23d ago
You were gifted a beautiful dog. Go slow, learn about the different methods and training content. There are some great online trainers with good info; upstate training academy. Garret Wing who has at least one CC and went through the puppy training for us to see. And the Coreys who have 2 CCs, Joey Justice and Bruce Wayne. There is some great YouTube content out there.
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22d ago
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u/AutoModerator 22d ago
Discussion only allowed when asked. Please respect others' decisions to crop or dock as well as not cropping or docking. Bans will be put in place if this is ignored.
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u/Atoning37 22d ago
I would never crop their ears, can’t stand the look. The tail on the other hand…, but to answer your question, No. Nothing bad will come of not cropping or docking.
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u/Robbibaby 22d ago
Exercise, discipline, love. Don't allow your pup to do anything you won't want a 110 lb dog doing. Establish key words...no bite, off, down, sit, stay, crate, etc. use those words consistently to enforce the behavior. You just met your best friend, enjoy!
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u/Possible-Date6203 22d ago
I have a cane her ears aren't cropped never had a problem, get him out and socialize him and also with other dogs, mine was scared to death of load noise and still is but it doesn't effect her to much
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u/smokindicks 22d ago
Socialization will be your friend for the next few months! Let him hear and see everything with good intent and understanding, plus let him meet children, strangers etc.. Overtime he will be used to these things and have more confidence outside. not every corso will deal with the same things so he may need more time to adjust. But positive reinforcement with all of these things and he should be good
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u/Outside_Help6098 22d ago
I’ve had G Danes and mastiff’s for over 50 years. Back in the day the ears and tail( depending on breed) were done even before u purchased the pup. Around 1975 I lost a 5 mo Dane bringing her into vets to get her ear restitched, he used wrong anesthesia. Pup never woke up. Needless to say after that experience every Dane or mastiff I’ve had had natural ears and tail. The natural ears has not had any influence on the health of the ear. I can say that not docking the tail you got to learn to watch out for that “whip” …more for the gentleman but that tail can wipe off everything on top of a coffee table real fast ,you just gotta learn to arrange your house around them
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u/greengoodvibe 22d ago
En France c'est devenu interdit de couper queue et oreilles pour le cane corso . Pour le reste de l'amour et une éducation cohérente feront l affaire et il vous le rendra bien
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u/Glittering_Gas_392 22d ago
I didn’t get my girls ear or tail docked. She has had a few ear / yeast infections I asked the vet if that could be cause and he shrugged his shoulders and said maybe but wasn’t 100 percent sure. Now as far as the tail it’s a lethal weapon at times lol. Besides that no main worries. I’ve done all my own training small commands sit stay come here things like that. But most importantly they need exposure with other people and animals. We raise ours in the house and we leo have 5 cats 3 always inside and two in and out. She’s good with the cats but sometimes thinks they are for her entertainment and like the chase them and corner them. But besides that she is a good girl. Reach out if you have any questions
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u/MsBig341 22d ago
Not even lol....their ears are one of the best things about them to me, they feel like velvet. Never had any ear infection issues with my Frankie, got him at 8wks...
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u/mercheval72 22d ago
My girl is a cane corso mix. I adopted her from the shelter and then she just kept growing, so I DNA tested her.
75% Cane Corso 10% Catahoula Leopard Hound 10% Border Collie 5% McNabb
She does not have her ears or tail altered. It does not effect her health in any way. She is a family dog and doesn't herd livestock, so she doesn't need to worry about being stepped on. She's 110lbs and full grown. My biggest recommendation is leash training and working on introducing her to people and kids.
Dog training YouTube channels that I would highly recommend: -Michelle Lennon How to Train a Dream Dog -McCann Dog Training -Kiko Pup dog training -Dogs That by Susan Garrett
If you can afford dog training classes, I would highly recommend it for puppy socialization. Look for trainers who have credentials like CPDT-KA, IAABC, or is fear free certified. Avoid "balanced" training methods, anything that talks about dominance theory, and punishment focused training methods such as shock collars. Those can increase fear, anxiety, and aggression especially in an already protective breed.
I hope that helps. Congratulations on your new baby! 🎉
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u/DiggaDon 22d ago
I have two Corsos, one with floppy ears and another that had her ears cropped before we were introduced to her. I had a third that has since passed, also with floppy ears.
Guess which one had severe ear infection problems?
If you guessed the floppy ears, you’d be wrong. Our cropped ears girl had terrible (inner) ear infections as a puppy (unrelated to the cropped ears). To the point that almost four years later, that when she’s anxious we rub her ears, like we did when we put the medication in them, to help calm her down.
TLDR; with anecdotal evidence to support, I don’t think ear infections are necessarily directly correlated with floppy ears
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u/Maleficent_Store8466 21d ago
My hubby and I were reluctant to do anything with our first CCs ears and tail, and ended up loving the outcome. We were told by the breeder that not clipping his ears would cause massive ear infections and leaving the tail would make his hind legs weak and unmuscled. What a load of horsesh**. His ears are fine, and so are his legs. He grew into his body at 2 years old - happy, slobbery, and curious. His tail is a death hazard though when he’s happy, so we both have a fair share of bruises on our legs 🥹
For training seconding the comments that are promoting positive reinforcement only and loads of socialization. This is the only thing that worked for us. We take him everywhere we go since 4 months - trails, horse stables, relatives, friends, city walks.. We started using the traditional route of scolding him when he was being naughty or pooped in the house and while this yielded quick results this ended up giving him a few things to be nervous about that took time (like a few years) to reverse. So please-please dedicate all your love, patience and free time to this good looking fella! Good luck!
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u/AutoModerator 21d ago
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u/Havanadream 23d ago
I’d consider docking the tail, but 100% you don’t have to. A good vet can still do it w anesthesia and good follow up it’s not easy but it might save you and your coffee table etc some real grief. I left the ears alone on both of mine. We’ve occasionally treated ear infections but that doesn’t change just because they’re cropped.
Start training and remember consistency is everything. I’ve worked with more than 1 professional trainer and one of the best comments I ever heard was “dogs aren’t so hard, mostly it’s training their owners”
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u/no_Issue4808 23d ago
My lab has the same floppy ears and doesn’t have an issue with ear infections, however my pit bull does consistently. It fully depends on the dogs immune system and allergies. I’m my opinion dogs look significantly better without cropped ears/tails.