Cane Corso Puppies Blog

Two of the most popular mastiff-type breeds originated from Italy such as the Neapolitan Mastiff and the Cane Corso which is both considered as a Roman war dogs. However, the Cane Carso could be regarded as the “light artillery” when is placed side by side to the Neapolitan Mastiff’s “howitzer.” When the Roman Empire fell, this breed only worked in the farms – it guards the flocks, family and the properties. It is also used as a hunting dog particularly of huge and deadly wild boar. The fall of the Cane Corso began during the industrialization and was almost put to extinction in the World War, I and II.

Only few Cane Corso left in the far-off areas in the southern part of Italy in 1970s. Giovanni Bonneti has a memory regarding the dog back from his childhood so he came to Dr. Paolo Breber who was interested in the breed as well. Soon after that, he got some of the dogs and the he started the process of breeding which caught the interest of many especially when the Cane Corso was represented in an article in a magazine. So, the Federation of Cynologique Internationale acknowledged the breed in 1996.

At that point in time, few of the dogs was introduced in the United States of America. And more dogs were fetched to America when the International Cane Corso Foundation was established back in 1993. The ICCF decided to get the acknowledgment of the American Kennel Club for the Cane Corso which they filed in 2003. At the same year, their association’s name was changed to Cane Corso Association of America. But it was only in 2010 when the breed got recognized by the American Kennel Club and at the present it was able to bang the 51st rank among the other breeds of dog registered by AKC.

This Italian breed has a history which goes back for thousands of years. They’ve been used for various tasks: guarding, herding, hunting.. The Cane Corso was also the first dog breed to be used for military purposes.

photo source: The Garden of the Fairies

The Cane Corso is an amazing breed that originates in Italy. Most probably this breed comes from the same stock as the Neapolitan mastiff; the Roman war dog “Canis Pugnax”. While the Neapolitan Mastiff was powerful and heavy in weight, the Corso had advantages in agilty, stamina and speed. The Cane Corso is a recently recovered breed, and sadly its history is not well known. There are differing views about its origin and much of the infomation is shrouded in mystery. This breed was mostly found in Southern Italy; in Puglia. Similar dogs existed in areas of Sicily. Its role was mostly to hunt game, and thus it was kept on farms. It was also used as a guard dog, as a fighting dog and had many other purposes that made it a good working dog as well. The Cane Corso almost became extinct. In the 1980’s a small group of Cane Corso enthusiasts decided to take the breed under their wings and try to recover the breed from near extinction. These days, the breed is becoming very popular around the globe!