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Italian Mastiff
Description
The Cane Corso Italiano is a medium-big size dog, strongly built but elegant, with powerful and long muscles, very distinguished, he expresses strength, agility and endurance. The general conformation is that of a mesomorphic animal whose body is longer than the height at the withers, harmonious as regards the form and disharmonious as regards the profile. The Muzzle is very broad and deep. The width of the muzzle must be almost equal to its length which reaches 3.4/10 of the total length of the head. Its depth is more than 50% the length of the muzzle. Due to the parallels of the muzzle sides and to the fullness and the width of the whole jaw, the anterior face of the muzzle is flat and square. The nasal bridge has a rectilinear profile and it is rather flat. The lower side profile of the muzzle is determined by the upper lips, the suborbital region shows a very slight chisel. The stop is very marked because of the very developed and bulging frontal sinuses and because of the prominent superciliary arches. The neck is slightly arched. The neck shape is of oval section, strong, very muscular. The body is compact, strong and very muscular. The skin is rather thick. The neck is practically without dewlap. The head mustn't have wrinkles. The pigment of the mucous membranes is black. The pigment of the soles and the nails must be dark. The coat is short hair but not smooth, with vitreous texture, shiny, adherent, stiff, very dense, with a light layer that becomes thicker in winter (but never crops up on the covering hair). Its average length is approx. 2/2,5 cm. On the withers, the rump, the back margin of the thighs and on the tail it reaches approx. 3 cm without creating fringes. On the muzzle the hair is very short, smooth, adherent and is not more than 1/1,5 cm. Color - Black, plumb-gray, slate, light gray, blue/gray, light fawn, deer fawn, dark fawn and tubby (very well marked stripes on different shades of fawn and gray). In the fawny and tubby subjects there is a black or gray mask only on the muzzle and shouldn't go beyond the eye line. A small white patch on the chest, on the feet tips and on the nose bridge is accepted
Temperament
Very loyal, willing to please and quiet around the house. The Cane Corso is highly intelligent and very trainable. Active and even-minded, he is an unequalled watch and protection dog. The Cane Corso Italiano is great with children in the family. Docile and affectionate with the owner. They are protective yet gentle. The Cane Corso has a very stable temperament. It makes an excellent guard dog and watchdog. It will not wonder from the home. They stick close to their masters. If necessary he becomes a terrible and brave protector of people, house and property. The Cane Corso is not a fighting dog. They were bred as working dogs for hundreds of years. Therefore they will not go out "looking" for a fight, but on the other hand they will not back down from other dogs who try to dominate them. The Cane Corso requires an experienced owner who knows how to display a natural authority over the dog. It can be aggressive with strangers and other dogs if not socialized or if it sees itself above humans in the pecking order. It should be carefully socialized when it is a pup. It is highly recommended that these dogs become fully obedience trained. If a Cane Corso is fully trained, with an owner who is firm, confident and consistent, setting rules the dog must follow and placing clear limits to what he can and cannot do, along with providing the proper daily mental and physical exercise, the Cane Corso will be an amenable companion. Learn what makes the canine animal tick and treat his breed accordingly. Suspicious of strangers, but wonderful with the family. A well balanced Corso will put up with strangers if the owners are present. When raised correctly, the dog should be submissive to all members of the family. Corso ears were originally cropped to help them ward off wolves while protecting livestock. Their ears are much more sensitive than the rest of their bodies. Generally, they're practically impervious to pain otherwise, so many Corso owners are often disappointed to find that electrical "invisible fence" containment systems don't deter their dogs.
Health
The Neo is generally hardy, but like all breeds, has some specific health concerns. The most common is Cherry eye. Others include: Hip dysplasia,Ectropion, Entropion, Elbow dysplasia, Hypothyroidism, Cardiomyopathy, Bloat Skin infections between skin folds called Pyoderma, Anesthetic Sensitivity. Additionally, Neos do not do well in hot weather, and are prone to heatstroke. Like most giant breeds, the Neapolitan Mastiff is not particularly long-lived, averaging 7 to 9 years, however, with a proper biologically appropriate diet, safe exercise, and proper weight maintenance, there is no reason that the average Neo cannot live beyond that.
info courtesy: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/canecorsoitaliano.htm
