jeekree
Active Member
As a follow-up to my original thread I just wanted to share our life with Thunder who we rescued and were finally able to take home June 18th. I have always loved Mastiffs but this guy is my first as a dog owner for many years. I'd love to hear some info back with some things I have experienced so far and any questions too.
- Fairly low energy, incredibly even temperament, and very docile: I question how much the previous owner impacted Thunder vs the general characteristics of the breed. For only being a year old he is super well behaved.
- He is unbelievably affectionate. It's pretty unreal honestly. We have had loads of dogs over the years but Thunder takes the cake. Truly a sweetheart. Emotional and expressive. We can read his face when he is annoyed that he has to get off the couch or is told no. It's pretty cute.
- Cautious with strangers (dogs included): this dog is so excited when one of us comes home from work, he really is all over us for the first couple minutes. But it is surprising how unamused he is towards people when we are out and even dogs being walked. He observes but never makes the move to run up and sniff, play or want pets. Very reserved. Just like I was reading, he seems to need the okay from his owner first.
- he very rarely barks but when he does it's loud deep and scary. I've only seen this when he hears a knock at the door. He makes lots of grunts and sounds though. Also snores louder than I expected.
- Very confident. I can see this being a problem if you have a very dominate dog in the house. Thunder is good with the dogs we have and actually the little guy and him get along better than with out female. Playing is supervised but I have never noticed anything that would worry me. Sometimes it gets a bit too rough though and because of his size I will do a couple firm "Thunder enough."'s and he stops. Our female is a little older and never was much into playing (lazy girl) if playing gets too much for her she gives him a nasty bark to the face here and there. He always jumps back when it's unexpected. Kinda startled and almost like he's upset that he got her mad. It's really cute.
Oh he also loves water. Holy moly!
Questions / Concerns
- weight. Seems to be a topic that answers can vary. He hasn't been weighed since he was first brought the shelter but at that time he was listed as 85lbs. Probably a little more now. He doesn't seem as big boned as other corso's I've seen but he is about 26" tall. I don't even know if he is a full blood cane corso or not, but looks mainly Corso.
I see many saying their dogs are weighing 125-130lbs but also how a few rib outlines should be showing and defined. Right now 125 seems like he would be overweight. For now I am just exercising and not over feeding and we will see how it goes.
Thunder's spine. I can't find anything on this but do Cane corso's spines feel big and defined compared to other breeds? What I mean by this is you can really feel his spine when petting him while sitting. Especially towards the bottom of his back. When moving around everything looks fine and he looks to walk and get around fine as well. His initial vet visit is soon so we will bring it up but in some scenarios info from owners gives better information in my opinion.
That's about it! Thanks for the help and info along the way with rescuing him. Here's a public photo album to have pics and videos all in one place.
https://goo.gl/photos/icFpSVj4B35CZXuV8
- Fairly low energy, incredibly even temperament, and very docile: I question how much the previous owner impacted Thunder vs the general characteristics of the breed. For only being a year old he is super well behaved.
- He is unbelievably affectionate. It's pretty unreal honestly. We have had loads of dogs over the years but Thunder takes the cake. Truly a sweetheart. Emotional and expressive. We can read his face when he is annoyed that he has to get off the couch or is told no. It's pretty cute.
- Cautious with strangers (dogs included): this dog is so excited when one of us comes home from work, he really is all over us for the first couple minutes. But it is surprising how unamused he is towards people when we are out and even dogs being walked. He observes but never makes the move to run up and sniff, play or want pets. Very reserved. Just like I was reading, he seems to need the okay from his owner first.
- he very rarely barks but when he does it's loud deep and scary. I've only seen this when he hears a knock at the door. He makes lots of grunts and sounds though. Also snores louder than I expected.
- Very confident. I can see this being a problem if you have a very dominate dog in the house. Thunder is good with the dogs we have and actually the little guy and him get along better than with out female. Playing is supervised but I have never noticed anything that would worry me. Sometimes it gets a bit too rough though and because of his size I will do a couple firm "Thunder enough."'s and he stops. Our female is a little older and never was much into playing (lazy girl) if playing gets too much for her she gives him a nasty bark to the face here and there. He always jumps back when it's unexpected. Kinda startled and almost like he's upset that he got her mad. It's really cute.
Oh he also loves water. Holy moly!
Questions / Concerns
- weight. Seems to be a topic that answers can vary. He hasn't been weighed since he was first brought the shelter but at that time he was listed as 85lbs. Probably a little more now. He doesn't seem as big boned as other corso's I've seen but he is about 26" tall. I don't even know if he is a full blood cane corso or not, but looks mainly Corso.
I see many saying their dogs are weighing 125-130lbs but also how a few rib outlines should be showing and defined. Right now 125 seems like he would be overweight. For now I am just exercising and not over feeding and we will see how it goes.
Thunder's spine. I can't find anything on this but do Cane corso's spines feel big and defined compared to other breeds? What I mean by this is you can really feel his spine when petting him while sitting. Especially towards the bottom of his back. When moving around everything looks fine and he looks to walk and get around fine as well. His initial vet visit is soon so we will bring it up but in some scenarios info from owners gives better information in my opinion.
That's about it! Thanks for the help and info along the way with rescuing him. Here's a public photo album to have pics and videos all in one place.
https://goo.gl/photos/icFpSVj4B35CZXuV8