The meaning of the name

According to some authors, the etymology of the word Corso derives from the Greek Kórtos (wall, enclosure, fence), and according to others, it is derived from the Latin Cohors ( guard of the courtyard , protector of a certain territory). Anyway, from ancient times, this dog has been described as an optimum, attentive and brave property keeper. This race arrives to the present time with significant historic and iconographic material, which has been the base for the reconstruction of its origins.

 

The origin of the Cane Corso

It is necessary to clarify that “Cane Corso”, a term used to designate the race, is a native dog from the south of Italy, where they have survived and where they have been rediscovered and rescued.

The oldest documentation found where the Cane Corso is mentioned dates from the year 1500 and includes poems and texts on diverse topics.. As centuries passed, the race didn't suffer big changes, maybe because it was good in that way: with functional characteristics (good at guarding and hunting) and morphological characteristics (it was agile, rustic, robust and light at the same time, in grade of reaching the prey, roaming long roads, or protecting the sheep during shepherding) that constituted the historical reasons for their presence in different societies. It was a big but not giant dog, therefore its maintenance was not onerous.

Terrible with their enemies and distrustful with strangers, but also sweet and extremely loyal to their owners, the family and the children, the Cane Corso had only one problem: it was not an aristocratic dog; it was the dog of shepherds, peasants, and rustic people in farms who only expected their partner to be a true working dog, and not to be beautiful or nice.

The Cane Corso has conserved from its direct ancestor, "Canis Pugnax"(also called Roman Molosser, used in wars and combats in circuses), a fighting spirit and the necessary resistance to achieve success in action, without hesitation and with an impressive force. Through contact with man and social life, it has learned how to be reactive only with its competitors, becoming an excellent interpreter of human body language.

The Molosser is native from Epiro, a north-western Greek region, whose most remarkable historical period coincides with the Reign of Pirro, who gave the dog an important impulse at the end of the III Century and the beginning of the IV d.c.

Epiro was continuously in war with Rome and Macedonia till in the year 168 d.c. it was devastated by the Romans due to an alliance established with the Macedonians. Therefore, it became a part of the Roman Empire. The Molosser were the inhabitants of that zone in Epiro. And the Canis Pugnax (Roman Molosser) was a name given because of the courageous nature of this dog, with a remarkable tendency to combat also against bigger and more dangerous enemies.

 

When the Cane Corso almost became extinct

As a result of industrialization, agriculture and cattle raising experienced an important modernization; the number of wild animals diminished and the employment of weapons (which derived in different hunting techniques) increased; and all this reduced some of the traditional uses of the race. For these reasons, the diffusion of the Cane Corso after the Second World War was drastically re dimensioned.

Basically, the risk of extinction that this dog suffered was caused because, before him, it was its owner who experienced extinction. This means that the race was forgotten because of the abandonment of the lands by the peasants; we should remember that it is a race with very old origins attached to rural traditions ( particularly in southern Puglia), and to man's service in the rural tasks and animal care.

The situation regarding the survival of the Cane Corso at the beginning of the '70s was worrying: at that moment the quantity of dogs was reduced to a modest number, not even taken into consideration by the official dog breeders, although they had had important indications from dog lovers. The race was saved thanks to their perseverance and thanks to some people, who kept the few dogs they had alive.

With the recovery and the precise selection of typical specimens, there was an outburst of the reproduction of rustic, athletic, stalwart and resistant dogs.

 

The development of the Cane Corso

With the gathering of man in stable areas increased their need to have capable instruments for personal defense, survival, and, at the same time, functional elements for controlling the atmosphere. Survival required the use of any capacity available, and the Cane Corso represented one. Consequently some people began to carry out selective crosses with specimens that should improve their quality and survival ability.

The skills of the Cane Corso for surveillance and its capacity to perceive imminent dangers were primary characteristics for man. It was for that reason that selection generated the first Cane Corso for guard, generally employed as territory keepers. The Cane Corso also proved to be essential for the defense and gathering of cattle (cows, sheep and others), which was an important service that stimulated the selective crosses and the birth of the Cane Corso used in shepherding.

Their smelling ability and searching dynamism drove man to select them for profitable means. The specimens introduced in hunting tasks showed a remarkable temperament and courage (to attack and to immobilize the prey with the only force of their bite in the animal's neck, without the help of any weapon). Besides these dogs were expected to be perseverant when following traces.

The Cane Corso had to demonstrate special abilities and aptitudes in the given tasks and, at the same time, as any domestic dog, it had to guarantee a partnership with man and a narrow union with him.

The capacities and natural dexterity of the Cane Corso stimulated the selective objectives of this dog to be used in guarding, shepherding and hunting; today, these objectives remain well defined, being besides an harmonic dog as regards its shape, and of a very attractive aspect.