Exactly what I was going to say. And how could you find a better breed specific board?
Bullmastiffs
- Thread starter Oh Little Oji
- Start date
I don't know what got into my wife, but the other day she suddenly expressed quite the openness to the idea of a Cane Corso.
It is usually an enjoyable topic of discussion when she asks me what breed I'm currently thinking about. I don't know if this new openness is due to something I said recently to the effect of I wouldn't be happy with a Bullmastiff because I really want a dog with cropped ears – this, for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it adds to the intimidation factor which helps greatly with deterrence.
There is a breeder I have been in text contact with. They are a few hours away. They would qualify as a BRB in most people's eyes – no health testing, no titling of their dogs. My wife's take is interesting on this. I compared this breeder to another one that supposedly does health test, and are priced $1,100 higher. My wife's take is that both our first dogs (Husky and Dobe) were not bought from reputable breeders and there was no health testing. Her Husky lived to almost 15 years with good health. Anyway, I am not discounting the importance of health testing and breeders doing things the right way, and I know the risk of winding up with more healthcare bills in the future, and how it is important to support good breeders. It's just interesting, my wife's sudden support of the idea of a Corso.
Well, I guess whatever change from her hitting her head on something or whatever is still in effect. The next day I shared that the American Akita is right up there on my breed list as well. Whereas in the past, she shot down that breed on the basis of shedding (I did too), she has a new openness to it.
There is a breeder a few hours away that health tests and shows. In fact, the 3 generation pedigrees they display on their website show basically all the ancestry with either CHs or GCHs! I am concerned, though, that this last part would put the pup out of our price range, and that the breeder might be too persnickety about finding me a worthy buyer and might also insist on neutering.
Anyway, just interesting.
It is usually an enjoyable topic of discussion when she asks me what breed I'm currently thinking about. I don't know if this new openness is due to something I said recently to the effect of I wouldn't be happy with a Bullmastiff because I really want a dog with cropped ears – this, for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it adds to the intimidation factor which helps greatly with deterrence.
There is a breeder I have been in text contact with. They are a few hours away. They would qualify as a BRB in most people's eyes – no health testing, no titling of their dogs. My wife's take is interesting on this. I compared this breeder to another one that supposedly does health test, and are priced $1,100 higher. My wife's take is that both our first dogs (Husky and Dobe) were not bought from reputable breeders and there was no health testing. Her Husky lived to almost 15 years with good health. Anyway, I am not discounting the importance of health testing and breeders doing things the right way, and I know the risk of winding up with more healthcare bills in the future, and how it is important to support good breeders. It's just interesting, my wife's sudden support of the idea of a Corso.
Well, I guess whatever change from her hitting her head on something or whatever is still in effect. The next day I shared that the American Akita is right up there on my breed list as well. Whereas in the past, she shot down that breed on the basis of shedding (I did too), she has a new openness to it.
There is a breeder a few hours away that health tests and shows. In fact, the 3 generation pedigrees they display on their website show basically all the ancestry with either CHs or GCHs! I am concerned, though, that this last part would put the pup out of our price range, and that the breeder might be too persnickety about finding me a worthy buyer and might also insist on neutering.
Anyway, just interesting.
Actually, I did find myself back in the Doberman camp for a while in recent times, and spoke with a breeder on the phone that I consider my last remaining hope in the breed. Theirs and my ideas on dogs and the Dobe very closely align, and they breed all Euro with a mix of confo. and working ancestry. Fully health tested, cropped and a reasonable price for today's world.Exactly what I was going to say. And how could you find a better breed specific board?
If I could just get the dog de-whined! Well, and honestly, I don't at all relish another ear posting period that the breed requires. On this note, this breeder, who is a real throwback sort of preservation breeder, puts medium/short-medium crops on the pups.
I'm glad to see that your wife has come to be part of the discussion! As a part of the family, the future dog should be accepted and looked forward to by all.
I knew of 2 Akitas back in my vet clinic days. They, like every Chow that came in, had to be muzzled to be treated or groomed. Couldn't/wouldn't trust one at all. That was a long time ago, but I never ever forgot that how they would snap unpredictably, unlike other breeds that give a hard stare, or low growl or some kind of warning. They don't have a good rep around children, so dig deep when you look into Akitas. Not to mention the hair.
Sounds like the Dobe breeder would fit your needs well. I read about all this whining when I was looking to get my pup 3 - 4 years ago and dismissed it as a training issue that was fixable. I've never been more wrong. It is seriously an insane hereditary unfortunate fact. The vocalization of everything by my dog makes me nuts sometimes, so I'm 100% in agreement with you on that.
I knew of 2 Akitas back in my vet clinic days. They, like every Chow that came in, had to be muzzled to be treated or groomed. Couldn't/wouldn't trust one at all. That was a long time ago, but I never ever forgot that how they would snap unpredictably, unlike other breeds that give a hard stare, or low growl or some kind of warning. They don't have a good rep around children, so dig deep when you look into Akitas. Not to mention the hair.
Sounds like the Dobe breeder would fit your needs well. I read about all this whining when I was looking to get my pup 3 - 4 years ago and dismissed it as a training issue that was fixable. I've never been more wrong. It is seriously an insane hereditary unfortunate fact. The vocalization of everything by my dog makes me nuts sometimes, so I'm 100% in agreement with you on that.
Kswoodssue
Hot Topics Subscriber
Akitas were super popular and probably overbred back in the what?; 70’s or 80’s? I wonder if newer breeders have bred for better temperament?
I didn't realize that about Akitas. Do you happen to know if it was Japanese Akitas, or American Akitas?
The breeder I'm, considering uses dogs with CHs in conformation competition, so I wonder if they are even tempered.
Yes it was in the '80's when I worked at the vet and met a couple of them. I have no idea about how they are now, but the ones I had to work with were not pleasant. It was also the heyday of Dobermans and we had dozens of them that came in, all really good dogs. The pet Dobes were sweet and the couple of working dobes were very even tempered and easy to handle.
Pretty sure American, but this was a long time ago and I didn't even know there were two kinds. I didn't know they were even popular as there were only two that I recall ever coming in. (We did grooming too, and I did a lot of baths/flea dips/brush-outs, which is what these came in for) Some things you never forget and I remember thinking a big NO on Akitas and Chows based on temperament alone. As we know about the Doberman, things change over the years. The Akita may be a very stable dog and maybe I just had to deal with some bad ones, but do some research on their overall bite history in this country and reputation for getting along with kids. At a glance, it still doesn't look great, but I didn't spend much time on it.
Yes, you are right! Actually, she has been part of the discussion all along. She has just expressed hesitancy over a Corso due to not trusting the breed's safety for our family. The Akita, like I said, was shot down due to shedding. I don't know why she suddenly became open to these two breeds, but I'll take it.
Now, let me say that I am still undecided on a breed. They all have their drawbacks!
Below will be more of my pros/cons thinking on possible breeds.
I have largely written off livestock guardian breeds, though if I didn't live in a neighborhood, that might be my winner. I'd get a nice shepherd's crop on the dog. I admire some of those LGDs like the CAS and the Kangal for a few reasons.
The Akita seems to share a few qualities with LGDs, but unfortunately is known to have high prey drive, where LGDs are supposed to have low. The Akita is supposed to rarely bark, and when it does, you should pay attention. Perfect! LGDs, I think, are very barky. One thing with both of these types is that I am concerned they won't be able to achieve an acceptable level of obedience for me. One thing I keep thinking about is how the next door neighbor (yeah, that neighbor who has a problem with Oji) has to call their dogs several times to get them to come into the house. I find that laughable, and it's probably due to lack of training, as these look like Lab mixes. Well, I might wind up with that problem due to having a dog that is not very biddable and that likes to be outdoors.
The Corso is supposed to be trainable and biddable even though it is classified as a mastiff. Some of these old-style and rustic ones that I'm looking at, I imagine might be somewhat less biddable; but I would think I could achieve a nice livable level of obedience with them.
With the Akita, you've got excessive shedding and big time. With the Corso, you're going to have some drooling – possibly a lot.
Surprisingly, I have the Bouvier in my top 5. I get cropped ears, but a somewhat stubborn dog (I know it varies). It's not as tall as I want, but then neither is the Corso. I envision setting out to try to keep the Bouv trimmed (by me) in a short coat. I see one Bouv in the Bouv group that is kept this way and it looks good. It's got decent thickness and substance to the body and head, as the breed is supposed to, and its cropped ears make it look decently believable as a guard dog. It reminds me a bit of a curly coated Cane Corso. Yes, the Bouv is known to be gassy, but I also hear that about essentially all mastiffs as well. Heck, the Doberman has somewhat of a reputation for being gassy too! One of the biggest drawbacks to the Bouv is it will get mistaken for a "doodle" even with its cropped ears.
The Boerboel is in the top 5, and there is a breeder I like, and have had a good phone call with. He tends to dock the tails shorter than most, and that is a must for me. One thing, though, with the breed is that their ears can often be just too long. I've become borderline obsessed with ears. I know I may seem superficial to some of you, but those of you who know me know that I also care about the essentials as well. Really, it might be doable to take a Boerboel pup to a vet who crops, and tell them it's a Corso. Having to seek out a cropper though, would not really fit well with my life situation, especially if I have to travel 100 miles or so to a vet that will do it. I know my wife will be getting all into the "come on, do you really have to take all this time and spend this money to do this?"
I actually had a good phone call with a Cane Corso breeder yesterday. This is a breeder that I've know about for some time, but had written off because they just did not return my communications. I do follow their social media page, however; and when they recently posted pups, I commented asking whether the pics were to alert folks on their waiting list, or if the pups were available and people could contact them and possibly become approved. The breeder responded just a bit later, saying all the pups are spoken for, and there is another breeding coming up. I went ahead and private messaged them, saying I had tried multiple ways of contacting them a couple years or more prior. They responded promptly and told me to give them a call.
So, we had a phone call, and I was pleasantly surprised with how personable the breeder was and how well our phone cal went. They listened to me, and seemed to give me credit for being experienced and capable. Many people don't tend to do that. We left the status of things with me, unless they sort of go back on what occurred in the phone call, being approved as a puppy buyer in the future.
This breeder health tests, provides a pedigree to view on their website, and shows a few pics and gives a nice written description of their dogs. They give height and weight measurements on several of their dogs (which I know is a sort of taboo thing to do in the Doberman world) and their dogs, overall, are on the tall end of the spectrum – actually exceeding the breed standard sometimes. Yeah, I know bigger is not better, but this breed runs too short in height for me and I feel this breeder would provide me with a better chance of at least getting a dog that will be at the top if the breed's height range, maybe a bit taller. I like the look of their dogs, and the breeder values working ability, tending to breed working line and confo. line together in order to try to preserve working ability and strong confident temperament.
The price is surprisingly affordable and includes ear cropping!
I talked to them about my strong dislike for tail docks that are too long, and they explained their process with this. I figure yes, I might wind up with a tail longer than I like, but overall it might be offset by the other good features of the dog.
Their location is not too close to home, but I found out that we would likely have a place to stay with a friend of my wife's if we travel to pick up. That is big!
The spay/neuter clause in the contract is something that amazingly the breeder said they are flexible on if they get to know the buyer and feel comfortable with them. That is huge.
This might just be my breeder.
So, we had a phone call, and I was pleasantly surprised with how personable the breeder was and how well our phone cal went. They listened to me, and seemed to give me credit for being experienced and capable. Many people don't tend to do that. We left the status of things with me, unless they sort of go back on what occurred in the phone call, being approved as a puppy buyer in the future.
This breeder health tests, provides a pedigree to view on their website, and shows a few pics and gives a nice written description of their dogs. They give height and weight measurements on several of their dogs (which I know is a sort of taboo thing to do in the Doberman world) and their dogs, overall, are on the tall end of the spectrum – actually exceeding the breed standard sometimes. Yeah, I know bigger is not better, but this breed runs too short in height for me and I feel this breeder would provide me with a better chance of at least getting a dog that will be at the top if the breed's height range, maybe a bit taller. I like the look of their dogs, and the breeder values working ability, tending to breed working line and confo. line together in order to try to preserve working ability and strong confident temperament.
The price is surprisingly affordable and includes ear cropping!
I talked to them about my strong dislike for tail docks that are too long, and they explained their process with this. I figure yes, I might wind up with a tail longer than I like, but overall it might be offset by the other good features of the dog.
Their location is not too close to home, but I found out that we would likely have a place to stay with a friend of my wife's if we travel to pick up. That is big!
The spay/neuter clause in the contract is something that amazingly the breeder said they are flexible on if they get to know the buyer and feel comfortable with them. That is huge.
This might just be my breeder.
Thanks! I believe Castleguard, a very good breeder, is also in CO. I had been invited to have a phone call with her which I really appreciate, but when I saw they updated the price of pups on their website to a thousand more than it used to be, I figured it wasn't worth my time anymore. I realize it costs quite a bit of money to breed dogs the right way, but I know what I can justify spending.
I'd welcome looking into Cedarege's breeder though.
Edit: I just remembered that the breeder in Cedaredge is in fact Castleguard.
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Well, the winner is...
jazzies mum
Hot Topics Subscriber
You are teasing us! 
Kswoodssue
Hot Topics Subscriber
Oh my gosh! Puppy time! Look forward to seeing him grow!
