Over exercising your puppy can cause long term damage to your growing puppy.  Look at it this way, would you expect a 2 year old child to walk for 2 hours? What would happen if you did?  The child would cry, say that they were tired and would not go on.  Same principle with a puppy.  We go to many shows and see people thinking that they are doing good with their new puppy but in fact walking a puppy past its natural point of being tired, will then go onto cause long term damage. 

Over the years and through our involvement with the Cane Corso Club UK and Friends of Cane Corso, we have had people phone us for advice and assistance because their 8 month old pup is lame.  When asked how much exercise they give their dog it’s surprising the amount of people that say, “oh, the dog gets 1 hour on a morning, 1 hour on a lunchtime and 1.5 hours on an evening with regular toilet breaks as well”.  When asked why they think a pup would need so much exercise we are told, “Well they are a large breed of dog and need lots of exercise”.  WRONG, they do not need lots of exercise they need short walks and play time, that’s all.  Its more important that you stimulate their brains at this vital time, socialisation does not have to be walking your puppy past its natural rest point.

10 minutes slow walking on a lead on a morning and 10 minutes walking on a lead on an evening is more than enough exercise.  If your puppy is active during the day, they will need less exercise.  The only reason a puppy needs walking is to get use to a lead for obedience purposes and for socialisation with other dogs; they do not need lots of exercise.  If you over exercise your puppy, you cause the joint problems!  Please keep puppy exercise to an absolute minimum.  If you do this, you greatly reduce the chances of your Cane Corso developing hip and elbow dysplasia and OCD.  Remember also, if your feed BARF, your puppy will get all the natural exercise it needs through eating the raw meaty bones.

If you have children it is very important that they are aware that they should not tire the puppy out.  Allow 10 minutes playtime at a time and ensure that the puppy has regular breaks where it is allowed to rest.

Never let your puppy go up or down steps or jump on and off sofas, chairs or in and out of the car.  It’s amazing how many people allow their puppies to do this and then wonder why their dog gets OCD or other joint problems.  The puppy only has to jump awkwardly once and they can damage a joint.   This is a large heavy breed and really does need treating with a lot of care in the growth stages.  

As the dog starts to mature at around 12 months plus, the exercise can be increased gradually to 20 minutes each walk (twice per day).  Let the dog determine the pace; do not force a dog to walk.  Remember that a Cane Corso does not mature until it is at least 18 months old and up until this point they are still growing and developing and are very susceptible to joint problems.  

Once fully mature at 18 – 24 months, the exercise can be increased again but this is not necessary.  Most adult Corsos will enjoy two relatively short walks a day with lots of human companionship and playtime.  If the owner likes running, cycling or horse riding then the mature Corso will happily run along side.

(Growth plates are basically layers of cartilage at each end of the long bones that extend then ossify as a young dog's bones grow.  They don't 'close' in a large or giant breed until around 18 months of age).

Below is an excerpt from a socialisation worksheet.  Please download and print out the PDF here.

Copyright Kirsten Dimond.