Mental Characteristics

Alert, attentive, protective.  Cane Corso make formidable family guardians, loyal pets and highly trainable working animals.  Submissive to it's family, yet suspicious and threatening to strangers. 

Appearance

Medium to large sized.  Elegant yet powerfully built, lean with powerful long muscles.

Cranial Region

The skull is wide, at the zygomatic arch its width is equal or greater than its length.  Convex in front, it becomes fairly flat behind the forehead as far as the occiput.  The medio-frontal furrow is visible and the stop is well marked.

Facial Region

• Bite: Slightly undershop of no more than 5mm.

• Nose:Black and large with ample open nostrils on the same line as the nasal bridge.

• Lips: The upper lips hang moderately and cover the mandible, so that the lower profile of the muzzle is determined by the lips.

• Eyes: Medium sized almond shaped and wide set which look directly forward.  Colour generally corresponds to coat but as dark as possible is preferred.  A keen and active expression.

• Ears:  Ears are generally cropped in the shape of an equilateral triangle, but uncropped is acceptable.

• Neck: Fairly slim, but strong and muscular as long as the head.

Body Region

• Body: Longer than the height at the withers and should indicate strength and agility.

• Back: rectilinear, very muscular and firm

• Withers: Pronounced, rising above the level of the croup.

• Croup: long, wide and slightly inclined.

• Loins: short and solid

• Chest: well developed which reaches to the elbow.

• Tail:  Set fairly high, very thick at the root and docked at the fourth vertebra.  Carried high, but never curved under nor erect.

• Skin: Fairly thick, rather close fitting.

• Coat: Short, shiny, very thick with a light undercoat.

Color

Black, lead grey, light grey, light fawn, dark fawn stag red, brindle (striped on different shades of fawn or grey); a black or grey mask on the muzzle should not go beyond the line of the eyes on fawn and brindle coloured dogs.  White permitted on the chest, chin and front of toes.

Forequarters       

• Shoulders: Long, oblique and very muscular.

• Upperarm: Strong

• Forearm: Straight, very strong

• Carpal Joint: Elastic

• Forefeet: Cat-like

Hindquarters

• Upper thigh: Long, wide and muscularly developed

• Lower thigh: thin and strong

• Hocks:  Angular

• Hindfeet: Slightly less compact than the forefeet

Height at the Withers

• Males: from 64-68cm  Females from 60-64cm

  (with a tolerance of 2cm more of less)

Weight

• Males from 45-50kg  Females from 40-45kg

Faults

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and diffusion.

Severe Faults

• Parallelism or very marked converging axes of muzzle and skull, converging side lines of muzzle

• Partial depigmentation of nose

• Scissors bite, pronounced undershot mouth

• Over or undersized

• Ring tail, tail in vertical position

• Movement: permanent amble

Eliminating Faults

• Axes of muzzle and the skull diverging

• Total depigmentation of nose

• Bridge of nose resolutely hollow, ram's nose

• Overshot mouth

• Eyes: wall eye, partial and bilateral palpebrai depigmentation, bilateral strabismus

• Short tail or tailless

• Hair: semi-long, smooth or fringed

• Colour:  all those colours not indicated in the standard, patches of white too large.

NOTE: males should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.