DiCalabrese
Cane Corso
Our Breeding Program.
At DiCalabrese, we pride ourselves on stringent standards in health, temperament, conformation and working ability.
We aren't here to simply put more puppies into the world. We're here to produce the world's greatest Cane Corso.
We treat our pregnant ladies and puppies with the same loving care we show our own children.
Our Process:
Throughout puppyhood, we promote confidence and independent problem solving to create happy, well-adjusted companions. We follow Puppy Culture, a time-proven socialization and training method specifically developed for birth through the end of the critical socialization window. We use age-appropriate protocols and planned exposure to new surfaces, textures, environments, and sounds for healthy early development.
In addition to our team of local veterinary specialists, we work with WhelpWise throughout the pregnancy. WhelpWise offers veterinary perinatal specialist care and obstetrical supply delivery 24 hours a day, 365 days a year so that we can ensure our females always have the care they need. Through providing these essential tools and services to veterinarians and breeders, WhelpWhise has helped manage over 30,000 successful whelpings.
3 - 8 weeks:
At this stage, our puppies are enjoying a diverse environment of toys, audible and visual stimuli, surfaces, and scenarios. This includes top-notch nutrition, quality time with their mom, naps, and lots of play time. We're also defining where their bed area is so they are well prepped for potty-training, and introducing the crate. By 4 weeks of age, puppies are out playing in our yard and experiencing sights and sounds of the outdoors.
Birth - 2 weeks :
We start Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) before 2 weeks of age, which exposes the newborn puppies to various stimuli so they are well prepared for real world encounters. As our puppies begin to walk and interact with their world, we start introducing new things for them to explore. By 2 weeks of age, our puppies understand to follow a clicker for supplemental feedings, and are teetering over soft foam obstacles to get to their goals. New things to experience are added every feeding.
8-12 weeks:
As they start to transition to solid food, we hand feed our puppies to introduce basic changes of position, luring, and encourage food drive. Our puppies are also exploring outdoor obstacle courses and are introduced to unstable surfaces, learn how to go around corners, over and under obstacles, and run through tunnels. All of this helps with optimal early motor development, creating a foundation of body awareness and athletic ability. Between 7-9 weeks, puppies will be cropped and docked by our expert veterinary team. We hold our puppies until 12 weeks to ensure we have the best idea of their temperament before pairing them with their new homes. By this time, our pups are ready to go home and have a solid foundation in crate and potty training, obedience, and socialization.
Puppy Placements.
Please be aware we do not currently have puppies "on the ground" looking for homes.
We are a preservation breeding program, striving to produce Cane Corsi with correct conformation and structure, stable temperament, and still maintain its traditional working ability. Therefore we are extremely selective in our genetic pairings, and rarely have more than 2 litters a year. The timing of our litters depends entirely on our females' cycles and is not always predictable.
We prioritize homes who will provide the training and structure necessary to fulfill the Cane Corso's needs. This is a working breed and not suited for everyone. Preference is given to working, sport and/or conformation handlers, though we do place puppies in select companion homes.
Placements are made based on the puppy's expected temperament, drives and personality; and the prospective client's lifestyle and experience. We DO NOT place puppies based on either color or size. There is no set "order" of priority, as placements are made by our assessment of suitability. However, it is easiest for us to place puppies with people who have been on our waitlist well in advance of a litter, as we value and prioritize building a long-term relationship with all prospective homes.
Questions? Ready to join the waitlist? Here to wish us luck competing? Go ahead and get in touch below.
