Questions, Answered
Every question a serious Cane Corso buyer should ask before applying — answered honestly, in plain language, by the breeders themselves. If your question isn't here, reach out directly.
The Cane Corso is a large, confident working breed with strong guarding instincts and a deep bond to its family — and those traits don't change just because the dog is raised in a suburban living room. If you've never owned a large working breed before, this is a significant step up from retrievers, shepherds, or other "family dogs." A Corso needs structured training from week one, consistent leadership, daily exercise, and a family that's prepared for a dog that takes its role in the household seriously.
With the right family, the Cane Corso is one of the most loyal and stable companions a household can have. But it is not the right dog for a family that wants a low-maintenance pet, and it's not forgiving of inconsistent training. Before applying, we strongly recommend reading the breed standard, talking to current Corso owners, and being honest about what you can commit to over the next ten to twelve years.
Prior large-breed experience is a significant advantage, but it's not a strict requirement. What matters more is your willingness to commit to early structured training, enroll in obedience classes, and seek out a qualified trainer familiar with working breeds. First-time large-dog owners have successfully raised Corsos — but they did it by treating training as non-negotiable, not optional.
During our application review, we'll ask about your history with dogs, your training plans, and your household setup. If you're a first-time working-breed owner, that isn't automatically disqualifying — it just means we'll want to have a longer conversation about what support you'll have in place, and we may recommend a specific pairing within a litter based on temperament fit.
The first step is filling out our Puppy Application. It asks about your household, your experience with dogs, your training plans, your living situation (home type, fencing, other pets, children), your typical daily schedule, and what you're looking for in a puppy — companion, show prospect, or working home. We read every application personally.
Submitting the application doesn't commit you to anything. It starts the conversation. If we think there may be a good fit, we'll schedule a call to talk in more detail and answer your questions. Only after that conversation do we discuss specific litters, timelines, and deposits.
Because we produce a very limited number of litters per year, wait times vary significantly based on what you're looking for. A family flexible on sex, color, and litter timing can often be matched within the current or next litter. A family with specific preferences — a particular color, a show-prospect pick, or a specific sire/dam pairing — may wait longer.
[TODO: Typical waitlist range in months from deposit to pickup for a flexible family vs. a family with specific preferences.]
We'd rather tell you honestly that the next appropriate litter is six months out than rush you into a mismatched puppy. If you're on a tight timeline and flexibility isn't an option, we'll tell you upfront and help you decide whether waiting makes sense.
Every parent is cleared before breeding with a full health panel. That includes OFA hip and elbow evaluations scored by a board-certified radiologist, a cardiac clearance performed by a certified cardiologist, and a breed-specific DNA panel screening for the hereditary conditions known to affect Cane Corsos. No pairing happens until all of that paperwork is in hand.
We're happy to share the actual test results — not just a summary — before you place a deposit. If a breeder won't show you paperwork from a neutral third party, that's the most important red flag in the entire buying process.
[TODO: Confirm exact panel names, registry, DNA test brand, and retesting cadence.]
We offer a two-year written health guarantee on every Exolinez puppy. The guarantee covers severe hereditary and congenital defects — the kind of issues responsible health testing is meant to prevent. That means genetic hip and elbow dysplasia, other major joint and structural defects, and similar hereditary conditions that trace back to the pairing rather than management or environment.
If a covered condition appears within the two-year window, we need you to notify us and provide a bill of health from a licensed veterinarian within 24–48 hours of the diagnosis. From there you have two options: you can return the dog to us, or you can choose a similar pick from an upcoming Exolinez litter as a replacement. We make it right at the source.
What the guarantee does not cover: issues caused by neglect, mistreatment, injury, over-exercising a growing puppy on hard surfaces, obesity from overfeeding, infectious diseases from the environment, or any management-related problems. It also does not cover veterinary bills — we cover the dog (replacement or take-back), but reimbursement for vet expenses, medications, or ongoing treatment is not part of the contract. This is standard across reputable breeders because vet costs are unbounded and unpredictable; what we stand behind is the dog and keeping the family whole.
Every Exolinez puppy goes home with age-appropriate vaccinations, a completed deworming schedule, a microchip registered in your name, a written health certificate from our veterinarian issued within the days before pickup, and AKC registration paperwork. We do not send puppies home with vaccinations missing, deworming incomplete, or without a recent vet check.
You'll receive a puppy binder at pickup with every vet record, the vaccination schedule for the next several rounds, a copy of the health certificate, and the contact information for our veterinarian in case your vet has questions. Our goal is that your first visit to your own vet is purely a well-puppy check, not a catch-up appointment.
Call us immediately. Seriously — don't wait, don't "see how it goes," don't try to figure it out on your own. We want to know right away, and we want to be on the phone with you (and, if needed, your vet) while you're working through it. Most issues new owners panic about in the first few weeks turn out to be normal puppy development once we walk through them together.
If it turns out to be something genuinely covered by the two-year health guarantee, the process is: notify us within 24–48 hours of the diagnosis, send us a bill of health from your licensed veterinarian documenting the condition, and we'll honor the contract. You'll have two options — return the dog to us, or pick a similar replacement puppy from an upcoming Exolinez litter. Veterinary bills themselves are not reimbursed, but the dog is covered.
Outside of worst-case clauses, the real value of "lifetime support" is in the breeder being on the other end of the phone at month three when you're convinced something is wrong and we can tell you within two minutes whether it actually is. Most of the time that's what you'll actually need us for.
We publish three pricing tiers with honest ranges. Standard Companion puppies are $3,500 – $4,500 depending on pick of the litter. Show Prospect puppies — selected during our 7–8 week structural evaluation — are $4,000 – $5,500, also based on pick of the litter. Breeding Rights are an optional add-on to either tier for approved programs, running +$4,000 – $6,000 on top of the base puppy price.
Full details and what's included at each tier are on the Puppies page. The final price for your specific puppy is locked the day you place your deposit — no surprise upsells, no "premium pick" fees that appear at pickup. We don't auction puppies, we don't bid between interested families, and we don't raise the price once a specific puppy has been matched to you. The number you agree to at deposit is the number you pay at pickup.
Our puppy deposit is $500 and is non-refundable. The deposit secures your place in a specific litter and is applied toward the final puppy price at pickup. It's non-refundable as a general rule because it protects everyone in the process — we turn away other approved families once a litter is committed, so the deposit is the commitment that makes the match real on both sides.
That said, the deposit is transferable: if a litter doesn't produce the match we discussed, or if we can't place an appropriate puppy with you, we roll your $500 forward to the next Exolinez litter at no cost. You don't lose your place, and you don't lose your deposit.
If you need to withdraw for a genuine life reason (job loss, family emergency, medical), call us directly and we'll work with you in good faith. We are not in the business of keeping deposits from families going through real hardship — but outside of those circumstances, the $500 is non-refundable because it's what separates a real commitment from a maybe.
We do not offer third-party financing, and we strongly discourage families from taking on financing to buy a Cane Corso. The initial purchase price is the smallest part of the total cost of owning this breed — food, vet care, training, insurance, and gear over the dog's lifetime will dwarf the up-front number. If the purchase price is a stretch, the ongoing costs will be a serious problem, and that's not fair to the dog.
We do accept deposit-and-balance-at-pickup as a two-payment structure, which gives families time between approval and pickup to prepare the balance. Beyond that, we expect the full balance at pickup.
Yes — and honestly, we prefer it. Picking your puppy up in person lets you meet us, see the environment the puppy was raised in, meet the parents when possible, and start the relationship on the right foot. The drive home is also the ideal first bonding window, and nothing in the delivery world beats that.
When you arrive, we'll spend time walking you through the puppy binder, answering last-minute questions, and making sure you leave with everything you need — from the starter food and familiar bedding to our direct phone numbers for the first week at home.
We do not put puppies in cargo holds. For families outside driving range, we offer two alternatives: in-cabin flight nanny service, where a vetted pet courier flies the puppy in the cabin as a carry-on passenger; or we can meet you at an agreed-upon location if the logistics make sense. For nearby states, ground transport with a reputable licensed pet transporter is also an option.
All delivery options are at the buyer's expense and arranged after the match is confirmed. We'll give you honest cost estimates upfront so there are no surprises, and we'll only recommend couriers we've personally vetted.
[TODO: Typical delivery cost ranges for flight nanny and ground transport.]
Exolinez puppies go home at eight weeks minimum, and sometimes a week or two later depending on the individual puppy's readiness. Eight weeks is the earliest responsible age — earlier than that and the puppy hasn't finished critical litter-mate socialization, which affects bite inhibition and dog-dog behavior for life.
If we think a specific puppy would benefit from an extra week with the litter before going home, we'll hold it and tell you why. That's a judgment call we make as the breeders, not one we negotiate on.
Every Exolinez puppy goes home with a starter pack including: a bag of the exact food the puppy is currently eating (so you can transition gradually if you switch brands), a piece of bedding that smells like the litter (critical for the first few nights), a written feeding schedule and grow-up guide, the puppy binder with every vet record and AKC paperwork, the microchip registration, the signed health contract, and our direct phone numbers.
The physical pack matters, but the real value is the information in it. The binder answers 90% of the questions new owners have during the first month at home — from feeding amounts by age, to when to start training, to what to expect during the first vet visit.
[TODO: Exact starter food brand and any additional items included in the pack.]
Before pickup day, you should have in place: an appropriately sized crate (with a divider so you can adjust as the puppy grows), stainless steel food and water bowls, a well-fitted flat collar and 6-foot leash, baby gates for zone management, a few chew toys rated for large-breed puppies, an enzyme cleaner for inevitable accidents, and a reserved first appointment with your veterinarian within the first week.
Just as important: decide in advance where the puppy will sleep, what the house rules are (furniture/no furniture, which rooms are off-limits), and who in the household is responsible for what. A Cane Corso that receives consistent rules from day one becomes a stable adult. A Corso that gets different rules from different people becomes confused and anxious — neither of which is fair to the dog.
Training starts the moment the puppy walks in the door. Basic structure — crate, leash manners, house training, name recognition, sit — begins in week one. A proper puppy class (with a trainer experienced in large working breeds) should start between weeks ten and twelve, after the second round of vaccines. Waiting until six months to "start training" is how people end up with a 90-pound teenager they can't control.
We strongly recommend a trainer who uses balanced, positive-leaning methods and understands guardian breeds — not a franchise class where the trainer is uncomfortable around your puppy. If you need a referral in your area, ask us during the approval process. We've helped new owners find good trainers in dozens of states.
Less than you'd think, and more than you'd think — at different ages. The growing Cane Corso puppy needs controlled, low-impact exercise: short structured walks, free play in a soft-surface yard, and lots of rest. You do not jog, bike, or hike long distances with a Corso under twelve to eighteen months — their growth plates are still closing, and repetitive high-impact exercise on hard surfaces is one of the fastest routes to permanent joint damage.
Once the dog is physically mature, exercise needs ramp up significantly. An adult Corso is happiest with daily purposeful exercise — long walks, structured play, weight-pull or drafting work, swimming — plus mental work through obedience or protection sports. A bored adult Corso is not a calm adult Corso. We cover age-by-age exercise guidelines in the puppy binder so you have a specific plan for each stage.
Exolinez has been raising Cane Corsos for six-plus years, with hundreds of puppies placed across fifty-plus states. Before our first Cane Corso litter, we spent years on the AKC show circuit with French Bulldogs — which is where we learned to read structure, study pedigrees, and take breed preservation seriously. You can read the full story on the Meet the Breeder page.
We produce a deliberately limited number of litters per year. We'll never give you an exact number because it depends on which of our bitches are in the right condition in a given year and whether the right pairings are available. What we can promise is that we will never squeeze in an extra breeding for revenue — if the right pairing isn't there, we wait until it is.
We don't run a kennel — we raise puppies in our home. For that reason, and because newborn and young puppies are vulnerable to diseases carried in on visitors' shoes and clothes (parvovirus is the big concern), we're selective about in-person visits. Once puppies are past their early vaccine rounds and an application has been reviewed and approved, we're generally happy to arrange a visit for serious, deposit-ready families.
Before that point, we share video calls, photos, and live-stream moments generously. If you want to see the parents, the whelping area, the puppies running around the living room — we'll show you on video. The in-person visit is reserved for pickup or late-stage approved families, and that's a biosecurity decision made on behalf of the puppies, not a red flag.
Still Have Questions?
If your question isn't covered here, or if you'd rather talk through something specific to your family, get in touch. We answer every serious inquiry personally — not a sales team, not an autoresponder.