Be warned in advance, I may get a little bit passionate on this page.
If you do a search for information about this breed you'll find a bunch of half truth's written by people that have been paid to write a random article. You may hear that they are dangerous. You'll also hear that they are not for inexperienced dog owners. You'll hear all kinds of other stupid stuff, too.
I'm telling you from the perspective of an owner of Presa Canarios. I'm just a regular person, with no 'formal' dog training skills. We are also an active family, full of teenagers and all of their friends. So, with that in mind, here I go.
Without a doubt, the Presa Canario is a strong, powerful breed. I mean, think about it. If a Chihuahua bites you, nothing happens. If a Presa bites, you're in trouble because of their sheer size!
The Presa Canario is by nature protective. They are also loyal, loving and mild tempered. My female loves company, although new friends are often intimidated by her size! On her protective side, she barks impressively at the gate, but when I let someone in, she's finished protecting and ready to be friends. In fact, I'd like to add, she's afraid of frogs and peeing in the dark by herself! The dad is also mild tempered, playful and maybe just a bit lazy. Neither have an aggressive bone in their body.
What all dogs meed is to be trained, loved, respected and taught their place in life. Pretty much the same as teenagers, now that I think about it. You don't need special training in order to own a Presa Canario puppy, you just need common sense.
You need to understand that ALL dogs have a special set of rules in their head. It's called pack order. All dogs orient themselves in a pecking order with the family. If a dog thinks that their place is above your kid, that dog will think that he has permission to boss the kid around. Again, if it's a Chihuahua who thinks that his the boss (they often do!) it's not as big of a deal as it could be with a bigger dog.
So you need to let your Presa know from day one (we're helping you out here!) that they are the dog, and on the bottom of the totem pole! This doesn't mean that you need to be mean, pack order is made clear through tone of voice, rules and consistent training. When dogs (and puppies) clearly know where they belong, they feel safe, secure and happy. Dogs that aren't sure where they belong try to establish a place and climb the ladder. They try breaking the rules and calling the shots to see if they can climb up a notch. THIS is what creates trouble. (Haha! Again, like teenagers!)
For example, I had a 4 week old puppy that suddenly decided that he didn't want to be in his crate to sleep. When he whined, I let him go potty (which he did), gave him a bit to eat and put him back in his crate. He whined more and I knew he just wanted to get out. A firm 'NO' silenced him. He tried again after about 15 minutes, another firm 'NO,' and he was done testing the rule. End of story, puppy knows his place. He now sleeps in his crate with no issues.
As a side note, you NEVER teach pack order to any dog through violence!
When you buy one of my puppies, you'll already have a puppy that understands his or her place. For example, my puppies are only allowed to whine if they have to go potty or if they are hungry. This is super easy to teach when it's taught from birth. You won't have any bad habits to break!
In conclusion, just keep training your puppy after you get him. Teaching him to obey in his first months of life are VITAL, because he's going to get big really fast. Once he understands that you are the boss, you'll have a happy, healthy, secure and well adjusted Presa Canario puppy.
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