The Presa Canario dog does have a very imposing stature and many people want to have it as a pet. But you do have to wonder, how does the Presa Canario breed behave around kids? Is it good or not?
The Perro de Presa Canario is a catch dog, which means that they were bred, trained as well as kept in order to catch animals a lot larger than them. This particular breed is also known for being a hunting companion plus a life stock and family protector. They were also used for a dog used for driving hogs and cattle and running off and killing off strange dogs.
Temperament
Most of the time the desired temperament of the Presa Canario is docile and affectionate but as you can expect they can also be very territorial. This makes them wary to strangers most of the time and they are almost always very aggressive with the other dogs it encounters. If you want to train him right, make sure that you bring a confident leadership and practice or train him often. You should also consider an early socialization if you want to maintain the dog under control. If you don’t, you may have an aggressive dog you cannot really deal with physically. That being said they can be extremely loving, obedient and a perfect companion if trained and loved correctly.
How well does it bond with kids?
This will depend on the lifestyle of the Presa Canario. These particular dogs we noticed have a very strong bond with the owners if they are indoors with them when they are sleeping or at home. Do you show your kids how to train the Presa Canario? Do you show them what to or not to do with them? The “master handler” and Alpha figure of the household should be addressing these issues on agreeing on commands as well as brief and multi daily training sessions with your dog. Yes multi sessions per day when they are young! Why would you devote your time and effort into a Presa Canario? Well…
The Perro de Presa Canario is an amazing beast and with daily bonding and training, you can have your young loved ones in the house being protected at all times. We know of several owners who’s kids walk their dogs with full command, and no issues what so ever. Moral of the story is, would you rather have a 150lb. Presa Canario that knows nothing, or one that knows over a dozen commands?
–Not trained/Not bonded with family; Some of the Presa Canario dogs can be aggressive towards all kids including yours, and the interaction between them and a child can lead to bruises at minimum. However, most Presa Canario specimens tend to bond strongly with the family and they will actually display kindness and protection in front of your kids. Overall your family should bond with your Presa Canario if you have the chance to own one. If yours is stored in a cage, don’t expect the bond, caring, or any value from them. Keep in mind that these a very large dogs though so in case your child does upset them, they will react fast and not in a good way.
Owning a Presa Canario is amazing if you want to have a loyal dog around your child but you do need to keep an eye on the dog as much as you can in the first few months of training. It will be a challenge at first, but if you manage and train the dog properly he can be a loving pet. If you do that the Presa Canario will actually be very protective towards your child and honestly it can be a very good thing. Keep in mind though that he might not cope well with kids that are visiting your family as they may not be seen as part of the pack.
Should you get a Presa Canario if you have kids?
YES!
Integrate your Presa Canario into your family life, and the payout is astronomical!
I have a truly exceptional specimen named YaZee the Presa Canario. I could not be happier to have gotten so lucky to share my life with such a gentle giant. I take him to work every day and he is very well socialized. I do however watch very carefully interactions with new potential dog friends he may meet if they are fixed because if they are not it may be a recipe for a negative encounter. YaZee does not chase any prey and gets on well with cats probably because he lives with one. Though he looks in the mirror and sees a lion he really is a lamb. I trust him around children and his only bad habit is that the stick or toy they are holding may be stolen by him. These dogs can be super dangerous due to their bite force and sheer power as his sister that was destroyed at 9 months for behaving in all the wrong and unpredictable ways that you may be unlucky enough to encounter. It had nothing to do with her rearing and was simply due to a screw possibly being loose that could never be corrected. Remember that the jaws of these dogs can exert almost 760 lbs per square inch and what they bite they take. This could result in horrific and fatal injury that no amount of apologizing will correct, so if your unlucky enough to obtain a Presa that is too aggressive consider the consequence. There can never be too much socialization with man or beast for a Presa that you want to be confident of no bad interactions and a long enjoyable life together. Never hit your dog and work their mouth constantly by pulling the tongue gently and scratching the roof of the mouth with your finger. Pull the exterior facial areas and ensure that if your Presa chooses to clamp or use their teeth you say out loud AHHH and no until they realize their mouth is only for eating. Always do this when yourn sight Presa is around and relaxed. Do not encourage licking yet if you have a wound your Presa may try to lick it to help you heal. These dogs need only verbal commands for training and not treats as a reward, praise will do just fine When your going to walk your Presa be sure to say “want to see your friends? ” and when one does come within sight, always say friend, friend, friend. is that your friend to get their tail wagging. Tell your dog when to be careful because the others are either young or old and some just simply small. The more you talk the easier and quicker they will learn. If you have never had experience with guard, bully, large or dangerous dogs, DO NOT GET A PRESA as you will be out of your element and become part of the problem and not the solution. The beauty of having a great dog is wonderful yet the bad dogs can be destroyed and in the majority of the cases it is the owner that is at fault for horrible rearing skills, much like people. Difference is you can put a bad dog down and bad people are housed forever.
We have a 10yr. Old male, fawn, Presa Canario. When we got him at 9 weeks of age, we already had a 1 year old chihuahua. Both males and we did have them fixed at sa me time. And they have been best buddies ever since. I will say one of the first things the trainer taught us was never allow the children to be lower than the dog. This helped a lot , also to step over him , because he always smack in the middle of everything. Love him and his gentleness.
Great advice! We do give training advice to our puppy clients, and that is one of the messages we try to convey. Thank you for posting!
I also have a 3 yr old intact male Presa. He’s a beautiful fawn, and weighs in right at 130lbs. He and his siblings stayed together until 6 months of age, and started their obedience training at 8 weeks of age. I am lucky to have kept my favorite boy as our family pet. He is best friends with our kitties and even accepts and loves on our foster kittens. He even loves our pet rats. Seeing a tiny baby rat climb and hide on a 130lb Presa is definitely a sight to see! I’ve watched a few of your videos and agree wholeheartedly that they can be weary of strangers. My Presa, Pony Boy, will not allow anyone into the house without being properly introduced outside on neutral ground, but once he sees that I am ok with that person, he will relax and become calm and welcome them too. Also, when we are on our longer walks away from the house, he is perfectly fine with strangers. But someone better not just walk in my door, he won’t have any of that! He’s grown up with my son who is now 11, and other than a slight food/toy aggression towards everyone but myself, he is a perfect family pet and protector. I am the Alpha of the household and he is by my side every minute that we are home. Although, I do have my soft side and let him sleep on my bed. Can I ask a couple of questions if you wouldn’t mind? First, where can I find the red leather collar with the hand strap around it? I use a leash that has a handle on both ends, but having a collar with a handle would be wonderful to use inside! Also, I am no spring chicken when it comes to large, potentially aggressive, dog breeds, but he is definitely the largest I have ever owned. There are no vets here familiar with the breed, I did choose a vet that is male and can be firm with him and read him well, but despite all of my tricks, like playing with their feet and toes since he was a tiny puppy, and keeping the nail clippers sitting out so that he can see them, and sometimes just just touching him with them so that he learns not to be scared, he still refuses to have his nails trimmed! I read that his particular breed is usually pretty good at keeping their nails short themselves, and he walks on sidewalks, roads, and walking trails, so with that tell tale Presa gate, his nails shouldn’t be much of an issue, but he does have a few that just need to be trimmed and he won’t let anyone do it. Even muzzled, he is too strong for the vet and his techs to trim his nails. The vet said if he doesn’t get them down in the next few weeks by himself, then we may be looking at putting him under anesthesia just for a nail trim. I would like to avoid that at all costs! Do you have any tips or tricks that you think may help? Thanks so much!
Sarah and Pony Boy
Thank you for sharing that fantastic story about your Presa Canario! You can find that collar on amazon or similar sites by looking up an “agitation collar”. You should look up the reviews though before purchasing as some are not built to last a decent amount of time. As far as the nail trimming is involved, putting them under anesthesia is probably a little too invasive JUST for that, but I really don’t know how bad it is. Walking him on concrete over a long period of time should at least manage that.. but since you may not have that in your backyard then the occasional walk may just not cut it. You can always try the dremel method starting with the longest nails first and on low speed. Turn it on and maybe even try the buffer bits of the dremel to show him it isn’t bad at all. Be careful though as it will produce heat if you keep it on a nail for too long. I would suggest that over a nail clipping as it will freak both of you out if you hit the “quick” because generally the nails of a presa canario are black, and you cant see them. Hope this helps!
Find some ground with a slightly more abrasive material (school running track, sandy sidewalk) give him a jog along that, it will naturally help file those nails down!
Awesome suggestion which I never pointed out. Thank you!!!
We bought a pup and have been having issues with hi ever since… I have never encountered a more frightened pup than this dog! I’m not sure what to do at this point and would appreciate any suggestions. We love him but it is so hard to do anything with him because of how scarred he is!
Have you discussed this issue with the breeder? I hope there wasn’t any mistreatment of the puppy when they had him. Help him adjust to his new surroundings by talking to him sweet when introducing him to new places. If he was given to you more early than 8 weeks of age, this would absolutely be one of the reasons why he is so scared. The pack bonds together and understand as a unity of what is right, wrong, etc. Be gentle with him, pump him up mentally, and try to have fun with him. Its not very easy to describe what to do in a few short paragraphs, but hopefully this helps you and your presa canario puppy
I’ve always had German Shepherd’s, I bought a Male Presa last year and he was looked after by my alpha shepherd Samson, he’s just wonderful and a great edition to the 5 dog crew. I was a little afraid to have him around my shepherd’s as a puppy, the gsd loved him right away and I think that really helped. The neighbour down the block has a monster sized pitbull that constantly gets loose, I was watering the bushes turned around saw him charging me, I calmly whistled for Samson the older male shepherd and by the time I saw Samson’s nose come out the front door, Ranger my presa had this pitbull on its back instantly….i thought he was going to kill it but he just looked at Samson like “what should I do next Sir ?.. lol it was like a freight train hitting a motorcycle. That dog never gets out anymore oddly enough. Wonderful breed but I can see how untrained it can be a real issue.
Hi, we have a male Presa who is around 6 months old. We have had him since he was 8wks old (we think he was younger than that, but the breeder deceived us pretty good).
He was a great puppy, easy to redirect and we started socializing him from the beginning, with neighbors and our children.
Recently he has become so destructive, chewing off and eating parts of our house (interior and exterior) chewing on the cable lines, and digging them up to rip them out. We walk him at least once a day, take him running, play fetch, buy him all different kinds of chew toys and bones. It seems like we tire him out and just as we turn our backs on him, he’s digging and chewing off something he shouldn’t be. We redirect him all the time and he sometimes will snap at us when he go to grab his collar to put him away for doing something bad.
I’m not sure if this is a faze he is going through, or if he is just a destructive pup in general. Our other presa was not this much of a handful.
Any advice would be great, thanks.
All presa canario puppies are generally very chewy for the first year of their lives. This is generally to be a concern if it is getting out of hand, which it seems like it is. Go ahead and try more one on one stimulation and obedience training with your puppy for longer periods of time as he gets older. Keeping the perro de presa canario dog entertained with appropriate activities is the quickest way to remedy behavioral issues we have found. Proper walks, general commands reinforced lovingly, proper living environment and diet can all play in the comfort or discomfort of your loved presa. Hope this helps!
I own a female Presa, she is my first Presa, but I have over 30 years experience with German Shepherds as police dogs. I do say, Presa’s are much more superior. I also have a variety of small dogs in which she was raised with, and a cat she plays with. I do say, these dogs are not for the timed or weak voices, they need authority and absolute for direction. When I do breed her, pups will not go to bee dog owners or improperly educated people, and because I live in a high gang area, not one will be sold in the county of where I live.
We are getting a 12 month old female Presa in a couple of weeks from a very reputable breeder. We currently have a 10 year old intact Chihuahua/Terrier mixed male and a fixed 2 year old Boxer/American Bulldog mixed female both of which are super sweet. Our female who is almost 80lbs is a gentle giant. We have two small children ages 4 and 7 who both get along well with our other dogs. Any advice before we bring our new pup, the Presa, home?
We honestly don’t throw advice around for other peoples presa canario’s as its a huge liability issue for us. For our clients, I do give all my secrets and training advice as I would never want my clients to have to google search how to train their presa canario puppy. That being said, we do have several articles here that you can go over that would give you some solid advice on your training. Best bet is to ask that breeder on all their tips, tricks, recommendations, etc.
So our recommendation would be to NOT get another dog of Presa Canario especially. Why? For one the Presa Canario can be very combative of the same breed regardless of gender as it’s in their very nature to be that way. That being said it seems you have may already reserve this puppy from another Presa Canario breeder which should now advise you on at the very least basic training advice on this. We require our clients to get professional training for our Presa Canario puppies we sell to them, so it is definitely something for you to consider. Also integration with the existing pack of dogs maybe a challenge for you. Since you are reaching out for our opinion we need to give it to you without any “frosting”. Hope this helps and best of luck to you!!
Hello you guys my boyfriend is about to purchase a presa in a few weeks and I am very very nervous because I am afraid of dogs and because I have a 7 yr. Old Now my bestie has st. Benard that I’m not afraid of and my 7 yr. Daughter hangs out with 2 pitbulls that she isn’t afraid at her friend’s and out the 6 yrs my boyfriend and I have been dating this is the 1st time pet for us and because of this breed massive size I’m nervous with this dog around my baby please any and every body give me advice because I know that I can’t be a scary cat around this giant lol
Hello Lavette and we are happy to hear you have invested in a Presa Canario puppy for your family. We highly suggest bonding with your Presa Canario consistently as much as possible. This includes proper obedience training, walking, socializing with animals and people and more. This is a special breed and must have great guidance. Check the articles we have on here and the videos on our website here as well for some tips. It’s not easy, but with love and proper guidance, these are the best dogs ever.
My wife and I recently adopted a purebred presa at 3 years of age. We have had him six months (he is now 4) and he has become an Angel around the house. Wheras his behaviour was erratic initially… Now that we have gotten a bigger house with a large backyard, my wife is obsessed with the idea of getting a new dog… My question is with bringing a new dog into the household is it better to bring a puppy?adult? or never do so at all with an adult male? He was named Hades and dealt with as a bit of a problem child since birth. He has not been brought around dogs or children his whole life… for fear something bad might happen. He was kept in the cage almost 24hrs a day… When we adopted him he was insane for about a month in general.. he has gradually calmed down with love and being free and out of his cage he has become a lot less aggressive ( but still can become very alert to dogs his size) he no longer really goes after other dogs or anyone in general ( unless large dogs bark at him or people get jumpy). I still do not socialize him with dogs to keep things on a positive note:) So now I’m wondering if getting a new dog is such a great idea… (We tried to have puppies although it didn’t work as the vet said the female was too old) I’m wondering if any presa experts can shed light on whether getting another adult or a puppy would be the best idea.
We would not recommend another dog or Presa Canario at this point for you. The presa canario dog can be combative with other dogs especially the ones that have not been raised around the others. This is not just from what we have seen personally, but from many clients around the world. Now, there is not too many definates in life, so if you are able to train and work your way around the almost certain issue to arrise, we will be thrilled for you. You think he is okay because he is fine with other dogs in public, but when it comes to the house, yard, bed, etc. it may be a much different story.
Best of luck either way to you and thanks for reaching out to us!
I’m from Argentina. I have a female presa canario, I bring at home at 3 months old. I met sir and Dam. She was with pups, while Dad was fence separated, and with other two mixed males. Now my girl Is six m.o. She was rised with my two boxers (a 15 y.o. old lady, and an 8 y.o. boy, who Is not neutered), an my french bulldog. Two weeks ago She attacked my frenchie, and didn’t respond. I corrected her and reforce training on leash, even with food. I have a Lot of experience with dogs of many breeds. I trained myself all of my dogs since I was only 9. And I’m 40 y.o. now. I usted to bred Bichón frise, and I was a dog groomer. So not a novice owner… Yesterday, I wasn’t at home, She snapped and attacked my frenchie almost to dead. Three times as neighbours said. They manage to separate them, with water hose, as all my propertty heavily Is fenced, so they couldn’t get in. It took me about 40 min to get home, just in time to get my poor Piggy to the vet, and save her. I am really concerned now about my presa, as this kind of agression being so young, even before maturity Is very scary. My neighbours said, She left her when frenchie fell as If dead, but when She moved for a Split second, She attacked again. My boxer tried to protect the frenchie, but, not much that he could do…I really really need some advice.
I also have a 14y.o. rottie, fenced separate from the others, as he was already on this house when I moved in, because his owners past away. They all live outside of the house, as it Is Small, and inside I live with two yorkies, of 8 y.o. both. I was never advised by breeders ( and I really asked!) That they didn’t take along with others dogs. I never had any issue like this with none of my dogs. Sorry for my bad english, I would apreciate any advice, as there are only few presa in my country, and no reliable info.
Is it a common behavior among them? Would it be possible some behavior modification? Or put her on the rottie (male neutered) área? I couldn’t walk her out, because of tons of neighbours dogs on the Street..with no responsible owners at all around. Thanks in Advance.
You need to consult with a reputable and known PROFESSIONAL dog trainer in your area that has worked with large dogs and specifically the Presa Canario. This is the only advice I can give as this is a huge liability for us if we do advise you. For our presa canario clients, they are all required to get them professional training.
Ok, I understand. I’m rehoming her to a police office who works k-9 section, and has experience on this type of breed. I explained him on detail, every fact I know about. The only concern I have Is that he has kids, but he told me it Is only a dog-aggression issue. I’m really sorry of all that happend and I’m sure it’s not dog’s fault. It must be mine. I have no others chances as my family Is already tío scared of her, and that would never lead to a good result. Thanks a Lot
I must add, that working on loose leash, Is the most intelligent dog I ever worked or own. Even superior to the german sheffers I has and was rised with, wich untill now, I consideres on top. She does obbey on leash to Yet simple commands, not trained off leash Yet Thou. She sits, walks, carry objects on command, and I was deeply working on letting off objects on command and food. But needs plenty More training yet. Socialize outside my house might be difficult because of so many dogs around. (My neighbourhood looks More like México movies, no asphalt, many kids, many dogs on the Street) But I have this horrible feeling of that loose screw She may have, that makes her snap out of her mind. I’m open to all possibilities, training, rehome (but only to a dog trainer single dog enviroment), and eutanasia If none of that Is possible. I would ve really sorry If I have to take that option, but If She snaps out to a kid the same way? Oh, regarding my family, I have a 15y.o. daughter, and a wife. I’m a woman too .So no kids, and really few to no friends come home, because we live too many miles away from where we used to live, in the Capitol city.
Hi
I have a 18 mth old Presa named Hank
We just love him as he is a huge lap dog
He does however have a tendency to growl and nip at a couple younger girls in our circle of friends. I am concerned and not really sure what to do. I have not been at home each time that has happened therefore unable to discipline him.
Can you please give some assistance here .
Thank you kindly
Hugh
You definitely want to consult a professional trainer in your area as this can result in something you do not want in the end. Our puppies are trained from the start and we advise our clients in person or virtually on how to train them. This breed requires it and you will absolutely need to address this immediately. There can be a plethora of reasons why your presa is behaving negatively. Ask the kids what is happening when he does this first in order to access the situation and the “trigger”. Best of luck in your situation and we hope you get it resolved.
Hi I have a 11 week old Pressa canario, he’s very friendly and very loving. I also have a 6 year old black lab. They’re friends and they play together, I’m just concerned for when my Pressa is full grown will there be problems hahah
There always can be issues later down the line. Train them to be good to each other or it can just be a roll of the dice on how they come out.
How much for a BIG HEAD ALL BLACK MALE GO FOR?
We don’t have abnormally big headed Presa Canario as this isn’t a pitbull. Pricing can be found on our reservation page here for the best of homes only and no breeders.