How Long Can You Leave a Cane Corso Home Alone?

It baffles me how many dog owners can’t leave their dog alone in the apartment even for a moment. This doesn’t have to be the case. If you start teaching your Cane Corso to be alone from a young age, you will have no problem leaving him home alone.

Can You Leave a Cane Corso Home Alone? An adult Cane Corso can be left alone for 8-9 hours during the day, while a puppy under 4 months shouldn’t be left alone for more than 4 hours as they need additional attention and more frequent potty breaks.

As a rule, you can leave a puppy alone for the number of hours that they are old in months, for example: at 4 months you can leave them alone for 4 hours, at 5 months it’s 5 hours, and so on…

If you are working a full-time job and you aren’t sure if raising a Cane Corso can fit into your daily schedule, I want to assure you that it is possible, it will just require some extra effort while he is still a puppy.

Teaching Your Cane Corso to Be Alone

From an early age, we have to get our puppy used to the idea that he can’t always come with us everywhere we go. Teach your puppy from the start that you leaving the house is an ordinary, regular event. Help your Corso build tolerance for being alone by practicing brief departures and absences.

Start slowly in the beginning and leave him alone for 5 minutes in the room where his bed is. If he behaves well in those 5 minutes praise him and give him treats. But if he starts to bark or whine, immediately go into the room and correct him.

Gradually lengthen your absences to 10, 15, 30minutes, and so on. Your dog will get more and more confident that you will return, and will accept your absences as a normal part of life.

Another good trick is to create a habit of giving your dog his favorite treat just as you leave home, your dog will have something to look forward to when he sees that you’re dressing up to leave the house. The goal is to teach our dogs that being left alone is a positive or at least a neutral event.

A mistake many owners make is that they turn this situation (owner leaving the house) into a negative event. As they leave the house they are apologizing to the dog "ohh sorry I'll be right back", they are hugging the dog and are making a huge deal out of it. Of course, the dog will interpret being left alone as a big deal if you yourself are making a big fuss out of it.

Stay consistent and follow through with this training procedure, and when your Cane Corso turns 6 months old, he will be able to stay alone for 6 hours and more.

Leaving an Adult Cane Corso Home Alone

Before we talk about raising a puppy with a full-time job, I want you to know exactly what you can look forward to by showing you the possibilities of an adult Cane Corso.

Cane Corsos are highly intelligent and adaptable dogs. If you raise them right they will become remarkably trustworthy and independent. Of course, each individual dog is different, and some dogs will need a little more time to adapt and learn to be alone.

But eventually, when a Cane Corso learns the house rules and accepts your absence as a normal event, he will be able to handle being alone during your 8-10 hour workday without trouble.

An adult Cane Corso should never be left in a crate for 8-10 hours when you leave. You can only leave him in a crate for a couple of hours if you are in a hotel room or something of that kind. A well-trained and conditioned adult Cane Corso can be trusted to roam free around the house (and yard if he has a dog door).

Here’s a list of some basic things you need to do before you leave for work.

• Leave a bucket of water or 2 bowls of water. The reason I say this is because a bowl of water is easy to knock over, so if your dog accidentally knocks over one bowl, he has the other one. I use a square bucket, they are almost impossible to knock over.
• Give enough activity before you leave. Hit two birds with one stone. A morning workout is super healthy for you too, not just your dog. Go for a walk or run, or play ball before you leave for work, it will help your dog be more relaxed in his time alone.
• Provide a chew toy. Like many dogs, Cane Corsos express anxiety through chewing. If your dog still hasn’t learned the house rules and you don’t want to come back home to see your favorite shoes all chewed up, don’t forget to give your Corso his favorite chew toy before you leave.
• Close the gate. If your dog has access to the yard through a dog door, you need to ensure that your gate is closed and your fence is big enough. If your dog starts to get anxious, he might want to jump the fence to follow you or to explore. I have a 6-foot fence and it works great. You mustn’t have some boxes or anything similar up against the fence that your Corso can use to climb up the fence.

I have complete trust in both my 7-year-old and 5-year-old Cane Corsos that they will behave well while I’m gone. As a matter of fact, my family and I went to an out-of-town wedding, and we were gone for more than 16 hours without worrying about them. I took them out for a walk before we took off, and we made sure that they have plenty of food and water to eat and drink.

They did absolutely great, but it’s worth mentioning that my yard has a 6-foot privacy fence and I have a well-insulated dog house in the yard, the weather was nice so decided to leave them in the yard so they can pee when they need to, and if it starts to rain, they can seek shelter in the dog house.

Our dogs live with us in the house, but having a dog house really comes in handy in these situations. If I was living in an apartment without a yard, I would probably ask my neighbor, or a friend to take the dogs out to potty and stretch their legs, or hire a dog walker, 16+ hours is a long time to hold it.

Look, this isn’t something that I would like to happen often, and many people will give rigorous answers and advice like “You should never leave your dog alone!”, “NO! you can’t have a full-time job and raise a Cane Corso, they require your full attention bla bla bla bla…” And they would be right, if we lived in a fantasy world… But we don’t live in a fantasy world, do we? Most of us work full-time jobs to provide for our family and our amazing Cane Corsos.

I’m tired of these “elitist” Cane Corso owners telling everyone that you can’t raise a Cane Corso if you don’t meet some bogus requirements. I want to assure you that it is possible to raise a puppy while working a full-time job. In my opinion, a Cane Corso is the best breed for full-time workers due to their temperament and adaptability to living situations.

Raising a Cane Corso Puppy with a Full-Time Job

Unlike the independent and self-sufficient adult Cane Corso, leaving a puppy home alone is far more complicated. Especially if they are not yet potty-trained and don’t quite understand the house rules. Even if they are potty trained and understand that they shouldn’t do it in the house, puppies’ bladders are still small, and they need more frequent potty breaks.

Other than their need for potty breaks, puppies are more prone to separation anxiety than adult Cane Corsos. I suggest you crate train your puppy if are working a full-time job and you have to leave your puppy home alone daily.

We’ll talk about crate training in a minute but first, let’s take a look at how you can organize your day to help your puppy go through the day with the least discomfort.

1. Morning Routine – Raising a puppy requires you to wake up for work a little earlier than you normally do. Take your puppy for a walk and play ball or any other game, the focus is to tire out your puppy as much as you can. A 20-minute walk should be enough, but it wouldn’t hurt if you could squeeze in even more time.
2. Potty Break – Try to empty your puppy as much as possible before leaving for work.
3. Give Food and Water – Feed your puppy before you leave. People say you shouldn’t leave food and water in a puppy crate because they can tip over the bowls and make a soggy mess in the crate. That is true, but if you are gone for 8 hours or more your puppy needs access to food and water. Luckily there are solutions like clip-on bowls and water bottles.
4. Put Your Puppy in a Crate – Put your puppy in a crate 10-15 minutes before leaving. The crate needs to have enough room for the puppy to comfortably turn around, but should still be small enough that your puppy feels “tucked in.”
5. Family Smells – Fill the crate with a couple of items that have your family members’ scents on them. This will help your pup feel safer and more relaxed when you are not there. This could be some blankets or old shirts you have.
6. Give Chew Toys – Leave your pup’s favorite chew toys in the crate, so he doesn’t chew on his food bowl if he gets anxious. No puzzle/stimulation toys though, this should be sleepy time, not playtime.
7. Check up on Your Puppy – If your work allows you to check up on your puppy during lunch break, you should stop by your home to let your puppy out for a potty break, check if he needs more food or water, then put him back in the crate. If your work doesn’t allow you to swing by your house, try to find another solution. Family members, friends, neighbors, or even a dog walker, you have to find someone to take your puppy for a potty break and even a little walk. The advantage here is that a Cane Corso puppy is adorable, and not intimidating like an adult Cane Corso. If you have a dog-loving neighbor he will surely want to help you out just so he can play with your puppy. I mean, who wouldn’t want to cuddle and play with an adorable Cane Corso puppy right?
8. Coming Home – When you come home you must remain calm and fight the urge to greet your puppy in an overly excited manner, overly excited greetings can increase your pup’s separation anxiety. Take your puppy out of the crate, praise him for being a good boy that day, take him for a walk, potty break and give him food and water. Then you can go on about playing and giving him lots of attention.

If your Cane Corso puppy is crate trained and potty trained but he still pees inside the crate, that means that you are leaving him alone for too long. You have to find a way to give him more potty breaks. If you can’t find a way to give him more potty breaks, you can buy those potty pads, but I don’t think that’s a good idea, as they will ruin your potty-training efforts.

How to Crate Train a Cane Corso Puppy

As I said earlier, I don’t recommend crating adult Cane Corsos, but I think it’s the best way to train your puppies to endure their alone time while you are at work.

However, you should never put your puppy in its crate as a form of punishment. You want the crate to be a joyful place, and you want your puppy to associate going into the crate with positive experiences like getting treats and praises.

Crate train your Cane Corso puppy in 6 steps.

1. Crate Spot – You want your puppy to feel like he is still with the family even when he is in his crate. Have the crate placed in a well-lit, comfortable, and confined area with “family smells” such as a gated-off kitchen, the living room, or wherever your family tends to spend the most time.
2. Encouragement – Encourage your puppy to enter the crate by throwing treats around the crate, slowly tossing the treats closer to the entrance, and finally all the way inside the crate. Don’t force him to enter, be patient, this step may take anywhere between a few minutes up to several days. If treats aren’t working, try tossing his favorite toy in the crate.
3. Make it a “Den” – Make the puppy see the crate as his own little “den” by placing his favorite toys, food, and water bowls in it. I recommend using the clip-on bowls so he doesn’t accidentally tip them over.
   • When your puppy gets comfortable with eating in the crate, start closing the door behind him when he eats. The first time, open the door immediately after he finishes his meal.
   • With each mealtime, leave the door closed a couple of minutes longer until your puppy can stay in the crate for 15 minutes or so after eating.
4. Practice Extending the Crating Periods – Call your puppy in the crate, give him a treat and close the door. Make a habit of giving a voice cue such as “crate” just as he’s about to go in, and when he gets in, immediately praise and give him a treat.
   • After closing the door, sit quietly near the crate for 5 to 10 minutes and then leave the room for another 5 minutes. Return, wait a couple of minutes, and then calmly let him out.
   • Repeat this exercise several times a day, gradually reducing the time near the crate, and gradually increasing the time you’re out of sight.
5. Crate Your Puppy When You Leave – Once your puppy can handle being in the crate for 30 minutes while you are in another room (out of sight) you can begin leaving them in the crate when you leave home for shorter periods of time, like going grocery shopping or running errands.
   • When arriving home keep it subtle, don’t get over-excited to avoid increasing your pup’s anxiety over when you’ll return.
   • Once you start crating them for your departures, don’t stop crating them from time to time when you’re home, so they don’t start associating crating with being left alone.
   • Start crating your puppy at night when he sleeps. The ultimate goal of crating a puppy is to be able to leave him in the crate when you go to work, and we want him to spend that time sleeping, so he has the energy to be active when you return home.
6. Potty Breaks – When you take your puppy out of the crate, immediately bring him to the backyard or wherever his potty spot is, so he can do his business and stretch his legs.

Each puppy is different but generally, you can crate train a Cane Corso puppy in about 3 to 6 weeks. If you stay consistent with training and conditioning, in time your dog will be able to stay in the crate as long as you need him to be.

Of course, this all changes if you have a wife/husband and kids and you work/go to school at different times. Then there is no need to crate your puppy this much if you can make a plan of who and when will take the puppy for walks and potty breaks.

Related Questions

How Long Does it Take to House Train a Cane Corso? If you really commit to housetraining your Cane Corso and devote a lot of time and attention to your pup, you can house train him in 3-4 weeks.

Do Cane Corsos Get Lonely? Well yes, of course they get lonely. While they are guard dogs that can become very independent compared to other breeds, they are still highly social animals and thrive in a family setting.

Can Cane Corsos live outside? it’s not just a question of CAN, but a question of SHOULD your Corso live outside. Read why Cane Corsos should live inside the house with the rest of the family.