Matt, I share Maries admiration for him! Hes lovely! I will be getting a Cane Corso in a few years, which people often mistake the Presa for 😛
So IPO (used to be called Schutzhund) actually creates a more balanced guardian breed, not a more aggressive dog. They learn to “attack” the decoy on command and they must “out” (release) on command as well. Check out some youtube videos of the field trials for IPO. Its very cool!
Presa are very protective and aloof (like all other Mastiff breeds) by nature, so training, socialization, obeidence, but also teaching him to harness that protective nature in a positive, productive way is important. Most Mastiff people do lure coursing, protection work, weight pull and tracking for their dogs. Some do agility, but I don’t see it as much. Definitely a good thing to think about getting him into though!
