I used to breed Dogos. They have a very high prey drive, and are extremely intelligent. They bond extremely well with a family, but can also bond to just one member if a single person does all the feeding and training. That’s something to be careful of, moreso than some other breeds as they are fiercely protective of their family (or who they perceive as family).
They respond well for many things with clicker training, but you need to be consistent (again maybe more than some other breeds because they are so smart, inconsistent behavior can be misinterpreted by them).
I found they are loyal but can also get jealous and rebellious. You definitely need a firm hand with them, but that doesn’t mean beating them. Physically, I’m not sure you could hurt an adult dogo, short of hitting it with a car. They are tough.
Another trait of theirs is an unreal focus. If they get going at something, it’s near impossible to stop them. No training I’ve seen could do it. The key is to refocus them on you immediately so they don’t get into that mindset. I think much of Robert’s training philosophies will work extremely well with the dogos and I would adopt that philosophy. Make them understand what you want and you can make the do or not do what you want, but you have to be clear with them.
We are training a mal puppy now. My wife will tell him NO loudly when he plays too hard with one of the older dogs, but he didn’t understand what she was saying. In the short term I redirected him to distract. I am teaching him the leave it, and modifying it for leave the pug alone, and you’ll get a treat. It’s not an overnight process but he understands it now so we can stop it verbally (still with treats most times though).
I Used to tell my puppy buyers the dogos were smart and watch for it. I recently got caught myself with my mal being smarter than me. After a morning training, I sat down to have a coffee and read while he played in the room. As he would wander out of the room, I would call him and give hima treat. After a few repetitions, I thought I would extent the time so he wouldn’t see the routine. Just before I was going to call him, he walked into the room and right up to me, expecting his treat. He outsmarted me and saw the pattern before I did. It’s humorous but illustrates how smart dogs can see things. Dogos are very much the same (but physically much tougher)as the mal from my limited mal experience.
I stopped my Chesapeake Bay Retriever from humping everything in the parks with an ecollar. It worked quickly, but he needs to be older for it. Try redirecting and correcting to stop the behavior setting now. When you can use an e collar, I expect it will make things easier if applied correctly. I hadn’t discovered e collars when I raised dogos, but I wish I had.
As a side note, comments on breed choice after the decision is made aren’t likely helpful. Speaking for myself only, I bond to my dogs quickly and the idea of giving one up after even a month would be heartbreaking. I will suggest that professional training on such a powerful, willful dog is a good idea. Research trainers! We found quite a few that were not what they represented themselves as.
We are still narrowing down trainers due to covid restrictions. It’s a pain.