The Cane Corso (pronounced ) is a large dog breed of Southern Italian origins that is used for personal protection, tracking, law enforcement, and as a guard dog. A 2017 study of 232 Cane Corso dogs across 25 countries found an average life span of 9.3 years, varying with different coat colours. The longest living were black brindle dogs (10.3 years) followed by brindle dogs (10.1 years), grey brindle dogs (9.8 years), fawn dogs (9.0 years), black dogs (9.0 years), grey dogs (9.0 years) and other colour dogs (8.1 years). A group of enthusiasts began recovery activities designed to bring the dog back from near extinction in the late 1970s.