This type of LGD is just not as common in the USA as some of the others. They are sheepdogs originated from Italy, from both the Maremma Plains region and the Appenine Mtns/Abruzzi region. Do resemble pyrenees. We have the anatolians so have never actually experienced Maremmas. According to one of our LGD books they do well in farm situations rather than alone on the range. Hope this provides some insight.
We have a maremma. She is 12 this year and she has been a wonderful guardian dog. In her younger days she was hard on our old collie, but that is because we got her as a "yearling" and the collie was here first and was not nice to her. As the collie aged, the balance of power turned. We bred her once and she produced 11 puppies, all of whom went to shepherds, goat flocks and guarding situations. Her litter began "guarding" at weaning. One day we went to the barn to find two new twin lambs mixed in a "puppy pile" with the ewe happily chewing her cud along side. She can be agressive if she is attacked, but doesn't go out of her way to start something. She prefers to guard by barking, much like the Pyr we just adopted to take over her duties. She is now deaf, and nearly crippled by arthritis, so she hangs out in the garage at night rather than out with the herd. Mostly she sleeps, but occasionally still gets up, ambles out to the gate and barks for a while as if to say, "I'm still here!" I love the maremma; they have a similar temperment to the Pyr, but without the slobbery jaws. I think part of the success with them happens because they are not popular with the masses. You rarely will find one in someone's backyard, so most are bred and raised with sheep or goats.
Thank you so much. They can be such an asset as well as a responsibilty. Just last week I had a horse choke. My female anatolian actually alerted me to it. The horse is at the bottom of the food chain here...last one to make this home. Another horse picked at the chain to her stall and let herself in and bullied the poor mare from the food. I heard her cough...but everyone coughs sometimes. So I was not alarmed. She trotted off to a dark part of the barn. My female dog kept going to her and then coming back to me. Over and over. She looked at me like "problem here!" I walked over to the mare and realized she was choking
I really do not have a good answer. Our acreage is small. We got our female at 15 weeks old off of a working ranch and she was ready to bond to animals at that age. On the other hand we sold our two largest female pups to a very, very experienced breeder at almost 8 weeks old. They put them with immediately with older female dogs who took the lead in training the pups! If you want to PM me I can put you in touch with a guy who knows everthing and then some about anatolian shepherds. His dogs are pricey but his information is free.Thanks for the replies, great information vickie. We are not rushing into it - we are on 20 acres and do have neighbors to consider, but everyone has dogs that bark...my border collie apparently thinks part of his job is to bark at everything that moves from about 4 am till daylight.We are fenced to keep the dogs in, also cross fenced and I don't know if a LGD would move from pasture to pasture if they had to clear a fence to do so. How old should they be before they are expected/allowed to stay and and work the pastures at night?
Jan
