Maremma Sheepdog
An Italian flock guardian, white so a shepherd could tell it from a wolf at dusk. It lives with the stock rather than the family, and it has guarded penguins.
Overview
The Maremma is an Italian livestock guardian from Tuscany and Abruzzo, kept with sheep in the mountains for centuries and still working today. It is white, large and heavily coated, and it was bred to live with the flock rather than with people.
It is best known outside Italy for a conservation project in Australia, where Maremmas have been used to guard a penguin colony against foxes, a programme that succeeded and was filmed.
Temperament
Independent, watchful and undemonstrative. Maremmas bond to what they guard rather than to a handler, and they make their own decisions.
They are gentle with their own family and stock and reserved to unfriendly with strangers. They bark at night, they patrol, and they roam to extend their territory. They are not obedient dogs and they are not intended to be.
Care and grooming
A long harsh weatherproof coat that needs brushing weekly and daily during the two heavy moults. It is remarkably self cleaning.
Hip and elbow dysplasia and bloat are the main concerns. They are generally hardy, having been selected by work rather than by show. Eleven to thirteen years.
Living and exercise
Territory and serious fencing rather than exercise sessions.
They suit smallholdings with stock and they are genuinely unsuitable for suburban life. Anyone wanting a large white family dog should look at a different breed, because the guarding instinct in this one is not optional.
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