Helpful goats and an unhelpful dog

13 Moons farm's blog is a great read, and (surprise, surprise) they have a Maremma named Emma.

One of their earlier entries talks about sending puppy Emma from her home on Whidbey Island to a farm for livestock guardian training. It's a great read and really shows how far the dedicated maremma owners will go to ensure their dog is prepared for its role.

It involves multiple plane flights for Emma - has anyone else some experience in how well maremma fly?

See Willow grow

I just discovered Willow the Canadian LGD, and a page showing her growth and development over time.



Unfortunately, the family has a new dog named Thorn, possibly a maremma, with some problems. If anyone can help out here, please contact them.

See Shep bark

Is this going to be a trend?

"Health and Regulatory Services Committee chairman, Phil Pidgeon, said Ms Sommerville would be banned from keeping animals for two years if she breached animal management laws one more time."

Stop! Halti time ...

Dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah dah. Thank you MC Hammer!

Now, on with the show. First off - sorry for the lack of posts. I've done a little travelling, and have let the blog go a little. But things will change!

Both Kyle and Magic are happy dogs. Magic started losing some hair, and got a pretty nice knock on the top of his noggin thanks to (we think) coming up and connecting with an open window frame. However, both things seem to be on the mend. Di gently bathed the head wound daily with salt and water, and bingo, all is good.

But - on to the post. As we're urban, we need to walk our dogs. Is this simple? No. No it isn't. Both dogs need different methods. Magic uses a chest harness (more to follow in another post re: this), while local walks require Kyle to have a halti. When both are on the beach then a harness is fine for both, but we need the fine control with Kyle on the sidewalk.

Maremma's are big, and they can be a challange. Magic refuses to wear a halti, while Kyle welcomes it. Kind of. It's probably a matter of training, or time - but it works with him.

A few notes - the halti is not a muzzle, it is a leading device. Kyle can yawn, bark and drink with it on. You must get a halti which fits snuggly. Our first one was loose and it just wasn't right. The current one we have now we connect through his collar, so if he does get out of it we still have him close.

And finally - there are some tricks. If Kyle pulls (and he does) we do one of two things: hold him by his collar to lead him, or walk him in a circle with the halti. Now - we have a big, rugged commando collar so we know Kyle is both comfortable and safe with a hand holding on to it. He loves his walks with the halti.

Here's a number of pics showing how he looks in it.

Obligatory cute puppy video warning!

Why? Because I can!

Crufts 2006 Maremma

I think this Maremma won Best of breed in 2006, although I can't confirm it. Anyone have some confirmation?

UPDATE

Thanks to Janet for this:

Yes - this is Ch Biancaluna di Selvaspina of Silvermere (Bilu) with her owner Janet Atkins. Bilu was indeed Best of Breed at Crufts in 2006 (and in 2004) - and was Best Bitch at Crufts for 4 years in a row from 2004-2007 (she wasn't shown there this year). She is a lovely dog in all ways.

See Spot saved

Hokay, so we've had Magic (Bear) for six months now. And we think he's happy. He certainly looks goofy enough to be either very happy or a very good doggy liar.

So this post is just to get everyone reading to think about rescue Maremmas.

I know from experience that many (if not all) of you help wherever possible to save them when you can.

But what do we know about the number of rescues in New Zealand per year? We may be looking at six a year, or is it twice that number?

We also know that the rescues are throughout New Zealand, and mostly centered around urban areas. Excessive barking and a lack of quality attention to their needs is almost always involved.

Can anyone here contribute to our knowledge of the problem? If talking to the breeders and sellers is needed, can we pinpoint specific areas of NZ which need some focus? Can we mitigate the risk of abandoned or surrendered dogs being put down through a stronger support network?
For those of you who haven't seen an abused or neglected Maremma - the image is of Magic just after we saved him from being put down.

He's the one in front. He's older than Kyle (in the background), yet weighed a quarter less. His fur was so far gone that we basically just saw his skin. His dew claws were like curved knives.

And all this was after he was very well looked after and cared for at a pound for six weeks.

It makes you think, doesn't it?

See Spot banned

In what seems to be a first (to myself at least), the Maremma edges towards being considered a dangerous and banned breed:

Dog Breed Bans in Germany

While the situation seems to be fluid, here's a snippet of what is being talked about:

Category II dogs - potentially dangerous dogs that can be owned, imported, bred, and sold if they pass a temperament test and are free of aggressive actions for three years - include Akbash, Briard, Beauceron, Bullmastiff, Doberman, Komondor, Kuvasz, Maremma, Pyrenean Mountain Dog (our Great Pyrenees), Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rottweiler, Tibetan Mastiff, and more than 15 other breeds that are virtually unknown in the US.

As this blog entry states - there is some question as to when this was originally discussed or proposed. The original posting was by the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA). I can't claim any knowledge of the group or it's intent.

Personally, I consider comparing the restriction of dog breeds to the Holocaust as distasteful, if not down right wrong. Yet the question as to why Maremma (and some of the other breeds mentioned) need a three year behavioural review process should be asked. Especially considering their role.

Does anyone know if this is going ahead in Germany, or had the Interweb once again dragged up something which is very much long dead and burried?

Is this a little spoilt?

In a brief snippet titled A dog's reward, John Andersen of the Townsville Bulletin writes


"They're worth their weight in gold so in order to keep them happy and fed it was delivery by chopper of the dog nuts."

The mind boggles.

Mostly Maremmas

I recently read of a small publication titled Mostly Maremmas. I emailed Chris Wood the editor for some more information, and here's what I got back:

Hi, The newsletter is 14 - A4 pages and has been running since 1994. Content
is mostly for livestock guardian dogs but a lot of it would be useful to any
dog owner.

Has anyone read this? The newsletter comes out four times a year: March, June, September and December and the cost is $25 (Australian dollars I think).

Come to think of it - where do we all get our information about Maremmas? Have we moved to a community-centric model, mixing online toolsets and friends?

See Spot go ... ferral?

"The pack leader is a bit of a legend, a pure white dingo crossed with an Italian maremma - a dog bred to be left alone in the mountains to guard sheep and goats from wolves and wild dog attacks," .

Dogged trekker spots rare dingo

Thank you Mr Bob Piper.

The question is - how do they know it was crossed with a Maremma? Curious minds want to know. Well - I do at least.

See Spot guard penguins

Some of you may know about the recent trial of Maremmas to protect Little Penguins on Middle Island, Warrnambool, Australia.

The inital report on how well the two dogs did has was released and the recommendation was made to have a second trial, this one 12 months in length.

Predator protection of little penguin and shearwater colonies

A quote from the conclusions:

The trial's success has generated world-wide interest. The use of guard animals such as maremma and even alpacas, (which also deter foxes), is now being considered to save other endangered species such as the eastern barred bandicoot.

Alpacas. Who knew!

However, things didn't work out so well.

Things appear to be a bit grim as of the last few weeks. The Age reports that Ben and Misty actually caused the death of ten penguins, possibly due to human inteferance.

It doesn't sound like normal Maremma behaviour ... and the Council is treating things in a calm manner for now - Council investigates penguin deaths.

Happy New Bear!

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post, and we've been through Christmas and New Year's without a hitch. The two dogs have met lots of new people and only given the occasional one a good barking at before being the nice boys that they are.



We gave gifts to the boys at Christmas, and they both treated them with the due respect they deserve - ripping at them and squeaking the toys merry-like. A good Christmas for all.

So - any gifts for your pups and dogs?