Maremma's as Family Pets
How do you pronounce the name?
Maremma is an American version of the Italian name "Maremmano-Abruzzese" It is pronounced: "Mare" as in female horse, and "Emma" as in the girl's name.
What is the dog like?
A Maremma is a livestock guarding dog, bred in Italy for centuries to guard large flocks of sheep on the plains and in the mountains. Other Old World breeds sith similar temperament are the Great Pyrennes in France, the Komondor and the Kuvasz in Hungary, the Tetra in Poland, the Shar Planinetz in Yugoslavia, the Anatolian in Turkey and the Tibetan Mastiff in Nepal. The Maremma originally lived day and night with its flock and its white coat mimics the coat of the sheep in it flock. It was bred to take responsibility for keeping the flock safe from 4-legged thieves, and kept proficient at its job by frequent life-and-death battles with the wolves.
Are the dogs affectionate with people they know?
Very!!! - and very physical about it. They want to know where all family members are and be close to them. The dogs lean on you, paw you -some even want to hug you or nibble you affectionately. They do not fawn on you, and certainly not on strangers, for attention, but they demonstrate constantly their deep devotion to their bonded family intimates.
Is a Maremma suitable as a family pet?
The Maremma never considers itself a "pet". It is a working dog and needs a job to keep it occupied. If it is to be in the house with a family, it must be heavily socialised from the time it is a pup. A pup should be outgoing and friendly with everyone, but its rowdy behaviour needs controlling -after all, a 10 months old puppy may weigh 45 kilos! It must get used to meeting strangers. By the time it is two years old, it will be less outgoing and wary with strangers and may even decide it does not want any strangers to touch it, its master, or its property. To limit this future possessiveness, you must get your dog used to being handled by many friendly strangers when it is very young and KEEP AT IT! "But even then, you must personally introduce your dog to all new strangers who enter its territory (your home and property), and you may have to be present each time they return.
Will a Maremma be good for my family?
Oh yes, this is its primary role, and it is an incomparable guard dog. This guarding is instinctive, needs no training and will probably intensify with age. The problem is rather that the Maremma can guard you to much, can guard your neighbours as well as your own family, etc, and may become physical about it.
How is a Maremma with children?
Maremma's love babies and small children. With older children or adolescents, they will not tolerate anything they construe as teasing, and they object to strange children being physical with THEIR children. They enjoy playing with well-behaved "doggy" children, but may not understand that certain things are meant to be play.
How about other animals?
The Maremma lives happily with other dogs and other animals - indeed, this is what it was bred to do, provided only that it is the boss. Two males can be difficult to handle if both insist on being dominant, but socialised Maremma's love cats, and cats respond to them. They also readily accept other dogs, birds, and any livestock, especially sheep and goats. They have almost no hunt and chase instincts, though initial encouters with other animals should be carefully supervised. A playful Maremma can seriously hurt a baby lamb without meaning to, and a cow or horse can hurt a Maremma.
How big is a Maremma?
On the average, adult males are a bit larger than bitches and average 69 cm tall and weigh 34 to 45, while bitches average 66 cm tall and weigh 30 to 39 kilos.
Are they easy to train?
Housetraining is usually extremely easy; Maremma's are usually clean dogs in the house. A crate is extremely useful for housetraining, and it is helpful to have the dog used to being confined if the need arises. Obedience training is a necessity with any dog of this size. You cannot easily carry a grown maremma out of the way! Training should start early as part of its play with play with you. At 4 - 5 months they learn readily and with pleasure, though only in brief sessions. Later they are not quick to respond to a command, mainly because they feel they should decide for themselves when and where to sit, lie down or stay.
Do they chew, dig, or bark excessively?
They can. Maremma's are both curious and physical, and their energy has to be channelled. If you provide things they are allowed to chew on along with firm indication of what is off-limits, this is not too hard to control. Barking is more difficult as barking is a significant part of its livestock guarding instincts. Your Maremma never barks without reason, but if it is confined where many strangers pass by, it is very hard to keep it from announcing the passage of each one. Like all dogs, a Maremma should be reprimanded while performing unwanted behaviour, not even a few seconds later, or it will not understand what is wanted. Unwanted behaviour should never be tolerated until a later date, as dogs are creatures of habit and routine, and have long memories for behaviours they enjoyed. It is always easier to train, than to re-train. Beatings and severe physical punishment are understood by dogs as torture and never accomplish their intended purpose. Your Maremma will stay bonded to you as long as it is treated with love and respect, but if your Maremma rejects you for some mistreatment, you and everyone around the dog are in danger.
What about housing?
It is usually a waste of time to build a doghouse for a Maremma, Each wants to chose its own place, which will be a place where it can watch all entrances to its property, when outside it needs shelter from rain and shade from sun, a quiet place to eat and cool fresh water provided daily.
What about exercise and space?
Maremmas grow best if they can move freely. Grown dogs require less exercise, although they do enjoy a good run. If you live in the suburbs, exercising shoud be done on a lead, or loose in a leash-free area.
How does this temperament differ from the more usual guard dogs like Doberman and German Shepherd?
These breeds were developed as personal protection dogs, and they look to their master for instruction. They excel, for example, in formal obedience trials and they may be suitable for attack training and schutzhundwork. Maremms's, and other livestock guarding breeds, have been selected to take responsibility and to make their own decisions in the absence of a master. This means that they want to make up their own minds and decide for themselves how best to deal with a potentially dangerous situation. To give examples: they are likely to think the garbage man is stealing from you; they may think that a plumber with a tool in his hand plans to atack you or your property; they may think your Uncle Bob, who is a stranger to the dog, is accosting the children if he grabs one suddenly to give a hug. In other works, to live easily with a Maremmma you have to be able to foresee situations which look "potentially dangerous" to your dog. It is strongly recommended that you have to place your dog out of harm's way if someone the dog does not like has to be in your house, or you have to be away. This can be an escape-proof room, dog run, fenced yard, or a crate. The Maremma is not suitable for attack training.
Adapted from: The Maremma Sheepdog Club of America.
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