Maremma Sheepdog
History
The Maremma Sheepdog originated thousands of years ago by crossing the Akbash, Kuvasz, and Pyrenean Mountain dog bloodlines. This breed was known for their excellent ability to guard and herd flocks of livestock for their owners; keeping them safe and where they should be, by mostly natural instinct. Today, this breed is quite popular in the USA as a family companion, but can see be seen on farmland doing what they know best.
Appearance
The Maremma Sheepdog is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 23-28 inches in height and weighing 65-100 pounds in weight. This breed has a large, broad shaped head, that forms into a rectangular muzzle with a scissor bite. Their large nose is available in black, brown and sometimes appears slightly pink. Their two ears are triangular in shape and are folded down alongside of their face. Their two eyes are medium in size, oval in shape and generally a light brown to black in color. Their general body build is very large, thick and solid in appearance, similar to a bear. Their tail is long in length, thick and carried low to the ground with hair feathering off of it. Their coat is a thick double layer that is soft and dense to the touch, available in white with markings of cream and shade variations of this color.
Temperament
The Maremma Sheepdog is a very loving, loyal, natural protector and guardian by nature. This breed bonds closely with their owner and family, and wants to please. Wonderful with all children and dogs that he or she is raised alongside of, this breed is generally a good fit for most families. Please note that due to their natural instincts, this breed may try to herd family members innocent; proper early obedience classes will help minimize the chances of this happening. This breed is very alert and makes a wonderful watch dog for the home. They will absolutely stand in the way of danger and protect their family no matter what it would take. This breed is quiet and questionable of strangers, so early socialization is best if you are a social family. This breed requires daily mental and physical exercise to remain calm and obedient while indoors. They require a firm and confident owner who is able to remain pack leader at all times.
Grooming
This breed does shed. Daily brushing and bathing when needed. A trip to the professional groomers is recommended at least twice a year.
Special Notes
Please fully educate yourself about the Maremma Sheepdog prior to adding one to your home to ensure you are able to make a life long commitment both physically and financially for your new family member. A properly installed fence or properly fitting harness and leash is required while outdoors at all times.
All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”.
The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.