Maremma aka Maremmano sheepdogs are ideal livestock guardian dogs. Their official Italian name is "Cane da Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese". For centuries they were bred to guard sheep in the Italian mountains against wolves and other predators, and earned the nickname "wolf slayers." Since then, they have been bred exclusively for livestock protection, and have retained all their natural guardian instincts. They are very friendly, dignified, loyal, brave and determined to guard from any external threat to "their" animals and children.
While most people here in the southern USA are more familiar other LGD breeds like Pyrenees, Anatolians and Akbash etc, Maremmas are the "crème de la crème" of livestock guardian dogs, outperforming all other guardian breeds. Ok, in all transparency we don't personally have any experience with other LGD breeds, but our first introduction to them came when we visited a very large family-run sheep farm in Clearwater, British Columbia. We were there to buy our first lambs, and asked them what breed of dog they recommended. Without hesitation, they said we needed a Maremma. Period. There was no "or" second option added. They farmed thousands of sheep for multiple generations, and would take their sheep into the mountains during the summer where there are wolves, coyotes and cougars, and they depended on their Maremmas to keep the sheep with such success that they highly recommended the breed as the best they ever worked with and came to exclusively rely on.
Others have come to the same conclusion after trying different guardian breeds. We like the writeups from Old Crowe Farm in Virginia (https://oldcrowefarm.com/heritage-livestock/livestock-guard-dogs/about-livestock-guard-dogs/) as well as Whispering Aspen Ridge, who bred our Bacio and who we highly recommend as a breeder (https://www.whisperingaspenridge.com/).
How effective are Maremmas at keeping predators away? We have a story to illustrate: Last year a gentleman from the mountains just north of Ashville NC bought 2 of our pups from our 2022 litter ("yellow" and "dark blue"). He was expanding his ranch so came by again to buy a 3rd pup from us, this time from our 2023 litter. When he picked up his new pup, he told us how just 2 months earlier he had a pack of 6 coyotes go along his fence where his 2 young ~16-month-old Maremmas were guarding their goats, chickens and ducks. "Yellow" climbed the 5' fence vertically and went after the coyotes while "dark blue" stayed behind to keep guard. "Yellow" subsequently killed all 6 coyotes by himself, and dragged their carcasses one by one back to the gate.
Two follow-up comments:
- Maremmas don't normally challenge fences in our experience. They typically respect their fenced boundaries and don't try to escape. But when they are especially motivated under certain circumstances, it's amazing to see how easy it is for them to go under/through/over if they really want to.
- Although the above illustration may give the impression that Maremmas are vicious dogs, that only applies to predators that threaten their herd/flock. Maremmas are very loving dogs and instinctively protect children. And when newborn animals are born on the farm, they'll come give them a sniff or lick, and then plunk themselves down and guard the new arrival. They have a strong sense of what needs protection vs what doesn't belong.
For more about the Maremma breed, please see:
https://www.workingmaremma.com/
http://www.maremmaclub.com/mscaaboutmaremmas.html
