THE MAREMMA GUARDIAN

First Quarter Newsletter 2024

Please remember to renew your membership!!! 

Renewal of your annual membership is now open on the website. You can renew and manage the status of your membership and Breeder Listing in real time. 

Annual Meeting

The 2024 Annual Meeting was held on January 8, 2024, via Google Meet.  If you missed this meeting, members can view the minutes here: Annual Meeting Minutes 2024

The Registration Process is Coming In-House!

All member services are now available on the website and all tasks can be accomplished online without ever going to paper.

Please do not send any paperwork to Associate Registry, it will not be processed.

This is a very exciting time for the Club and a great time to volunteer to help with the pedigree process! Click here to volunteer!

SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH TESTING

By Nancy Joyce Simmons, Corresponding Secretary

The Maremma Sheepdog Club of America strongly encourages the health testing of any dog intended for breeding, in addition to guarding ability and temperament. 

The most important health test is for hip dysplasia offered through the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) and PennHIP. In our last Newsletter we provided an in-depth look at OFA statistics, which can be viewed here: Fourth Quarter Newsletter 2023.

Below is an overview of the PennHIP approach to testing for dysplasia.

According to PennHIP, service and working dog organizations were the first to adopt PennHIP as the principal method for hip screening. Since PennHIP can measure hip laxity as early as 16 weeks of age to identify dogs that are susceptible to developing hip dysplasia, it offers breeders the opportunity to make early decisions on breeding stock.

There are two principal innovations in the PennHIP method. First, the dog is positioned on the x-ray table with hips in a neutral orientation, and second, a custom distraction device is applied to reveal the maximum amount of hip laxity. To achieve this, the dog’s muscles are completely relaxed by administering sedation or general anesthesia.

PennHIP will send you a report that shows the degree of laxity in your dog’s hips according to the statistics available on the Maremma breed. Note that PennHIP only has 273 Maremma subjects in its database. As in the case of OFA, the more breeders test their dogs, the better information we will have on preventing genetic diseases in the Maremma Sheepdog.

Below is a sample report for a Maremma Sheepdog.

You can review more information about PennHIP here and on their website.

For those who are concerned about the sedation required for hip x-rays, please take your time to find a veterinarian who is skilled at OFA or PennHIP and who is adept at giving just the right amount of sedation to get a good x-ray. Many members have had luck contacting local vet schools, or OFA or PennHIP directly to find a good vet. Remember, healthy, happy working dogs are worth it!

Maremma Sheepdogs - new pastures and homes

A Guide for Breeders and Buyers

By Mark Engemann of Unfinished Acres

Becky and I, Mark, at Unfinished Acres have been involved for years in finding new partnerships for many of our Maremma’s, puppies and adults and while we are not aware of any hard and fast rules, we do have some basic steps we follow:

The Goal:

Create a new home that will allow a long and successful partnership with the buyer and their new Maremmas.

Breeder / Seller Responsibilities:

• The Breeder must define what they feel is a correct home for their Maremma’s and to qualify any potential buyer to assure that they can meet the Breeder requirements. An example is that at Unfinished Acres we do not sell to any home that does not have Livestock to protect.

• The Breeder must feel comfortable that the buyer has either a strong acquaintance with and/or the desire to learn about Maremmas and LGDs prior to owning one. LGDs are unique, very independent and have certain qualities that may make them unsuitable for some settings. If the buyer requirements vary from standard Maremma traits, it would not seem possible to create a long-term partnership. If possible, Breeder should provide recommendations. 

• General recommendations may be LGD books, two we recommend are:
• Livestock Protection Dogs: Selection, Care and Training by Orysia Dawdiak & David Sims (available here)
• Best Practices Manual for the use of Livestock Guardian Dogs – Australia Government – Bureau of Rural Science - Click here
• If the buyer may be doing something unique, such as poultry it may be helpful to provide an article about training an LGD to protect poultry.
• Seller should be aware of or willing to locate information for buyers’ specific needs if possible. Also, resources such as the Maremma Sheepdog Club can be an excellent additional source of information. Click here.

• The Breeder, to the best of their ability shall provide a healthy puppy or adult to the buyer. In our case this involves but is not limited to: 
• All puppies are taken at eight weeks to a veterinarian for a puppy exam and all puppy shots have been provided.
• All puppies / adults are microchipped and we remain as a secondary contact.
• All breeding Maremma’s at Unfinished Acres are at a minimum PennHIP Tested. As most Maremmas are not Hip Tested, it is very important that the parents are to reduce the possibility of future hip and structure problems. There are no guarantees, but the odds of a structurally sound puppy improve if the parents have a solid structural foundation.             

• When selling an adult, confirm with the buyer that they have the extra time, patience, and care that it takes to make a successful transition with an adult LGD. Working Maremma’s are prized for the loyalty to their herd, their property, and their owners. When you purchase an adult, you buy the Maremma with these traits but for those traits to be transferred to their new home, herd, and owner, it takes time and patience. The loyalty must be earned.

• The Breeder should offer to take (not buy) the Maremma back if the new relationship does not work out.

• The Breeder should in some way contribute to their preferred Maremma / LGD rescue operation.  There is always a chance the Maremma that is sold will end up in a rescue and Breeders to the best of their ability should support a strong rescue system as they may have bred dogs that will be utilizing the rescues services.

• The Breeder should register all the puppies. It introduces the Maremma Sheepdog Club, it provides a ready resource of help for a new owner, it helps keep the Club and our Maremma LGD community strong, and registering each pup helps to build the largest Maremma pedigree database outside of Italy. Tracking our pedigrees will be invaluable in the future to study Maremma genetic diseases and preserve the breed.

 Buyer responsibilities:

• Buyer should have a goal on why they are interested in purchasing a Maremma LGD and should be able to describe the goal to the breeder. Without a goal, there is more risk for the buyer in purchasing an LGD that is not a good fit and without articulating the goal, the breeder may not be able to fully help buyer achieve the long-term successful partnership between the buyer and their new LGD.

• If not already, a Buyer should acquaint themselves with LGDs and Maremmas in particular. Either through books and educational materials or through site visits to breeders and/or current Maremma owners.

• A Buyer should investigate the history and credibility of the breeder. If possible, visiting the Breeder and see how the LGDs are raised and the attitudes and goals of the Breeder.   If someone is looking primarily for a pet, go to a breeder that either exclusively or extensively sells Maremma’s for pets. There can be issues having a Maremma or any LGD in a suburban or non-farm environment and a breeder who consistently sells pets may be breeding their animals to be better pets or can detail how to work with a Maremma in a pet setting. If you are looking for a working LGD, go to a breeder who specializes in working dogs as they will have working lines and will be raising the puppies to be solid working LGD’s.

• After the purchase of the LGD, it is buyers’ responsibility to honor the commitments they have made to the breeder prior to purchasing the animal. If we sell a Maremma, we will take the Maremma back if it does not work out. However, if the buyer attempts to create a pet out of one of our working Maremmas, it may make it very difficult to bring that Maremma back into a livestock protection mind set and thus a much more difficult future life for both the breeder and for the Maremma that has been given back. If you find you cannot honor the commitments that you have given to the breeder, either transfer the Maremma to someone who can or notify the breeder before you do harm to your partner, the Maremma you have purchased.

• We encourage and enjoy seeing but in no way require that whoever purchases one of our Maremmas take an interest in the breed. There are so many ways to help in fostering a strong Maremma community, if you enjoy the breed, think of ways to give back to the Maremma community. This could be as easy as offering words of encouragement to a fellow Maremma owner when they may be having issues to providing a few dollars to your favorite rescue to a significant commitment of being on the board of the Maremma Sheepdog Club.

We consider our Maremma’s to be our partners. If you are looking for one easy rule to follow; Treat your partner like you would like your partner to treat you. The rewards will be amazing.

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

The Board Meetings Minutes can be found here.

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Maremma Sheepdog Club of America

secretary@maremmaclub.org

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