Maremma Sheepdogs, also known as Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdogs, are Italian working dogs who protect sheep, chooks, cows and other livestock from predators like wolves and foxes. They are named after the regions of Tuscany and Lazio to which they are native, Maremma and Abruzzo, where they have been protecting sheep from wolves for centuries. There are even a group of Maremmas on Middle Island that were introduced to protect Middle Island’s population of Little Penguins from foxes. Check out the movie Oddball (2015) which is about a Maremma who is trained to protect a penguin sanctuary:
Our Maremmas, Pisa and Baci, protect our flock of ISA Brown chooks from predators such as foxes, cats and hawks. We got Pisa in 2011 and named her after the Leaning Tower of Pisa which we visited on our travels in 2009 Pisa is a very hard working dog and loves hanging out with our chooks and more recently our Guinea Fowl. We got Baci in 2019 from a free range chicken farm in South Australia. We held a naming competition for our Instagram followers to help us name her and the winner was Baci which means kisses in Italian! Baci is a very cheeky and playful dog and loves to stand in her water trough and then dig a hole so her lovely white legs look like mud pie! She loves her mate Pisa but is besotted with Gracie the pony! If you see Pisa or Baci down by the dam, try not to call or pat them as they are working and become stressed when people come close to the chooks, guinea fowl and Gracie.
Pisa
Baci as a puppy in 2019
Baci in 2020