Anyone experienced with Maremma Goat Dogs

WolfSoul · #1 10/03/04, 08:12 PM

I'm considering a Maremma for my flock dog. Anybody have experience with them? Are they likely to kill my golden retrievers if they accidentally get in the back pasture with it?? Karen

geminigoats · #2 10/03/04, 09:27 PM

Our first LGD was a Maremma/Komondo mix, he did a SUPER job guarding. My friends back East we using the Maremma for LG dogs and having success. So I got one, but he was mixed. From experiences with guard dogs, if you get them as a puppy they will be used to the dogs, however, if you add another then they will bother it. Some may kill the new dog, others just hassel it until they get used to it. Our first one was a puppy and had time to get used to the others, he was fine with them. However, when we moved, my husband's dog missed the ride (1,000 miles) and had to wait 4 months to get here, when he got here he did his usual, "Redneck" dog thing and hung out the window and growled at him like usual, well the LGD wasn't having it and went for him, almost killed him. Had to watch them til they figured out who each other was, then they were fine. I really liked our first one, he was a fierce protector and kept critters away. I then went to Pyrnese crosses and they do OK, but not as well. I have some 3 puppies now who steal things off the clothesline, etc and take it to a spot in the pasture and guard that. Their thinking is, "OK, steal the goats, but don't ya dare steal our stuff!" Hope this helps. If you get a puppy raised with livestock, then your Retriver will be fine.

Bernice

westbrook · #3 10/04/04, 01:15 AM

You can join a Livestock Guardian Dogs list at http://lgd.org LGD-L discussion List.

All breeds are represented there and you can ask others that own them as well as other breeds. It is also a place to get information on training.

Too much hair for me! They would die in my heat...well maybe not die, but dig huge craters to stay cool! I might fall in and can't get out!

Julia · #4 10/04/04, 10:55 AM

Maremmas are great dogs---brilliant, strong-willed and deadly to predators, but if you don't have a real predation problem (such as mountain lion, packs of coyote, or wolves), with significant losses, they can be more trouble than they are worth. Kinda like using nuclear weapons to kill flies.

Maremmas tend to be on the hard end of the LGD spectrum---more intelligent, more independent, less interested in accepting humans as superior beings without real proof. That can make them hard to live with unless you're one of those natural "alpha bitch" people.

If you have a small property (less than 100 acres), with not a lot of real predator stress on it, and just like the idea of an LGD, you'd do better with a Pyr. Pyrs have been bred as pets in this country for a century, and are a lot softer than Maremma & some of the other, "unimproved" breeds. They can handle low pressure predation, like keeping neighborhood dogs out of the pasture, and aren't as likely to challenge you over how to run the farm. You'll still need plenty of good fence to keep them in, though, but that's true of any LGD (at least it is if you don't own a watershed).