The maremma world will feel her loss for a long time to come.

Franca was also world famous for her Cocker Spaniels.

The breed is over 2000 years old, and when I was asked to speak about it I was a little afraid to touch on such important subject. Many people are surely more knowledgeable than I am having written a great deal about the origins of this lovely breed. I will only try to say, in a few lines, that which refers to the most reliable theories. In fact the opinion on the breeds origins, or rather the origins of all white sheepdogs, are several and different. Some people believe they arrived in Europe following the Tartars, others that they followed the Phoenicians. or followed the Greek colonisers in the Mediterranean, and another that they followed the Romans returning from expeditions in Asia. What is certain is that several breeds such as our Maremmas, the Kuvasz from Hungary, the Pyrenean Mountain Dog in France, the Tartra in Poland and the Slovian Chuak in Czechoslovakia, had common origins and characteristics. They are all white and similar in size. All have 'closed temperament' and are semi- domestic. The similarities of these dogs obviously came about because they were used for the same purpose which was guarding and defence of the herd, this since the most ancient times. The most common factor however is that they have all come from Asia, following shepherds, moving from region to region. Finding good grazing for the sheep. The differences in climate and land situations of these chosen parts gave to each group of dogs slightly different characteristics. These characteristics are what distinguishes the different breeds and fixes their type. They all maintain however, certain characteristics such as colour and the strong rough physique plus their temperament, all these are absolutely untouched.

Now why white in colour? Recordings in the first century says that the sheep dog must be white, the reason being that at dawn the wolf will come to the herd and the dog will fight the wolf in defence of the sheep, the shepherd will then wish to help the dog but he must not be misled into harming the dog instead of the wolf. The dogs are strong and rustic because they live in the cold and heat, rain or snow, in fact in all types of conditions, but always with the sheep and the-shepherds. The shepherds do not spend time on any special feeding for their dogs.

These dogs are surely different from any other dogs, particularly different from all the sheepdogs that have been created by man, created to be a robot and receives instruction and training. The way in which these 'white sheepdogs' were and are used have taught him to look after himself, to use his own initiative and his own brain without waiting for the help of man. Having said all this about the common temperament of these breeds, we will now stop and talk about our own Maremmano-Abruzzes

First of all, why Maremrnano-Abruzzes! There has been and still is a lot of controversy on the paternity of the breed. What is certain is that nowadays in the Abruzzes (which is in Italy), the breeding of sheep is still very prosperous and I would say expanding, consequently, the same is true of the dogs. Whereas in the Maremmano the agricultural reforms in the early I950's has completely killed off the breeding of any animals, and the dogs have disappeared too, although there are some in good numbers, and I would say good quality, in the Roman part of the Maremmano, which is the Southern part. It was at the time of the agricultural reforms that the family of the Prince Corsinni collected all the dogs that were left in the Maremmano region. They continued the breeding of these dogs, which to them had always been tradition. They had always owned a lot of land, and had large herds, so they had always used these dogs to guard the sheep. All the dogs that they had collected were often mated with the dogs coming in from the Abruzzes, consequently, these dogs, without doubt are the foundation of 90% of the Maremmano-Abruzzes that are found in Italy at the present time, and the foundation of the dogs that were sent to many countries throughout the world.

Over the years the breed has undergone a big improvement in numbers, and in particular, number of high quality. This is obvious and can be appreciated when visiting general and club shows, organised by societies. Here the average level of quality of the dogs entered is eye-catching. It is also very nice to see that a lot of the dogs exhibited, belong to private owners who have shown wisdom in buying good specimens from reliable breeders. The owners have also shown wisdom with regard to the rearing of these dogs, taking them to the shows and socialising them, and also allowing the public to see such good dogs. It is thanks to these owners that the numbers of exhibits at the shows is always so high and improving all the time. Credit must also go to the breeders for giving such good specimens into private ownership, and then following this up with help and advice on how to improve these dogs. During the last few years some of the shepherds pushed by dog lovers in the Abruzzes have started to exhibit at our shows with some good results. This has also been useful in exchanging information and matings within the two branches of the breed. As far as the breed in other countries is concerned it is very well represented i.e. in Holland, Gt. Britain, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland are now beginning to show interest too.

Although the breed is not for everyone, it has something which, when you know and in particular understand it, it traps you and you cannot leave it for another breed. This is why it is not like any other breed of dog. The hard life, the harsh and solitary life to which these dogs have been accustomed to for centuries has given them a temperament which is very special to THEM. They have a love for their master, but never a submission, or dependence and never subservience. They will always be diffident to strangers and will maintain a spirit of initiative, that lets his master impose his will. Maremmas have too much dignity and pride, together with an inborn sense of responsibility for what they have to do, which is the guarding and defence of their property, be this a herd, territory or a home, virtually anything that needs protection.

It is very interesting to see how all the dogs bred by breeders for many generations, far from the world of the shepherds how they retain these characteristics, and they remain exactly like the dogs who still work with the sheep. Maremrna dogs want a level relationship with their owners, and only in these conditions will they give the owner the greatest satisfaction. I repeat once more they are not for everyone, they will never be dogs for those people who look for a 'slave dog or a robot', or a dog that gives blind obedience.

As far as food is concerned, as they are very rustic they eat very little, are never greedy and are not thieves. They like to sleep outside even if the climate is very bad, they are completely indifferent to all weather conditions. They are a very clean animal, and even puppies go as far as they can from the nest to attend to their personal needs, even to hiding themselves. These dogs spend a lot of time cleaning their coats just like cats, and although the coat is white it does not need any special care. It renews itself twice a year, after losing all the dead hair, which becomes yellowish just like wool. When it rains and the dogs are wet, the coat becomes the colour of the earth but as soon as it dries it becomes whiter than it was before.

In this breed, the difference between dog and bitch is very evident, and not only physically. The dogs are bigger, tougher, and have a big collar like a lions mane. He is more extrovert, stronger in temperament and sometimes aggressive, particularly to dogs who invade his territory. The female on the other hand can be a few inches smaller, is more elegant, and can be feline in her movements, she is much more gentle altogether more shy and diffident though. But! very rarely would a stranger be able to touch her, even, when the owner was present.

In a house which is not the natural environment for them, these dogs will cause no trouble, they are never invading, and they make themselves small, trying to become a part of the household. In particular, when it is dark, they like to lay across the doorway with the head towards the outside, and they are always alert.

Maremmas are fast and as agile as any cat, and even as a puppy learn to distinguish between familiar and suspect noises. Talking about agility, I would however like to emphasise one point, they are strong dogs and strongly built, but they must maintain agility to be typical of the breed. They must never become heavy overweight dogs. I wish to underline this fact as some breeders seem to see as their aim, when addressing themselves to choosing subjects, to choose dogs which are growing and growing in size and which are becoming too heavy, with too much skin and therefore losing the agility of their movement. If it is true that today on average, the breed is definitely of greater size to what it was years ago, when there was less attention and less knowledge given to the selection and feeding of the dogs, then this must not alter the duplicity of a breed that has been maintained in so pure a way for centuries on any count. Otherwise we will run the real risk of losing a very rich patrimony that surely many other breeds envy. If we loose the physical characteristics we also risk losing the psychological ones as well, which are so particular and so beautiful in our breed.

Another of the characteristics of the breed is the ability for bitches to rear large litters, giving everything of themselves to the rearing of puppies, so much so that it can take a bitch up to six months to recover her condition. The puppies are much more precocious than in other breeds opening their eyes at around ten days as opposed to fourteen to eighteen days in other breeds, and as soon as they can move around they will look for a corner to relieve themselves. At one month of age the puppies will follow their mothers around and have great adventures exploring as a group. They are very curious of any angle or corner that they can reach, always however being able to return to the nest without ever getting lost. Puppies are very brave, possessing strong instincts of the sheepdog, going off in groups, and not being afraid of dogs and animals coming into their territory. regardless of the size of the intruder.

When they reach adulthood they always try to defend anything that needs protection, this is also why they are such fantastic guardians of children, puppies and domestic animals. In their common life, they always have a great sense of hierarchy, probably due to the fact that they have always lived in packs. There is always a boss in the pack which is usually the older, stronger adult dog. but there will come a time when he is beaten by a younger stronger dog. This social organisation is still very common in the dogs of the shepherds and you can very often see the marks left on the dogs from fierce battles for domination. For this reason I would absolutely advise anyone that would like to keep two male dogs together, even if they have grown up together or are brothers, that when they reach adulthood they may well have a serious dangerous battle. In the females, the sense of hierarchy normally obtains an equilibrium which is very often positive. Another thing is that bitches normally recognise for all their lives, daughters. Often treating them, even as adults as though they were still puppies, cleaning their eyes and ears and in a way teaching them to live. I have assisted, more than once, mothers that assist their daughters when they whelp and these bitches accept the help of grandmothers of their puppies, even to defending the puppies when they start to explore the territory.

As I have said before, Maremmas do not need training to do their work as guardian, their proud and independent temperament can react very negatively to those constrictions and impositions which are tolerated by breeds selected to be trained, because they have a temperament which is more malleable, less reactive, practically lacking in initiative.

Unfortunately, the great majority. of trainers, being used to the more biddable breeds, do not know how to treat our breed, which need a different approach to training. Consequently they are not able to obtain any positive results from a Maremma. There are however some exceptions, some dogs for instance have been trained for work within the National Protection Service and also for attacking as in the German Shepherd. These dogs being trained by people who have understood the different approach to the training that was needed. Having said all this, and having talked about the particular temperament of our, dogs, one must absolutely not believe that our dogs do not need discipline. A dog without discipline is like a car without any brakes. I have already said that one has to create the correct relationship, and from that moment you can obtain anything, providing that this anything is a reasonable request, in other words, you cannot expect your dog to become a marionette!

Differing from other dogs, a Maremrna does not like to go out from his property, he does not like to go in the car or be on a lead. It is therefore necessary to acquaint him with those at a very early age. Once he reaches the weight of 40kg it will not be easy to do this. It is not only to go to shows that this training is required, as he may require a car trip to visit the vet or such like. I can guarantee that a dog weighing 40kg who does not wish to get into a car seems to weigh 200 kg if you are trying to persuade him/her. In the same way they must learn to walk on a lead amongst people or other breeds of dogs. Otherwise it will be an all round fight between owner, other handler and dog, and on this it should be remembered that sometimes its the Maremma that wins.

In conclusion I would like to say that since I970, in the USA, our dogs have been used with great success for the defence of thousands of sheep, sheep which in the past had been killed by the Coyote, which resulted in losses of over I0 million dollars. Very wisely, Dr Coppinger from the University of Massachusetts came to Italy and then imported into the USA stock which was directly from our working dogs. Trials have been a great success along with trials of other breeds, namely the Anatolian Karabash and the Komodors. To end I can only wish that this Magnificent Italian breed will continue its' climb in quality and popularity, especially in countries where it is not known. But we must all be very careful not to make the breed become a 'Breed of Fashion'. Nothing con be more dangerous and harmful to a breed such as ours if it happened. We must therefore hope that in each Italian property, in the nice villas that we have in our country, there can be a nice Maremmano-Abruzzes as a guard- maybe there could be two. This would be the nicest declaration that a park could have.