Guardian Dogs - The Maremma

Farmer Dave Dog Training

[EdwinHenryBlachford]

I love how farm guys know animals to the core. A dog has a way strong acid stomach and is a scavenger in the main. So are Eagles, that eat rotting corpses more than they kill prey. Dave's Mareema is lean and super healthy.. and super happy to be doing what comes naturally. Contrast this with some pampered doll locked up in a suburb or apartment. Most of the video I take on farms couldn't be posted on YouTube due to the yupfactor. City people have lost the plot

[ChrisCarrollGainsbor]

Thank you your post and expaination of a new breed to me insightful. I would ignore any posts that challenge that. New breed for me but I've raised dogs my whole life, basically the breeds you mention, helpful to get some knowledge in Oz how they work ... all dogs work.

[arttrinidade]

I have to say that although you are obviously a professional with stock, your Maremma is very thin.  You are feeding him dog biscuits which are not providing complete nutrition, they are treats.  Also that amount for your dog is about half of what he would need to fill his belly.  He should not be eating feces, and I would say he does so because he is looking for more calories and nutrition.  I have Maremmas who are not at all overweight (105 lbs) and muscular with strong bones.  Please consider a complete dog food and a lot more of it.

[kscot]

hey dave that was a great video just won't to know do u have to train a maremma to guard your animals and livestock or are they just born with the guarding instinct please reply cause it would help me heeps thanks great video

[hothead]

I have two Maremmas and they are companion dogs, I also belong to a Maremma Community online and I have never heard and would never dream of any dog eating faeces unless they are hungry and their diet is lacking. A working dog needs little contact with people, true, but they need daily visit from their owners for a number of reasons. A nutritious meal and human contact in case veterinary treatment is required.

[docmdm]

A clearly underfed maremma, look at any maremma video from Italy to see how those dogs should look like. These tough dogs can survive with limited resources if necessary, but this doesn't mean you should starve the dogs on purpose.

[aussieflyerdave]

Hi, do the sheep try and eat the dog food?

[MarmaLagga]

My maremma "Kalle the brave" eats a pound of grinded meat + rice/pasta and leftover from our food a day. We have a lot of wolfs an d bears around our little farm
but non of our sheps have been lost. Kalle weights near 60 kilo. 

[waynegoff]

Australian farmer. "I don't give my dog any food" "Oh! why not?" Farmer, "my dog eats shit". "but my dog wont eat shit" Farmer, "Neither would mine for the first two weeks".

[hothead]

They are born with the instinct to protect their flock, but require a careful introduction. They are easily trained under right conditions due to their intelligence, but have to want to do it for you. It has to be small supervised meetings and play is frowned upon with the flock. I have two and I am their flock so they are very protective of me and obey commands be it slowly in some cases as they can be stubborn.

[Donegaldan]

Thanks for sharing your lifestyle.  That Mareema needs an increase in protein.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I can get one for 300 but I live in Florida and it specifically said online that they don't do well in hot weather. I always adopt too, but they're too rare to be in shelters, and I'd use her to protect chickens, so I can't just get any old dog

[whirledly]

You need to review your feeding regime..

[benwilliams]

Some people just don't deserve to have dogs

[jellyblocked]

Correct their born with instinct and are in fact hard to train .They pretty much think for themselves and question commands . The mother will train here pups and they pretty much know what the score is after 3 weeks . In packs they will do shifts work to protect while the others sleep which is pretty cool stuff . Very very interesting bread !

[ktheodor]

There seems to be a misunderstanding by some of the commentators here that dog biscuits are not enough to completely healthily sustain a canine. This is false. So long as the manufacturer of the dog biscuits (talking of the big mainstream manufacturers) indicates that this food is a complete food, i.e., the food is *formulated* then the dog gets its daily intake of good, healthy sustenance. Some people might even want to treat their animal with carrots and other kinds of vegetables, and that would be fine, too. However, so long as the biscuits this farmer feeds his Maremmas is formulated food, then his dogs get all they need.

The problem lies, as I've already explained, in these dogs habitually eating other animals' waste product -- feces.

[apiaristagrarian]

Is there enough protein in sheep feces for the Maremma? I read that cattle farmers feed their cattle chicken feces which provides 23% protein. Shouldn't that dog be eating his weight in pounds of protein in grams per day?

[conor]

I have had many dogs and done my best to feed them the best quality food and as much quantity as is appropriate for their breed and age. My current dogs are fed a nutritious 80/10/10 raw diet supplemented with all kinds of raw treats. They all still eat shit when they get the chance.

[BRCollector]

Is this not the dude from Big Brother years ago?

[rondv]

Try a nice cold biscuit tonight and have a big bowl of shit for dinner the rest of the week. Bon Appétit