This breed is meant to work. We will not sell dogs to work small farms, as these dogs are *not* meant for 3 acre properties. If you arrange to buy a pup in advance, we can bond your pup to llamas (which will work for alpacas too), or sheep (which will work for goats too).

        Please contact us right away if are interested in being put on a waiting list for our next litter. They go fast! DO let us know about yourself and your set-up, because we care where our pups go. We want their life with you to be a successful and happy experience for both of you.

       There is a vast difference between "guardian" dogs such as our Maremmas and "herding" dogs such as our Border Collies. Both do a specific job and are trained to be trusted working members of our farm operation. We are not raising show dogs or pets. Our dogs are raised and trained with livestock and bred from generations of working dogs. If you are losing livestock to predators or need herding help, please consider what these breeds can do to help you. We only breed our female when we have enough orders for pups to merit a new litter.

       A new generation of Maremmas has taken up the torch here at Groveland Farm. In 2001, we imported Senta from Italy. She now (2-04) weighs 125 pounds and has a very loving, beautiful disposition. In 2002, we added Ilare, imported from Italy as a pup in 1999. Ilare weighs 127 pounds and is probably one of the most beautiful Maremmas I have ever seen.

Rusty and La Bella Luna

       In 2003, we added Groveland's La Bella Luna. LuLu is bonding with the ewe lamb flock, like Bear did before her. But we're not done yet! Senta and Ilare had a litter on 3-2-04! We plan on keeping a female puppy, Groveland's Millifiore, Milli for short. While Ilare and Senta guard the male llama herd together, Bear (imported from Italy in 2002) is mainly working with our neutered Monte son, Pedro, and another neutered Monte x Cindy offspring, Andy, in the sheep flock. Lulu is with the ewe lambs, and Milli will probably be working with Lu for a while till after lambing in May of 2004.

Mare and Senta

Senta arrived 3-13-01, straight from Italy. Isn't she adorable? Senta represents the fulfillment of our long-term dream of importing Maremmano Abruzzese genetics direct from Italy. We are so grateful to Marco Petrella of Pratola Peligna, Italy for allowing us to bring this sweet dispositioned baby into America. She is about 10 weeks old, and weighs about 27 pounds!        Senta's sire is Puma and his "Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana (ENCI)" Registration # is GI97L2142. Senta's dam is Hillary, and her number is LIR00/109796.

       Senta is a fullblooded Pastore Abruzzese dog, the ones who were bred in the mountains of Italy. The Maremma was developed by crossing these Abruzzese dogs with the Maremmano dogs of the Italian lowlands. Since about 1991, we have dearly desired to import new Italian bloodlines of Maremmas into the USA. Thanks to Marco we have been able to do this. With Senta we hope to build a new generation of Groveland Farm's Maremmano-Abruzzese livestock guardian dogs.

       Senta at 10 months. This photo was taken 5-02 of Senta (far right) with Pedro. And here is Pedro guarding his sheep in the jug.

       Hey, Rusty, look what followed me home from the Minnesota State Fair! I have to take him back? Oh bummer!

Mack and Pedro

MAREMMA GUARDIAN DOGS

       The Maremmano-Abruzzese is the great livestock guardian dog from Italy. Known more commonly as the Maremma (pronounced: ma rem' ma). Italian shepherds have used these dogs for more than 2,000 years to protect sheep from bears and wolves. The dogs derive their name from the two sheep regions of central Italy. The Maremma region is plains, while the Abruzzi region is mountainous. In the 1970's, a guardian dog project was begun at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA under the direction of Dr. Ray Coppinger. Maremmas and other guardian dog breeds were imported to the United States, followed by subsequent importations by private breeders. Maremma numbers in the United States have grown, but they are still a relatively obscure breed here. In Italy, there are about 7,000 Maremmas.

       In Italy the shepherds take their flocks from the lowlands to summer in the highlands on the lush pastures. The dogs travel with them, working closely with the shepherds and protecting large bands of milking sheep. A band of 3,000 sheep, divided into 10 different flocks, supervised by 15 shepherd/milkers will have perhaps 30 dogs guarding it. Since the sheep are penned at night, and the dogs stay with the sheep, it follows that the shepherd and the dogs will have a more interactive relationship than flocks that are managed in a "range" situation. Maremmas are very suitable for farm flock situations. How appropriate that at Groveland Farm these wonderful dogs still perform in their old-world tradition, guarding milking sheep as well as our dairy goats and llamas.

       Our Maremmas get a good mix of predatory challenges, as our area of the country supports timber wolves, coyotes, black bears, and cougars. The main means that livestock guardian dogs use to protect their flocks are "The Charge" and territory perimeter marking. A charging Maremma dog is an impressive sight. They quickly size up a problem situation and a dog who looks like he has been napping is proven to have been sleeping with one eye open! In an instant this dog builds up a locomotive-size head of steam and all four legs churning, he goes barreling off to face the threat. Typically he will stand at his perimeter when his quarry turns to flee. In the Spring, when we are lambing, we get black bear pressure almost daily. Our dogs will send the bears back into the woods, follow them about 50 feet and then stand and bark a large reverberating sound that seems to say, "AND DON'T COME BACK!" Territory marking means that the dogs will leave their scent along the perimeters of their area. This tells predators that there are guardian dogs on duty, and they tend to swerve away. Most predation pressure is at night, thus our dogs tend to work the night shift!

Ilare Delle Vergherie (ENCI# LOI99/135967 - Italy) Birthdate: 1-22-99 (MSCA # ZZM1841G)

       ILARE August, 2002: We just bought our new maremma male, Ilare, in Blanchard, Idaho. We're very excited about this male and what he'll bring to our breeding program! This is Ilare with me (Mare) in Idaho. Here is Rusty with Ilare at home in Wisconsin. We traveled from the panhandle of Idaho (near Coeur D'Alene) to Northern Wisconsin, with Ilare, our new male Maremma, and Iside, his littermate sister, in our truck camper. I (Mare) rode in the back with the dogs, who are adults - 3 years old. We decided to use a less-traveled road, US 2, for our journey, since the rest areas would be less populated than the ones on the interstate highway. The trip back was relatively uneventful, and the dogs were getting quite used to traveling by the time we arrived home. We brought Ilare here for ourselves, to mate with Senta. Iside, his littermate sister, is being bonded to a group of sheep- the last of our East Friesians - that are leaving in December. Iside and her group will be moving to Colorado. Since Ilare and Iside had been accustomed only to goats, and we have sheep and llamas, we began the transition slowly. However, after 2 weeks, have initiated contact with the rams and our gentle llama stud, Embarcadero. All is well; the dogs seem to be delighted to have critters to guard.

        These dogs were bred by Anna Corsini, born in Italy, and then imported to this country by Barbara Garayalde. We are so grateful to Barbara, who, on downsizing her goat herd, asked us if we would like to purchase Ilare. He is beautiful beyond belief, with a lovely temperament and large size; he's even bigger than Monte, with good bone and conformation. We're anticipating some outstanding dogs to result from breeding Senta and Ilare.

       Groveland's Orso (bear) is an Abruzzesi dog, and was born August 25, 2002 in the Abruzzo region of Italy, to Marco Petrella's female, Poppea. This picture was taken 9-14-02, so we know he's going to be a big boy! He'll be coming to the USA soon, to join the troops at our farm. We're honored and excited to have the opportunity to import another one of Marco's wonderful dogs. We'll update the site with pictures of him as we can after he arrives!

       UPDATE 11-02: Orso has arrived in the USA! Our thanks go to Marco Petrella for breeding us such a lovely dog. He is smart as a whip and also has that lovely disposition shared by the other Petrella dog we own, Senta. Getting him here was quite an undertaking, as the airline wouldn't ship to Minneapolis because the temps were too cold. So he detoured through Dallas, and in the loving hands of Laurel McGilvery made the transfer of airlines and finally arrived. It was quite an adventure for us all. :) Now, he's beginning his career as a livestock guardian, bonding to sheep, with whom he lives full time. He is afraid of nothing, yet is not aggressive; and after about 2 days had learned the command "Back" (to keep him from attempting to follow us out the gates). We're pretty impressed with him. He continues to delight us!

       [4-20-02] Our dairy farmer neighbors (who are only one mile up the road from us) saw a pack of 6 wolves crossing their fields, and they think there may be as many as 8. Rusty saw a pair of wolves in our hay fields during deer hunting season, and we hear the howling almost every night. Our border collies answer back, and last night (April 19, 2002), Monte and all the other Maremmas were howling. Our neighbor said a wolf was in with his heifers, and ran when they came outside. A wolf chased their border collie!

       [9-2-02] Our neighbor was mowing a field for haylage recently and the pack of wolves (5 strong, this time) came out on the field and attacked the tractor tires. This is very concerning to us, as this is definitely not typical wolf behavior. We fear that these wolves are either rabid or that we have a hybred pack of wolf/dogs here in our area. They will be less afraid of people, and this explains some of their behavior to date, such as being visible to our neighbors on numberous occasions. So far so good here, as Pedro has his group in the wooded pastureland now. But we hear the dogs working at night, Senta particularly. Soon, though, she will be going 'into her confinement' as they say, with her expected litter (she's making a belly), so the other guys will have to take over for her. The DNR have hauled out 15 bears so far this Fall (they trample the neighbors' corn, so they get relocated.) Unfortunately, this year they took a sow and left her cub behind in the woods to beller all night. I was very angry and wanted to call them up, but was afraid of what I would say. I hope they like playing with their wild animals! (We're obviously not a fan of the DNR here.)

Albert Huber, MD wrote this haiku for us as a tribute to Monte and Cindy; Full moon glows on western ridge; My flock, fields, dark world and heart Are empty.        Wood's Edge Monte, who was our main stud dog for years, weighed 125 pounds and was 32 inches at the withers (shoulder). His bearing was regal, and he patroled the entire farm and directed the deployment of some of our other dogs.

Our first female, Cindy Sue, was extremely alert and attentive, she weighed about 90 pounds. Cindy was an excellent mother, whelping and raising her puppies in the barn with the sheep and llamas. Monte and Cindy produced proven puppies that have grown up to be large dogs with excellent guardian abilities, while retaining their loving dispositions and even temperaments. Photo by Tim Slattery

       Folks have been asking for Maremma stories. What follows are a few true tales of how our dogs here at the farm, and dogs of our breeding work. I love to watch the interactions of the dogs with our stock and never cease to find them fascinating.

       In December of 1998, while we were feeding a large group of sheep their grain, Mack started to come out with them, turned and went back to the hay feeder, and repeated this behaviour several times. He was 'showing' Rusty a sheep which had crawled under the hay wagon feeder and gotten stuck. She was a black ewe lamb, and the hay had falled down around her to the point where she was almost invisible. We wouldn't have seen her by ourselves from the distance we were from her. We had to lift the wagon up with the tractor loader to free her. Was Mack ever a happy boy, then!

       On May 17, 1997, one of our 57% East Friesland ewes was getting ready to have her lamb, so I went out and sat by her in the pasture to wait and help if need be. As momma began to clean her baby up, Monte, the stud dog, realized what was going on and out he came to join us. We sat together, Monte and I, about 15 feet away from momma, taking a break (me) and guarding the newborn (Monte). Suddenly, Monte was on his feet and running. I couldn't imagine what was going on. I looked up, and not 50 feet away from us, a deer had jumped into our pasture, and another one was coming right behind it. Monte ran at the first deer, who turned and went back out over a fence, then he went after the second deer till it cleared the fence, then he stopped, came back over by us and lay back down for me to use as a pillow again. These dogs are SO GREAT!

       On Friday, December 13, 1996, we had a baby llama (cria) born here. Andy fell in love with this baby, and on Sunday afternoon, we went into the barn to see the baby lying down, with Andy's head tucked under her neck. As we watched, Andy reached up to kiss her face. Mary Maremma is also in love with the baby, and wants to crawl into the pen with the mom and baby. Momma llama isn't afraid - we've had guardian dogs ever since the momma came to live here, so they are part of her world.

       We had a few lambs born in earliest February, 1996, when it was brutally cold. We were not expecting these lambs (the precocious Friesland cross ram lambs were with the ewes too long that fall :-] ) and with the ewes in full fleece, it was a bit hard to see developing udders. One morning, Monte, the stud dog, gave us the message that something was going on out by the feeders, and we rushed out to retrieve a couple almost popsicle lambs and their moms. Back to the barn we headed, but Mack got Rusty's attention and showed him another lamb that was dropped near the feeder in a snow bank, basically invisible. Thanks to our Maremma's ability to communicate this situation to us, these lambs were saved.

       A 1996 Spring encounter with a coyote occurred. Typically, the coyote avoid a confrontation, especially with one of our dogs. In this case, however, Andy, a 3-year old dog, encountered the coyote, and the coyote didn't back off. Andy raised the alarm, calling for back-up. In a flash, Monte, the stud dog, and Otto, his full brother, rode to the rescue, like the cavalry. They really whumped coyote butt that day. Any time that an animal behaves abnormally, we always worry that they might be sick with something like rabies, so we make sure that our vaccinations are always up to date. This encounter occurred in an area which is permanent pasture; 40 of the 80 acres are fenced now. I told Rusty, "Please don't fence in any wolves or coyotes, OK? :-^}" When the sheep go to that pasture, Mack, their full-time guardian, is joined by Andy and Monte; these dogs just seem to know that they better be in that area. Last Fall, the black bears were pacing the fence line where our Mack's sheep spend the night. He put in an awful lot of overtime, along with the rest of the gang.

       One Spring morning just prior to lambing (when our ewes were the most rotund and liable to get cast on their backs), I was getting ready for work and could hear Cindy barking and barking and barking. I was getting a little irritated with her for this. When I finally came outside to get in the car, dressed in my white pants, I immediately saw why Cyn had been having such a hissy fit. An ewe was cast on her back. I hopped the fence, in the white pants, into a sea of mud! Got the momma up, but I did have to change clothes. About a week later, after I had become a believer in Cyn's judgment, she was having a hissy fit again at 1 in the morning. Going out with a flashlight, I found an ewe who had gotten stuck in a feeder. Yeah, we listen to Cyn!

       When we are lambing, our older dogs, Andy, Monte, and Otto vie for position to guard the most recently born lambs. Whichever dog sees the action first will take up "point" position, but if Monte, who is, after all, CEO of Groveland Farm, sees what's going on, he will tell the other dogs to take a hike and he will take over. They carefully allow the ewe and her lambs plenty of "space".

       We sold a lot of sheep this year, and we would bring them in and sort off the sheep we were going to sell. We did this a few times. Each time Mack would come in with the flock and, as the numbers went down and the mix of his flock changed, he would get quite upset (remember that the Maremmas don't like change, they like a well organized routine). He would go back with his group, but he would look at us as if to say, "Gee, did I do something wrong? Why are you taking my sheep away from me?" Never doubt that the Maremmas have each ewe named (and that sheep have family groups).

At Groveland Farm, we have bred dogs to fill the needs of protecting our stock. We have been extremely pleased with the performance of our dogs. They exhibit the qualities of successful guardian dogs - they are ATTENTIVE to the stock, PROTECTIVE of the stock, and TRUSTWORTHY.

       It's awe inspiring to see the interaction of the dogs and the stock - Maremma tucked up into the hay bales against the cold of the winter morning with the ewes cuddled up around him, peacefully chewing their cuds, as their frosty breath greets the red dawn of a winter morn at Groveland Farm.

       Our pups have been placed in guarding situations with sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and large birds (ratites). Properly bonded, Maremmas will guard any species. Dogs of our breeding are working from Washington State to New Jersey and from Canada to Texas. It is important that one not overestimate their abilities and expect too much from any guardian or predation deterrent. We strongly advocate a combination of one or two LGD's and good fencing.

       Our dogs are registered with the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America. If you would like a breeders directory and general information about Maremmas, and our Club, please send an email to me with your snail mail (postal) address and I will send you an informational packet about Maremmas. If you prefer, you can write to me at: Mary Jarvis, Maremma Sheepdog Club of America, 2862 S. Peterson Rd., Poplar, WI 54864 or telephone (715) 364-2646. Remember we're farmers and I work part time off the farm too, so please try to time your calls to a reasonable time period; we're in CST zone. Or just visit the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America web site!

Groveland Farm Mare & Rusty Jarvis 2862 South Peterson Road Poplar, WI     54864 Email grovelandfarm@supwi.com www.all-animals.com/groveland/dogs.html