Always, especially in our area, this dog was referred to with the name of Abruzzese Shepherd or more simply Shepherd Dog to designate the work he carried out and still carries out in Abruzzo, cradle of this breed.
The official name Maremma-Abruzzese Sheepdog dates back to 1958, when the Italian Kennel Club (the current E.N.C.I.) drafted the breed standard still in force.
But the morphological and character differences between our dogs and the many numerous dogs common in the rest of the country are noteworthy and evident; by ours I mean the numerous subjects that we find in the mountainous areas of central and southern Italy, still used today for the custody of flocks and for their defense. Subjects that, in addition to being rustic, robust, balanced and calm, fit very well in the beauty standard of the breed; in fact, in the pedigrees of our dogs there are multiple champions who have given an irrefutable imprint to the breed in the last 30 years.
Our dogs live day and night with the sheep and accompany them everywhere in their daily pastures. They have an innate sense of protection towards the flock, and for all that is entrusted to them, to the point of staying overnight in the mountains with the sheep, on the rare occasions that they have not returned to the fold. If the shepherd has to temporarily go away, a sign is enough to feel comfortable, as the dog will certainly control and defend the flock from any attacks by wild animals such as wolves and bears still present in our territory today.
The dogs present on the farm live in large spaces, free to move at will either following the sheep or not; their lifestyle is completely natural, such as mating, childbirth and breastfeeding.
All of this happens in a completely autonomous way, without any help from man and it is for this reason that the greatest number of parts take place in barns or old haystacks. Our selection is targeted, and intends to make the dogs maintain their peculiar characteristics, in particular their character balance, without neglecting the morphological aspect; Our aim, in fact, is to have healthy and beautiful subjects from every point of view, important for the breeder, therefore, is also the control of those pathologies that certainly have genetic origins such as Hip and Elbow Dysplasia.
The combination of all these factors ensures that our dogs are resistant to disease, fatigue, bad weather and, above all, have no defects in their genetic heritage.
