he Maremma Sheepdog as he is known in many countries is called Il Pastore Maremmemano Abruzzese in Italy and is one of the white Live Stock Guarding Dogs. Maremma’s are still to be found in the Abruzzi mountain region, Umbria especially the plains of Castellucio and Tuscany. The origins of the Maremma sheepdog as we know him today evolved between eight and twelve thousand years ago. The white flock guard travelled with nomadic tribe’s people through Asia and to various other European countries. Our Maremma is from Italy settling in the Maremma Plains onto the hills of Tuscany including the full Apennines mountain range which runs the length of Italy finishing in the “boot”, Umbria and down to the Abruzzi region which include Gran Sasso and the Maielle.
The Maremma Sheepdog remains with the flock at night while in days gone by the shepherd would return home when possible. Today there are quite often Bulgarian shepherds with the flock and the sheep. The sheep along with the shepherds stay in the mountains for several months. When the shepherd would leave the sheep the dogs were never encouraged to follow their master but rather to be loyal to the sheep. From these early days the Maremma has a very strong instinct to guard whatever is left in his charge which today in Britain is his human family and on very rare occasion’s sheep, goats and cattle. The Charlian Maremmas did have this experience as they used to breed cattle and coats and have flocks of sheep belonging to a friend. Sadly in the UK numbers have drastically gone down in numbers, depleting the gene pool and exhibitors at shows. In other countries such as America, Canada and Australia, numbers are quite high in numbers

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