Maremma Visitor Policy

Maremma Sheepdog Visitor Policy

Due to the biosecurity risk to our dairy goat herd and our Maremma Sheepdog puppies we do not allow farm visitors into our barn area, pastures or whelping areas.

Diseases such as CAE, CL and Johnes Disease and Canine Parvovirus and Distemper pose a serious threat to our animals and can be inadvertently brought in on shoes and clothing.

Until the puppies have had all of their vaccinations they are at great risk so we need to minimize contact with the outside world as much as possible for their safety.

If you are interested in obtaining one of our puppies the first step is to fill out our Puppy Questionnaire below. We will be happy to answer a few quick questions by text or email but we do require you to fill out the questionnaire before we have a phone conversation. This is so that we will already know a little bit about you and your needs for a LGD before speaking to you on the phone. We put a lot of time, money and effort into raising healthy, high quality Maremma Sheepdogs and do our best to match them with the right families. This Puppy Questionnaire is designed to help us match the perfect puppy for you, to ensure our pups get great homes and to give us all the necessary contact info we will need for registration paperwork and record keeping later.

Puppy Questionnaire

Photos, pedigrees and other information for all of our breeding dogs and available puppies or adult dogs are posted on our website. We also have tons of photos and videos of past litters on our website and more photos on our Facebook and Instagram business pages. You can see our Maremmas in action, guarding their herd, photos of current and past Maremma litters, as well as lots of photos and videos going back several years that depict how our Maremma puppies are raised. We work hard to keep our website and social media accounts up to date and relevant, so that people can become familiar with our farm in a safe and convenient way.

We also have lots of articles, links and information to assist you in making your choice and are happy to answer any questions you have. If we have Maremmas available and you decide you want to reserve one we will send you a PayPal invoice for the non-refundable Reservation Fee, or which will hold your puppies until they are ready to be picked up.

No puppy will be held without a paid Reservation Fee.

In Person Visits

*Because of the very dangerous risk of Parvo, Distemper and other dog diseases, as well as the biosecurity risk to our dairy goat herd, we do not allow visitors to come into the whelping area, barnyard or pastures at all or to touch the puppies until all of their vaccines are complete, which is on pick-up day, or once the puppies are a minimum of 12 weeks old and have had at least three parvo vaccines. On your scheduled pick up day we will bring your puppy to our pick up area. This is an area we have set aside near our Puppy Parlor where new puppy owners can meet their puppies and let the puppies become comfortable with them before going home. During this meeting time with your new puppy we will answer any questions you may have and go over things you should know before taking your puppy or puppies home.

*We do allow customers who have placed a deposit on a puppy from a specific litter to come and view the pups through the pasture fence once they are big enough to go outside the whelping area, if they wish to get a sneak peek at their future puppy. This is by appointment only and only for those that have reserved a puppy from that specific litter. For the safety of our pups and our family (this is our home, after all) we do not allow “window shopping” of puppies by people who have not paid a deposit.

If we have unsold puppies of 12 weeks or older or juvenile dogs available we do allow visitors who are interested in these specific pups/dogs to come and meet them before making a reservation, if they prefer. This visit will be conducted in our pick-up area near our Puppy Parlor, and we will require visitors to adhere to proper biosecurity measures including:

Wearing fresh, clean clothes that have not been worn in any public place
Proper hand washing with antibacterial soap
Stepping in a foot bath that includes a parvocide agent, or wearing protective booties over their shoes

Puppy Reservations

Because our dogs are working LGD’s who take their jobs very seriously and because we live in a high goat theft area we do not allow visitors to meet and interact with our dogs. We prefer that they do not get too used to strangers coming and going and that they remain wary of people who might steal our goats. What’s more, we have given our dogs an important job to do and we feel that it’s our responsibility to respect them and not put them in a position where they feel stressed and uncomfortable because of strangers handling the goats and other animals they are in charge of. Many of our dogs can be viewed at work from the pick up area but we do not conduct farm tours at this time, though it may be something we revisit in the future. For now we do offer a Virtual Farm Tour video, which can be accessed on the link below:

Virtual Farm Tour