It is with great excitement that we announce the import of our new Italian stud dog, Pegaso! Maremmas have a very limited gene pool in America and this can cause problems that result in genetic defects, temperament issues and more. We already have 3 amazing stud dogs from very diverse lines but we felt that more diversity would benefit our breeding program. We considered buying a puppy from a US breeder who had imported dogs but to be honest our experience with buying from US breeders has been hit or miss. In our experience too many US breeders are getting into the breed for the wrong reasons and either choosing breeding stock from show kennels, improperly socializing their puppies or both. This often results in puppies that mature into beautiful but unsafe LGD's that would be more at home in the show ring or lounging around a pool in a fancy "horsey subdivision" than guarding livestock. We need Livestock Guardian Dogs, not "estate guardian" so we set out to go straight to the source - Italy!

In order to be sure we didn't just import some fancy show dog with no real working ability we did careful research. We aren't opposed to breeders that show their dogs as new understand that in Italy a lot of working LGD's are shown. But we wanted to be sure the breeder also uses their dogs as LGD's and raises the puppies with livestock from birth. The one name that constantly came up was Mauro Di Fonzo, of Allevamento del Velino-Sirente. We knew of people who had imported dogs from him and were very happy with their dogs, and he is the breeder of our Sevro's sire. Sevro is an amazing LGD so we thought we would bet on the right track with Mauro. When I asked Mauro about his puppy socialization program this is what he replied: "important is the early imprinting to be given to puppies very early .... it is clear that if puppies are born and grow up with animals it is much better.... and that if you take an older dog, this must have already been at work..." SOLD!! We couldn't agree more and since Pegaso had received this socialization as a puppy and was already at work guarding sheep and goats he was our choice!