It's Your Dog. There is No One "Right" Way to Raise, Train and Own a Livestock Guardian Dog, Even My Way.

I will probably ruffle some feathers with this post, but something has been bothering me for a while, and I need to share my thoughts in my own rambling way. As a breeder and trainer of Maremma Sheepdogs and an advocate of the breed, I have been very vocal in how I believe Livestock Guardian Dogs should be raised and socialized as puppies. I firmly believe that LGD puppies should get a very early start with livestock and continue that way until they are grown. Puppies have critical socialization periods in the early weeks, and taking advantage of those periods by having them immersed with livestock at that age can ensure their future success as LGDs. 

I feel strongly about this issue because I have acquired puppies from breeders who raise their dogs as companion dogs in those first weeks and months. These pups were raised in houses, backyards, and patios, with no livestock exposure until they came to my farm at 3-4 months old. I have seen the effect of this lack of early livestock exposure on their training (it's a lot more work to train them) and how those dogs turned out compared to how my puppies turned out. I firmly believe that how I raise my pups is the best practice for LGDs, and what is advocated on some Facebook groups is terrible advice. I even wrote a blog post entitled "Debunking the Shepherd Way Myth of Livestock Guardian Dog Training."

I stand behind what I said in that post. However, I need to clarify what I mean by how I raise my puppies. I also have probably not understood what others mean when they refer to themselves as "shepherds."

After I wrote that blog post, I had an interesting discussion with someone in my Maremma Sheepdog Open Forum Facebook group who advocates the "Shepherd Way" of training. And I found that she and I had a lot more in common than we thought. So there is more of a communication issue than a conflict of beliefs here.

I have one adult Maremma named Titus, who is a companion dog. He lives inside my house full-time with my other three companion dogs. I bred him, and he was raised outside with the stock until he was 5 months old. He's been a house dog ever since. He is perfectly house-trained, leash-trained, and crate trained. He has gone on many walks in regular neighborhoods, to the dog park many times, to the vet, to the groomers, and on long car trips. None of this happened before he was 5 months old, but he quickly adjusted to this companion dog life.

​The "companion home" discussion is an issue for another post, which I hope to write soon. For years I turned down any requests for companion homes for my puppies. I did this primarily because of what other breeders said or what I read on Facebook. I now realize I missed out on many great homes for my pups for no good reason. And since I started saying "yes" to the occasional request for companion puppies, I have learned even more about these fantastic dogs. Choosing to keep one of my puppies as a companion dog has taught me even more. They really can thrive in pet homes. In the right home with a dedicated owner. Just like in working homes. It's primarily the commitment of the owner that matters. But again, that's a topic I plan to expand on another day.

Other than Titus, the rest of my Maremmas live outside with the livestock 24/7. They never come inside my house. But that is mainly because my house is several hundred feet from my barn and not attached by any fence. I would have to put them on a leash and walk them to my house to bring them inside. That is too much work when I am busy caring for a farm and running a business. But if my property were set up differently, I imagine my other Maremmas would come in to "visit" occasionally. Probably the goats, too. 😆

But because my dogs live outside, does that mean I'm not "shepherding" them? While I'm not too fond of the term, it's probably a relatively accurate description of my role with my dogs. I don't have an "off-farm" job. I run a business breeding dairy goats and Maremmas. I spend several hours a day outside taking care of my animals. I even sleep outside sometimes if puppies or goats are being born. Therefore I spend plenty of time bonding with my puppies and my dogs. I have no need to bring them into the house to bond with them because we bond outside. That is probably the main area where I differ from the "Shepherd Way" advocates.

I am NOT an advocate of the "hand-off" method of LGD training. Not at all. I utilize and advocate only positive training methods with my puppies. I also raise my puppies using Puppy Culture and Badass Breeder methods. I have a very carefully laid out puppy socialization program, exposing the puppies to sights, sounds, new people, and activities. This ensures that the puppies will be resilient and well-adjusted and thrive in various homes, including working or companion homes or something in between.

Another point I should make is that I sell puppies at 12 weeks or later. Most are in the 4-8 month range when they leave here. And I primarily sell puppies in pairs or to homes with another LGD, so there are no "8-week-old puppies alone in a barn" coming from my farm. Most of my pups are 50-60 lbs or more when they leave my farm. They aren't tiny babies.

​And if someone insists on owning a single LGD, I make it very clear that they will have to spend a lot of time with their puppy to compensate for the deficit. All of my dogs work in pairs or teams so I do not advocate single dogs alone with the livestock.

But the actual topic of this post is not how I manage my own dogs or socialize my puppies. That's just the backstory. My point here is that even though I believe what I am doing is right for my dogs and the puppies I breed, it is not the only way for people to manage their dogs. I am not of the "my way or the highway" camp. 

Obviously, if someone does not feel comfortable doing things the way I do or cannot do them, then my trying to force them to be just like me will not help them. And my goal as a breeder is always to help my puppy owners succeed with their dogs. I worry that people may have read my post and thought that if they did things any differently than the way I recommend, I would be mad at them or criticize them. And nothing could be further from the truth. 

Many of my puppy families do things differently than I do. I have had families who raised their puppies in the house for part of the time initially. Some may continue to let their dogs come and go indoors. Some clients bought their dogs as LGDs and later sold their farms. Their dogs transitioned to the companion dog life with no problem. 

Many of my families do fun and cool things with their dogs, like taking them on vacation, camping, to the beach, or on family trips. One family takes their dog regularly to their vacation home in the mountains. He goes on hikes with them to protect them from mountain lions. That's an excellent use of their dog and fun for dog and family alike!

The simple fact is that all these dogs have thrived under their owners' management. They succeeded because their owners were committed to making things work. They just made things work in the way that worked for them. I do not have a problem with that. Why should I? The dogs are happy, the people are happy, and, I assume, the livestock is safe in the dogs' absence. That is all that matters.

There is a person in the Maremma industry that I used to have a lot of respect for. I will call her "the Maremma guru" because that describes what she seems to believe she is. She is always talking about "what is true for white dogs" as if she is the only one that knows that truth. She seems to think she speaks for the Maremmas in much the same way that the Lorax speaks for the trees.

There are a lot of people in the LGD community that don't agree with her; people who have a much longer history and more experience with these dogs than she has. But she came onto the scene and declared herself the expert, refuting what people who had decades of experience said. I foolishly believed everything she said for a long time. I drank deeply from her particular brand of koolaide.

I used to tell people she knew more about the breed than anyone in the US. I promoted her tirelessly, referred many people to her for help and even had many links to her business on my own website. We had a lot in common and a lot we agreed on. There are still things we agree on.

But the more I got to know her, the more I realized that there was a lot that we disagreed on. There was a lot I felt like she was dead wrong about. (Like the Companion Maremma issue.) I no longer believe she knows as much as either of us thought she did. No one is right about everything. Being able to admit that is important. Eventually we parted ways and we are both better off for it. I know I am, anyway.

One thing I thought I had in common with her was this belief that the "Shepherd Way" was wrong. But as I talked to other people, I realized that I had more in common with advocates of the Shepherd Way than I thought and less with her. And I realized that being a shepherd is not a bad thing or a good thing. It's simply how some people describe their interactions with their dogs. It's a funny term, but I don't have a problem if people want to use it.

When the Maremma guru and I were still friends, she used to refer people to me occasionally to buy puppies. In almost every instance, she told me that she was "sending someone my way" because they were "not good enough" for her dogs, but they would be "fine" for me. I was always unsure about how I should take that. 🤔 It seemed like a backhanded compliment. But I appreciated the referrals.

Most of these people she "sent my way" never contacted me, but a few did buy dogs from me. The first time it happened, she later told me, "I can't believe you sold him a puppy." She didn't like the guy, and I think her referral was a test. Apparently I failed the test. I told her he was a very nice guy with a lovely farm, his other LGD needed a partner, and his sheep required protection. And I told her she shouldn't have referred him to me if she didn't want me to sell him a puppy. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That ended the discussion.

Another time she referred someone to me to buy a puppy as a partner for her adult LGD. She told me the client used an invisible fence, and I "would have to discuss what to do about that" with her. Again, this seemed like a test. I talked to the client. She told me she has an easement that requires her neighbors to drive through her property to get to their house. This means she can't have a gate across her road. She uses only positive training with her dogs and cats but uses an invisible fence to keep them safe. I have a couple of fence jumpers, so I understand that dilemma. A hotwire at the top of my fence was the only solution I found that worked. And an invisible fence makes sense for this client. It certainly is better than a dog getting out. Being hit by a car is as aversive as you can get. 😢 I gladly sold her the puppy, and she's been one of my best clients yet. I hear from her almost weekly, with frequent photos and updates. I may have failed the Maremma guru's test, but my puppy won, big time, in getting a wonderful home, invisible fence and all.

​Another person was referred to me by the Maremma guru around the same time as the invisible fence client. The Maremma guru had sold dogs to this new client's neighbors and repossessed them later. (She did this frequently whenever a new owner did something she disapproved of.) I knew about that situation because the Maremma guru told me about it without remorse. And why, you might ask, did the Maremma guru repossess the dogs? What terrible thing did the clients do? She told me they "made the dogs into pets." Meaning they let them in the house occasionally. Shocking, I know.

When my new client came to me, she was extremely nervous about buying dogs, partly because she had seen what the Maremma guru had done to her neighbors. She told me it was traumatic, with lots of begging, crying, and screaming when the dogs were taken away. I was later told by another party that those people had bought the dogs from the Maremma guru in the first place because their previous dog had died. Of course, that made the whole situation all the more traumatic. I can't imagine inflicting that kind of pain on people without just cause. And just cause would be something like abuse of the dogs. That was not the case here, from what I've heard.

My new client had already placed a non-refundable $1000 deposit on two pups, but when the dogs were ready to go, she was still having second thoughts. Until the day she took them home, she debated backing out on the sale. She was apprehensive that something would go wrong. And a lot of the reason why she was so worried was because of her neighbor's experience with the Maremma guru.

The client lives in Oregon, so she drove to my farm in California "for a visit and to maybe get the pups." Her visit required two days and an overnight hotel stay. On the first day, she spent five hours at my farm, interacting with the puppies and asking me a million questions. She asked me what she should do if she wanted to go on a trip. Could she take the dogs? Her husband races cars, and they go out of state for his races. She wanted to know if it would be ok if they brought the dogs along. I told her that as long as her livestock would be safe at home, there was no reason not to take the dogs if she wanted them to go. 

This client spent five hours asking me one question after another like she was testing me to see if there would be something I would say that would be a red flag to her. She was worried that she would do something wrong and that I would repossess the dogs like the Maremma guru had done to her neighbors. 

I finally told her that while the Maremma guru and I agreed on a lot and respected her very much, I was not her. I did things very differently and I was not going to repossess her dogs. I told her that once the dogs left my farm, they were no longer mine, and it was not my business or choice what she did with the dogs. I told her what I always say to my clients. "They are your dogs; you can do whatever you want with them. You don't need my permission or my blessing." 

She went to her hotel to think it over. Then she called the following day to tell me she was buying the puppies. She came and got the two she had liked the best and took them home. And she has been a wonderful puppy owner. I don't know if the dogs ever go on race car trips with her and her family. It's not my place to ask. They are no longer my dogs.

Now I would not advocate anyone doing anything to harm their dogs, and that includes using aversive training methods. But if somebody wants to take their dogs on outings or on vacation or let them sleep in the house with them every night, that is their business. Truly.

This is not to say that I don't believe that my way of training is not superior to how a lot of people manage their dogs. I do. How I train works best for me as a breeder, and it's what works best for my livestock. Having owned dogs raised my way and the opposite way, I would never again buy a puppy from anyone who doesn't raise puppies the way I do. No more patio puppies for me! But that's my personal choice, based on what works for me. 

And I will continue to raise my puppies the way I do while they are under my care because it's the ideal way to raise, train and socialize LGDs. The proof is in the dogs I have produced over the years. But once those puppies leave here and go to their new homes, they are no longer my dogs. And my puppy owners need to do what works for them and their new dogs. 

So don't worry. If you buy one of my puppies and want to do things differently from the way I do, I will not be mad at you. I'm not going to tell you you're doing it wrong. Instead, I will do my best to support you. Because it is not my dog anymore. It's your dog.

Reserve Your Maremma