Winter - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

The Watchdogs
Maremmanos at Tierra Helada Alpakas
Dominic Müller's twenty-four hour, all-year-round alpaca security service …
We have been asked many times, "Are you sure that the dogs will
not hurt your alpacas? Are you not worried about your cria?". To
get straight to the point – no, we were not worried at all! We had our
first acquaintance with Maremmanos at Mountain Meadows Ranch
in Canada. For many years now Hans and Karin Buhrmann have
their alpacas successfully guarded by their Maremmanos and breeders
such as Bluestone Alpacas on Vancouver Island are also keeping and
breeding these dogs.
As we live in a rural area and now and again rumours about the
lynx or the racoon dog are spread we decided to have our alpacas
protected by Maremmanos too. And once we decide something we
do it without delay. We quickly gathered information on the internet
and found a breeder in Oldenburg, northern Germany, almost next
to our former hometown who told us about a breeder in France. The
Reber-Lyoth family lives in Puylaurens, Laval, with their children and
680 sheep, Border Collies and Maremmanos. We told them about our
intention to have Maremmanos for our alpacas and Monsieur Reber
promised to choose the appropriate whelp from the next litter as the
initial imprinting during the first 8 weeks builds the basis for their later
behaviour. Our two whelps were chosen out of a litter of nine. From the
beginning they experienced family life, but also life and its perils within
a sheep flock, birth of the lambs, the protecting females and so on.
They had been perfectly prepared.
In December 2006 our two dogs, Babar and Buffalo, joined us at
the age of 8 weeks. Even though it was difficult for us they had to stay
in the stable with the alpacas to get used to their new companions
and environment. We built a little enclosure to allow them to retreat
whenever they wanted to. During the first weeks they also had a kennel
on the meadow which was not necessary anymore after four to five
weeks. By then they already felt very much at home. Of course they had
to learn a lot and fooled around but the experienced alpaca females left
no doubts about where they set the limits. Very quickly they learned
from which female they should keep aloof, which one does not mind
them scampering underneath her belly and which females should be
approached from the rear side. They humbly lower their heads now
when pacing the stables signalling "I will not bother you" and if once
in a while one of them dares to jauntily nose at the alpacas they accept
the immediately following kick. They very easily mingled with the
adolescent alpacas. Soon they had found out that can play and jump
around with them as long as the mothers allow it. Soon they preferred
the soft and cosy hay racks to the rubber mats as sleeping berths. And
it did not take long before they began to signal all strangers along the
fence "Do not enter" and "The alpacas belong to us" but whoever now
comes in with us is immediately accepted. After five months the first
alpaca cria was born. Of course we were anxious to see how they would
behave. But there was no reason to worry as our dogs watch over the
females and the first thing a newborn sees is a white Maremmano.
Thus all our crias are used to our dogs.
All-in-all we are happy to have the dogs out there with the alpacas
but one has to mention that the upbringing of this breed is different
to other breeds. We do not know any other breed so bull-headed and
stubborn and at the same time so devoted. Invest a lot of patience,
no force and a lot of love and you will have a loyal protector for your
animals.
22 Alpaca World Magazine Winter 2007 / 08