Discover Dogs at CRUFTS

By Beverley Philips

Discover Dogs holds a special affection for this family as it was here, eleven years ago we saw our first Maremma, fell completely in love with the breed and made a collective decision to get a puppy as soon as possible. The rest as they say, is history. Flinn is now ten, slightly creaky, but still as gorgeous and as fluffy as ever.

This year was not Flinn’s first outing to Discover Dogs. We took him as a bouncy two year old; he was a bit of a handful since there were so many interesting smells and people wanting to cuddle him, but he soon settled into the pen with the other Maremmas. . .

Another highlight of our day was to meet Anne Latimer again, Flinn’s breeder, and show her what a super boy she had bred. She made a small clucking noise that she makes to all her puppies which made him instantly prick up his ears, and look at her quizzically – he definitely recognised it!. Our stall had been beautifully decorated,(many thanks to Anita and Pete and all who helped for their hard work) and so attracted a great many people. I was surprised by how knowledgeable the vast majority of the public are, though considering the entrance fees you probably wouldn’t turn up on a whim! We met people from Ireland, Boston (USA), South Africa, and a lady from Norfolk who all owned Maremmas.

The lady from Norfolk had had one of Jacqui’s puppies about 12 years ago and although she had eleven other dogs (gulp!) the maremma, naturally, was her favourite!

Many people came of course because they were attracted by the sight of beautiful dogs and I spent the whole time I was on the stall answering questions. At times we actually had people queuing to pat the dogs and chat to us which was lovely- and the dogs behaved beautifully.

Discover Dogs should be vital to all Maremma lovers, whether we are breeders or simply owners. Speaking as a complete amateur it seems to me that one of the most important contributions we can make is to increase awareness and understanding of this breed and so increase the number of people who want to buy into the Maremma way of life. Discover Dogs must therefore be viewed as a window into the Maremma world. This is where I came to make sure that a Maremma was what I really wanted after I had researched the breed on the internet and in books. I suspect many others do the same. Therefore we must make sure our stall is manned constantly so that we can help increase interest, which will in turn increase the need for puppies, which will in turn help breeders be more confident in “investing” in importing new blood lines from outside the UK and encourage other owners to breed occasional litters. The number of puppies being born is at an all time low – (I have along with others been on waiting lists for over a year) and regular breeding and a wide genetic pool are imperative to the survival of this wonderful breed in this country.