Maremma socialisation report

Male Maremma aged 18 month kept as a companion dog in a suburban environment

He is reserved with our friends at first meetings, keeping his distance but is not threatening. He 'renews' his acquaintance with people he has previously met. This takes a shorter and shorter time the more often he meets these people.

Strangers coming to the house are invariably barked at and need to be introduced to him formally. He then keeps his distance and stays with the 'stranger' in the room even if we leave the room for a short time.

On home territory he reacts to outdoor noises by short light barks. He is not persistent and settles down quickly once I 'growl' at him. He patrols the garden when there is outside activity in the passageway. He can be recalled and settles down after being reassured, but remains alert to noises. He remains so until the 'disturbance' has faded.

Outdoors he is not territorial (yet?). He now takes only a mild interest in persons in the company of children and/or dogs. He approaches women with some interest (but less so then when he was a puppy), he virtually ignores children, sometimes he runs up to them, mistaking them for dogs, I believe; but he is increasingly weary of men, especially if 'men' are not accompanied by either children, women or dogs. In familiar territory he tends to stray from me more and more, but I suspect he keeps his own 'eye contact'.

He will not react to 'come' from friendly strangers, which he used to do when a puppy. He ignores joggers and cyclists, but he has no traffic sense.

He prefers large dogs, invariably offering them 'play'. He is careful around small dogs, but does not offer any aggression to them, even when 'attacked' by them. When attacked, he seems to be astonished rather than frightened or subdued, he does not tuck in his tail or rolls over, he tends to keep strolling in the vicinity of the 'attacker' and finally comes to me for reassurance.

He dislikes men in leather jackets/coats and tends to bark at them vigorously, keeping his distance in a balanced state of preparedness to flee or to attack. He also resorts to surveillance behaviour towards people with physical handicaps or abrupt body movements, which is a shame but understandable, considering his limited range of experience. My feeling is, he would rather flee than attack but somehow cannot bring himself to step away from the situation. I have to make the decision for him. Compliance in these instances is almost immediate.

He likes ample petting, especially from females. He will constantly follow me into any room and stay there for the duration. He sleeps in front of the bed but refuses to come up on the bed when I invite him; my partner however has to push him off the bed once I am not around. He is the first dog I have known/heard of, who loves being ‘brushed’ with a running vacuum cleaner.

He is disconcerted when I leave the house for longer periods. He whinges like a baby and cannot be consoled by my partner for any length of time. When I return he does greet me in a friendly manner, but not over enthusiastically as one may expect after the whinging he has gone through in the course of my absence. His acute sense of being ‘left alone’ by me is lessening.

He likes 'his' two cats, but I would not trust him with other cats out of doors.

He does not attempt to steal food, which is surprising. He does not even try to open refuse bags, but he still makes free with the toilet roll for a good chew, given half a chance.

He is quite jealous when the other dog or the cats are being given attention and petting when he is around. Then his tendency is to shift the other animal out of the way. Outdoors he does not show this behaviour even when I pet a 'strange' dog.

So far he is not more, but similarly stubborn than the Huskies and other dogs we previously had. His stubbornness is all the more grating, for he obviously makes up his mind whether to respond to commands or not.

So far, he seems to show a 'normal' behaviour pattern for a Maremma, he shows the predicted 'independence', but complies to the domestic pack order in general. The only quirk is his fondness for being hovered.

Presently, the dog is now just over one and a half years of age, he shows more independence, but is reasonably responsive to commands and easy to handle. He will never have the immediate response common in other breeds, but he is simple to control in an urban setting. He loves to accompany me to pubs and other public places, adores the attention he receives from ‘total strangers’, as long as he feels reassured that I am observant.

PS He has given up on red wine, lost the taste for it. Suits me fine, I can now leave the glass standing on the floor again.