Introductions: Romeo

Biggest dag of a floof there is.

Romeo was our first experience of a reasonably-well-bred dog that stayed with its parents for a reasonable period of time. After years of inbred Kelpies, rehomed Kelpie crosses, and of course Bella and Pieta and their broken home, having a puppy we didn’t have to train OUT of anything was almost terrifying.

He arrived at 3 months in July 2017. Born to working dogs on a local biodynamic egg property, he was the first puppy we could trial everything we’d learnt over the previous three years of Maremma co-management.

We deliberately bonded him quite closely to the humans, as his job was - when he was a bit more mature - to keep the wombats out of the main house yard. We had no objections to the wombats themselves; but where a wombat goes, a fox follows. Just before his arrival, we’d lost 2/3 of our flock in the orchard to a fox attack; Bella and Pieta had no access to that part of the property, busily guarding the main commercial flock and the goats.

As a result, he was insanely cuddly, appreciating off-property visits to cafes, coming inside to snooze on the couch, and wriggling on to laps.

It was slightly unfortunate that he turned out to be dog-reactive, turning on the ageing desexed Dexter-Kelpie at 8-9 months of age. Despite Romeo being rapidly desexed, and despite our attempts at de-sensitisation, the aggression escalated and we had to - very reluctantly - put him in with the girls in the paddock, rearranging the entire poultry setup so they were protected with him.

Being reactive to non-Maremma dogs is not unusual for livestock guardians; it was unfortunate, but not disastrous.

The girls were delighted, and promptly turned over all major guarding activities to him. Watching Bella lying in front of her shelter and sending Romeo to the fenceline against threats was worth the annoyance.

Dexter died in 2021, a well-loved old dog with a life well-lived behind him.

We mourned his loss, and then brought Romeo back into the house yard.

He now guards us from the foot of the bed, sallying forth at times to yell at wombats and training his protege, Allevare Luciano.