Zombies
aka "things that Maremmas bark at for no apparent reason" ...
Maremmas - and other LGDs - will often bark at what appears to be nothing.
Attributing this to “farting butterflies” and “zombie frogs” allows us to inject humour into what can be a trying situation. I’m not going to pretend that a Maremma barking for five hours solid is anything but annoying and frustrating and tiring, at the time!
However, the tone of voice that results from you mentally giggling at the image of a zombie frog can often be enough to calm down the barking. Maremmas listen to your voice; warmth and humour in your words and body language tells them you’re not worried, and so they can “stand down”.
Should we ever be invaded by zombies, frogs or otherwise, we’ll have some re-training to do …