DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

Gianna Due Anyday Now:

Gianna has just hit her 8th week. Her litter is due literally anytime now. I know you probably can’t tell much from the photos but she is really quite wide. At this time I have no problem feeling a pup kick everytime I lay my hands on her.

  We finished Gianna’s whelping area. I used to use a whelping box but Gianna is just too big to fit in it. Instead I took my friend’s, Deb Dallara of Brookfarm Alpacas, idea and ran with it. The room is actually the horse wash room in the barn. Since I don’t have horses it was easy to transform it. We lined the walls with hay bales and out in front we are using one side of a chain link dog run with a door. The table inside is where I weigh the alpaca feed and underneath has a fan to keep Gianna cool. The entire cement floor was topped off with coastal bermuda to keep Gianna and the pups comfy. Once the time is here for Gianna to whelp I will keep towels and blankets on top of the hay floor as I don’t want any puppies getting it caught in their eyes.

Gianna is a very good eater. She’s never one to pass up on food. At this time I am feeding her one cup of adult and 3 cups puppy dry food all topped off with 1/2 can of puppy wet food. She gets this twice a day and sometimes she even gets an additional cup at noon. This morning was the first time in a long time, I’m not counting when her face got stung by a wasp, that she didn’t finish her meal. All signs that I am observing.

I am starting to take her temp twice per day. This morning it was still over a 100. Once it drops to 98/99 I will be on full alert as she will start to whelp 24/48 hrs afterwards. At least this time the whelping area is large enough for me to lay down with her comfortably. Also, what a nice change to have puppies in the summertime vs. the winter. I guess I won’t be freezing my butt off this time around!

  Santino, the dad to be, is taken things in stride. He loves Gianna and protects her but isn’t stopped from doing his other guarding duties on the ranch. Once Gianna gives birth she won’t have any love left for Santino until the pups are old enough to be introduced to the others. Santino knows the deal as this will be his third litter.

Puppies will all be for sale. Females go for $850 and males at $750. All go with first shot, first deworming, microchip, and registration paperwork.

Tom and I are registered with the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America. We have been breeding these dogs for 4 years. We truly believe in them and would not sell them if we didn’t. We are ethical breeders and only breed each female once per year. We do not care to be a puppy mill but do believe in providing these working dogs to the farms/ranches needing them.

You can read more about my dogs by Clicking Here. You can view pictures of past puppies on the site or you can also click on the maremma tab off the blog menu.

Maremmas – Santino and Gianna

Santino                                      Gianna

Our next breeding pair will be Santino and Gianna. Santino is first generation of Italian imports. Santino is just under 4 yrs of age and has fathered two litters so far. He is very loyal and loving with his family that includes 25 alpacas. Santino has been guarding alpacas since he was 8 wks old. He was our first maremma and never had to be taught how to guard. It was all instinct. Santino is a large sized male weighing 103 lbs.

Gianna is an Italian import right from the Abruzzi region. She is currently 18 months old and this will be Gianna’s first litter. Gianna loves to play catch and run around. She too is very serious about her guarding duties. Gianna came to us when she was 9 wks old and learned from the other dogs what to do. Gianna is a big dog weighing 101 lbs. She has now become the alpha female and demands respect from the others.

We expect Santino and Gianna to breed this summer as early as July. Puppies are born 2 months later and ready to go to new homes in 4 months. We expect this pair to produce gorgeous puppies that will be big just like all the prior litters we have had to date.

We are currently accepting names for our waiting list. Price per female puppy is $850 and price per male pup is $750. Discounts will apply on multiple puppy purchases. Take $50 off the list price if you send a deposit prior to breeding. Included in the pups’ pricing is first shots, first deworming, microchip, and registration paperwork.

Previous litters have gone to goat, sheep, and alpaca farms in the western states. Since we are moving we do plan on this next litter to be born in Georgia.

For more information on maremmas Click Here.

Janice Buttitta -Judge and Update o Bella

Yesterday I was the judge for the alpaca youth show held at the Pima County Fair. It was a lot of fun in which I got to judge showmanship and obstacle course.  I was very impressed with the kids and their handling abilities. I was even more impressed when I found out that a lot of the kids had been with alpacas for less than a year. It is quite amazing to watch the alpaca do the jumps and allow the owner to place a hula hoop over it. It just showed us all how much trust the alpaca had in its young, confident owner.

I made it a point to tell the kids what they did right and what areas they needed to improve. I really went out of my way to express to the crowd how the kids should be supported. The parents thanked me afterwards for being so interactive with the kids. From the feedback I received the kids had a great time and are looking forward to doing more shows.

This show was pretty small, so I do hope more kids join in the future. It is a great way to support our future alpaca breeders. Perhaps I will get another chance to judge one of the youth shows again in the future. It was a great time for all.

 Bella has found a new home in Northern California with owners, Rick and Cindy Shipley, of Argonaut Farms. Bella will be guarding a herd of alpaca not at all different than what she was doing here at DMAR. Bella turns 5 months old on the 20th of this month.

Rick and Cindy drove into Tucson on Friday night. On Saturday I took Bella to meet them. Bella did great in the car and was quite a mush when she met her new family. I’m sure she was a bit nervous and shy, but in no time she will show her confident self.

Rick and Cindy appear to be a very good family for Bella. I am confident that they will dote love and attention to her and vice versa. Bella will have an older pyrenees dog to befriend on their return. I’m sure she will be excited.

For now we are out of puppies. We hope to have our next litter between Gianna and Santino in the summer of 2010. Of course this will all depend on how our current relocation goes. I’ll keep everyone informed as we go along.

All Maremma pups now sold:

Congratulations go out to Lissa Howe and JC Mutchler of Chiva Risa Ranch in Vail, AZ for the purchase of the remaining 3 male puppies shown in the pictures above. Lissa and JC drove down to our ranch at noon and couldn’t decide among the three males. They were planning on purchasing at least 2, but ended up taking all 3. They said they were all so good looking that it was too hard to decide.  The pups will be guarding goats.

This does it for Vincenzo’s and Donatella’s litter. The puppies are all absolutely gorgeous and I am sure they will do their new owners proud.

We hope to be breeding Gianna and Santino in the late spring to early summer timeframe. Contact us to place your name on their waiting list.

Four Maremma Pups Still Available:

We still have 1 female and 3 males to select from. These adorable pups are 9 wks old and have had their first vaccination and deworming. Included in the price is micro-chipping and registration paperwork.

The pups have been living and observing their parents, Donatella and Vincenzo. They also have 3 other adult Maremma role models. They are already showing their guarding instinct. They bark when the adults bark and if they hear something first they sound off the alarm.

The pups are very healthy and quite playful. They are fast to roll onto their backs to expose a belly to be rubbed.

Contact us if you are interested in attaining a Maremma lgd.

Remember we will transport for free to TxOLAN and SWRAS.

Maremma Pup, Aspen, Finds Home in CO:

Aspen, female Maremma pup, left this past Sunday with new owner, Ish Phillips of Walls Edge Alpaca Ranch, to live in Colorado. She is the first puppy to leave our ranch, but she is in good hands and will be guarding approximately 10-15 alpacas. Before she left we had her vaccinated, dewormed, and microchipped. Tom said she didn’t even cry when he placed her into the kennel. She was well behaved all the way to the airport and then even more behaved when she met Ish. It really has paid off to introduce the kennel to the pups when they were 3 weeks old. Keeping it in their area for playing and sleeping has made it less stressful on the pups.

On Monday I sent Ish an email to see how Aspen was liking her new place. Ish was kind enough to allow me to post a direct quote from his email back to me. Here is what he said: “Aspen seemed to be happy with her digs.  It looked like she slept in her coop on the straw.  I introduced her to the boys this morning.  They are a bunch of wimps.  Everytime she would get up and take a step, Max would alarm call and he wasn’t even in the same pasture as Aspen.  She seemed right at home in the pasture, just keeping her distance from the boys but always watching.  Chris took her over to the girls tonite and they were quite curious.  We saw more smarts in one day from her than we have seen in a lifetime with other dogs.  Chris absolutely adores her and can’t wait to see her full size because she probably wants another one.  In fact, put us on your waiting list for Gianna’s litter.  All i can say is aspen has really wowed us on day 1.  Thanks again to you and tom for everything.” 

What else can I say? I love happy customers and am thrilled that Aspen has a good home.

I still have puppies left. 3 males and 1 female. They are 9 weeks old now and ready to go take care of your herd of alpacas, sheep, goats, etc.. Contact me for more information.

Maremma Reference for DMAR:

Janice & Tom,

We want to thank you so much for the opportunity to purchase our Maremma LGD “Poppy” from you. She is just the best and is a huge part of our family.

It amazes me how Poppy can sense a coyote anywhere close by and intimidates them so that they don’t even consider coming onto the property. The one that was stupid enough to come close to the fence she had cornered in just a matter of seconds. It is so reassuring knowing that I don’t have to worry about the alpacas or other livestock with Poppy on patrol.

We recently added a papillion puppy to our family and while ferocious and intimidating to anyone/thing not welcomed, Poppy is so gentle with the new puppy. Poppy knows that she is part of the family and treats her as such.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for introducing us to this incredible breed and making it possible for us to own (be owned) by one.

Mike & Lorraine Smith of Alpaca Knolls

____________________________________________________________

Thanks Mike & Lorraine. I am thrilled that you love your Maremma, Poppy. May you have many, many years with her guarding your livestock!

Taking Care of a Maremma LGD Puppy is not much different than taking care of any other puppy. They are mischievious and curious, therefore, they need to be watched and the area needs to be puppy proofed. This means making sure that any openings are closed off, so the pup cannot escape or get into areas or pastures they shouldn’t be in.

Supervising your Maremma lgd puppy is absolutely necessary while introducing the pup to its livestock. The fear in the beginning is not that the Maremma pup will hurt the livestock, but that the livestock may hurt the puppy. While still young a swift kick could end the puppy’s life. It is best to not leave your puppy with the herd unsupervised until they are able to run away from the livestock. This usually occurs at 3 to 4 mths of age.

Large breed puppy food should be fed to the Maremma lgd for at least for the first 6 mths. After that you should slowly switch to a large breed adult diet. Large breed adult food has less protein in it than puppy food and will help the Maremma pup to not grow too quickly and lessening any growth issues. Always provide fresh clean water.

Maremma lgd’s are found nationwide. My Maremmas live with the livestock 24/7. Our temps go as low as the teens in the winter and as high as 105 in the summer. As long as the Maremma has shade in the summer and shelter to get out of the wind the lgd will be fine.

All Maremma puppies need to be vaccinated at 8, 12, and 16 wks. Your vet will probably have a puppy package you can purchase or you can ask your vet what type of vaccine you should purchase for your area. At 16 wks you will also want to vaccinate for rabies. This is really important as your dog may come across a rabid animal while protecting his/her herd.

Maremmas are loyal to their family and weary of strangers. They are wonderful with children and the household pets.

Maremmas will bond with the livestock and consider them their own. The livestock too will learn to respect the Maremmas. They will be able to decipher between barks, which are to be ignored and which mean to get up and flee.

Maremma lgd pups do not need to be trained on how to guard. This is instinct for them and the breed has been doing so for centuries. However, the puppy will need to be taught to be obedient. Commands such as sit, stay, and drop need to be reinforced to have well behaved dogs.

The biggest fear most ranchers have is that the Maremma will hurt their livestock. This is a reasonable fear, but usually only occurs to the ranch in which the puppy was not supervised and reprimanded on unacceptable behavior.

Overall Maremma lgd puppies will grow into wonderful guard dogs. They will give their owners unconditional love and will guard their herd to the death. I simply love this breed!

Maremmas of Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch:

Santino (laying down) and Biancaneve.

Vincenzo (standing) and Donatella

Gianna – 11 mths old.

Happy New Year from Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch:

If you are like me you are embracing 2010 with open arms. I am optomistic that this will be the year of change and more prosperity for us all. I am thankful of 2009, but I was ready to say good bye to it back in August.

Here at the ranch I held my females open until the end of December. I missed two shows this fall since I was on cria watch and I hate missing shows. Not to mention that I had to back out of one vendor event due to a sick newborn cria. Good news is that the cria is now 3 months old and is totally healthy. Other events came and went with our fingers crossed that the dam would hold onto the cria for another day or two. I won’t have any of that next year, so all females opened stayed opened until the end of December. Here are the breedings we did:

(1) 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Royal Knight (beige) to AVR By Golly Miss Molly (tru black).

 DMAR Royal Knight is a full Peruvian grandson of Royal Fawn. Beautiful fleece and the typey alpaca look. DMAR Royal Knight is available for sale at 1/2 interest and is now available for stud.

 AVR By Golly Miss Molly is a proven female with plenty of milk. Molly is for sale and comes with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR herdsire.

(2) Multiple blue ribbon winner, Snowmass Incan Emperor to DMAR Electra.

 Snowmass Incan Emperor is a MRG full Peruvian proven herdsire. Offsprings include 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Armani, and 2x blue ribbon winner, DMAR Nikoli. Incan has produced crias ranging in color from fawn to the greys both rose grey and silver grey. Incan Emperor is available for stud. He is co-owned with Square Top Ranch, but he is currently at stud at my ranch in Hereford, AZ.

 DMAR Electra II – We have paired this female for her 2nd go around with Snowmass Incan Emperor. We are so impressed with their last cria, DMAR Dolce (shown in picture) that we just had to repeat the breeding. Dolce’s fleece and conformation is everything and more than we expected. We have high hopes for this little cria. Can’t wait for her to reach juvenile so we can take her to the shows.

(3) Snowmass Incan Emperor and Wall’s Edge Shasta:

 Walls Edge Shasta is a full Peruvian white female. We paired her to Snowmass Incan Emperor, because we simply love what he is producing with whites and this will keep the cria full Peruvian.

(4) 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Armani, to Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Athena:

 DMAR Armani is son of Snowmass Incan Emperor. His lineage includes Incan Magic, Peruvian Hemingway, and PPeruvian Victor. Armani is a compact male with wonderful fleece stats and density. DMAR Armani is for sale at 1/2 interest. He is also now available for stud.

 DMAR Athena is a beautiful young female who has 2 offspring on the ground. The first is a male named DMAR White Russian whose fleece stats are just wonderful. He is also a blue ribbon winner. Her second cria, DMAR Chanel, currently 2 months old is simply gorgeous. Athena is for sale with cria at side. She comes with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR herdsire.

(5) Presidio son, HRAZ Lock & Load to DMAR Dominique:

 HRAZ Lock & Load is a blue ribbon winner. He currently has 4 offsprings on the ground and one of which is a Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Magnum. Other crias will not be shown until the Fall of 2010. At this time his record is 50/50 boys to girls. Two more crias are due this month.

 DMAR Dominique, blue ribbon winner, is super dense with beautiful architecture in her crimp. Dominique is a sweet girl and is for sale with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR Herdsire. Coverage on Dominique goes from her top knot to her toes.

If you are interested in more information on any of the herdsires listed above Click Here.

If you are interested in more information on any of the alpacas listed above for sale Click Here.

January Birthings:

Both Kaitlyn-Rose and Alpha Carina are due to birth this month. Kaitlyn’s day 335 starts on Jan. 10th and Carina’s on Jan. 28th. We are super excited and waiting quite impatiently.

Maremma Puppies Available for Sale:

The puppies are currently six weeks old. They are healthy and robust. As you can see in some of the pictures they are very playful now as well. Sweet personalities on all of them.

We currently still have available 2 females and 3 males. We are running a promotion in January: Purchase any alpaca at $2000 or more and get a free maremma livestock guardian puppy for free.

If purchasing a puppy alone females are $850 and males are $750. Price includes first shot, first worming, micro-chip, and registration paperwork. We will be going to TxOLAN in February, so we can transport the puppy there for free.

Contact us at info@desertmtnalpacas.com to reserve your pup or call 520.803.9569.

Christmas with the DMAR Maremma Puppies:

Here we are Christmas Eve and the puppies are growing so quickly. Now at 4 weeks of age they are fully mobile. Yesterday when I took them out of the whelping box they stormed the area in front of the feed room, the feed room itself, and the attached deck that is quite a step up. They no longer walk, but run with short hops. I told Tom remember how they say they stormed the beaches of Normandy…..well the puppies stormed the wooden floor of the feed room. All of them were exploring and loving their time out of the box.

After eating they decided to take a nap, however on the sides of the paddock everything was damp from melting snow. I decided to put them back into the warm, dry box. A little while later Tom asked me if I forgot to put a pup back in. Of course not I told him. Sure enough Tom watched as the pup climbed on the guide rail and fell out onto the feed room floor.

It is all downhill from here. The pups know who we are, so they run over to us getting in between our feet. We have to walk carefully as to not step on them. The whole time their little tails are wagging away. When you hold one they are quick to give you a little puppy kiss that will melt you instantly. Now that they can fall out who knows where we will find the little devils….I mean angels.

We have lots of interest in these puppies. If you are interested in one please don’t hesitate to contact us. All the puppies are for sale. To read more about the parents, Donatella and Vincenzo, Click Here. Both parents are on site.

The maremmas currently watch over 30 alpacas. The puppies are sharing a fenceline with them and will be introduced to them slowly over the next few weeks.