Latest News & Updates

Although the UK Top Dog competition doesn’t officially finish until the end of the year, in Maremmas we have just had our last qualifying show - and with all the results in I am delighted to confirm that Orsa is Top Maremma 2007! She has only been shown this year 4 times and has won: 3 CCs, 1 BOB, 1 RCC - not a bad performance! Well done Orsa and well done Team Orsa - you know who you are!

She is also starring beautifully in Sarah Fisher’s fabulous new book “Unlock your Dog’s Potential” - available from Tilley Farm (signed!), Amazon and all good book sellers. If you want to strengthen your bond with your dog and work effectively and positively with him/her - this book is a must.

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Orsa continued her winning streak by winning her 5th CC at WKC. Rachel and I were still on holiday so Janet kindly handled her for us, with Jon by all accounts doing a sterling job in the challenge. At the time of writing she is leading Top winning Maremma of 2007 with just 2 shows to go. Anything could happen of course but fingers crossed!

Glad to hear also that her son Kai has been hip scored with a low score of 7 (would be an A in Europe I think).

Orsa has been busy - another CC and BOB (at National Working Breeds from judge Zena Thorn-Andrews) - and another TV appearance! Not in the flesh this time but Tony was interviewed on Animal Rescue Live and talked about his dogs - including a photo and a little description of Orsa. Again he highlighted the breed and the fabulous character - another little bit of welcome positive publicity. The clip can be seen again at www.bbc.co.uk/animalrescuelive - then select videos for show 11 - then Anthony Head. The clip Sarah and Colin is also well worth watching - Sarah showing how she has used TTouch to work with deaf American Bulldog puppy Colin who is adorable! Enjoy.

A little clip of Grace, Jake and Mirri playing in the garden - particularly like the bit where Mirri disappears on a “circuit” and the other two stand there trying to work out where she is going to appear! They play like this all the time - always with Mirri as the focus for the other two - Jake and Grace never play together!

Play time!

Not to be out done by the Maremmas young Mirri decided to prove that every dog has its day - even little waifs and strays from the ring road! And yesterday was hers. We all went along to a local doggy fun day which included a companion show and for fun I entered Mirri in the Sporting dog class. Bless her she went and won it - and got herself a doggy bag full of treats as well as her rosette and a very nice insulated flask! She really is a very elegant girl. Might add some extra fun to the summer country fairs to take her into some lurcher classes….

Jake says that shows are for girls - he prefers the action stuff! (He wasn’t placed in his class….)

On May 10th at Birmingham National Championship show our Osca Dei Giunoni (Orsa) won her third CC making her a UK Champion (subject to KC confirmation). We are all thrilled - not least as she is our first Champion. Her other CCs came from Brenda Banbury and Janet Atkins, with 2 reserves from Albert Wight and Jacqui Downes.

Huge thanks again to Sarah, Tony and the girls, Jon, Tina and all of “Team Orsa” in Bath who really must take the lion’s share of credit for this - and to Agostino Molinelli who let her come to the UK in the first place. Way to go Orsa!

Just back from a lovely “flying” 2 day visit to Abruzzo to attend the PMA Raduno in Santa Iona. This is a memorial show to Sirio Di Michele and was held in his beautiful home village in the hills. There were around 80 PMA entered and it is always exciting just to see so many PMA in one place! I was travelling with Janet Atkins and when we arrived in Avezzano the day before the Raduno we met Agostino together with Eline from Holland and Juha from Finland for a tour to see his dogs. Good to reacquaint ourselves with old favourites like Spaccone and Irpina and meet his new dogs. After a rest to recover from the 3am start, we were invited in the evening to the traditional pre-show meal in Santa Iona - delicious local food and wine - and loads of it!

The next day was the Raduno and we set off early. Paul and Sandra came along with Osca’s son Cali to say hello which was lovely - Cali is such a sweet lad and a credit to them. Life in Abruzzo seems to be suiting all the family. Once the show got underway, I concentrated on watching the female classes where Agostino was showing Filuccia, a young bitch I really liked. But I also managed to catch the end of the dog judging. The main results were:

Dog CAC: Cane Bianco Terremoto (Spaccone x Lanna)

Reserve Dog CAC: Pastrano (It Ch Pan Dei Giunoni x Penelope)

Bitch CAC: Sefirah Dell’Antica Stirpe (It Ch Cafiero Di Lucas Angitiae x Fiaba Dell’Antica Stirpe)

Reserve Bitch CAC: Filuccia (Spaccone x Marsica)

Best in Show: It Ch Cafiero Di Lucas Angitiae (Turco x Brezza Di Lucas Angitiae) from the Champion class.

After the show we went with Eline and Juha to see some of Guiseppina Di Michele’s dogs and then on to San Benedetto dei Marsi to visit Carlo Caniglia whose dog Pastrano had won the reserve CAC. This was an interesting visit seeing different dogs and enjoying the hospitality of Carlo and his family. Then, after a meal where we finally hooked up with the rest of the UK group who had come later and visited elsewhere, it was time to come home.

Photos from the trip are in the Gallery with a few videos available at Photobucket. Am now wondering about another trip in the Autumn!

Last weekend as part of a birthday treat Rachel took me wolf watching. She had given me a gift membership of the Wolf rescue group Wolf Watch Uk through sponsorship of the beautiful wolf Luna. This enabled us to join a members’ visit to the centre on the English-welsh border to meet the wolves in their wonderful wilderness home.

It was an unforgettable experience - hearing wolves howl and howling with them, walking among them in their enclosure, having one eat out of my hand, being able to touch them. The wolves are beautiful and the home that Tony and the volunteers have created is tremendous - room to roam, to run, to play - with grassy valley, lake, forest and stream. Wolf Watch UK’s website has some videos which show this beautifully - see http://www.wwuk.org/.

I’ve put some photos from our visit in the Gallery - particularly of Luna and Nouska the lower valley wolves. Can’t wait to visit again - hopefully to see them at night.

Shameless brag alert….. on behalf of our Gracie, who at the grand old age of 10.5 years, came
out of a 7 year retirement from the show ring yesterday, and won Best in Show at the Maremma Sheepdog Club of GB open show!

She showed beautifully for me and to be honest that was the most exciting thing - she was retired all those years ago because she hated showing and was so reactive (though never aggressive). Yesterday she was as good as gold in the ring and quite relaxed. She has been improving steadily over the past couple of years with TTouch - much calmer, less reactive, more capable of recovering from situations. But I never thought she would be up to this. And with a male judge to boot!

Had only planned to bring her to the open show for a day out but maybe had better keep her out of retirement to help increase the entries at champ shows for a while!

Congratulations too to Orsa’s son Kai on winning Best Dog and Best Opposite Sex.

Orsa was shown at Crufts last week - her first time as she missed last year - and did us proud by winning the reserve bitch CC while her son Kai won the reserve CC in dogs. Congratulations to Anita and Rosemary on their second Crufts RCC with Kai.
Orsa was a delight - she is such a special dog - and came along with her own personal entourage - Sarah, Tony, Tina and Jon - as well as a whole crowd of TTouch supporters. Certainly made life very easy for me - she was terrifically fit, beautifully groomed and expertly TTouched. All that was left to me was to run her round the ring!

Overall it was a lovely day - BOB and DCC went to It/Int Ch Cafiero di Lucas Angitiae over for the show from Italy and a magnificent male. BCC went to our favourite “competitor” Ch Biancaluna di Selvaspina - must be her 4th year running. Well done to Janet Atkins and our visitors from Italy on these results.

Photos of the day courtesy of Jon, Orsa’s personal bodyguard, photographer and chef, are available at www.flickr.com/photos/janetttouch

We were desperately sad to have to say goodbye Florence in early January 2007. The combination of her increasingly weak rear end and her partially paralyzed larynx in the end became too much for her and we had to let her go. It was the right time and very gentle and peaceful but she leaves an enormous hole in our lives.

Florence had a huge personality and made an impact on people wherever she went. She has a wicked sense of humour and was fiercely loyal to those she loved. We were glad that she was well enough to visit friends and family with us at christmas - and so had the chance to see everyone one last time.

Sleep well Flos. We miss you.

Well done Grace who this week passed her silver KC Good Citizen test at the age of 10! She is rapidly becoming our TTouch “poster girl” since none of this would have been possible without TTouch - she has gained so much confidence in the past couple of years. On to Gold next. Would be interested to know how many Maremmas have got their Silver and Gold awards - I am sure there must be a few. Perhaps we should start a KCGC Roll of Honour?

Well our news is that our little stray lurcher is a stray no longer! Noone showed up to claim her so we have decided to keep her. We have called her Mirren - but it has long since been shortened to Mirri which suits her wild child demeanor much better! She has settled in really well - is best buddies with Jake (partners in crime perhaps?) and is tolerated by the Maremmas in a rather disapproving Great-auntly sort of way. She is full of fun - wild when excited but happy to snooze on the sofa which gives us respite. And she is learning fast - particularly the meanings of “off” and “leave”!

Here she is in one of her calmer moments:

Members of the Yahoo Maremma Sheepdog group have contributed photos to a calendar in aid of maremma rescue. it is a wall calendar with a different picture for every month of the year. It is available at Cafe Press - www.cafepress.com/selladore - price US$19.99 of which $5 goes to rescue (the rest is production costs to Cafe Press - all our time and photos are donated free). For the next day or two only it is reduced to $15.99 ($5 still going to rescue!) so now is the time to order for Christmas! It can be shipped anywhere in the world so get ordering!

Well it looks like we might be having a new addition to the family! On the way home from work on Wednesday evening I spotted a small greyhound lurcher running along the side of the busy Leeds ring road. Half an hour and some hairy moments later, she was safely in the car and on her way home with me.

Nothing unusual about that really. Rachel and I regularly take in waifs and strays found lost and wandering. But none have ever stayed more than 24 hours, being collected by relieved owners very quickly (though one little hunt beagle did reappear on the doorstep the day after he had been collected!). But this young lady is still with us in spite of notices to the dog warden, police, lurcher and sight hound forums, lost dog sites, local vets and petshops. No anxious owners out searching for her?

So she’ll be staying with us for now, while we continue to look for an owner and fulfil the statutory requirements (28 days). Then we shall see. It will depend a lot on whether she can fit in with the gang and with our routine. Jake wants her to stay - he is smitten. Rachel and I are rather taken with her too. The Maremmas so far are tolerant. Watch this space!

Thanks to everyone who has enquired about Florence. I am delighted to say she is very much back to normal - the laryngeal paralysis is still there but she is able to breathe well and as long as she doesn’t overdo exercise or get overheated she is fine. So she is taking it easy and setting the pace herself.

She and I have just got back from a week at Tilley Farm, the UK TTouch Centre, which has done her the power of good. She’s had some good sessions of bodywork and loads of adoration and cuddles. So she is now shattered but very chilled! I was down doing my final Companion Animal Training and was delighted to get my P1 certification. So I am now a fully fledged practitioner. Look out Yorkshire! All in all it was a fantastic week - a lovely group and some real breakthroughs with the animals we were working with. It was even pretty dry - by TF standards at least.

Always lovely to visit Orsa as well of course.

We had a nasty scare yesterday. Following a very sedate walk Florence collapsed with very laboured breathing. She has had a partial laryngeal paralysis for some time but at her last vet check a few weeks ago there was no cause for concern. Yesterday however, for whatever reason, she went into a breathing crisis which is very scary. The emergency vet (why do these things always happen out of hours?) on ascertaining that in spite of her laboured breathing she was getting sufficient oxygen, advised that she be kept calm and cool at home. It was the best advice - moving her or bringing a stranger to the house would have stressed her and she needed calm. Interestingly the problem did not effect her appetite which was encouraging. After a lot of TTouch and rest her breathing calmed and by this morning she was more or less back to normal (which for her is heavy rather than laboured breathing).

The normal treatment for laryngeal paralysis is surgery but there are complications which occur quite frequently. Because the flaps in the voice box are tied back in the surgery, there is more likelihood of inhaling water or food which can lead to pneumonia. Given Florence’s age (she’s 12 but an elderly 12) and her other health issues (thyroid, very weak rear end needing assistance now to get up, and cognitive dysfunction) we are very reluctant to put her through surgery, so we have an appointment with a homoeopathic vet next week to see what support we might be able to give her that way. With that, her collar replaced by a harness and lots of TTouch we will see how she goes.

We are always of course mindful that this was the condition that killed Bruno, although his LP was acute and sudden leading him to have to be sedated and intubated to allow him to breathe at all. He didn’t improve and at 14.5 we weren’t going to subject him to a tracheostemy (the only option for treatment for him) so we had to let him go peacefully. Hopefully Florence’s LP is not so extreme and we will be able to control it for a while yet at least.

Keep her in your thoughts - she’s a special dog.

We have had some lovely feedback after Orsa’s appearance on Sharon Osbourne - especially from many people in the breed who thought as we did that Tony did a great job getting across the essence of the breed in a short time and that Orsa was thoroughly gorgeous and beautifully behaved. Most agreed that it was just the right sort of publicity - hopefully one or two folk will decide to get a Maremma because of it. Sarah has already had some people asking her more about the breed and she is going to put some links on her website when she has time.

Only one rather strange response. Apparently Charlotte Walsh stated in her breed notes that Orsa’s litter was discussed! I am not sure which programme she (or her informant) was watching but it certainly wasn’t the one Orsa was on! Completely bizarre - someone needs to get their hearing checked that’s for sure! LOL
But the general consensus was that it was a jolly good thing and that Orsa and Tony are to be congratulated on some excellent breed publicity!

Orsa (Osca Dei Giunoni) has become a TV star! She was a guest today on ITV’s Sharon Osbourne Show along with her friend and guardian, the actor Tony Head. She behaved beautifully and looked thoroughly gorgeous - and apparently she had a fantastic day. Here she is with Sharon and Tony:

Tony is Sarah Fisher’s partner and Orsa is now living with them in Somerset.

Lovely to see a Maremma get some primetime good press - anyone seeing her would’ve got a good impression of the breed. We were all very proud of her!