The Sheep-guarding Dog of Abruzzo 9789546424372, 9546424374

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The Sheep-Guarding

Dog of Abruzzo

Paolo Breber

Introduction

THE SHEEP-GUARDING DOG OF ABRUZZO Paolo Breber

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Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

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Introduction

The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo by Paolo Breber

Sofia–Moscow 2008 3





Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

THE SHEEP-GUARDING DOG OF ABRUZZO Paolo Breber

First published 2008 ISBN 978-954-642-437-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-954-642-438-9 (e-book)

© PENSOFT Publishers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Pensoft Publishers Geo Milev Str. 13a, Sofia 1111, Bulgaria Fax: +359-2-870-42-82 [email protected] www.pensoft.net

Printed in Bulgaria, August 2008 4

Introduction

Contents

Preface .................................................................7 Introduction ........................................................9 Ecology and Distribution................................15 Nomenclature ...................................................23 The sheep universe of Abruzzo .....................29 The Mastino at work .......................................37 Life Cycle ..........................................................77 Conformation ...................................................85 History of the Mastino Abruzzese and origins of the pastoral dog .......................95 Recent history .................................................103 References .......................................................111 Appendices .....................................................117 Colour Plates ..................................................151 5





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Introduction



Preface





The following pages are the result of a long-standing involvement. The work is a sequel to the book in Italian on the same subject, the last edition of which was printed in 1990; it is not, however, a simple translation. The Italian book still carries the title of “Il Cane da Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese” which bears witness to my dwindling hope I then had of keeping together the registered show-dog, officially called Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, and the working dog traditionally known as Mastino Abruzzese. Since then I have realised that this is not possible so that now I am exclusively oriented towards the working dog. In the course of over forty years many people have contributed to the material contained in the book. Jack Ullman accompanied me in my early explorations of the pastoral world. Luigi di Loreto, who has prematurely passed away, introduced me to the society of the last old-time sheepmasters of Abruzzo. Raymond Coppinger generously allowed me to use his scientific and photographic material. I am indebted to Francesco Giuntini, Fosco de Paulis, Luigi Boitani, Giovanni Donati, Paolo Paoletti, Sandro Antoniani, Giuseppe Foderà, Mauro Aurigi, Giuseppe Miccoli, Milena Mura, Sergio Zavattaro, and Dharmapuri Kennels for the use of their photographic material. Arthur Hammond brought the article in the Penny Magazine to my attention and Sergio Sperandelli the reference to the dog in the Appennines of Bologna.

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Introduction





My research on the Mastino Abruzzese began in 1963 and continues to this day. At the time I was a student still living with my parents on the outskirts Rome in a house facing directly on the Campagna Romana, the rural district which surrounds the city, famous with landscape artistes and now, alas, in great part lost to urban spread. Like most boys, I had always desired to have a dog of my own. My family decided to get one after our house was broken in by burglars and so the advantages of a watch dog became evident. The first impulse was to get the usual Alsatian but then, on second thoughts, we decided for something closer to home and opt for one of the local big white dogs that we often saw in the fields not far from our house, accompanying the flocks of sheep coming down for the winter from the mountains of the Abruzzi and Marches. I was then only vaguely aware of the nature and characteristics of the breed. I thus began to visit the neighbouring shepherds in order to gather information, and in the event I managed to obtain two male puppies. One of these, growing up, turned out to be such a magnificent specimen (Fig. 1) that my enthusiasm was kindled. I had at the time hoped to breed him in order to transmit his outstanding qualities to future generations. Alas, the plan did not develop as I wished and when Ciccio died at thirteen years of age he had sired only a few litters and these I lost sight of. Looking now back in the light of much experience and study I can say without bias that Ciccio was in truth the epitome of the breed in every sense: a heart of gold in a tough outer skin. This book is his legacy to the breed since it was Ciccio that lit the flame. Right from the beginning my interest went beyond the ordinary notions of the dog fancier, wanting to explore the history, ecology and work of the breed. I soon found out that there was no information to be obtained from the canine literature or the usual cynophilist circles. I discovered that it is wrong to identify the working Mastino Abruzzese, with the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, the family dog recognised and registered with the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana (Italian Kennel Club), and consequently with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, although the inexpert eye may take them to be the same because of their nearly indistinguishable conformation. The Mastino Abruzzese is the original historical 9



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

breed still employed to guard the flocks from wolves and bears, but it is not registered with the Italian Kennel Club. The Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese was originally derived from the Mastino Abruzzese in the 1930s, with which it retains to this day a superficial resemblance, but since then their ways have parted; the former is bred in kennels while the latter is bred by the shepherds. The Italian Kennel Club standard of points which for seventy years has set the lines for the breeding of the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese is only concerned with conformation and does not require working qualifications. Not having been field-tested for over thirty generations, the specific hereditary traits that made the foundation stock of the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese such superb sheep-guarding dogs have been lost along the way. Those who began to breed for the shows and for the companion-dog market were not interested in whether their dogs were still capable of facing a pack of wolves on a dark night in the mountains. The fact is that working traits have to be bred to just as much, if not more, as for conformation. There is a widespread notion that a breed is identified by its conformation, in other words, breeds are distinguished merely on the basis of their physical appearance. But the original diversification of the various canine types in the course of human history consisted in a specialisation in function. Morphological differentiation was a consequence of functional and ecological differentiation; it was an effect not the cause. The first sign of interest in theMastino Abruzzese on the part of cynophily that I have been able to come across is the short mention in the book “Il Cane”, 2 nd ed., by A. Vecchio, printed in 1904. The text says that the dog is called “Cane da Pastore Italiano, varietà Abruzzese,” it is kept by the shepherds of Abruzzo and serves to protect sheep. The figure leaves no doubt to the identity (Fig. 2). Another early reference is in the book “ Cani e Gatti ” by F. Faelli, issued in 1908. Here again the dog is called “ Cane da Pastore degli Abruzzi”; there are two unmistakable photographs (Fig. 3), and there is a description of the main morphological characteristics, with the specification that it is a guardian of flocks. In various occasions starting in the 1920s, Giuseppe Solaro, a highly qualified and respected expert of the Italian Kennel Club, described a “ Cane da Pastore Maremmano” as distinct from the “Cane da Pastore Abruzzese.” Compared to the latter, the “ Maremmano” is described as being smaller, having a less thick and less long, fawn-coloured coat with very wavy hair, and showing brown pigment on the nose and eye rims. Then, during the 1930s the British arrived on the scene. Actually, there is a reference that as early as 1828 there were specimens of the Italian dog on show at Regents Park Zoo. A dog of the name “Roman Maremma” owned by a Miss C.F. Smith got a prize in one of 10

Introduction



the classes at the Grand National Dog Show of Nottingham in October 1872. The existing British stock originated, however, from Drago and Selva, a pair presented to Mrs. Helen Home-Robertson in 1932 by the marquis Chigi-Saracini, taken from his property in Castelnuovo Berardenga near Siena. The first British litter was born in 1936 and on October 20th of that same year the breed was recognised in the U.K. under the name of “Maremma Sheepdog”. It seemed somehow consequential to the cynophilists then involved to label the dog after the Maremma region because that is where Castelnuovo Berardenga lies. The Maremma is the marshy coastal plain (Fig. 4) along the western seaboard of Italy stretching from central Tuscany to northern Latium and extensively used as a winter grazing ground for various range livestock, at least up to the 1950s. The problem was that the “Maremma Sheepdog” of the British carried the features of the “Abruzzese” and not of the “Maremmano” as defined by Solaro. In front of this fait accompli by the influential English how did the Italian Kennel Club react? It proceeded obsequiously to recognise a breed having the conformation of the “ Abruzzese” and give it the name of “ Maremmano.” Not finding supporters, the fawn-coloured dog of Solaro simply phased out of the picture, but it was another matter with the choice of the name for the white dog, and strong objections were immediately raised (Solaro, 1938; Cagnoli et al., 1952; Pischedda, 1953). The rather sophistic reply to these protestations was that Abruzzo-type dogs could, in fact, be encountered in Maremma, like those, for example, taken to Britain by Mrs Home-Robertson, and so they could righteously be labelled “Maremmani.”. Yes, undoubtedly, in those times, this type was present in the Maremma but so was it in all Central and South Italy. If a regional name had to be chosen it could only be that of Abruzzo because this is historically (and still is today) the core area of the breed. In Abruzzo, the existence of the largest sheep industry of peninsular Italy and the highest density of wolves and bears has of dire necessity determined the highest quality in sheep-guarding dogs. In other places the breed spreads or retreats according to the spread or retreat of the wolf but only in Abruzzo it has always been a fixture and consequently this region has always been a source of sheepguarding dogs for all those around who need them. Historically, the flocks of the Abruzzese sheepmasters did not transhume to the Tuscan Maremma but to the plain on the east coast of Italy known as Tavoliere in N. Apulia and, to a lesser extent, to the countryside around Rome, known as Campagna Romana (Fig. 4). The flocks that Mrs. Home-Robertson met during her stay in Tuscany belonged to local landowners but the sheepmen that tended them were from the Marches region. The dogs that Mrs. HomeRobertson so much admired and took back with her had in fact arrived in the district brought by the hired shepherds from the Sibillini mountains. This 11



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

range, although lying in the Marches region, is contiguous with the Abruzzi mountains and consequently shares a similar pastoral culture, including the Mastino Abruzzese. Notwithstanding all such obvious facts, it was with great difficulty that the E.N.C.I. (Italian Kennel Club) was induced to add the adjective of “Abruzzese” in the 1958 version of the standard, and in any case strenuously resisted abolishing “Maremmano”. The typically Italian local spirit strongly biased the whole business. Although the southern half of the Maremma extends into Latium, the area is commonly associated with Tuscany, and the Tuscans consider theirs the cultural heritage of the rural life associated with it. When the debate was going on a pro-Tuscan spirit prevailed in the E.N.C.I. and this is what in the end tilted the scales. To avoid the resurgence of the issue, which obstinately tends to surface like a drowned corpse, captious explanations and excuses are offered to let the forgery lie for peace’s sake. One excuse is that the name “Maremma” is firmly established in the vast English-speaking world and it is also easier to pronounce than “ Abruzzo”. The thousands of dogs working so well on the farms of N. America keeping away coyotes are always termed Maremmas although they descend fromMastini Abruzzesi. But in any case, the issue seems to be of no concern outside of Italy: “what’s in a name?” quoted Arthur Hammond the then secretary of the Maremma Club of the U.K. when I explained the matter to him. One captious interpretation plays on the double meaning of the term. As a common noun “maremma” is used to designate any coastal fen but, if affixed with a capital letter, then it indicates the area in Tuscany (and Latium). Thus, the double-barrelled name could then simply signify that it is the dog attached to the flocks that transhume between Abruzzo and the coastal areas where the “maremme” lie. An interpretation this which is flawed. Technically “maremma” signifies a fen, a stretch of land that is under water in the rainy season and remains moist during the dry season, which aspect makes it unsuitable for the Merino-derived breeds of Central and South Italy which need dry grazing. Ecologically a “ maremma” may be associated with swine, range cattle, water buffalo and horses but not with Merino sheep or goats. Seeing that there are no wolves and bears in the U.K. the Maremma inevitably became a conformation breed and a companion dog in that country (Fig. 5) although it could have been put to some use on the sheep farms for keeping away foxes and stray dogs. But with less excuse, conformation is also the only aspect of the breed which the Italian Kennel Club takes care of. No functional qualification is required by the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese standard so that all is expected of registered dogs is to comply to a morphological type. Such indifference to function is clearly betrayed in the official standard which per12

Ecology and Distribution



functorily defines it a “cane da pastore” which is the same term used by the IKC to designate herders like, for instance, the working collie. Now, if there is one thing that the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese’s working forebears were positively not supposed to do is to herd sheep. Their simple and exclusive job was to guard. Genetically and ethologically, the herder and the livestock guardian are so very far apart that it is quite impossible to group them under the same heading. I will therefore use the term “pastoral dog” to identify the sheep-guarding dog and to distinguish it from the herder.

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Ecology and Distribution



Ecology and Distribution





During a low point for the breed in the 1960s and 1970s when the shepherds were doing away with their dogs thinking that they had no more use for them because the wolf seemed on the verge of extinction, a census carried out by the Forestry Corps in 1974 came up with the following figures. A total of 2886 working dogs was counted thus distributed according to region: 1040 in Abruzzo, 530 in Latium, 283 in Molise, 217 in Lucania, 211 in Umbria, 171 in Apulia, 169 in Campania, 164 in Marches, 55 in Calabria, and 46 in Tuscany. There is a certain bias in these figures because the dogs on the winter pastures down in the lowlands would have been missed by the forestry officials who are mostly stationed in the mountains. Contrary to expectations, the population has since then greatly increased because the wolf, the raison d’être of the pastoral dog, instead of dying out has made an impressive comeback, spreading from its strongholds in Abruzzo and Calabria over the length of peninsular Italy and has now reached the Alps. The working dog is once again in much demand, never far behind on the tracks of its eternal enemy. The Mastino Abruzzese is not an isolated canine type. It belongs to a group of breeds, or populations, of livestock protectors, all sharing an evident physical and functional resemblance. Observing the original geographic distribution of these breeds one realises that they are all found in the Old World between the 39th and 41st latitudes stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In Asia this corresponds to the steppe zone, the cradle of pastoralism, and in Europe to the culture of large-scale, transhumant sheepfarming. All this leads to the conclusion that the basic canine type in question is essentially the dog of the pastoral civilisation of Inner Eurasia. In some cases the similarity is so close that the splitting into breeds of some of these populations seems frankly arbitrary. How can one separate the Tatra, the Choovach and the Kuvash seeing that the Tatra mountains are shared by Poland and Slovakia, and that this latter country was part of old Hungary? The old-time transhumance used to cut across all three countries. Is there any reason other than local spirit for separating the French Pyrenees Mountain Dog from the Spanish Pyrenean Mastiff? It is the same in the Balkans where more or less the same pastoral dog is found all over the area and is commonly represented

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Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

by the Sharplaninatz breed, thus called from the high range on the border between Macedonia and Kosovo. Proceeding from Portugal to Manchuria, the following is a list of pastoral breeds of which I have been able to find mention here and there in the literature: Alentejo Mastiff, Serra da Estrela Mountain Dog (Fig. 6), Castro Laboreiro Dog, Spanish Mastiff (Fig. 7), Mastin de Navarra, Mastin de Leon, Pyrenean Mastiff (Fig. 8), Pyrenean Mountain Dog (Fig. 9), Mastino Abruzzese (Fig. 10), Calabrian pastoral dog (Fig. 11), Sicilian pastoral dog, Komondor, Kuvasz (Fig. 12), Slovakian Chuvach (Fig. 13), Tatra Shepherd Dog (Fig. 14), Karst Shepherd Dog, Sharplaninatz (Fig. 15), Bosnian pastoral dog (Fig. 16), Bulgarian pastoral dog known locally as Karakachan, Roumanian pastoral dog (Fig. 17), Greek pastoral dog (Fig. 18), Anatolian Shepherd Dog (Fig. 19), Caucasian pastoral dog (Figs. 20, 21), South Russian Shepherd Dog, Central Asia Shepherd Dog (Figs. 22, 23), Tibetan Mastiff (Fig. 24), and more in Armenia, Kurdistan, other Central Asian countries besides Russia, in Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia (Fig. 25), and Manchuria. In their original version all these dogs are remarkably uniform; the only differences lying in the coat which is found in various lengths and colours. It seems obvious to me that the pastoral type deserves its own distinct morphological category under the name ofmastinoid, and should be added to those defined by Pierre Mégnin (Le Chien et ses Races, 1889) which are the following. Le type lupoïde, chien à tête en forme de pyramide horizontale, à oreilles généralement droites, à museau allongé, étroit, à petites lèvres fines, les supérieures ne dépassant pas la base des gencives inférieurs, comprend le chien des Esquimeaux, les chiens de berger, les dingos, les loulous poméraniens et autres, les terriers. Le type braccoïde a la tête se rapprochant de la forme prismatique, avec le museau aussi large à l’extrémité qu’à la base et séparé du front par une dépression (cassure du nez) bien marquée; les oreilles sont tombantes, les lèvres longues et flottantes, les supérieures ainsi que la commissure dépassant de beaucoup le niveau de la mâchoire inférieure; il comprend les braques divers, les épagneuls, les setters, les retrievers, les field et toy-spaniels, les griffons, les chiens courants, les beagles et les bassets. Le type molossoïde a la tête massive, ronde ou cuboïde; oreilles petites, tombantes; museau court; lèvres longues et épaisses. Corps massif, généralement cinq doigts derrière comme devant. Types normaux de très grande taille. On y trouve les dogues, les chiens de montagne, les mastiffs, les chiens de Terre Neuve, les grands danois, les bouledogues, les carlins, etc. Le type graioïde a la tête en cône allongé, le crâne étroit, les oreilles petites, couchées en arrière ou droites, museau long et mince en tous sens, en ligne droites avec la front; lèvres minces, courtes et serrées. Corps élancées, membres grêles, ventre très

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retroussé. Ce sont les lévriers d’Angleterre, de Russie d’Asie et d’Afrique, les whippets et les levrons d’Italie. To these I add the mastinoid type: Blocky head with a rounded muzzle of medium length, wide at the base and only moderately tapering; almond-shaped eyes; pendant ears held high and back; short lips; large size. Pronounced secondary sexual characteristics. All pastoral dogs. The “chiens de montagne” and the “chiens de Terreneuve” of Mégnin should be taken away from the molossoids and placed with the mastinoids. Historically, there are three conditions which determine the presence of the pastoral dog, being: 1. the necessity to defend the flocks principally from wolves but also from other predators such as jackals, bears, foxes and feral dogs; 2. the practise of large-scale extensive sheep-farming on open range; 3. the availability of whey for feeding the dogs. It is quite impossible to raise sheep in a land frequented by wolves without the assistance of sheep-guarding dogs. If a pack of four or five wolves decides to descend on a flock there is nothing the shepherds by themselves can do to stop them. Man is not quick enough to catch the wild animal directly; he can try throwing weapons and setting out snares; during the night he can light fires and shut the herds in stables, but in the long run he will be the loser. There is clear evidence for this from our own times. Large areas of the United States had to give up sheep farming because of the intolerable losses to the far-less formidable coyotes and stray dogs, and only when pastoral dogs were brought from the Old World in the 1970s was the problem solved. Every other possible way had been tried but to no avail: shooting, poisoned bait, traps, bounties, etc., all applied with the usual thoroughness and technology of that country (see later). The inverse is also true: if the wolf disappears so does the pastoral dog. In Sardinia or Crete, lands of sheep, the pastoral dog is unknown because the wolf has never existed on these islands. The wolf disappeared from the British Isles such a long time ago that to find the last reference there of the pastoral dog one has to go back to the 16th century. Fleming (1576) thus discourses. “Our shepherdes dogge is not huge, vaste, and bigge, but of an indifferent stature and growth, because it hath not to deal with the bloudthyrsty wolf, sythence there be none in England, which happy and fortunate benefite is to be ascribed to the puisant Prince Edgar, who to thintent ye the whole counterey might be evacuated and quite clered from wolfes, charged & commanded the welsheme (who were pestered with these butcherly beastes above measure) to pay him yearely tribute which was (note the wisdomes of the King) three hundred 17



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

Wolfes.” Another piece of evidence pointing to the long past presence of the pastoral dog in the British Isles is found in the following passage from Joachim Camerarius (1583, Living Librarie. translated by J. Mole) In fields abroade he lookes unto thy flockes, Keeping them safe from Wolves, and other beasts: And oftentimes he beares away the knocks Of some odd theife, that many a fold infests. Coming to Italy, the pastoral dog was also present in the Alpine area up to the 19th century when sheep were farmed there on a large scale (Fig. 26). As the dairy cow began to take over completely the wolf saw its prime source of food disappear. Wild prey animals like red deer, roe deer, chamois and boar could hardly act as substitute because in the 19 th century and first half of the 20th they had become quite scarce with respect to the preceding centuries and were far less abundant and widespread than today. Cows defend themselves quite effectively, and to grab a calf or pull down an adult can only be a chance occasion. The lack of food coupled with unrelenting persecution brought the wolf to extinction in the Alps. The pastoral dog obviously had no scope in this scenario and so disappeared too. The last trace of it in the Alps that I have been able to discover goes back to the 1920s and is with the herds that used to transhume between Mont Pelat in the Alpes Maritimes and the plain of La Crau in southeast France. It is recalled that the wolves were so obsessive that they would leave the mountains to follow the flocks down into the plain. The men were obliged to light circles of fire around their encampments and to sleep inside the fold, with a shotgun at hand and a horn to blow for giving the alarm. The dogs had to wear spiked collars (Moyal, 1956) to defend their necks against the slashing bites of the enemy... After dying out in the Alps by the end of the 19th century, the range of the wolf continued to shrink in peninsular Italy too. By the 1950s it was extinct in Sicily and in the northern part of the Appennines. The disappearance of the wolf was closely followed by that of the now-useless pastoral dog, its past existence in these places witnessed by old documents and pictures. For Tuscany it is sufficient to recall the episode concerning Lady Home-Robertson back in the 1930s and for Emilia there is a nice bit of evidence in an early guidebook, L’Appennino Bolognese (Alpine Club of Italy, 1881), at page 166, where we read that “in the mountains of Bologna one finds three canine breeds worthy of note. At the higher altitudes there is the so-called shepherd’s dog, an animal of high stature, with long and very white hair, of which the inside of the mouth is entirely black and armed with strong and powerful teeth. The temperament of these animals is rather fierce and unfriendly, but they are very much attached to their owners and are excellent guardians. Taken away from the mountains 18

Ecology and Distribution



and brought down to the plain they become prone to many illnesses especially of the skin and often end up rabid”. At its lowest ebb in the 1960s and ‘70s the wolf had become restricted to the fastnesses of Abruzzo and Calabria. In these regions the pastoral dog has, as a result, always kept in peak condition. Calabria has a different breed to that of Abruzzo, being russet or dark brown (Fig. 11) instead of spotless white. Sicily, too, had its completely black version of pastoral dog. I remember seeing some in the mountains behind Palermo, back in the 1960s, but I have no recent news regarding it. As the wolf rallied in the 1980s and thrust forth again with a vengeance, re-conquering all its former territory (except of course Sicily because of the sea to cross) and even reaching the long lost Alps by filing along the narrow crest that links these to the Appennines just in the hinterland of Genoa, so has the mission of the pastoral dog of Abruzzo regained momentum and is now to be seen again in places where it had been missing for many decades. This expanding and retreating of the pastoral dog following the population dynamics of the wolf has been observed elsewhere. In Turkey the abundance of wolves fluctuates over time cycles of several years. After long spells of peace the shepherds tend to neglect their dogs and make shift without them. As the curve of the lupine population rises again and sheep begin to be missed the choban takes himself to the Sivas province to provide himself with efficient dogs. This is the core area of the Turkish pastoral dog where quality is always kept up. The place of the pastoral dog is with large flocks grazed in open country such as mountains and steppes where wild beasts also live. It belongs where sheep-raising is the exclusive occupation of men owning many hundreds if not thousands of head. It is evident therefore that the small family flock on the general farm is not where one will find this canine type. If we now geographically locate the breeds or populations of pastoral dogs mentioned above we see that they coincide with transhumant or nomadic sheepherding. Transhumance is conducted in all the lands around the Mediterranean from the Atlantic to the ranges of Asia Minor, and from the Carpathians to the Atlas, but has full expression only in certain areas with mild and rainy winters, verdant prairies in spring and mountain pastures during summer. Proceeding from West to East, the particular climate of Portugal limited transhumance to the central coastal valleys and the ranges of Estrela, Caramulo and Montemuro. In Spain transhumance is well recorded from Roman times. During the centuries from 1273 to 1836 it was conducted under the organisation known as the “Mesta”, with its own officials and privileges, owning directly to the crown. Its rule extended from the Pyrenees to the Ebro river, from the Iberian Mountains to New Castile, and from Andalusia to Valencia. The heyday of the vast herds is past 19



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

but it has left a legendary memory. In France the system was less developed. In the Pyrenees the routes lay through the valleys of the Aude, Tete and Tech to the grazing lands of Mollo and Cerdagne; from the grasslands of Lannemazan and Gascony, and from the pastures of Bazadais to the highlands of Navarre, Béarn and Couseran. Further to the east the coastal lowlands of Crau and Camargue were the wintering grounds of the flocks coming from the Cevennes and the Alpes Maritimes. The climate and history of Italy have many points in common with Spain and the saga of the great transhumant herds is very similar. The great grassy lanes of the seasonal migrations linked the ranges of Abruzzo to the plain of north Apulia (Fig. 4), and the mountains of the Marches to the Roman countryside. Transhumance on a not so grand scale also went on between the coastal plain of Tuscany and the uplands of that region, between mount Gargano and south Apulia (Salento), between mount Pollino and the coastal plain of Metaponto, between the Taburno and Matese mountains and the Campanian plain. Flocks would also commute seasonally from the Alps and the northern Appennines to the Po plain, and back. The past tense has to be generally used but it is also true that not all herds have become sedentary and some still migrate even if by motorised transport. Moving eastwards, transhumance becomes more diffused. From the Carpathians the herds move down to the Danube plain; from the Balkan and Rhodope highlands the way leads to the Maritza valley and to the plains of Adrianople and Salonica. In past times the Vlahs used to lead their animals from the eastern Carpathians into the south Russian steppes and beyond, all the way to the Caucasus where they would sometimes settle. South of the Balkan range transhumance is found in the Pindus, Macedonia and Thessaly, becoming more consistent to the west in Montenegro and the Dinaric Alps. Coming to Asia Minor, transhumance changes into nomadism where the men bring their families along and live in tents. In these parts the complementary areas are the Armenian massif, the Caucasus, and the Elbruz with the Kura river valley. Nomadic are the flocks of Kurdistan and Luristan as are those of the high plateaux and of the shotts and wadis of North Africa. Once beyond the Caucusus, the husbandry of the sheep on an extensive scale is the traditional and exclusive economy of the steppes and sub-deserts of Central and East Asia. The third condition is the availability of proteins to feed many lar ge dogs. To be effective the pastoral dog should be used in units of four or five for every flock. A single outfit of several flocks may easily possess twenty dogs, and these have to be fed. Animal protein is expensive and was even more so in the past. In times when even people had not enough meat in their diet there was certainly none for dogs except in the houses of the very rich. In a pastoral economy, however, where animals are milked there is a waste product, whey, in large quantities which furnishes excellent nourishment for the dogs. Whey is the liquid which is left over in the making of cheese. Besides containing a 20

Ecology and Distribution



sufficient residue of proteins, it also collects most of the calcium, phosphorus and other vital substances that were present in the milk. To the whey the shepherds add sundry ingredients like stale bread, bran, pot scrapings, etc. At lambing time the dogs feed on the highly nutritious secundines. Thus many large dogs can be kept at no cost in a tight, traditional economy. Regrettably, today such scheme of things is changing. Many farms have stopped making cheese and sell the milk to cheese-making companies.This means that there is no whey for the dogs and this tells on their health. The work they do would indeed repay the cost of food but the notion that dogs should as a rule glean their wherewithal from the waste product of the farm is hard to die in the rural mind. The true farmer’s dog is always very small, a terrier or a little spitz, useful for keeping away vermin yet costing nothing. Historically, large dogs were only for the rich, or else for shepherds and butchers who had free proteins for feeding them.

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Nomenclature



Nomenclature





There is great confusion on the matter of terminology regarding the pastoral breeds. The dogs belonging to this quite uniform category are placed under the most various headings by the Fédération Cynologique International. Under the heading “sheepdog” one finds, for instance, the Border Collie, a herder, placed next to the Kuvasz, a guardian. The two are so different that it is quite absurd to lump them together. The behaviour of the collie with sheep is of sublimated predation; its relation to the sheep is not direct but is mediated by man. The collie follows the shepherd and not the sheep, waiting for the command to go for the animals; it cannot be left alone and out of sight because it will start chasing the animals, the prelude to disaster. The sheep-guarding dog, instead, relates directly to the sheep and man has no part in this (Fig. 27). There forms a interspecific attachment between dogs and ovines. Here the instinct of predation towards its own flock is not just barely suppressed, like in the collie, but is totally dormant. Generally speaking, the pastoral dog should be quite harmless to all farmyard animals, including poultry which are commonly the ultimate temptation for any dog (Fig. 113). “Shepherd dogs” (e.g. Anatolian, South Russian, Tatra, etc.) is the closest that official terminology comes to distinguishing those that defend the flock but do not work it. Paradoxically, however, it is the herder that should be called the shepherd dog, i.e. the dog of the shepherd, while the guardian is the true sheepdog, i.e. the dog of the sheep. To say “Mountain dog” (e.g. Pyrenees, Serra da Estrela) doesn’t mean anything really. It conveys the idea that the animal is restricted to high altitudes and does not suggest what its function is. The breeds thus qualified are actually sheep-guardians and this implies that they spend only half their time in the mountains since the winter grazing grounds would be down in the lowlands. Other sheep-guarding breeds are classified as molossoid (e.g. Mastin Espanol, Central Asia Shepherd Dog, etc.) which refers to their bulky, looseskinned conformation. In reality, the working stock in the original setting is lighter in build. Ponderous proportions are not suited for an active dog that is always on the move. A dog that follows grazing animals on high pastures has to go along all day over steep, sometimes awkward, terrain. If it has to face wolves a certain impressiveness is obviously necessary but not at the expense 23



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

of quickness. The wolf probably feels subdued when confronted by a dog of big stature. The same largeness that confers dominance in wolf-wolf and dog-dog relations, so would it, presumably, in wolf-dog relations, the two animals being, after all, practically the same species and thus understanding each other’s body language. In reality, only odd specimens within the working canine population show extra-large proportions, but these would be the ones to strike western dog-fanciers and taken back for serving as model for the standard of points. Among the Albanian shepherds who keep dogs of the Sharplanina breed, these larger occasional sports are termed “Karayak”. Summing up, it is evident to me that sheep-guarding breeds form a homogeneous family and ought to be grouped together under the convenient term of “Pastoral Dog” when referring to their function and “Mastinoid” when thinking of conformation. The basic similarity shared by these breeds is born of a common function and ecology, and probably of common ancestry. Having named the type, I wish now to clear the ground with regard to the nomenclature of one Italian representative of the Pastoral Dog. There is a large white hairy dog in Italy that the English-speaking public knows as “Maremma Sheepdog”, the Italian Kennel Club officially recognises as the “ Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese”, and in the traditional usage of Italian shepherds it is called “Mastino Abruzzese”, “Postigno,” “Cane da Pecora” or “Cane di Masseria”. Are these all names of the same animal? As it so happened, in the beginning there was only one dog but then ways parted when fanciers in the 1930s began to develop a conformation breed while the original stock stayed a performance breed. In Italy this difference is quite clear because alongside the world of dog shows, kennel breeeding and fanciers, a large working population has always continued to exist, coming to us in an unbroken line from the past, practically unaffected by the kennel-bred conformation stock. The word used within the traditional sheep farming world to indicate the type of dog which protects sheep is “mastino”. Unfortunately, this term generates confusion. “Mastiff” in English, “mastin” in Old French, “mâtin” in modern French, “mastin” in Spanish and “ mastino” in Italian are all obviously of the same root but in the course of time have diverged semantically. In English the meaning of the term has been quite clear for a long time. The mastyne of Abraham Fleming (Of Englishe Dogges, 1576) was similar to the English Mastiff of today, and therefore its conformation (Fig. 28) and function make it quite different from those of the pastoral dog. Its conformation (“vaste, huge, … of a hevy and burthenous body, and therefore but of little swiftness, …”) places it in the category of molossoids (Mégnin, 1889). Its function (“watche and keepe farme places …drive wilde and tame swine … to bayte and take the 24

Nomenclature



bull by the ears, … the faste holde which they take with their teeth exceedeth all credit, …”) is that of a catch-dog or holder, i.e. of catching and holding fast onto man or animal in order to allow its conductor to control the dangerous adversary with the least risk. With regard to the Frenchmastin or mâtin the meaning has changed remarkably in the course of time. It is possible to get a good idea of what was intended by this term in the Middle Ages from the great classicLe Livre de la Chasse (1389) by Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix and of Béarn (Fig. 29). In conformation, Phoebus’ mâtin is quite apart from the mastyne of Fleming, and is similar to the Abruzzo dogs of today, being a mastinoid and not a molossoid. Phoebus specifies that the mâtin is sometimes used for hunting but is not really a hunting dog, “The duty and instinct of mâtins is to guard the livestock and house of their master, they are dogs of good nature because they will defend and watch the property of their master with all their power; but they are otherwise not worth much and are of unsuitable size.” This negative judgement refers of course to its use in hunting; elsewhere, however, Phoebus admits its role in opposing the wolf, which, of course, is part of the essential nature of pastoral breeds, “… and it (the wolf) has such great strength in its jaws that it can carry a goat or a sheep, an ewe or a porker in its mouth without letting it touch ground and run so fast that, unless pursued by mâtins or horsemen, shepherds and men on foot will not be able to reach it.” Admiring the miniatures of the mâtin in the book (Fig. 29) we easily recognise the same physical type of the present day sheep-guarding dog, even unto the white coat and spiked collar, the badge of its profession. Jean de Brie in his manual Le Bon Berger ou le Vray Régime et Gouvernement des Bergers , printed in 1514, states that “ Le chien berger doit être un grand mâtin ... et il doit avoir autour du col un collier armé de crampons de fer aigus de longs clous ...” Several centuries later one meets quite a different dog going under the same name in France. The Histoire Naturelle (1749) of Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, provides a picture (Fig. 30) of a mâtin that is much lighter in build compared to themâtin of Gaston Phoebus, especially in the head. It is distinctly not a mastinoid, nor a molossoid which is represented by the dogue (Fig. 31); it is either a lupoid or a graioid and not to be confused with the chien de berger (Fig. 32). Buffon does not tell us what it was used for. There is no recognised breed today in France which bears the name of mâtin. The Chien des Pyrenées is a descendant of a sheep-guarding dog (Fig. 9) but no-one now calls it a mâtin. With the recent reappearance of wolves in the Alpes Maritimes, the French are trying to re-furbish the sheep-guarding propensities of the latter breed notwithstanding a long emasculating career with fanciers, but they call this working version Patou. For mastino in the Italian language, the authoritative Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca printed in 1612 gives “ Spezie di cane che tengono i pecorai a 25



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

guardia del lor bestiame” (kind of dog kept by the shepherds for guarding their livestock). This functional definition has remained unchanged for centuries. In the 1922 edition of the Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana by N. Zingarelli we still read, “ cane dei pastori a guardia del gregge ” (shepherds’ dog for guarding the flock). But in recent dictionaries like theNovissimo Dizionario della Lingua Italiana (1961) of F. Palazzi, it has unexplainedly come to indicate a certain conformation: “cane grosso e robusto, di pelo corto, con la testa grossa e il muso breve; è poco docile e fa ottima guardia” (a large and strong dog, of short hair, with a big head and short muzzle; it is not very docile and does excellent guard work) which is the description of a molossoid similar to the English Mastiff. In the terminology of the Italian Kennel Club by mastino a molossoid conformation is intended, like in Mastino Napoletano, but the old-time shepherds still call their sheep-guarding dogs mastini, although these are not molossoid. As I have already said above, pastoral dogs should really have their own separate conformation category under the name of mastinoid. The traditional term in Italy for a molossoid dog is cane da presa (catch dog or holder) which refers to its key performance trait of catching and holding the adversary for the benefit of its master. In Spain we have the Mastin de los Pirineos (Fig. 8), the Mastin de Navarra, the Mastin de Leon and the Mastin Espaňol (Fig. 7), all in active service since the wolf still roams the countryside there. But, alas, when dog-fanciers recently decided to take over these dogs they did not understand the traditional usage by the shepherds of the term “mastin”, i.e. a sheep-guarding dog, and thought they were dealing with molossoids and so have started to breed them in the direction of large, heavy animals. The Spanish dog-fanciers should have known better because their molossoid dogs are called “ dogos”. Here again is confusion in the meaning of “ mastin” between traditional rural culture and the self-centred world of cynophilists. The Spaniards have kept the name and are changing the physical type while the Italian dog-fanciers in the case of the registered Pastore Maremmano-Abtuzzese have lost the name but have kept closer to the original conformation. What is the etymology of the term “ mastino”? Dictionaries say that it derives from the Latin “mansuetinus” which means docile and domestic. I find this explanation not at all convincing because compared to other dogs the mastino can hardly be termed docile. People who keep it as a house dog find that it is not all submissive, often imposing its will in situations of antagonism. Another, more satisfactory interpretation derives it from “mas”, the Latin for male. Thus, “mastino”, like “mastiff”, should be understood as indicating masculinity, in the sense that the male has a very different conformation than the female (Figs. 33 to 43), an aspect which is absent in other canine types such as the hounds, the sight hounds, the terriers, lap dogs and the rest, where the males look like 26

Nomenclature



the females. In this sense, then, it is possible to understand how quite different types like the pastoral (mastinoid) and the holder (molossoid), but both possessing pronounced secondary sexual characteristics, should have both been qualified by the same term “mastiff”. Going back to the English meaning of mastiff, it may be that it originally indicated both the pastoral/mastinoid and the holder/molossoid but when the former died out following the extinction of the wolf in Britain by the end of the Middle Ages, the term was left to designate only the holder/molossoid. This interpretation is supported by an analogous case in the German language with the equivalent word “Rűde” which is the term for pastoral dog yet at the same time indicating the male of the species. Is there a parallel to this also in English where the word “dog” signifies both the animal and the male gender of the same? At present any domestic canid is termed “dog” but if one presumes that it originally indicated the holder/molossoid type, like it does in the obviously closely related German word “ Dogge” (whence the French dogue and the Spanish dogo, also intending the holder/ molossoid type), then here again would be an indication that, in olden days, breeds or types were classified either as “masculine” i.e. pastoral and holder breeds, or “feminine” i.e. hounds, sight hounds, terriers, etc.

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The sheep universe of the Abruzzi



The sheep universe of the Abruzzi





The Appennine range (Fig. 4) which extends down peninsular Italy like a backbone, attains its greatest development in the central part where the altitude is frequently above 6000 ft and, in the case of a few peaks, 9000 ft is attained. Most of these mountains fall within the Abruzzo region, while some rise in neighbouring Latium, Marches and Molise. This extensive territory, with its plateaus and highlands, offers excellent summer grazing grounds and it is a fact that the sheep has been the economy of this area since the remotest of times, particularly in the case of Abruzzo (Figs. 44, 45, 46, 47). It was the paramount activity of the region, involving the entire society from the rich sheepmaster in his palace at L’Aquila down to the young shepherd boy. Even before the Roman conquest of Italy (III century B.C.), we learn that the ancient Marsi, the native people of the region, negotiated with their neighbours for permission to lead flocks through to the winter pastures down on the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seaboards. Wool was the most important clothing material in ancient Italy and with the spread of latifundia (vast landed properties) in the II century A.D. the sheep industry expanded even further. The ancient region of Samnium (coinciding with southern Abruzzo, Molise and northern Campania of today) with its Collegium Lanarium (College of Wool-workers) was foremost in this respect. Juvanum, not far from the town of Scanno in present day Abruzzo, was the centre of the cult to Jovis Lanarius (Jove the Wool Bearer). The importance of the sheep and wool industry did not cease after the Roman period, as borne witness by the powerful mediaeval guild of Santa Maria Apollonia with its seat at L’Aquila, the capital of the region. From the 15 th to the 19 th century the annals of the Abruzzo sheep industry can be traced through the archives of the Dohana Menae Pecudum, the crown institution which owned and governed the network of sheep lanes and the 400,000 ha of winter grazing grounds down in the plain of Foggia. Sheepfarming is still widespread in Abruzzo although in reduced circumstances. The land reform of the 1930s and especially that of the 1950s eliminated much of the permanent grassland in the lowlands where the flocks found their winter grazing. Large ownerships require hired labour and since the 1960s this has become very difficult to find. Sheep farms have thus been re-organised on a family basis and today rarely exceed 1,500 head. Transhumance has nearly 29



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

stopped because the men now prefer to winter their animals in stables which allows them to remain in their home village all year round. Tilling of the soil on the mountain slopes has been abandoned and so the livestock can be grazed at lower altitudes on the one-time fields, in this way saving the men from having to camp high up in remote districts. The wool breeds (Gentile di Puglia, Sopravissana) of yesterday have been nearly everywhere substituted by milch breeds (Sarda, Comisana, Carapellese) since the only profit today is in the cheese and, to a lesser extent, in the mutton. The recent influx of shepherds from Macedonia, Albania and Roumania, willing to work for a salary, has, for the moment, given a respite to the economy. During the golden age of the Abruzzo sheep industry in the 19 th century there were as many as thirty thousand men at various hierarchical levels caring for three million head. The classicmasseria di pecore, i.e. sheepfarm, of those times possessed from two to five thousand animals. Some proprietors would own several. A masseria was organised on lines and discipline similar to the military. The manager of a masseria was known as the massaro; in the case of a large one he would be aided by one or moresottomassari. The next down in the hierarchy was the capobuttero who was in charge of the supplies and oversaw the cheese-making, so that he would be sometimes called the casaro. Directly under his authority were the mountedbutteri who tended the beasts of burden. Then in descending order came thepastori, the scapoli or guardamorra, and finally the butteracchi. The pastori were the senior shepherds; thescapoli or guardamorra were the younger men, while the butteracchi were boys who did most of the actual leg work (Figs. 48, 49). The typical Abruzzese shepherd was an upstanding person showing a certain level of culture in times when most people were unlettered; in his leisurely moments he entertained himself with readings from Tasso, Ariosto and Andrea Da Barberino. His pay was part in kind: loafs of bread and olive oil, and donatives in time of festivities. The Abruzzo sheep was the Gentile di Puglia (Fig. 50), a breed derived from local stock ( Pagliarola) crossed with Merino rams imported in 1433 by king Alfonso I and in the 18th and 19th centuries by cardinal Ruffo, king Francis I and Joachim Murat. From June to October the flocks frequented the native mountains of the men, at altitudes above 4,500 ft. Each morra, or flock, comprising three to four hundred head was conducted by a shepherd, a young apprentice shepherd and an escort of four or five mastini. Strangely, such a highly developed industry never dedicated itself seriously to developing a herding dog. After being milked, (Fig. 51), by the time the grass is nice and dry at about 10:00 a.m., the animals are let out to graze. The sheep do not scatter but stay 30

The sheep universe of the Abruzzi



united, slowly moving in one direction in a loose group, their heads down, eating as they walk. At about 5:00 p.m., later if it is a fine day, they have completed the grazing circuit and are back in the neighbourhood of the pen; before being milked again and let in for the night they are taken to drink. The encampment where the pen and shepherd’s hut are is called stazzo (Figs. 52, 53, 54, 55). The buildings are made of dry stone; the wall of the pen should be high enough and garnered with thorn branches along the top to give some discouragement to raiding wolves and bears. The stazzo should be located on slightly sloping, well-drained terrain where it can be blessed by the first warming rays of dawn. Stazzi are found here and there over the mountainside, each with its own sheep walks knowingly graded according to quality. As the season advances the sheep are moved from the lower to the higher ones. Some herbages are good for the lambs, others for the rams, and so on. The more comfortable camps in a more accessible position at lower altitude are kept for the ewes that are being milked, since the produce has to be conveniently delivered every day down to the valley. Far away stazzi (Fig. 56), high up on remote slopes, are reserved for the nimble yearling ewes which are not yet in milk (Fig. 57). The mountains are not fenced but boundaries and limits are nonetheless respected. During the first days up on the summer pastures, at the beginning of the season, the shepherd carefully takes the flock to graze along the perimeter of his assigned area. This exercise marks a trail which becomes the olfactory boundary which keeps the sheep within their allotted grazing ground. Once the daily routine is established the shepherd becomes more lax in going after the sheep knowing that the animals will follow a circuit and turn up at the right time at the stazzo. But the mastini stay with them, of course. The shepherds go down once a week to the village to visit their families and then, returning, fetch up the weekly provisions on donkey back. When autumn begins to be felt in the air, the time to leave the mountains arrives (Fig. 58). The traditional wintering grounds are to south of Abruzzo in Apulia, in the province of Foggia, just like in the times of Varro: “ In Apulia hibernabant in Marsicis montis aestivabant”. The lowness of the land here and its proximity to the sea make for a mild winter climate with no snow. Great public sheep-lanes, called tratturi, existed for transferring flocks and herds from the mountains to the plain and vice versa. There were three main tratturi leading from L’Aquila (243 km), Celano (207 km) and Pescasseroli (211 km) down to the Apulian plain. Minor ones from the various separate massifs converged into these main ones. Because the journey took many weeks, the sheep-lanes had to be grassy and wide in order to let the livestock feed along the way. The last transhumance on foot goes back to the 1950s; those that still practice it today now transfer the livestock by motorised transport. 31



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

The 19th century German scholar Ferdinand Gregorovius was a noteworthy witness of the annual migration: “We climbed laboriously by hair-pin curves. At Raiano we took a brace of oxen. Thus proceeding, at a certain point we found ourselves in the midst of a large herd of sheep and goats being slowly led into the mountains by the shepherds, big men clad in sheepskins and holding spits in their hand. From that moment on we saw the length and breadth of the entire slope covered by the summering herds. These are watched over by hairy dogs the size of a St. Bernard carrying leathern collars armed with spikes as a protection against the fangs of wolves.” (1871,In Den Abruzzen.) Another illustrious observer of the transhumant herds of Abruzzo was the French antiquary François Lenormant, a contemporary of Gregorovius. “All the branches lead into the Tratturo Grande, a long grassy unpaved artery, 80 to 120 metres wide, that stretches from L’Aquila to beyond Andria. It is along this way that, in our day still, every year, for days on end, descending in November and ascending in May, columns of half-tame cattle go by, escorted by wild-looking shepherds on horseback, but above all there are great herds of sheep. A herd of sheep is called punta and comprises about ten thousand head. It proceeds in detachments of three or four hundred animals, each accompanied by a shepherd on foot holding a crook and assisted by five or six enormous dogs clad in a snowwhite coat.” (A Travers l’Apulie et la Lucanie, 1883.) Whenever the tratturo flanked cultivated fields farmers would ominously line the way to see that their crops would not be invaded. There was little sympathy between the shepherds and the tillers of the soil. On the way down the dogs sometimes could not resist slipping into to the vineyards to feast on the grapes but, alas, they would find the owner waiting for them with his shotgun! After being plied for millennia the tratturi have fallen in disuse. Some tracts in the mountains are still recognisable as wide swathes of grass stretching over the landscape. The parts down in the lowland have either been whittled down to ordinary country lanes or else they have been more or less legally merged into the bordering properties. On arriving down in the Apulian plain, the Abruzzese sheepmasters were obliged to graze their animals on land belonging to the crown of Naples, a territorial institution known as the Tavoliere. The tax paid for the right to use these pastures extending to 370,000 ha was the most important revenue of the government. To quote a figure, in 1751 the Tavoliere yielded 400,000 ducats. The origins of this institution can be traced back to antiquity. In pre-Roman times the pastoral Marsi used to negotiate with the local Dauni for the use of this area. We know from Varro that in Roman times “itaque greges ovium abiguntur ex Apulia in Samnium aestivatum atque ad publicanum profitentur, ne, si inscriptum pecuda paverint, lege censoria committant”. During the time of Norman rule (105932

The sheep universe of the Abruzzi



1194) the matter was regulated by the laws “ Pervenit ad aures nostri culminis ” and “Cum per partes Apuliae ”. Later came the Melfi Code (1231) of Frederick II and the law “De iure affidaturae herbagii, pascuorum, glandium, et similium ” of Robert of Anjou. The most thorough and systematic organisation came with of Alfonso I of Aragon, however, who on 1st August 1447 established the “Dohana Menae Pecudum” which lasted for four centuries. The importance of this institution for the government is stressed by the following episode. During the dynastic war between the French and the Spanish for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples (1501), success depended on who would be able to put his hands on the revenue deriving from theDohana Menae Pecudum because this would enable the fortunate one to pay the troops and keep them from disbanding. The Duke of Nemours had just managed to get control near San Severo of flocks amounting to 600,000 head when he was attacked by the Spanish light cavalry issuing from Foggia. Finding himself in straits, the Duke gave the order to slaughter the animals so that the booty should not fall to the enemy. But he was forestalled by the Castilians who, famous sheepmen themselves, dismounted and in a great cloud of dust managed to fleece the multitude of sheep and grab the grazing tax. The 370,000 ha that constituted the Tavoliere were not one uninterrupted stretch of land but were distributed in 43 separate units calledlocazioni. Within the area of a locazione it was strictly forbidden to plough and to build so that the land assumed the aspect of an open steppe sparsely dotted with temporary huts and sheepfolds. Each locazione was subdivided into poste which were the basic units that harboured the individual masserie di pecore, or sheepfarms (see Appendix V). The carrying capacity of each posta was in the order of several thousand head; 100 ha allotted for every 400 sheep. On the wake of the Napoleonic conquest, Joseph Bonaparte abolished the Tavoliere in 1806 and the locazioni were put up for sale (Figs. 59, 60). No ecological changes became immediately evident, however, because most of the land was bought up by the same livestock owners who used to lease it from the Dogana delle Pecore, so a large part of it remained as grassland, although now cultivation was no longer prohibited. When the legitimate Bourbon dynasty was reinstated an attempt was made (1816) to re-establish the old order but with little success. Gradually, more and more of the virgin turf came under the plough. The policy of the government before World War II insisting on wheat production and the land reform of the 1950s which split up large properties into small farms caused the grassland in the plains to shrink even more. A residue of winter pasture, nevertheless, was still left because of the fallow land resulting from crop rotation. The custom was to plant wheat for two years in succession and then to leave the ground fallow for two years ( maggese). 33



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

But with the introduction of chemical fertilisers in the second half of the 20th century there seemed to be no need to let the fields rest and leave them to pasturage. Because of this development transhumant flocks find little room nowadays down in the plain of Foggia. But even as I write there are perhaps the signs of a further change. As subsidies from the European Union tend to dwindle, farmers can no longer bear the cost of fertilisers and pesticides so that they may again soon have to revert to crop rotation and animal dung to sustain the fertility of their fields. What has just been briefly described is the historical and cultural cradle of the Mastino Abruzzese. The breed, however, because of its excellence, was exported far beyond the sheepfarms of Abruzzo, to wherever, in fact, the need arose to defend livestock from wolves. Within the borders of the Kingdom of Naples the Mastino Abruzzese spread to other areas besides those frequented by the flocks from Abruzzo. Thus they were and still are to be found in the regions of Campania and Basilicata. Local populations exist in the Salento, the southern part of Apulia where sheep farming is quite unconnected to that of northern Apulia. The dog stops short of Calabria where it is substituted by another pastoral breed, remarkably different from the former in that it presents a dark coat (Fig. 11). Outside the Kingdom of Naples to the north, another pastoral economy having nearly as much historical right to consider the breed as its own was that of the Papal States. Here the routes of transhumance were between the Sybilline Mountains in the Marches region to the north and the low-lying countryside surrounding Rome (Campagna Romana) (Figs. 61, 62, 63). The industry was organised along very much the same lines as that in the neighbouring kingdom to the south. Under Martin V in 1427 the taxes paid by the owners of the flocks amounted to 6500 gold florins and in the 17th century this revenue used to bring 40,000 ducats a year to the coffers of the Pope. The “ Dogana Pecudum” established in 1402 by Boniface IX differed somewhat from the Neapolitan model. The flocks had no exclusive lanes along which to travel but only the ordinary public roads, especially the Via Flaminia, with the right to graze, however, for eighty metres on either side of the way. For a long time after the end of the Dogana in 1828 this customary use of the public roadways kept on. As my father recalled witnessing as a small boy, the Via del Corso, the street going through the heart of Rome, was still being plied in the 1920s by the flocks migrating between the Via Flaminia and the pastures west of the city. Such movements were allowed only during the middle of the night; the mass of sheep filling the entire length of the way from Piazza del Popolo to Piazza Venezia. The wintering grounds were not crown demesne like the Tavoliere but belonged to the great landowning families of Rome who were also the owners of the sheep. The 34

The sheep universe of the Abruzzi



men who actually conducted the flocks were mountainfolk from the Marches region. The rules of theDogana Pecudum held an extra element which was quite absent in the parallel institution of the Kingdom of Naples. The sheepowners had to supply a certain amount of lambs for the consumption of the populace of Rome. In an edict of 1602 the number of heads required was 156,132. The period of sale, at the price fixed by the government, went from Easter to June. The breed of sheep was the Sopravissana, very similar to the Gentile di Puglia but coarser, a blend of the local Appennine sheepPagliarola) ( with Merino rams imported by Benedict XIV. The Roman flocks never reached the size of the Abruzzi ones. Even before the unification of Italy (1861), there was interchange between the two industries, however, since the flocks from the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Naples were allowed to cross the border and descend to the winter pastures of the Papal States saving themselves the much longer walk all the way down to Apulia. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany also had its sheep industry organised on the model of those of the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States, but on a smaller scale. As far back as the 14th century the republic of Siena had set up a system of exploiting the 60,000 ha of lowland pasturage within its territory, but the fully codified Dogana delle Pecore was established in 1419. This institution lasted up to 1778 when granduke Peter Leopold abolished it and sold the land to private entrepreneurs, following the new ideas on political economy. The flocks averaged 300,000 head and the leasing of the grazing land brought 15,000 florins to the coffers of the state. During the early period the herds belonged to the mountain folk from the northern Appennines (descending transhumance) but in the 19 th century lowland urban classes also began to invest in the business (ascending transhumance). By special agreement between the two governments, there were also flocks that commuted between the mountains of the Papal States and the seaboard of the Granduchy of Tuscany. The stock was Merino or Merino-derived imported from Rome, Abruzzo, Apulia and Spain during the 18th century. When I began my observations back in the 1960s there was no trace left of this large-scale Tuscan sheep farming. Large-scale sheep farming has been historically practiced all along peninsular Italy but the centre of this pastoral culture is in Abruzzo. Signs past or present of the white pastoral dog can be found most anywhere in Italy but the core of the breed is with the sheepfarms of Abruzzo.

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Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

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36

The Mastino at Work



The Mastino at Work





Segue l’amico delle greggi, il forte Animoso mastin, di ferree punte Armato il breve collo: abil difesa Incontro al lupo assalitor. Robuste E nervose le membra, e scintillanti Abbia gli occhi, e mantel bianco, convolto Di pelo assai, che dalle acute il salvi Scane de’ lupi, e si’ li cacci e assalti. C. Arici, 1824, La Pastorizia

(Follows the friend of the flocks, the strong

and doughty mastiff, of iron spikes is armed his thickset neck: clever defence against the attacking wolf. Strong and sinewy his limbs, and shining shall be his eyes, and wrapped in a white coat of much hair, that saves from the sharp fangs of wolves, and indeed he is to face and pursue them.)

A Mastino Abruzzese is an impressive sight in any circumstance but having once met it where it really belongs on the open pastures of the high Appennines (Figs. 64, 65, 66), one feels the implicit indignity on seeing it afterwards on a leash in an urban setting. The rich immaculate coat ruffled by the wind, the self-assured and distant look, its measured movements are truly inspiring. The ears cropped short and the spiked collar add a harsh note. The men say that the dog is proud to bear the bristling iron collarvreccale, ( droccale, roccale, cannale) of which there are several models (Figs. 67, 68, 69), some of which quite elaborate. The village smith used to give them to his young apprentices to forge. Only the adult males are thus adorned and only when wolves are expected, as when up in the mountains. Some collars have clapper-like pendants which by their noise as the dog moves are thought to unnerve the wolf. Some shepherds make shift with leather collars bristling with nail points, but these are reputed to be less effective because the nails supported by the leather tend to collapse when pressed upon. The ultimate refinement is the breastplate (pettorale) (Fig. 70), no longer to 37



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

be seen nowadays, which consists in either a solid triangle of metal or a series of scales hinged together and strapped to the chest with thongs tied behind the back. The breastplate sometimes sported a central spike which would serve as offensive weapon if the dog decided to charge the adversary. The rich and glorious coat of hair (Fig. 156) is the very necessary mantle against the weather. In other times the men would have the concern to set up a simple night shelter for the dogs next to the sheepfold, but not so anymore (Fig. 54). It may be said that from the moment the puppy leaves the den where it is born it will spend the rest of its life under the sky. The length, texture and lie of the hair are more suitable for protecting against wind and rain rather than ice and snow, and such is in fact the bad weather it has to face when it is either down in the plains during winter or up at high altitude in summer. It is quite normal to see these dogs quite indifferent to the rain as they lie about on the ground. If it is a truly heavy downpour then they stand with drooping head and tail to form inclines so that the water can run off the hair ends and not seep to the skin. Once in a while they shake themselves to get rid of the water that may lodge in the coat. When it is very cold or very windy the dog curls tightly up and protects its nose by burying it in the bush of the tail. The great mass of hair on the buttocks serves as a cushion when it is seated. The raison d’être of themastino from time immemorial is to defend livestock from the wolf (Figs. 71, 72, 73, 74, 83). Its specific moral characteristics are courage and a deep attachment to sheep. The expression that the shepherd uses to convey what the dog feels for sheep is geloso (jealous). It is the greatest praise when the dog deserves the epithet of ignorante (ignorant) meaning that it is so dedicated to its duty that nothing can distract it; it “ignores” everything else. Starting in the 1970s studies have been conducted by U.S. researchers on the work of the Mastino Abruzzese under the name of Maremma Sheepdog. One merit of these studies is to have expressed in satisfactory terminology the functional ethology of the pastoral dog. The matter had never been articulated before; something so natural and obvious to insiders never needed any telling. A formulated analysis was all the more necessary in that a pastoral dog at work gives the superficial impression to the neophyte of doing absolutely nothing. Prof. R. Coppinger of Hampshire University (Massachusetts) who came over to Europe and Turkey to do on-site observations (Fig. 75) defines the functional ethology by the three adjectives of attentive, trustworthy and protective. Attentive and trustworthy are the translation of the shepherd’s “geloso” and “ignorante”, and are passive traits. Attentiveness means that the dog never leaves the flock (Figs. 76 to 82), and a trustworthy dog is one which, in the absence of man, will not go chasing or killing the sheep (Figs. 81, 82). Protectiveness is an active but also a passive trait. An outside observer never has a chance to 38

The Mastino at Work



see active protectiveness and the shepherd only very rarely (Figs. 83, 84). Even where the density of wolves is highest a true attack on a particular flock, an occasion in which the wolf actually shows itself, is a rare event, maybe once in three years. Passive protectiveness is provided by the simple presence of the dogs. Mastini Abruzzesi loafing around doing apparently nothing (Figs. 85 to 92) constitute, in fact, a permanent deterrent for the invisible but ever present predators lurking in the back, always ready for their chance. Although there may seem to be no action, there is constant activity through sound and smell. The following anecdote shows how deceptive can such apparently idle behaviour be. A Texas sheep-farmer who had rather doubtfully condescended to accept one of Coppinger’s sheep-guarding dogs (“We have enough predators for free around here without having to buy them!”) was at the beginning unimpressed. The dog did not, as he had feared, start killing the sheep when left alone, but on the other hand it seemed to be doing nothing else but lie around sleeping. Why wasn’t the dog running about, catching and killing predators? One day, however, the man had to take it to the veterinarian for a routine check and during that short absence the coyote struck, something which had never happened during all the time the dog had been on duty. It then dawned on the farmer how the system functioned. The predators were out there all the time, unseen and unheard by the men, but not daring to approach because of the dog. The dog signals its presence in ways invisible to the farmer but the coyote gets the message very clearly. The interest of the North Americans for the pastoral dog lies in the desperate need of solving the problem of the great losses to their sheep industry from coyotes and stray dogs. At the time, it was estimated that about one million lambs were lost in this way every year and in some areas sheep farming had to be abandoned because of predation. An extermination campaign that eliminated 300,000 coyotes per year was not even able to retard the recent population expansion of this wild canid. Sheep-guarding dogs were unknown until then in the country. Coppinger was most interested in attentiveness and trustworthiness. In N. America sheep are not tended by a shepherd but left to themselves in the fields. If the owner has to leave dogs with the sheep he has to be doubly sure that, once left alone, they will not turn on the sheep (trustworthy) like ordinary dogs will inevitably do, and that they will not wander off (attentive). Protectiveness is of course essential but scaring away coyotes, foxes or the neighbour’s pet is less of a challenge than tackling bears and human-wise wolves, like in Italy. During his field observations in the mountains of Abruzzo, Coppinger’s main concern was to see whether the breed preferred to follow the shepherd, as a herder would, or the flock. As explained above, what was needed in the U.S. is a dog that stays with the sheep all the time and not one that, once left by itself, will wander back 39



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

to the farm looking for human company. He observed that, out of a sample of thirty three mastini, fourteen showed a close attachment to the sheep, seven were following the shepherd and in twelve the preference was not clear. However, these results, rather than telling us about any inborn attentiveness in the breed, merely reveal how those particular dogs of the sample were conditioned at the time they were puppies. To have really total attentiveness, amastino should enter this world inside the sheep shed so that by close proximity during the first critical months a deep and permanent social tie will form between the two species. Humans should come into its life only at a later stage. If the young puppies are handled, if there are children about who absolutely cannot be held back from cuddling them, playing with them, etc. the dog will be spoiled (Figs. 93, 134). Instead of being totally oriented towards sheep, it will also feel gregariousness for humans. In this case the problem is not so serious if the shepherd accompanies the flock, like he does in Italy, because the dog, although actually following the man, will still be in fact close to the sheep and ready to defend it. But it is a nuisance if the man leaves the animals by themselves on the pasture and expects the dog to stay with them, which is the case in N. America. Coppinger tried out an experiment on trustworthiness. He raised a Border Collie and a Sharplaninatz without ever letting them see a sheep. When they were old enough he placed the two together in the company of a sheep. The Border Collie immediately gave the “eye” and when it dashed for the ewe, as is the normal instinct in herders, the Sharplaninatz intercepted it (Fig. 94), thus manifesting the innate protectiveness and trustworthiness of a pastoral breed. Coppinger tested the trustworthiness of his various Sharplaninatz, Anatolian, “Maremma”, Castro Laboreiro, Tibetan Mastiff, etc. back in the U.S. by rating their behaviour in the presence of sheep according to five possible types of approach: play, submission, dominance, curiosity, and “eye”. Submission and curiosity were considered positively; dominance and “eye” never manifested themselves significantly in the sheep-guarding dogs; play was considered negatively in itself but tolerated to a limited extent if the individual also showed the positive traits of submission and/or respectful curiosity. Those that were disqualified was by reason of too much playfulness. Playfulness can easily turn to violence and a fleeing wounded sheep may break down all inhibitions and unleash the predator. In the traditional Old World setting, however, pastoral dogs are never kept singly and any youthful exuberance can find a normal outlet among its own kind without having to turn to a sheep for companion in play. The Mastino Abruzzese has a high reputation in its homeland. It is the personal business of the massaro, the head man, to see that the outfit is properly endowed with four-footed guardians. A respectable establishment may have up to twenty, all closely related as revealed by the pronounced family resemblance 40

The Mastino at Work



(Fig. 95). When the need is felt to bring in new blood themassaro pays a visit to a neighbour reputed to have good stock. Shepherds swap their dogs for free. He will take only barely-weaned puppies and never less than two at a time. The adult dogs at home would kill any older newcomers. As soon as he gets back, the man goes and places the puppies for the first few days in a small pen inside the sheepcote so that they can take on the particular scent of that farm and therefore be recognised as one of their own by the other dogs (Fig. 217). New recruits are never obtained singly because siblings that grow up together form the ideal team and do the best work. A lone puppy is at a loss and is more prone to develop bad habits like playing with sheep. During the night the sheep are kept packed in a fold (Figs. 53 and 76 to 80). At the break of dawn they are milked (Fig. 51) and by about ten o’clock, when the dew on the grass has dried, they are ready to be taken out to graze. To admire the whole pack together one must come before this hour. It is quite a sight to see the males and females, the old and the young all together. At a first glance it is difficult to distinguish one from the other, but gradually single personalities emerge. The bitches are immediately recognisable for their smaller size, the absence of a ruff and by the udders nearly always in a state of lactation. The proportion of females to males is about one to four. Although it is the males who are the protagonists, the role of the of females is also very important. Bitches tend to wander less than males and by their presence keep the males attached to home. Bitches are also more suspicious and watchful. While the self-assured males sprawl about dozing, the bitches stay upright on their haunches, giving off the first petulant bark at the first sign of something untoward. All ages are present in the pack; from newborn puppies to the old, haggard individual lying in the sun in a quiet a corner, waiting to die. Over all reigns the head of the pack, an adult male in its prime which has conquered its position by dethroning its predecessor and which in turn will have to step down when its power begins to ebb. During its time of supremacy it will have the ius primae noctis with the bitches. To show what dominance means the following anecdote is most instructive. The setting is Abruzzo towards the end of the Second World War. The man who told me the story was just a child at the time. His father, for reasons of safety, had moved the family from the city of L’Aquila, where they normally resided, to the village of Aragno at the foot of Gran Sasso mountain. Aragno was a pastoral community and consequently possessed a large population of mettlesome mastini that roamed around the village always ready to challenge anything unfamiliar. The home that hosted the boy’s family was also the home of Catena, the undisputed king of the local canine population. On the arrival of the guests it had promptly understood the circumstances and had graciously 41



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

made friends with the new members of the household. One day the father had to go to L’Aquila on some business. Because of the war there were no means of transport and so he had to walk. By the time he was approaching Aragno on the way back it was late in the night. The dogs were not slow at perceiving him, being even keener at night, and so in an instant he was surrounded by a dangerous crowd. Notwithstanding the darkness he could plainly make out the white shapes as they closed the circle tighter around him, keying themselves for the kill. Catena came on the scene a bit late, but without delay made his way through to the front, ready to take the lead. But as soon as he realised that the object of the aggression was his friend, he turned around in a flash and angrily pushed back and subdued the phalanx of aggressors. The man thus was able, with enormous relief and wobbly legs, to reach his habitation. It is evident that the dogs obeyed Catena because of his supreme rank and not from lack of sheer force, being many against one. Coming back to the everyday life at themasseria, let us now look at the yeoman dog, the one from two to five years old, on which befalls the basic work. The hardness of its life sometimes tells in a limp, a torn flew, a spent eye. Each individual carries a name inspired by some quality, physical or moral. Thus we have Leone (Lion, the commonest),Cannone (Cannon), Spezzaferro (Ironbreaker), Turco (Turk), Tribolato (Troubled), Pelliccione (Quarreller), Caino (Cain), Greco (Greek), Sincero (Sincere), Brigante (Brigand), Tamburello (Drummer Boy), Brillone (Tipsy), Rodomonte (Braggart), Catena (Chain), Giordano (Jordan), Serpente (Serpent), Bosco (Grove), and Argante, Parisse, Fioravante, Rizziero (characters from literature) which are appropriate for the males, whereas the bitches carry such names like Tigre (Tiger), Sentinella (Sentinel), Spinetta (Bristly), Pastorella (Little Shepherdess), Furia (Fury), Tisbetta (Little Thisbe), Rondinella (Little Swallow), Rubinella (Little Ruby), and Vienna (Vienna). The man who is with the animals all day gets to know each single personality. There is the one which is dauntless in the face of danger but tends to be otherwise careless; the one which is the scourge of the wolf yet is shy of human beings; and the one that has very keen senses but lets the rest go first, and so on. A common trait of all is a suspicious if not actually unfriendly attitude towards outsiders (Figs. 96, 97). But then there is always the exception that confirms the rule. In one of my pastoral rambles of some time ago I was most surprised when, on approaching a sheepfold, I was greeted by a most genteelmastino which, far from savaging me, was full of the most courteous although restrained attention. It was not a domesticated individual but a true dog of the pastures. The shepherd explained that Maurizio (Fig. 80), this being his name, was actually quite a formidable champion but reserved all his mettle for the wolf.

42

The Mastino at Work



At ten o’clock in the morning when the grass has dried properly the shepherd opens the fold and the various flocks of the farm head off to the allotted pastures (Fig. 53). The pack of dogs that had assembled for the night now splits up into groups of four or five, each going with its own flock and never with any other. The long central hours of the day is the calmest time for the dogs but the shepherd must keep the sheep busily grazing and not let them be distracted (Figs. 98, 99, 100). The heat of the day may make the flock sleepy and stop their feeding and this in turn results in less milk. A flock, called morra, is usually comprised of about four hundred head. The dogs attached to the single flock should form a team; this occurs when an entire litter of males grows up together. Even if a true-to-blood mastino should be able to face a wolf single-pawed, this should be judged a feat rather than the regular way of dealing with the enemy, which should be by teamwork instead. A good team can do things quite impossible for the isolated dog like snatching the quick fox and browbeating the mighty bear. The nature of the Mastino Abruzzese makes it totally unsuitable for herding work. To conduct their herds the shepherds of Abruzzo traditionally employ a bell wether, or manziero, trained to obey the command of the shepherd (Figs. 47, 58). The wether assumes the role of leader of the flock and, through it, it is possible to control the movements of the entire mass. The sheep is not known for being overly sharp and training the manziero requires the proverbial obstinacy of an Abruzzo shepherd for overcoming the dullness of the animal. The wether is drilled by placing a rope around its neck and then giving a stiff tug at the shout of “ Torna!” (Stay!). This goes on until, at hearing the word, the animal changes its direction of progress without having to be jolted. One story (a legend?) recounts that a young and muscular lad, while going through this training, managed to pull the head off the wether by one tug too mighty. In olden times the fellow who took the trouble of the training felt well repaid for his work on being presented with the piece of rope used in the process. When travelling, the place of the shepherd is in front next to the bell wether with the rest of the animals trailing behind (Figs. 47, 58) so that the flock is not driven but is in fact led. In recent times the method of the wether is being used less and less in favour of herding dogs. There is an Italian herder, the Bergamasco Sheepdog, but it is present only in the Alps and has never spread to the south. The shepherds of Central and South Italy use mongrels derived mainly from German and Belgian Sheepdogs; the Border Collie has also occasionally been imported, but what is lacking is not the dogs but how to train and use them to their full capacity. There is a cultural element missing here in an otherwise highly developed pastoral culture. The only noteworthy service of such makeshift herders is at milking time when they drive the sheep one by 43



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

one into the milking shed, in this way saving human labour. The shepherds do not even understand that, because of the nature of its work consisting in a lot of running, a herding dog, although much smaller, needs many more calories in its food than a pastoral dog. However it may be, it is usual nowadays to see a flock accompanied by the three or four white guarding dogs and a smaller, darker figure trotting by the side of the shepherd (Figs. 100, 101). During the central part of day time passes lazily (Figs. 85 to 92). Sprawling in the grass or under the shade of a bush, the dogs are hardly visible. If the flock is on the move, they drag along, their head hanging down with half-closed eyes. Only the young show some sprightliness, maybe scampering among themselves or teasing some adult. The bitches are usually less languid. To the casual eye it may seem that there is no trace of activity or purpose here, yet this is not so. There is a plan in the way the dogs space themselves out. If the situation is static, like when the livestock are penned, one or more dogs position themselves on high ground (Figs. 45, 46, 65, 87) where they can spy from afar and catch the faintest suspicious wisp in the air, while others stay close to the fold (Figs. 76 to 80) or place themselves right inside with the crowd. When on the move there are outriders (Figs. 47, 99, 102) to forestall possible ambushes, others move along with the mass and there is always the dog which keeps behind with the stragglers knowing that these could be easily picked off by the wolf. Notwithstanding their sleepy expression, their nose and ears are always tuned, in that order of keenness. Sight is less important and comes into play and focussed only when the first two have given the alert. Completely blind mastini have been known to keep up with the rest and go about with their task. To provide that extra edge to the surveillance pastoral establishments often keep little spitz dogs (pumetti, vegliarini, zumpitti) which have a very sharp eyesight which trait is quite uncommon among dogs in general (Figs. 103, 104). The degree of intimacy of the man with the dogs varies according to whether he is the owner of the flock or if he is simply a hired hand. The tie can be sometimes quite close if the man is the owner (Figs. 93, 105), whereas in the other case the relationship may even be of reciprocal indifference. Since the mastino absolves its duty quite independently of its relationship with the shepherd, it often happens that certain individuals refuse to be handled. In my interviews I would often ask to inspect some interesting specimen at close up. Beckoned by the shepherd, instead of coming, the dog would slink away and hide behind the sheep (Figs. 96, 97). On approaching the flock the dogs are always prompt to threaten the unfamiliar visitor, but at the harsh command of the shepherd they instantly become demure. The checking of the onslaught on strangers is the only obedience which is always strictly enforced. The usual voice given on such occasion is a powerful “tzaaah!” Other commands are 44

The Mastino at Work



“va’lle pecore!” (go to the sheep), given when it is too far from the flock, and “esc’qua!” (pronounced “eshquà”) to scold it when it is being a nuisance, and that is about all the obedience asked for and given. The lack of domesticity can be a problem at the time of transhumance because some dogs refuse to be caught and loaded on the lorries with the rest of the livestock. They are then left behind to fend for themselves. It is not unusual that when the sheep come back after months the dogs turn up again, having hung around in the intervening months not overly distraught by their period as strays. Abruzzese shepherds do have feelings for their dogs, however, which in some cases have even inspired poetry. Cesidio Gentile, a shepherd poet from Pescasseroli, born in 1847, in lamenting the daily troubles of the small owner about the cost of grazing land, the death toll in the livestock, and his faraway home, finds some comfort in the affection of his mastino. “Mi guardava con occhio impietosito, Chiappino fido, il mio diletto cane; il pelo biondo lucido e pulito, spesso gli liscio con tremante mano; e lui mi lambisce impietosito, teme di farmi male e fa pian piano: volerebbe levarmi col guaire, il funesto pensier del mio martire.” (see Fig. 105) (He looked at me moved to pity, faithful Chiappino, my beloved dog; his clean coat, shiny and fair, I often stroke with trembling hand; and, moved to pity, he licks me gently so not to hurt me: with his whine he would like to remove my sad thoughts and troubles.) Contrary to the dog born to the sheep which may never have any special relationship with humans, the one that is personally brought up as a companion develops a most deep and exclusive tie with his master. Given the nature of the breed, it tends to become a relationship on an almost equal footing. The mastino will not become a slave always eager to please. The dog-lover who acquires one expecting to treat it like he would a Cocker Spaniel or an Alsatian gets into trouble. The mastino has a strong personality and should have a clear figure 45



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

of authority. The handling and treatment that would be accepted by more domesticated breeds are considered too invasive by a mastino just one generation away from the pastures and so private owners are sometimes dismayed at the reaction they get when trying to make their “pet” do something it doesn’t want to. But having the sensibility to understand this, the intelligence and fidelity of the breed are most gratifying (Fig. 106). The following episode, which I gathered from the descendant of the person involved, is most illustrative to what extremes of dedication our dog is capable of. The story takes place in Abruzzo around the middle of the 19 th century. Pasquale was the local tax-collector of the small village of Bazzano and had just collected the yearly dues. Riding his white donkey and accompanied by our hero Serpente, he was on his way with the money bags to the head city of L’Aquila not too far away, rather anxious to unload himself of such responsibility as soon as possible. The way led down to the river, swerved to the right and then proceeded straight on to the city gates. But, just before reaching the abbey of Collemaggio on the outskirts of the town, what is forever feared in Pasquale’s work came about. Three armed figures suddenly barred the way and with guttural tones pronounced the dreaded words, “the money or your life!”. The tax-collector’s blood froze but, out of impulse, instead of giving himself up, he stuck his heels in the sides of the mount and called out “Serpente, Serpente!”. The dog had been rather distractedly straggling behind and had been surprised too by the sudden turn of events, but on hearing the sound of his name instantly rallied. With a rumbling sound in his throat he was on top of the bandits. The outlaws could not avoid the onslaught and were obliged to discharge their muzzle-loaders to defend themselves. This allowed Pasquale to escape and reach L’Aquila where he gave the alarm. The gendarmes were prompt in reaching the scene of the hold-up but could not find any trace of either the bandits or of Serpente, except for a pool of congealed blood. Once back home and having regained a certain calm, Pasquale’s thoughts went to poor Serpente and mourned. Days later when the dog was given for definitely lost and dead, the tax collector, on glancing out of a window, was astounded to behold Serpente weakly picking his way back home, his coated matted with dry blood. The joy and gratitude of Pasquale knew no bounds. What happened after the hold-up was reconstructed in the following way. After being hit Serpente had managed to drag himself to the river bank where he had stoically curled himself up and proceeded to fight against death, just managing to drink a little water at intervals. Having survived the most critical phase, he pulled himself up hesitatingly and limped stiffly home. He was honoured and cherished for the rest of his life. The dedication and fidelity shown in the latter episode more usually find expression in the defence of the flock. Although, as I have stressed, the breed is 46

The Mastino at Work



hardly susceptible to training, possessing a very independent and headstrong character, it is nonetheless true that in former times when shepherds kept to higher standards, a certain discipline was expected. One classic exercise was to get the dogs to rally at the cry of “ lupo, lupo!” (wolf, wolf!) and to run around the fold in a circle. This would put a certain method in their tactics and refrained them from falling to the ruses of the sly wolf, like being lured away in a wildgoose chase and thus leaving the sheep open to an attack from the rear. It is not so much for what it does on command that this dog is to be admired but rather for what it does on its own initiative. Born into the pattern of life of amasseria di pecore, the mastino acquires a full understanding of all the normal variables and cycles of such an establishment and behaves accordingly. To give an example, a shepherd friend of mine once told me that on counting his sheep while putting them away for the night he found that one was missing. Retracing the steps of the flock he found the ewe not far away, stuck in the mud of a ditch. What impressed him was that one of his dogs was there, pulling on its fleece in trying to get the animal out. It often happens that when the flock returns in the afternoon, an ewe that has just given birth drops behind, waiting for its offspring to get up on its legs and be able to follow behind. This is a very vulnerable situation and, without fail, one of the mastini will be there, next by, with his calm assurance (Fig. 81). The sheep of the flock know their own personal mastini and only in the company of these do they feel comfortable; the intrusion of an outsider will upset, if not actually frighten, them. The dogs too know their sheep one by one and can immediately spot an intruder even if it is from another flock of the same owner. Sheepmen hold that the mastino is so devoted to its charges that when by some chance it gets separated from them it will fall into depression. Such legendary devotedness is epitomised by the following anecdote which may be understandably met with a certain scepticism but is nonetheless paradigmatic of the reputation in which the breed is held in pastoralist circles. In the countryside just north of Rome in a locality called Acqua Traversa, a certain farmer, besides cultivating his fields, also kept a small flock of sheep which was left to graze without a shepherd, only accompanied by amastino. Although the dog faithfully did its duty the farmer did not bother to feed it. His niggardly reasoning was that, since the animal was free, it could go and forage for itself. But the dog showed no sign abandoning its consignment to search for offal. The son of the farmer showed a bit more feeling, suggesting that, after all, it was earning its keep, but the father remained unmoved. And so it came about that the mastino let itself waste away and die rather than abandon its charges. It is interesting to note that it was a farmer and not a shepherd who treated his dogs in the above manner. That is why farmers, at least in Italy, only keep the smallest of dogs in virtue of their having the tiniest of appetites. 47



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

I was personally involved in another occasion in which this special instinct of the breed so clearly manifested itself. A small shepherd of Lesina, in the province of Capitanata, being left without any male dog, asked me to find him one to place beside his two bitches. I consequently went to visit a friend, a large owner, to see whether he could do the favour. On the established day, we chose from his pack a young, nice-looking eight-months’ old individual which had already begun to assume its working role in earnest. During the trip it stayed calm, although it was the animal’s first time in a car, but it had evidently not enjoyed the trip because as soon as we opened the door it flung itself out and started tugging frantically at the improvised leash with which we were trying to hold it. I tried to grab it by the scruff but had to pull back at the show of teeth. Suddenly the flimsy noose slipped and the young dog started to head for the open spaces at a brisk trot. Not being familiar with any of us, none of our calls were to any effect. We despairingly saw it shrink in our vision, as it took a beeline for the horizon. But we had underestimated the instinct of the breed. We presently saw its line of flight swerve towards a group of young ewes belonging to the shepherd, stationed a short distance away. Without hesitation the young dog went up to the sheep and slipped into their midst to take refuge, not without causing a certain disturbance among the unfamiliar sheep. It took some time to overcome its shyness but with the proffering of food and the quiet way of the man the young dog eventually emerged and went about its work competently and confidently. Yet another instance that clearly shows this feeling for sheep regards a puppy bitch that was shipped to the U.S. A. Huber from W. Virginia, a physician who keeps sheep, had the usual problem of saving his animals from the incursions of coyotes and stray dogs. He traced me in Italy to help him find a dog of working-stock. I arranged with an acquaintance of mine who kept a kennel of dogs derived from working stock to send him a young bitch. I stayed in touch with him all the time over the phone, giving him running instructions. The puppy was not very young, being about three months old, and at such an age the most sensitive phase to imprinting is beginning to wane so I was most anxious that no time be lost in placing it with the sheep. This I stressed over the telephone and Huber, accordingly, as soon as he arrived home at night, having driven all the way from Washington airport, went to the sheep shed and put the young bitch right down amongst the sheep. Well, the sheep didn’t like this at all. Their experience with dogs up to then had been of the most negative kind. The rams reacted instantly, butting the puppy against the wall. Very upset, Huber had to quickly take it away. He was also perplexed and somewhat dismayed to find the puppy did not behave as he had expected: no licking of the face, no excited little barks, no romping around but only composure and aloofness. With 48

The Mastino at Work



deep misgivings Huber decided to postpone matters till the next day. After the night’s rest and in the sunlight of the morning, he regained some of his positive attitude and decided to go on with his experiment. He let the sheep out to the grass like every morning and then hesitated, uncertain how to proceed with the young bitch. He put it on a leash and took it out to the field where the sheep were grazing to see what would happen. This time nothing happened. It yawned and stretched, looked around and presently laid down. Encouraged by the tranquillity of the scene, Huber decided then and there to take the risk and let the puppy free. Once unleashed, the young bitch just took a few steps and then went off to lie down amongst the sheep. Slowly walking backwards so as not to disturb such a promising beginning, Huber returned to the house to his other concerns, every so often looking out of the window to see if everything was proceeding properly. As the day elapsed, Huber’s attention went to his patients and the animals passed from his mind. After hours had gone by the canine experiment came back to his mind with a pang of anxiety. He went out to look but no puppy was in sight and the flock had moved off behind a hill. Had the dog in its completely unfamiliar surroundings simply wandered off to become a stray? With grave bodings Huber headed for the hill from where he could scan the surroundings. But as soon as his figure appeared on the skyline, up jumped the young bitch from the hidden side of the hill barking at him, placing herself pluckily between the sheep and the man. Huber was overwhelmed. With a bit of luck, the ethological mechanism had clicked properly and the dog did subsequently prove, in the course of its life, most satisfactory. It took much more time for Huber himself to establish a certain familiarity with the animal. I want to underline the fact that this young bitch, although deriving from working stock, was actually born in a kennel and had never seen a sheep before arriving at Huber’s farm. The above episode of attentiveness and devotedness to sheep frankly indicates that such behaviour is inborn to the breed. This deep tie that the mastino develops for its sheep conveys a great sense of security to the shepherd because he is sure that his flock will never be left unguarded. Complementary to this devotedness is the inoffensiveness to the livestock. It never passes the shepherd’s mind that hismastini could be anything but 101% trustworthy even if he leaves them by themselves for long periods of time alone with the flock. Within a traditional sheepfarm of Abruzzo the education of a mastino is practically an unconscious affair. The shepherds, when asked for instructions, are quite inarticulate. The whole business is selfpropagating. The bitch gives birth in some corner of the sheep shed so that the puppies breathe sheep from the time they are born. Later, when they go out, they fall in with the adults and imitate their behaviour. The whole process runs so smoothly that it seems as if there is nothing to it. When it came to introducing 49



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

sheep-guarding dogs where they did not exist and where the sheepmen did not even know that such a canine category existed, the need to explain, instruct and define became, however, apparent. At around four o’clock in the afternoon, a bit later if it’s a fine day, it is time to take the flock back for milking. It is also feeding time for the dogs (Figs. 107, 108, 109). Whey is the basis of their nourishment. It is the waste liquid, still rich in substance, especially mineral salts and vitamins, which is left over after the making of cheese and curds. The availability of quantities of whey explains how even the poorest of pastoralists can afford the upkeep of numerous large dogs. The liquid is poured into a common trough together with bran, another waste product of no cost, which is not digestible but important for the organism. In the old days the women back at the village used to prepare a supply of small round barley loaves just for the dogs. Caniglia, the coarsest residue of the mill, also goes into the canine diet. The dogs have also a right to the scrapings from the cauldron after the cooking of polenta. Lambing time brings plenty because of the highly-nourishing afterbiths left on the ground. As evening settles the mastini become more reactive, given to barking at the slightest sign. It is the moment of predators, both man and beast. The dogs sense what is in the air and are nervous. Shepherds often keep one or more little spitz dogs of the native breed ( pumetto, zumpitto) (Figs. 103, 104) as a further refinement of the alarm system. These have extremely keen nose, ears and, quite exceptionally for dogs, eyesight. Their smallness makes them feel vulnerable and this sharpens their awareness. Because their purpose is to alert their bigger comrades they are named vegliarini or cani da veglia (sentinel dogs). Alas, no ruse or device can stop the professional livestock thief from fooling any dog. For the flocks of the Abruzzi the danger of cattle lifting comes when they descend to the Tavoliere, the winter quarters in the plain of Foggia (Fig. 4). Bordering on this plain on the opposite side of the Appennines rises the isolated mount Gargano famous for the shrine of the Archangel Michael and more recently for the tomb of Padre Pio, but also notorious for harbouring an ornery pastoral population much dedicated to razzias. To quote a figure from not too distant times, in 1969 four thousand sheep, eight hundred cattle and horses, and four hundred swine were misplaced just within the confines of the province. This phenomenon has abated somewhat in recent times but the threat still lingers. Being shepherds themselves, the Garganici are most consummate in their art. They are furthermore aided by the existence of many deep and hidden caves in their mountain where it is possible to hide entire flocks and herds. The owner who has had his animals stolen knows that unless he is quick enough to catch up with the thief before he reaches the slopes of the Gargano he will have definitely lost them. Just above the town of San Nicandro there is 50

The Mastino at Work



an upland area where there is always a lot of livestock grazing about but no one knows to whom they belong: it is the free zone of the cattle thieves. A small flockmaster, whom I chanced to converse with, who winters rather close to the dreaded mountain, regards it necessary to sit up outside all night, next to his animals, with a shotgun resting on his lap and spotlights on, even though he has his dogs and his bedroom window overlooks the sheepfold. This following is a true case. It was in springtime and the sheep owner concerned had placed his camp near a lonely ancient uninhabited building in the district of Serracapriola. That evening he had decided to watch the current major football match on television in the lounge of a hotel not too far away. He had told nobody that he was going to be absent for a couple of hours and in any case he had left his trusty dogs in charge. But when he returned he found that three hundred head were missing. He immediately notified the Carabinieri and then set out hastily to look for them himself, having a pretty shrewd idea in which direction they were heading. And, in fact, he caught up with them quite soon in the direction of San Nicandro as foreseen. Why had not the mastini done their job? The explanation was quite simple because the thief had been the hired hand of the owner from the year before and was obviously familiar with the dogs. If, in this case, no special ruse had been necessary, in other instances the ability of the thieves appears to be magical. If one has ever witnessed the bustle, noise and testiness of farm animals being loaded and unloaded at a fair, it is really difficult to imagine how it is possible to lift, unseen and unheard, twenty dairy cows from a locked stable opening onto a courtyard of a building with fifteen people sleeping on the first floor and several watchdogs wandering about; but this and other similar cases do happen. My interest in such happenings is to discover what tricks are used to neutralise normally suspicious and unfriendly dogs. As one would expect, the art is kept a secret but a lot is implied in the fact that the thieves, being shepherds themselves, have a deep knowledge of the behaviour of domestic animals. In the darkest of winter nights the thief roams the countryside, shrouded in his cape, a hatchet in the crutch of his arm. He knows how to call out silently to the dogs without alarming them. He disarms them imitating the voice of puppies and acting playful thus puzzling the dogs and arousing their curiosity rather than their aggressiveness. Some tricks are well-known, such as bringing along a bitch in heat, which not only distracts the dogs, but also the females which do not like intrusions of the same sex. A variant of this method is to rub one’s clothes with the odour of the œstrus; it is important to place oneself upwind so that the dogs catch the odour before noticing the approaching figure, because otherwise they would 51



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

start barking. The widely-known trick of throwing food does not always work; the fact that the guardians will eat the morsels does not make them ipso facto the friends of whosoever tossed them. A much more crafty way is to scatter lumps of dough which, once ingested, will glue up the teeth. The dogs will be so distracted in their efforts to free themselves that no attention will be paid to the evil-doer. Some further ways approach the arcane and belong to the deepest lore. The following narrative I gleaned from a ninety-three year old man, since departed, who had spent all his life as the keeper of a vast stretch of grazing land next to the sea in Apulia. If you want to disarm the pack, he told me, you must abide scrupulously to the following instructions. You must first of all provide yourself with a thong made of dog skin ( kriule). Then you may set out and cautiously approach the ordained sheepfold. Having reached a suitable position without revealing yourself, bring out the dog-skin thong and call out now to the dogs by imitating a soft barking. When you have gained their attention proceed to cast your spell by reciting the following lines: Cane, canistro, quando nascesti tu non c’era Cristo, Cristo nato,cane legato. (Dog, bad dog, when you were born Christ was yet unborn; Christ born, spell-bound dog) Repeat the rhyme three times and three times tie a knot in the thong. By the third knot the dogs will have fallen in a deep trance so that now you can go ahead and do as you wish with the flock. To break the spell it is sufficient to untie the knots. I personally have not yet had occasion of putting this method to the test but only because of the difficulty in finding a thong made of dog skin. Apart from falling to such devilish devices of which fortunately very few possess the knowledge, the breed generally does excellent service in keeping away the mischief of men. The dogs will threaten with a nerve-shaking display anyone coming within a certain radius, to the chagrin of the innocent wayfarer (Fig. 110). They will act unfriendly to all strangers and it is my impression that they enjoy frightening and bullying peaceful hikers even if these are not anywhere near their precious charges. As one approaches from a certain distance the scene on the sunny mountainside is Arcadian; the ewes with their heads down quietly munch the tender 52

The Mastino at Work



herbs; the man is sleeping somewhere in the shade unseen; the presence of the dogs is revealed by a couple of white patches in the grass, a white cleaner than that of the sheep, where obviously a couple are sprawling. As one proceeds serenely along the way, suddenly a howling bark carries through the air from a dog till then unnoticed, and a first pang of apprehension goes through one’s breast. This dog which so damnedly insists on raising up a commotion is probably a bitch and is clearly calling out to her comrades. Like from the dragon’s teeth, a crowd of bellicose dogs now rises up, materialising from the ground. At first and at a certain distance in the open landscape they do not appear so formidable. But when, having in an instant rallied and oriented to the cause of the alarm, they storm down on the traveller, their proportions swelling dismayingly. Out in the open one feels completely defenceless in facing the charge. Where’s the shepherd? Why isn’t he calling off the slavering beasts? The damn dogs are closing in from all sides! The conventional advice on how to face up to an aggressive dog is to show no fear and stay perfectly calm. The mastini will indeed stop their charge in front of a firm stance but only to change tactics. They surround the victim in a narrowing circle and begin to lunge forward in turns to see who will get his teeth in first; a very sticky situation. It is necessary to react and show that you hold them in contempt, scolding them and waving a stick as would a shepherd in a similar circumstance. Mastini are conditioned to respect shepherds even if they do not personally know them, and so a good imitation will normally save your bacon. When it comes to wielding a stick the place where to aim is the front legs which are particularly sensitive to pain. An esoteric method for scaring them off is the “tossing of the head”. With a wide arc of the arm bring your hand to your nape and with a sudden forward movement give the impression of throwing your head at the dog. The dog will be so startled and aghast that it will back off totally disconcerted. There is a magic spell for this occasion too, if you care to try. It is sufficient to recite the following rhyme and the dogs will fall silent: “Posta passando, Cane abbaiando, Cristo in croce, Attacca la voce.” (Passing the farm; The barking dog; Christ on the cross, Attack the voice.)

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Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

If you are not too close to the sheep and it is full daytime the risk of actual physical attack is remote as long as you keep up a show of nonchalance to the display of ferocity. Years ago, travelling through North Greece, I was taking a hike across the Pindus mountains with a friend. It was in the afternoon and our route to the pass took us unavoidably through the camps of some shepherds and this, we knew, involved facing dogs. These were of the same type and ugly disposition as the Italian ones but with an extra edge. I confided in my experience but, in fact, we only just barely avoided being mauled. I was not able to browbeat our way through. We saw no shepherd to call for help. Being impossible to advance, we strategically retreated and took refuge on a large rock. As soon as we were thus safely trapped, two of the dogs went off while one stayed to watch us. After some time when we thought the atmosphere appeared peaceful again we gingerly started to climb down and so to get on with our walk. But as soon the dog saw what was happening it barked and back came the other two. Then we tried to corrupt them by throwing morsels of bread. They had no qualms in snapping them up but this did not make them any more friendlier. We were getting uneasy because evening was falling and we still had a long way to the village. After maybe three hours perched on top of the rock and quite despondent, one of us casually looked down and realised the dogs were no longer there. Was this another trick? Maybe they were hiding, waiting for us to come down to leap on us. Minutes passed and all seemed clear. We slowly began to climb down from the rock; nothing happened, no dogs. We cautiously walked a few feet to a rise where we could scan around. In the distance we saw the huts and there were the three dogs with the shepherd who had finally shown up. They had their heads down in some bowls. That was the answer to the sudden change of events: feeding time had come around and their shift had ended. We hailed the man to make sure he would hold them back as we resumed our journey but all was tranquil now. Thinking back on the episode, I could not help admiring the perfect efficiency and boldness of these three pimenikos capable of cornering and holding up two full-grown humans. The reader must appreciate the difference between a dog specifically trained to attack under the orders of its handler and a dog that does it on its own initiative and brains. Having to cross territory watched over by mastini it is advisable to be in full view from far off because the animals become very alarmed at sudden appearances at close quarters. Even when you are in the company of the shepherd the feeling is still uneasy because those big nasty beasts, so yearning to savage you just moments ago, now feel they have to inspect the intruder from close up. Some circle around eyeing you sideways; if you look back squarely they won’t like it and let off a 54

The Mastino at Work



snarl. Others want to sniff you from behind which is quite unnerving because bitches in particular love to let you have that sly nip just for free. After you have been in the company of the shepherd for some while, the dogs seem to lose interest and when the time comes to leave you are under the impression that your departure will be uneventful because, after all, now you have supposedly made friends. This is not so. As soon you have covered a short distance you are again given the same nerve-shaking treatment as when you first approached. There must be an invisible boundary in the minds of the dogs inside which you are considered a guest of the party, more or less under the protection of the shepherd, but beyond which you are game again and treated as such. An aroused mastino is not at all a pleasant sight; the lips are pulled back showing the impressive canines, the eyes are slits and the hackles are raised giving the animal a misshapen, grotesque look. To add colour to my narration I will quote a passage from the diary of A.J. Strutt, a young English artiste who more than a century and a half ago decided to travel from Rome to Sicily on foot. “You know how often we have complained of the straight lines which render almost every drive in the immediate vicinity of Roma so insupportably monotonous; we now took advantage of our pedestrian independence to diverge from them as soon as possible, and turning our steps towards the valley of Egeria, we resolved to enter at once on the main object of our journey, and commence our sketches with the characteristic figures of the shepherds of the Campagna. Our reception, however, was anything but encouraging, as we were hailed, not by the masters, but by their dogs, who flew at Jackson with such ferocity that he was obliged to keep them at arms length with his knife, and might not have succeeded had he not wounded one of them in the ear. We ought to have recollected the stories we had heard of the zeal of these faithful guardians, and of the unfortunate German artist, who kept his bed a fortnight, in consequence of the wounds he received from them: after all the blame lies more with the shepherds than with the dogs, as they frequently depute them sole defenders of the flock, and at a distance, or asleep, pay no attention to the affray. In our case, however, a single word from a pecorare relieved us from the pack, and we had then an opportunity of examining at once our adversaries and their owners, and altogether, they formed a very picturesque group. This race of dogs is peculiar to the Campagna di Roma. They are entirely white; tall and shaggy, and are worth, we were told, ten crowns apiece.” (Albano, 30 th April, 1841) (Fig. 111). The wayfarer assailed by these furry guardians of flocks can always invoke the protection of the Madonna of Divine Love (Fig. 112) whose miraculous image may be admired at the shrine of the same name on the Via Ardeatina in the Roman countryside. The spring of the year 1740 found a pilgrim on his 55



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

way to Rome along the Via Appia. To try a short cut he decided to leave the Via Appia just below Albano and take to the Via Ardeatina, but he lost his way in the whereabouts of Castel di Leva. At this point he saw some houses on top of a hill and decided to go up and ask the way. Suddenly a pack of mastini appeared and in an instant started to rush towards him. He turned and fled but he knew that they would quickly be on top of him. Raising his eyes in that moment of hopeless anguish he beheld the figure of the Madonna on top of a nearby tower. A spontaneous cry broke out from his mouth: “Madonna mine, a grace!” As by an invisible hand the dogs held their charge and became suddenly pacified, leaving the pilgrim unscathed and free to go on his way. The pilgrim, according to the chronicles of the time, afterwards never tired of relating the happening to everyone and so gradually others were brought to ask favours from the Madonna at Castel di Leva, said of the Divine Love. Saint Dominick is also a potent intercessor for staying the aggression of dogs and he furthermore affords protection against rabies. There is a church dedicated to this saint at Cocullo in Abruzzo where if you go and pull the chain of a certain bell with your teeth this will then safeguard you from the teeth of dogs. The undiscriminating aggressiveness of their dogs has always been a problem for the shepherds who often have lawsuits pending brought by the innocent victims. As compared to other canine categories for which some kind of restraint is generally foreseen, such as a leash, a muzzle, or a pen, the Italian law has always conceded special treatment for pastoral dogs: they are allowed to move freely without a muzzle but must not wander more than 200 metres away from the flock. The old Neapolitan jurisprudence treated the matter more specifically, “Pastores velim admonitos ne in viis frequentatis per hominum transitus greges depascentes habeant cane mordaces, ut in casu consulto per Rober. Maran. Consil. 136 pro domino Massariae pecudum inquisitor, quod ejus cane hominem occiderint. Ubi defendit consuetudinem depascendi prope vias publica, & prope Civitates, illumque casus insolidum, neque esse de genere prohibitorum tenere canes domi, in agris, & in Massariis. Ubi nu. 5. testatur probatam fuisse antiquam consuetudinem habendi canes in massariis pecudum in tota Apulia.” The latter case concerns a sheepmaster who was brought to court because his mastini had killed a man as he went on his way along the public road. The defendant cited the ancient custom of the right to keep the sheep-guarding dogs un-tethered even if the flock is grazing close to a road where travellers go by. For more on the same see Appendix III. As an end comment on the danger thatmastini represent to people, I have to say that matters have changed greatly from the time of my early expeditions into the pastoral world in the 1960s. In the intervening years there has been such an increase in hikers, campers, nature-lovers, etc. roaming all over our remoter districts that the reactions of the sheep-guarding dogs have simply been worn 56

The Mastino at Work



down. An off-hand bark or two is most of what you get nowadays and in the more heavily frequented areas the dogs now show up for a hand-out while you are picnicking. Sometimes the dogs don’t come off so easily playing the bully with passing pedestrians because among the commoner encounters in the countryside are sportsmen who will not hesitate to use their shotguns if they believe they are in danger. Shepherds and sportsmen are no friends. The latter curse the former for the long strings of snares they place out to catch lark, partridge, quail, etc. and for the fact that the mastini set upon the hounds and gun dogs all the time. The following account is how a sportsman recalls a clash with sheep-guarding dogs in the lonely expanses of the Tavoliere in the early years of the 20th century. “I have always had a great liking for hounds and have owned several of excellent quality, but one in particular, a small, fawn-coloured dog named Belmonte, remains unsurpassed. A great specialist in finding and pursuing the hare for hours on end, it never relented until the game was in the bag. It was so clever that I could go out by myself, without the help of others, and still be sure of enjoying myself. I need not insist on expounding on how dear to me and how jealous I was of Belmonte. One morning, as I was passing by a largemasseria di pecore while alone out shooting, Belmonte was attacked by about a dozen big sheep-dogs, and before I could gather my wits and do something, the poor hound was buried under an avalanche of mastini. I realised just one thing, that it was all over for Belmonte, and, full of anger and grief, I let off a slug of hare shot right where the heads were thickest. Four dogs lay dead and the others, more or less wounded and bleeding, retreated whimpering to the farm. To my great astonishment I saw Belmonte, whose loss I was already mourning, emerge unscathed from under that mass of dogs. Knowing what was coming, I quickly set about re-loading my gun and I was just about replacing the ram-rod when I saw coming at full gallop five grim-faced shepherds armed with enormous hatchets and headed by none other than the owner himself, one of the richest gentlemen of the whereabouts, and, in less time than it takes to say it, I was surrounded. I was just over twenty and hot headed, but I realised rightaway there was nothing I could do: I could drop one but the remaining would make mince meat of me. I was thus resigned to the coming events, somewhat calmed in seeing my dog safe and sound. ‘Alright, scoundrel, to the farmstead where we will have some reckoning to do! You have killed my best dogs; you will pay for them dearly!’ shouted the wealthy landowner, and feeling safe with his men about him he did not even think of disarming me. 57



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

Somewhat crestfallen, I began to walk in front of the horsemen, thinking of my lot and of the running abuse that was being levelled at me. At a certain point the way narrowed, hedged in by banks, so that the horsemen had to proceed in single file with the owner in front. Seeing the favourable situation, I was overtaken by a rebellious instinct. Turning around suddenly and taking my stance, I levelled the gun at the owner and exclaimed, ‘I’ve come along far enough and I’m not going farther: let me go.’ Knowing that the shot would be for him, the landowner changed countenance and hastily replied, ‘Go, fare you with God, young man, but lower that muzzle or there might be an accident.’ I quickly disappeared. Later I presented that gentleman with a pair of magnificent pastoral dogs and we eventually became great friends.” Sportsmen and hunters have no reason to love the dogs of the shepherds because they often turn into very proficient destroyers of hares. Once upon a time, near the village of Trasacco in Abruzzo, there was a game preserve and in the centre of this preserve lay the home of the countryman Cesidio who owned a mastino. The dog did not go with the sheep, its job being to watch the lonely cottage. One day like any other Cesidio noticed that the dog had not touched its daily ration in the bowl. The same happened the following day and the day after that. The animal must be surely sick, thought Cesidio and was worried. As time passed the man expected to see the effects of the ailment: weakness, lustreless eyes, protruding ribs. The dog, instead, stayed lively. For weeks it did not feed but the coat was nice and glossy and there was no sign of wasting. Cesidio was completely puzzled. While doing the rounds of daily chores, it came upon him one day to look into the dog’s resting place. This was situated on top of some bales of straw and was not normally visible at eye level. Looking down, after having climbed up, he saw strewn around the skins of forty hares! It was quite clear now why the dog had disdained the ordinary slop that Cesidio was accustomed to serve him. I never knew what the owners of the game preserve thought of this but it is not difficult to imagine. I have personally observed the clever and most business-like way of catching hares these dogs have. I was spending some days with the shepherds in Abruzzo on some very high pastures ranging beyond 6000 ft. It was a vast, rolling and completely treeless grassland. We were heading down back to the camp when one of the dogs flushed a hare. The hare started to run downhill, which was its undoing. A young bitch nearby went off like a flash and intercepted it in a matter of seconds and within just a few hundred feet. None of that drawn-out pursuit here, which hunters with hounds love so much. As an after note I will add that the dogs did not get to taste their prey, but the shepherd and I did, served with potatoes. I wish to make clear that I do not extol these 58

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poaching propensities as such but rather appreciate them as an expression of the primitive vitality of the breed. The dogs know the exact borderline between what is permitted them and what is not. They wisely know the difference between their master’s animals (not just the sheep, but the poultry, cats, smaller pet dogs, etc.), the livestock belonging to other owners and wild game. Their inoffensiveness extends to the entire domestic fauna of the establishment (Fig. 113). But all that has been said above is only preliminary and peripheral to the coming topic, the core function of the Mastino Abruzzese, its true raison d’être. Glycanus: Forsitan imposuit pecori lupus? Mystes: Haud timet hostes turba canum vigilans. Carmina Einsidlensia (Glycanus: Is there a chance of the wolf descending on the sheep? Mystes: Do not fear the enemy, the pack of dogs is on guard.) Estella Canziani, a young Englishwoman who traversed Abruzzo in the 1920s, noticed how the wolf deeply influenced the sheep husbandry there (Figs. 71 to 74, 83). “The archiprete took us to the little encampment consisting of the few shelters, copper cauldrons, and nets for the sheep, but he would not go near without a cowboy for fear one of the savage dogs would fly at him. The boy spoke to the dog, and he lay down quietly. Inside the shelters were a few small sacks of corn, evidently used as pillows, the occupants lying on the ground, but how six of them get into these small shelters it is difficult of imagine. We were told that when the wolves arrive they sometimes come out to frighten them, but they generally leave it to the dogs, who are, however, not always successful in driving them off. Only two nights before over sixty sheep had been killed by a flotta (pack) of wolves. When the wolves are hungry, they only kill two or three sheep and carry them off to devour them. ‘But,’ said the cowboy, ‘when they kill a hundred or so it is because they just want to have fun. They enjoy it, and they kill the sheep by biting their necks or snapping their heads off. Then they leave them.’ I asked why they did not shoot the wolves or dig pits and entrap them, but the boy shrugged his shoulders and answered, ‘ Chi lo sa? ’ The horses and mules scattered in all directions over the plain know when the wolves are coming and signal to each other, and come galloping up to one place manoeuvering to put the foals in the middle, making a circle round them with their head outwards. The wolves, when they come, can therefore do nothing, 59



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

for, whenever they are attacked, the horses rear and stamp them to death; but should the wolves break through the circle, it is all up with the horses. This seldom happens. If there are only one or two wolves the horses encircle them and stamp them to death, and although the savage dogs give warning when the wolves are coming, if one of them by chance gets inside the circle he is also stamped to death ‘for the fun of it!’ The dogs know this, and keep guard about three hundred feet away from the horses, whereas with the sheep they remain close to them. If a horse or mule is attacked by himself he seldom escapes, for the wolves jump at his neck. Two young foals the winter before were attacked, but they managed to escape. The snow was lying on the ground, and their tracks and those of the wolves could be followed. The foals had galloped all the way from the plain to the village, with a wolf on each side, and in the morning one of the foals was found with his neck wounded and the other with his eye and ear torn, but they healed up and now they are both strong beasts.” In all ages past the wolf has been the unceasing bane of livestock in Italy (Figs. 71 to 74, 83). Up to not so long ago the basis of the economy was agriculture in its various forms and because of a high density of population from early times there was really no bit of land, from the mountain tops to the coast, which was not frequented and exploited in some way or other. This meant that complete wildernesses without the presence of man and his activities did not exist. Large wild herbivores, the competitors of domestic livestock, were confined to jealously defended hunting estates belonging to the rich and powerful, from where the wolf was also banished by the gamekeepers. Thus the wolf, miraculously surviving in the face of active and unrelenting persecution, had no choice but to turn to domestic livestock for its livelihood. But it had to adapt its survival strategy. From hunting in packs such as is required with large, wild prey full of energy and will to escape, such as we learn from studies conducted in Canada and Alaska, it switched to acting singly or in pairs, much more suited for stealing helpless sheep under the nose of shepherds and dogs. In a recent study conducted in Abruzzo under the auspices of the IUCN and WWF, Dave Mech, the well-known expert from the U.S., found that the wolves there were far more wily in regard to man than their brothers in N. America. The Italian canid has learnt various tricks for confounding the guardians of the flock. One classic ruse is to send a companion upwind to reveal its presence so that the dogs will, by running after it, be drawn away, allowing the wolf in the back to help itself to the unguarded sheep, but an experienced mastino should not fall for this (Fig. 114). Shepherds say that it likes to attack when there is low visibility like in the case of fog or rain, in so-called “wolf weather”. It will crawl right up on its belly, snatch a sheep and vanish in a flash while the shepherd has his back turned. After such raids it disappears for long periods of time, 60

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always on the move, as the saying goes: “lupo gambe storte, cento miglia fa in una notte” (the bow-legged wolf travels a hundred miles in one night), so that when it strikes again it is always by surprise. Chancing on an untended flock, it will let itself go, slaughtering far more than it could possible eat. Besides placing care in their dogs, the shepherds also have recourse to what could be called scare-wolves. Poles hanging with rags and other haphazard items are planted in strategic positions around the camp, so that by their very strangeness alarm the approaching wolf. Up to the 1950s the wolf in Italy did not fare so badly and there was quite a large population extending along the Appennines and into Sicily. It has never existed in Sardinia and the Alpine population was exterminated in the course of the 19th century. In those days there was a bounty for every wolf killed, the amount differing according to whether it was an adult male, an adult female, or cubs, the highest prize being for a pregnant she-wolf. There were men, the so-called “ lupari”, who dedicated themselves professionally to exterminating the animal. The “luparo” had various ways in which to ensure his end. By imitating its call he could entice it to approach within shooting distance. He could set snares and traps. The most favourable period was when there were new-born cubs because whole families could be wiped out; the wolves, being obliged to be sedentary because of the litter, became more vulnerable in this phase. Having killed a wolf, the man could not only expect the bounty from the government but presents also from the people of the district. He would go into the villages showing around the freshly-killed animal and be regaled by the grateful folk (Figs. 115, 116). Staying close to its source of food, in summertime the wild canid would be lurking in the ravines and thickets next to the upland pastures, whereas in winter, having followed the transhumant flocks along the sheep lanes, it would haunt the coastal plains, finding cover in the reed brakes of the marshes. The relationship between the domestic and the wild canid was rarely of dramatic confrontation because the herds of the past, because there was then very few cures for diseases, normally left behind dead or dying animals which went to the unintentional benefit of the predators trailing in the back. Themassaro would normally take into account a ten percent yearly loss from ailment and disease. A crisis came in the 1960s and ‘70s in the age-old pattern of livestock raising on which the Italian wolf had for centuries fared. The flocks shrunk, transhumance was conducted by car, improvement in preventive veterinary care sharply limited epizootics and consequently carrion, but most fatal of all was the use of poisoned bait to exterminate the predator. There was a moment when extinction seemed at hand and this actually came about in Sicily. Only two barely viable populations survived in the fastnesses of Abruzzo 61



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

and Calabria. In this grim period salvation came from the village dumps. The economy of Italy was re-orienting itself towards manufacturing and industry. A greater affluence allowed greater waste and discarded food now found its way into refuse. There was as yet no specific regulation to deal with rubbish which was simply tipped in some place out of sight and smell where the wolf besides other wild animals could go and rummage relatively in peace. In the meantime, as the human population abandoned their ancient rural occupations for the cities, the countryside became less and less frequented and exploited, especially the hills and mountains. In the course of only about twenty years vast stretches of habitat became again available to large wildlife after centuries of absence. Prolific wild boar have multiplied astoundingly and no amount of hunting pressure seems to check their advance. Although less rapidly, red deer, roe deer and fallow deer are also catching up again. As a consequence, the wolf is not any more obliged to prey on domestic animals and thus deserve unpopularity. It has now become a protected species in Italy and has greatly recovered in numbers re-colonising all peninsular Italy, even reaching the Alps and, crossing the border, is at present disturbing the tranquil life of the French and Swiss countrysides. But, quoting from Dandolo (see Appendix), “With all his cleverness, it would be vain for man to try to stop the wolf from destroying his flock without the aid of dogs.” The Mastino Abruzzese is indeed a highly specialised and qualified breed. The shepherds who employ it are unanimous in praising its dedication, courage and toughness. The observer who would like to have more technical or scientific information about this legendary reputation incurs some difficulty, however. Is this dog actually capable of grappling with the wolf and emerge victorious, or does it simply limit itself to giving the alarm and discourage the enemy by barking, avoiding physical contact? Does the action of the dog depend on superior numbers or does it have the spirit to face the fiend singly? For an answer to these queries a statistically sufficient number of observations is required. Personally I have never witnessed a clash between the wild and domestic canid although I have been studying the subject for many years. Whole seasons with the flocks in the mountains will not warrant a glimpse of the wolf. Only once, when I was least expecting it, have I been able to spy the movements of a wolf getting ready to pounce on a flock but in this case there were no mastini around and it was actually my presence that frightened it off. Even in areas where the wolf is most numerous, like in Abruzzo, years may go by before a farm is visited and when it happens it is just a fleeting episode. As far as I know only once have students seen it happen and it was while Coppinger’s team was doing field work in the area called Chiarano in the mountains of Abruzzo. In the beginning of July 1984 two of the professor’s collaborators were walking across this highland of 62

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rolling pastures completely devoid of trees. At a certain point furious barking reached their ears and at first they thought that they had been spotted by the pack of some as yet unseen nearby flock. But instead of approaching, the sound became fainter, and, reaching the top of a knoll, the following scene met their eyes. They beheld five white dogs barking savagely up towards the mountain, the shepherd close at hand brandishing his staff and shouting encouragement, and two motionless, self-coloured figures higher up the slope, which, to the students excitement, proved to be wolves. Then, after some suspense-laden seconds, one of the dogs, clearly the leader, tensely moved forward to a few feet of the closer wolf and exchanged silent defiance with it. The air was charged. The climax broke when abruptly the wolves turned on their heels, went back up the mountain and disappeared over the crest, to everyone’s relief. The retreat of the enemy provoked the pack to chase it, but only for a short stretch because, like good sheep-guarding dogs that they were, they could not leave the sheep unattended behind them and so hurried back. Two of the pack remained on the crest on the look-out. After a few minutes another pack of mastini came round as their flock came grazing this way. They were quick to take up the scent of the wolves and, much excited, deciphered the recent scene with their noses. They followed the trail up to the crest and then turned back, but not before urinating on the same spot marked by the wolves. Other scientists have remarked on the efficiency of the breed. During a research in Abruzzo conducted by an international team, several wolves were caught, collared with radiotransmitters and then released in order to follow their movements for many weeks. Boitani, the Italian zoologist following the project, declared that themastini guarding the sheep were capable of sensing the wolves lurking in the vicinity and it was possible to correlate the low incidence of predation on individual flocks with the guard work of their dogs. Expressions of high regard for the Mastino Abruzzese are found in Dandolo (1804) and Arici (1824). Both authors positively assert that it is capable of tracking the thieving wolf down and then actually snatching the ill-gotten sheep from its jaws. “Il pastor, che veduto ha dell’armento Mancar l’un capo o l’altro; onde incitando Dispettoso per valli e per foreste L’animoso mastino, il cammin lungo Del dì ritesse nella tarda notte E i miserandi avanzi seco tragge Tolti di bocca al rapitor vorace.” C. Arici, La Pastorizia, 1824 63



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

(The shepherd, finding that a head or two Of the herd are missing, he hence spurs on Through vale and forest the bold and fiery mastiff. It weaves its way back along the long day’s course, Far into the night, and brings back the poor remains Taken from the mouth of the voracious robber. ) The best case history from which to make safe inferences on the capacity of the Mastino Abruzzese to face up to the wolf is in the monograph “Notizie Relative a Catture ed Uccisioni di Lupi in Provincia di Aquila tra gli anni 1810-1823 and 1877-1924” (Information Regarding the Capture and Killing of Wolves in the Province of Aquila in the years 1810-1823 and 1877-1924) published in 1976 by U. D’Andrea, a local historian. In this work are quoted 418 official documents from the State Archives of Aquila relative to the payment of bounty money by the government. In 289 cases there is a brief description of the event. It is thus possible to ascribe 74 killings (25%) to the decisive intervention of the dogs. The other cases refer to the use of traps, the killing of cubs, and the use of the gun either in a chance encounter, or by ambush. We are, however, interested in the cases involving mastini. A literal translation of a few of the more fuller reports will be the best way to convey the facts. “1) During the night of 22nd June 1810 a she-wolf ‘in the act of assailing the flock of sheep in order to ravage it’ was attacked and killed by ten dogs belonging to the herd of Domenico Palitti of Tornimparte. The event occurred in the Montagna Macchiole of Colle Sambuco (District of Cittaducale) and the prize was proposed in favour of the shepherds in the service of Palitti.” “33) On 23rd December 1811 the shepherds Filippo Di Rienzo and Giuseppe Del Signore, of Introdacqua, killed a wolf with ‘blows of their crooks’ and with the help of the ‘dogs of the farm’. “83) The shepherds Panfilo Lattanzio and Gaetano Gabriele dispatched a wolf with their staves after it had been caught and mauled by five of their dogs (21st December 1812, in the locality of Querce di S. Onofrio on the slopes of Morrone, in the district of Sulmona).” “105) The 7 th April 1813 the shepherds Gaetano Di Censo and Luigi Di Vito, of Sulmona, declared the following to their mayor. ‘While they were grazing their sheep on that day in the Montagna di Macerra situated in the district of this township, they saw their dogs closely pursuing a she-wolf and subsequently catching it. While the she-wolf was struggling to free itself, the two afore-mentioned shepherds ran up and killed it with their staves.’ ” 64

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“121) In a memorandum dated 31st Oct. 1813 the mayor of Introdacqua writes that ‘the shepherds Felice Giuliani and Filippo De Santis, residents of our township, have come to us and presented a wolf dripping in blood, freshly clubbed to death, caught with the aid of the farm dogs as it was trying to attack their flock of sheep grazing in our district, in the place called Casa Murata….’ ” “170) On 1 st March 1815 the ‘mastiff dog’, of the husbandman Giovanni Ciuffetelli ‘living on the plot of land of Signor Giuseppe Leoni, in the locality of Cisternola’, district of Aquila, chased and caught a she-wolf that was subsequently finished off with stones by the same Ciuffetelli and three of his friends, ‘also husbandmen living in the vicinity.’ ” “192) According to the records of the City of Sulmona on the 25 th Dec. 1815, two shepherds of the township and one from Introdacqua, while watching the sheep of Francesco Ignazio Grilli, near a hut in the locality of S. Angelo in Vetoli, ‘saw, not far from this hut, their dogs chasing a wild beast which turned out to be a she-wolf. It was so badly mauled by their bites that it was possible to go up and finish it without trouble. This is what Giovanni Volpe did by first fetching a staff from the hut then running up and killing the beast by repeatedly hitting it.’ ” “196) On 31st Dec. 1815 Tommaso Nardillo brought a wolf to the mayor of Sulmona. It had been pursued and repeatedly worried by the sheep dogs kept by Nardilli to guard his livestock in the locality of Marane. When the wolf dropped to the ground exhausted ‘Nardilli had promptly reached it and had managed to kill it by repeatedly hitting it on the head with his wooden staff…’ ” “253) On 14th Dec. 1817, in a place called Tipaldi (Castelluccio, a settlement pertaining to the Township of Lecce), two wolves attacked the flock of Domenico Di Vittorio. But Di Vittorio’s dogs together with other mastiffs called to the scene by the noise were able to tear to pieces two of the beasts.” “274) On 5th Dec. 1818 three wolves attacked a flock near the settlement of Villa Cornelle (Amatrice). With the help of two dogs the local inhabitants were able to stop and kill a wolf ‘with stones, hatchets, and staves.’ ” It is evident from these official documents that the Mastino Abruzzese can and will physically tackle the wolf. At the sight of the enemy it will try to chase and kill it. This behaviour does not come naturally to dogs in general which are usually terrified by the wild canid. In this we have therefore a distinct moral trait of the breed which distinguishes it from the common run of canine temper. The mastino has no physical advantage over the wolf being more or less of the same size and its teeth are actually less developed. It transpires from the episodes cited above that the dog will defy the wolf on 65



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

its own initiative without necessarily having the backing of man, and may even, perhaps exceptionally, do it singly, like in case n° 170. In the 74 cases of wolf killings with the concourse of dogs the pattern is always the same. When a wolf happens to come within the sensory radius of dogs guarding sheep, these will converge upon it as quickly as possible and try to catch it. If they manage to, the shepherd comes up and dispatches it with his staff. The intervention of the man simply hastens the end which would come anyway under the teeth of the dogs. It was very difficult to obtain a permit for firearms in the historical period of the cases cited above. Even steel spring traps needed permission. The only way for a shepherd in those times to fight the wolf was with dogs, as described, or to find the dens and eliminate the cubs. This brings us back to the reason why the mastino should be white, so clearly explained by Columella, “ Pastor album probat, quoniam est ferae dissimilis, magnoque opus interdum discrimine est in propulsandis lupia sub obscure mane vel etiam crepuscolo, ne pro bestia canem feriat.” (Liber VII.XII.3) Coming upon the mêlée between dog and wolf grappling with each other, the shepherd has to immediately recognise where to place his blows and not smite the head of one of his dogs by mistake. Great is the self-confidence required to grapple with the wolf. Some individuals have a legendary reputation in this sense. It is the male in its prime, between two and five years of age, that is supposed to the job.To give it some advantage over the formidable enemy it is armed with a spiked iron collar to protect the neck where the wolf prefers to strike (Figs. 67, 68, 69). The nerve of bitches and young dogs is less steady. If they are caught alone in the woods, far away from the pack, they themselves sometimes fall prey to the wolves. The shepherds tell that the first encounter with the wolf in a dog’s life causes such an overwhelming shock that the dog will no longer enjoy carefree slumber, there will be only fitful naps from then on. The irreconcilable animosity which exists between the wolf and the Mastino Abruzzese has also been confirmed by scientific observers. Referring to the problem of possible dog-wolf crosses, Boscagli (1985) noted that, although stray male dogs come up to the enclosure of the captive wolf pack of the Abruzzo National Park when there are she-wolves in heat, no Mastino Abruzzese was ever seen in these circumstances, although there are always many in the surrounding district. At this point the following excerpt from D’Orazio (1906) on the “EternalTorment of the Shepherds of Abruzzo” fits into the narrative most appropriately and helps to sustain the literary tone. “During the night the camp appears desolate like an abandoned hermitage and possesses the melancholy of a still-life picture. Especially during moonless nights, a funereal pall shrouds the pens and the sheds, making them appear completely devoid 66

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of animation. The twinkle of the stars is not enough to disperse the seeming death veil. The sleeping sheep look like mounds of whitish stone, the goats like a bed of rotting leaves, the hut a dark mossy outcrop.The checkerboard of the folds seems like a bizarre rock formation. No sound emerges from the sleeping camp, no shred of light, no sign of life. Over in the lush meadow the faint outlines of mares and asses lying in the tall grass are barely distinguishable in the darkness. Even the little folk of birds and night insects do not liven the surroundings of the settlement, kept away by the grimness of the mountain. The air does not vibrate with the passage of the brown silk-moths, as big as bats, or by the most delicate owlet moths, or by the wan geometrids; the darkness is not pitted by the flash of the fireflies; nor does the grass teem with grasshoppers and no croaking arises from among the lily pads of the nearby tarn. All around, in the woods, there is the silence of death.At gloaming the timid hares have descended down into the valley, to the browse and water; and down to the chicken coops of the villages have gone the foxes, the martens and polecats. Only squirrels, badgers and porcupines, the nocturnal lovers, are left to the heights. Next to the little mountain springs, on the moist moss of the rocks, under the blessing of the starry sky, the unassailable porcupines let down their sharp quills and embrace. But now an uncertain whitening of the sky announces dawn and the fresh morning air breathes over the sleeping camp. Noises, fitful moving, hiccoughs rise from the lake of slumbering nature, stirred by the coming dawn. Arising above the hum of nocturnal rumination, sudden bleats, bouts of rasping and dry coughing break out here and there over the little sea of sleeping sheep, passing on communicatively from flock to flock. Once in a while a lar ge ewe disconsolately bleats and the brief trembling squeak of a little lamb, just like the tiny voice of a waking infant, immediately responds from close by. Already up and fully awake, the mastiffs are standing with listening ears around the camp and pens, like white-clad sentinels. It is morning milking-time.The small door of the hut opens suddenly and the shepherds silently file out one by one, going to the milking sheds. In the uncertain gloom of dusk they bring to mind the spirits which the Swiss mountaineers believe to discern in the moonlight emerging from S. Patrick’s well in the forest of Longobel. Sometimes, in the thick darkness of the night, a sudden uproar disturbs the high peace of the camp, silence is broken by the greatest clamour , and all the forest resounds at once with howls, barking and turmoil. It is the bear, the classic beast of the Abruzzese Appennines, of which a few are still to be met in the alpine and inaccessible ranges of the region, at Pescasseroli, at Scanno, and at Bisegna. The brute, a survivor from past ages, advances with sure step among the pens of the flocks, grabs a sheep with its powerful jaws and goes away , unbothered by the shouts of the shepherds and the barking of the dogs, like a king of ancient times collecting his due. 67



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

More oft-times it is the wolf, the traditional enemy of peaceful cattle. The wolf approaches the flocks with caution, eluding the weary vigil of the dozing mastif fs. At the first moans of the flock the mastif fs spring up and dart like arrows to the where their nose tells them, giving voice continually; the wolf is signalled by a special dry staccato bark without pause which the shepherds recognise immediately.The men dash out instantly in whatever clothing and together move to where the flock is under attack, waving firebrands, poles and pitchforks. Their role is limited to encouraging the dogs with the shouts and whistles prescribed by the jargon of shepherds. “Ussssss, te cqua qua qua qua qua qua. Lio! …ussssss piglia, usssss, repezza … Té té té té tè …” In less than it takes to say it, the mastiffs surround the beast and form a circle of rabid yelling mouths, barking unceasingly , furiously, irreconcilably, in an attitude of aggressiveness which rarely, however, escalates into a skirmish. In the centre of the circle the wolf growls venomously, feeling at a loss and furious at the impending peril. By constantly baring the sharpest of fangs it keeps its adversaries at bay . Carrying its tail high in a supreme act of defiance, it turns on itself, always careful to avoid the teeth of the most dangerous of the attackers, and spies for a weak point where to make a break for it. Its eye is fixed on the neck of its assailers to which it would long to go for were it not for the wide iron collars bristling with sharp spikes. Sometimes, blinded with rage, it does lunge forth, notwithstanding the spikes, and wounds the mouth in a most ugly way. Now, finally, a chink opens the way to freedom. It is a young dog at its first experience, overcome by a shiver of fear at the awesomeness of the beast; it is a weakened old bitch with a raucous voice, tired from continuous barking.The poor animal steps back a moment or sidles up to the near companion, as if for encouragement. In a split second the wolf is gone, slipping through like lightening, and is galloping away in the forest, taking or leaving no memento of its inroad other than a few wounds given or taken and half a dozen slaughtered sheep.The wolf is craven and bloodthirsty and will not be contented with a lamb or a kid: it is a cruel and senseless glutton and prefers attempting an orgy at the risk of losing a meal altogether. Chancing in the midst of a herd of sheep, it will not limit itself to taking away just one, the fattest, but will slaughter ten, twenty, even fifty and the entire mass if it could. It satisfies its hunger by drinking the blood from the gaping neck wounds, cut to the bone, and leaves the gory field strewn with dying animals. Sometimes, when it happens to feel safe from the persecution of the mastif fs, after having committed a massacre, the wolf takes away a live and unharmed ewe like a trophy, holding it delicately by the neck and – according to what the shepherds say – whipping the victim on with its tail so to spare itself the burden of carrying it before slaughtering it. And then, far away , deep in the forest, with remarkable voracity and speed, it proceeds with the savage repast. It is only when the dogs and shepherds, belat68

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edly aware of the misdeed, go into the woods after the villain that it decides to surrender what is left of the prey, a strip of woolly skin, a ragged shin-bone, the tearful remnants that the shepherds present with jealous care to the suspicious headman as irrefutable proof of the suffered theft. Thus it is that, during the summer months, among the various risks for the capital of livestock, there is also the due to pay to the jaws of the wolf, more or less substantial according to the rigours of the season and of the wildness of the mountains. It is usually the best heads, unerringly picked out by the shrewd eye of the beast, that fall to the vice of the powerful fangs. The wolf which, when goaded by hunger , will not refuse the rotting carcasses of quadrupeds killed by the cold or fallen down cliffs, given the ease to choose, manifests the disposition of the most refined and intransigent gourmet.” In the mountains of Abruzzo we have seen that the wolf is not the only worry of the guardians because there is also the bear which likes to vary its normally vegetar ian diet with mutton. But this great beast is considered a gentleman with respect to the former because it takes only what it needs, without useless slaughter , and after fastidiously skinning the victim leaves the hide behind, “carefully folded,” so the shepherds say. The mastino is up to tackling this customer too but adopts a dif ferent tactic. When a bear is caught red-handed in the open, it is quickly surrounded. Keeping beyond the reach of the lightening blows from the paws, they nip and torment it from all sides. Distracted in this fashion from its original intent of lifting a sheep, the bear gradually backs off and returns to where it came from. Young, less dangerous bears can be quite mishandled, like the one sent away bawling and bleeding by the dogs of a shepherd friend of mine. Other foes of the mastino are the fox and the stray dog. Being small and acting singly, the fox is not a great menace except at lambing time. To save itself it has to be very nimble because the dogs, although individually slower , are sometimes clever enough to catch it by chasing it in relays. Stray and feral dogs are a problem. Let us now quote from Luigi Boitani (1984) who has studied the problem for many years. Much of the harm to livestock ascribed to the wild species is really caused by man’s best friend. Since the wolf is a protected species in Italy , regional governments refund the damage to livestock it causes. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the wolf was rather scarce, just the one region of Latium disbursed Lire 1,750 million Lire € ( 875,000). For political reasons the claims of the livestock owners were never seriously challenged but the private opinion of the experts was that stray and feral dogs were the true culprits. Dog and wolf are biologically the same species and kill in the same way. Some people say that the wolf goes for the neck (Figs. 72, 73) while the dog goes for the body but this is not confirmed statistically. In completely natural conditions the normal prey of the wolf is a large herbivore like deer. In going about its quest for food the wolf, or group of wolves, sounds any potential prey that comes its way. It has been observed that only 69



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

two out of ten attempts at predation are actually brought home. In these instances it does usually fasten onto the neck but not invariably. When the prey is really big like a moose in Canada or a horse in Italy it is not possible to kill it single-handed with one move, like with a beaver or a sheep, so the wolf changes tactics, adapting each time to the circumstances. If the wolf is flexible in its approach to the quarry, so is also the dog. The latter is perhaps a bit less adroit in going about the business having lost a certain efficiency due to its long domestication where predation has lost importance for survival. This does not mean that it is not capable of killing a sheep with one bite at the neck, and some are indeed very proficient in this. In the case of a dead ewe with a clean gash in the neck (Fig. 73) one cannot be absolutely certain that the wolf is the guilty one, nor is an open belly or a torn thigh a sure sign of the doing of a dog. If a dog or a wolf finds itself in the midst of a flock shut in a confined space there is no recognisable method in its mode of killing and, arriving on the scene after the slaughter , one will find the animals despatched in the strangest of ways.Another story oft repeated is that the wolf drinks the blood of its victims. To the shepherd who sees a hundred lifeless sheep on the ground and none eaten this seems the only explanation. The fact that they are not eaten is simply because the shepherd or the mastini eventually will turn up so that the wolf or wolves never have the chance to finish their meal. Left undisturbed, the predator would have taken its three or four kilograms of flesh and then lain down to digest.With the return of hunger it would have gone back to the carcasses to get another meal, and so on till there was nothing is left. This can never happen because sooner or later the owner always arrives on the scene to interrupt the sequence of meals. Let us now consider whether there are any differences between the two canids in their capacity to do damage. It is known that a wolf will kill fofan entire unguarded flock especially if it is confined within a fold.Three wolves kept under observation by Boitani managed to kill 190 head in 30 minutes; the flock was unaccompanied by shepherd or mastini. Such episodes are more frequently caused by stray dogs. In one particular case that occurred in the Sibillini range, a feral dog killed 52 sheep in 20 minutes, a performance a wolf would not be ashamed of. The damage one hears about usually concerns sheep because this is the most common domestic animal in our mountains, but cattle and horses pay their toll too. With these large herbivores the wolf has to change method. It is no easy matter with cows and steers because they hold their ground and lower their horns; calves are strenuously protected. Horses behave dif ferently because they start running and on the uneven ground of the mountains this will often cause them to stumble and fall, spelling their end. With such big quarry one will always find that the belly has been torn open, whether it be wolf or dog, because this is the softest spot where to start eating. Sometimes there will be a chunk missing from a thigh; this would be where the attacker tried to get a hold during the chase. How much does a wolf eat? As much as a dog. When it has taken two or three kilograms it is full. Think of the enormous waste of killing a calf or a horse just for one meal; the day after the quest for food has 70

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to recommence. During the studies conducted in the 1980s it was in fact observed that domestic livestock accounted for only 25% of their diet, which may be a small portion from the wolf ’s point of view but still unacceptably high from the shepherds’. In the intervening years the situation has evolved considerably . The wolf has increased but large wild herbivores (boar , red deer, fallow deer, roe deer) have so even more, with the effect of taking the pressure off domestic livestock. It has been observed that wild boar, of which there is no dearth, has in recent times become the main diet. Wolves in Italy are not any longer forced to beleaguer well-defended herds for a square meal, like in the past, but livestock owners should not be lulled into lowering their guard and discarding their mastini. Fat inane sheep left to themselves near the edge of the wood far away from the village are still an absolutely irresistible temptation. People living in the countryside do not realise the abundance of feral dogs and continue to impute all the damage to the wolf. Even though the wild species has increased considerably, it is nothing compared to the legions of roaming dogs.These Boitani classifies in three categories: dogs with an owner who lets them wander uncontrolled; stray dogs which once had an owner; feral dogs gone completely wild. Of just these last there is an estimate for Italy of 80,000. A three-year study of a feral pack in an upland area of Abruzzo (Altipiano delle Rocche) gave data comparable to a similar one on wolves. The inhabitants of the area were not aware of the existence of this pack; the animals were elusive and secretive, foraging in rubbish dumps and killing livestock just like their authentically wild relatives. But dogs have an advantage over the wolf. In a social group of wolves there is only one female that breeds and it is only once a year . The rules of hierarchy determine that only the head male and the head female mate, while all the rest are excluded. The largest social group ever come across by Boitani amounted to seven individuals. The feral canine pack ofAltipiano delle Rocche amounted to twenty three individuals with all the bitches having two litters a year; the reproductive potential here is immense compared to that of the wolf. Being of the same species, crosses between dog and wolf are possible and the offspring are fertile. It would seem unavoidable that such crosses should happen in Italy with so many feral dogs about but in fact they are not so frequent. The more probable occasion presents itself when a she-wolf becomes isolated.The opposite case, i.e. when a male wolf mates with a bitch, is much rarer. The offspring have superficially the likings of a wolf but certain details betray their origin: tails too long (50 cm instead of 30 cm); ears too long (10.5 cm instead of 8 cm); solid white or black markings in the coat, etc. According to Spanish authors such crosses are apparently more commonplace in the Iberian peninsula. Even in the heyday of pastoralism not all flocks would participate in the transhumance, especially those belonging to the smaller owners. During summer the animals would be up on the high pastures but in winter they were kept stabled close to village. Nowadays this has become the prevalent practice, very few flocks are left 71



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

that migrate between mountain and plain with the seasons. Thus all those mastini which during the summer were unseen, scattered far away over the mountainsides, now congregate in the villages in winter , stalking around the alleys and outskirts. Notwithstanding the vicinity of human habitations and the numbers of dogs, the Italian wolf is insolent enough to try breaking into the sheep-sheds during the night. In the darkness, especially in times when there was no electricity , when famished wolves walked into the village the men could do little but simply listen to the snarls and yells as the dogs coped with the marauders. The coming together of many dogs that normally live in isolated family groups creates problems of coexistence. Rivalry is kindled, hierarchies are challenged, and spontaneous fights break out. Amused and inspired by this internal hostility, the young men of the old days used to steer such mettle into or ganised matches, thus to while away the dull winter months. Male is pitted against male; a male and female pair against another similar pair; bitch against bitch (the nastiest of fighters); one male against two; team against team. The matches could be intramural or between neighbouring villages; in the latter case the ground for the encounter was picked on the border of the two territories where the instinct of defiance would come naturally to the dogs. With spiked collars removed, the two champions would be brought by the scruff to face each other nose to nose and with their heads held up.This is the natural posture of defiance. Tempers rise quickly and when at the right pitch the dogs are let loose. Although the encounters may have seemed savage yet only cuts and swellings resulted in the end. If one of the contenders managed to get a nasty hold like on the neck, throttling the adversary, the men intervened to break it.These were sporting matches where no real harm was expected or wanted; these were valuable working dogs. As a side note to the main ar gument, it is worth mentioning that the mastino is often used in hunting the wild boar (Fig. 117) and, in the past, the bear. This alternative is also known regarding the kindred breeds, the Kuwasz and the Mastin Español, and Gaston Phoebus mentions it for the mâtin in his classic Le Livre de la Chasse written in 1387. Its role in the hunt comes between that of the hound (segugio) and that of the catch or holding dog (cane da presa). The segugio works on the scent and its job is to find where the game animal is hiding. Priest-like, it is the most respected of dogs because its ken goes beyond the senses of ordinary beings. Once it has brought the hunters to the thicket to where the forbidding boar is holed up, the mastini are sent in to drive it out. This part is very dangerous. The mastino is brave, skilful and self-reliant but it is not suicidal like the terrier. It will drive out the beast trying not to get disembowelled. Once the boar is out in the open and brought to bay,one or two catch dogsare unleashed. In a feline spurt of speed these go in and grab the swine by the ear or by the hams, holding it fast so that the hunter can move up and despatch it quickly and cleanly.But, as Varro already warned long ago, a dog that has acquired a taste for hunting will not think of anything else and will abandon the care of sheep. 72

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At the very end of the chapter we cannot forego relating about the wartime curriculum of the Mastino Abruzzese. In the January issue of 1986 of the journal of the Italian Alpine army corps (Associazione Nazionale Alpini) there is an account of how the dog was used during the 1st World War (Figs. 118, 119). During the years of this conflict (1915-18) the alpine troops fighting on the glaciers of the Adamello massif at 3000 m asl had to solve the problem of purveying supplies in a most inclement environment. At first they were brought up on the back of territorial troops during the night in all kinds weather. When this system proved to be full of problems, especially with the increase in demand, in the summer of 1916 it was decided to use animals to pull the sleds, especially over the flatter terrain of the glacier. Little patient donkeys were used at the first but soon they began to be substituted with dogs which proved far more resistant and efficient in the polar climate. The proposal of utilising dogs for war service came in October 1915 from the Italian Kennel Club in Milan. A committee was created for providing the army with dogs aged between ten months and three years, taken mainly from the flocks. It was at first thought to use them to succour the wounded lying on the battlefield or as messengers, but after a few experiments this project was dropped. In any case, a large number of dogs had been gathered and given some perfunctory training at the Military Kennel of Bologna, waiting for employment. The idea of using them to draw sleighs, like the Eskimo dogs, came to the Command of the 5th Alpine Division which had the Ortles-Cividale and Adamello fronts. It was on this latter front that they were used in any numbers, reaching over 250 between 1917 and 1918, forming a special section organised in units, under its own logistics command. As long as they were big and strong, any variety would do but in fact most of them were Mastini Abruzzesi. They were requisitioned wherever they were found and paid 25-30 Lire each. After the first rudiments of obedience, they were sent in upper Valcamonica to complete their training. The basic working unit was a group of three, permanently assigned to an alpine infantryman who thus became a “cagnaro” (dogman). These nice and helpful animals had a registration number on the inside of the right ear but they soon acquired battle-names like Grifo, Spluga and so on. Their work, as already said, was to pull the specially-made sleighs for carrying men and materials over the glacier; these were very light and handy, with a harness for three dogs standing side to side. The centre dog was placed within the thills and steered the vehicle, while the lateral dogs were simply attached by straps. The sleigh had a brake which worked like an anchor. It was a square piece of wood with iron points on one side and linked to the sled with a chain. When the “ cagnaro” wanted to slow down or stop, he would throw out the 73



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

piece of wood with points down and stand on it. It should be realised that the average load was about 60 or 70 kilograms and in the initial period (summerwinter 1916) there were three hauls a day, which meant crossing the Vedretta del Mandrone six times a day, which is about 18 km in all. Col. Quintino Ronchi, the commander of the alpine troops on the Adamello, wrote, “They took service at dawn and normally did two trips a day (after 1917) from Passo Garibaldi to the depôts of Passo Lobbia, Passo Folgorida and the cable-car of Cavento. In all they would transport from 150 to 200 metric quintals each day. The dog service was quite a spectacle of its own. As soon as the sleds were loaded they would start off. At the voice of the conductor, they would go running down the track with festive yelps that seemed to hail the white light of the coming day. On more even ground they would ease into a light trot, whereas on going uphill the pace dropped to a walk with bodies thrown forward under the effort. Sometimes they would pause for a rest and, on resuming their labour, they would brace up on their hind legs and bark as if asking the man to put in some help. If they spotted one of their kind idling, they would bark fiercely at it; the alpini would say that they were barking at shirkers. In winter, during snowstorms, they were marvellous. The freezing cold covered their head neck and limbs with icicles, sleet cut at their eyes, yet undaunted they carried on untiringly, with lowered tails, blowing through their noses through that arctic landscape. Their rations were identical to those of the troop and every fortnight the commissariat captain would give them the scraps from the slaughterhouse. Every morning, each in its own bowl, they would receive bread sopped with coffee exactly like the rest of the soldiers, then at midday an ample ration of bread, broth and meat and in the evening bread and broth again. The dogs were extremely well disciplined. At the midday meal, for instance, they would arrange themselves facing each other in two rows inside the shed while the men assigned to serve mess filled the bowls in between with the rich broth. The dogs stayed in their place (one could say at attention) until the special signal from the bugle was given. Only then did they go to their bowls in perfect order without attempting to steal from their neighbours.” The main kennel that gave shelter to 200 animals was at Passo Garibaldi and consisted in a long shed having double walls and a raised floor one metre above the level of the snow. A central corridor divided it in two compartments along the length of which were distributed the berths of straw for the dogs. These never sullied the kennel but always went outside to relieve themselves. Another smaller kennel for about forty was at Passo della Lobbia Alta, serving the farthest outposts. At the bottom of Val d’Avio, near the village of Temù, there was the infirmary for the wounded, sick or needy of rest; a small base for recovery or preparation before sending the dogs back to the front. 74

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The sled dog unit also had a special section of litter-sleds for the transport of the wounded men. Regarding this matter, Col. Ronchi recalls, “A fact which impressed everyone was the care with which the dogs carried the wounded. Was this due to the voice of the conductor controlling the movements or to the special understanding of the dogs?” Knowing their intelligence and deep affection for man, the second hypothesis is certainly more probable! They became incredibly attached to their conductors with which they lived, it can truly be said, night and day. The unit served preciously for two and a half years with several losses from enemy fire, especially from artillery, but at the end of the war it was perfunctorily disbanded without the least bit of gratitude for its faithful fourlegged members.

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The way the Abruzzo shepherd breeds his dogs is quite otherwise from what is considered normal practice among dog fanciers. When a bitch of the flock comes into heat, instead of being carefully shut away and then given to the sire chosen by the man, she is left quite free as before. This would seem a very casual way of running the business and surely leading to mongrels; we are all familiar with the scene where a stray bitch in heat is followed by a pack of dogs of all sizes and shapes, several of which will eventually have their chance. But this does not happen with the bitches on a sheep farm. We know from studies in animal behaviour that there is a phase in the early life of mammals during which the young learn to recognise and retain the image of their parents and, also, more generally of their ilk. This permanent imprinting of the memory will serve them later in choosing their mating partner. This is what happens with the mastini of a masseria. These dogs grow up together and live all their lives as a social unit without artificial constraints. A fully developed social system develops much on the same lines as what is known for a wolf pack. Thus mating will occur only within the group. A strange dog has little chance of intruding, not only because the bitch will not accept it, but also that it would have to overcome the phalanx of the male dogs of the house, a quite unlikely feat. Competition is further exasperated in that the number of bitches is kept artificially low, usually just one or two. The oestrus of the bitch is such a powerful stimulus that it will excite the other males to defy the ruling dog. The scent of the heat carries a long way and may induce outsiders from the neighbouring flocks to join in the fray. Everyday life is upset. The animals lose appetite and barely remember to slake their thirst. In the first days of heat the bitch ignores the males, trotting about aimlessly or lying down listlessly with an air between annoyed and bored. If a suitor becomes too importunate she will snap at him bad-temperedly and it is comic to see the powerful, battle-scarred males back away awkwardly from the much smaller bitch. During the daytime, when the men are about, nothing much seems to happen and the casual observer may not notice the strong emotions that fill the air. It is in the intimacy of the night that these are unleashed as born witness by the wounds and limps of the morning after. The sheepmen in their cots can hear the 77



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

savage scrimmage going on outside; sometimes a dog will be killed. The really ancient enfeebled dogs stay away while the adolescents look on attentively but prudently keep out of the fray. I once witnessed a clash between two adultmastini. As the two came within range of about thirty yards of each other they exchanged glances for a few tense moments, with one foot lifted in suspended motion, as the mutual defiance bore home. Then with muzzles pointing grimly at each other, they started to come together, slowly at first but quickly gathering speed. The mutual impact raised them up on their hind legs, their teeth flashing as they stabbed at each other around the head. Then one of the two managed to get a hold on the jowl of the other. Locked together, the two now fell down on their four legs and the action came to a standstill; the upper dog with jaws jammed, legs outspread and bulging neck muscles. The other dog was loth to give in and stubbornly resisted in silence. But as the seconds passed the loser must have sent a silent message because the upper dog appeared to ease the vice-like hold. The loser was able so to break loose and get away, snarling and protesting. The issue may be truly serious if the other dogs decide to gang up on the loser. All the male mastini carry the scars of such encounters, especially around the muzzle and head (Fig. 121). After the bitch has been served by the dominant male, the second in line may get a chance. As the heat subsides life returns to everyday events. The male dogs, heads swollen by the cuts and blows (Fig. 122), are heavily tried and need time to recover. The cynophilist, to whom all phases of the canine reproductive cycle should be, as a rule, under the control of man, may think such proceedings to be very careless. However, there is nothing random when a pack of mastini is left free to sort out its own social mechanisms . The shepherds say, for instance, that siblings will not mate, thus avoiding close inbreeding. This might be explained as follows. Bitches are normally served as soon as they come into their first heat, which is within a year of their birth, whereas their litter brothers cannot hope to mate before they become sufficiently dominant in the pack which means never less than two years and mostly later. Thus, more than a year separates the beginning of the reproductive phase between male and female siblings so that it is improbable that the two may mate. The pregnant bitch is not subject to any privileged treatment due to her condition and carries on her assignment with the flock. Feeling that the moment is approaching she will look for a quiet corner around the farm where to give birth, like, for example, among the bales of hay (Fig. 123, 124). If the bitch is of a particularly shy disposition she will go into the bushes and dig a den. The new-born puppies present short white silky hair through which the 78

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rosy skin shows. The black pigment of the nose, flews, eye-rims etc. begins to emerge after about a week. When the shepherd realises what has happened he will search out and inspect the litter. If it is too numerous, nine to ten puppies being common, he will reduce it to four or five, giving preference to all-white coats, to the males, and to the larger ones. There is a belief among the men that the occasional occurrence of puppies with a black-and-white coat (Fig. 189) is caused by the bitch being struck by the vision of a black sheep or a Dutch cow during the time of pregnancy. For this reason the occasional black-and-white specimens are sent off to tend cows for which they are considered to have an inborn affinity. But, I wish to remind the reader that, from the time of Varro and Columella, pure white is de rigueur for the canis pastoralis. During the early period the mother stays with her offspring, but as time goes by she leaves them for longer and longer intervals. In the absence of the mother the puppies stay huddled together finding comfort in the collective body warmth. When she comes in and reclines in order to let them feed, the puppies frenziedly search for the dugs. As they suckle they work the udder with their forepaws to stimulate the milk to flow (Figs. 123, 128). Natural selection is always at work. Weaklings who cannot conquer a teat and hold on to it will die off, and if the mother is maternally in some regards inadequate the whole litter will be lost, because it is not in the shepherds’ habit to interfere in such matters. All this results in a breed with a very high level of biological self-sufficiency. At about two weeks of age the eyes begin to open so that, even though still crawling on their bellies, they now begin to turn towards the light of the den entrance (Figs. 125, 126). The puppies are weaned at about a month and a half and are by now trotting sturdily upright on their legs (Fig. 129). Even though they would still go for the udder yet the mother now begins to wince at the sharpness of the milk teeth which have in the meantime sprouted (Fig. 216). She feeds them instead with regurgitated food. The coat is woolly, thick and short but will shortly begin change into longer hair. If there are flaws in the whiteness of the coat or in the blackness of the nose lips and eye rims they will not go away later on (Fig. 130). It is at this stage that the ears are cropped (Figs. 131, 135). A certain ability is needed for this operation because if incorrectly done it will spoil the looks of the animal. For this reason the expert hand of an old sheepman is sought. With the shears normally used for fleecing, after having passed his thumb over the edge to check the sharpness, he proceeds quickly and deftly. He amputates the hanging part of the lobes leaving short upright stumps, either pointed or rounded according to whether the local fashion favours “fox ears” or “bear ears”. The discarded extremities are then grilled and served to the patient, the eating of which is thought to give an extra edge to its temperament. Another, 79



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

but rather barbarous, method of eliminating the lobes is to twist them off just after birth by holding the puppy hanging by the ears and quickly making it go a couple of somersaults, in the way grocers wrap a loaf of bread. This latter method, however, is hardly to recommend because it shears off the outer ear close to the skull. Dog-lovers shudder at ear-cropping, considering it an useless cruelty done for purely aesthetic reasons. A few words are of necessity here regarding the matter. Wherever there is livestock there is a great quantity of flies and other biting parasites which are forever trying to suck the blood of the warm-blooded animals. In the case of the Mastino Abruzzese his thick and long hair saves him from flying insects except where it is shortest around the face and especially on the ears where the skin is thin and vascular. Mosquitoes and flies will concentrate on the soft and sensitive lobes which after a while become covered with sores that never heal and may degenerate, passing infection to the inner ear and eventually bringing deafness. Cropping the lobes thus eliminates the sensitive hanging part leaving the cupped upright base covered with long hair and edged with a scar, with a reduced surface susceptible to being tormented. At the age at which they are cut the lobes have a very low sensitivity as witnessed by the puppy which, while certainly protesting during the operation, will quickly resume its composure as soon as it is put down, maybe just shaking its head a few times. Long drooping ears are also a handicap in clashes with other dogs. Fights are inevitable due to the fact that pastoral dogs live in a social group with all its inner mechanisms of alliances, conflicts, hierarchy, etc. In the larger farms which own several flocks a population of twenty to twenty five individuals is quite normal. The social structure is never stable for long because the life of these dogs is short and harsh, five years being the average expectancy, so that the position in the pack of each member undergoes revision at frequent intervals. In the fights to sort things out the dogs usually go for each other’s head and neck and a pendant ear lobe which cannot be safely folded back out of the way, flush with the skull, affords an easy and painful grip. A torn ear is an unpleasant experience even for this very Spartan breed, thus to crop the lobes is to eliminate its Achilles’ heel. Tails, on the other hand, are not docked. At a very early stage, even just barely weaned, they are already keen to follow the flock over the mountains, alongside their mother and their older kin (Fig. 129). It is of fundamental importance that at the earliest stage possible, certainly no later than two months, the puppies should beimprinted on the sheep (Figs. 132, 133). Young puppies are very endearing and many people cannot simply resist picking them up, playing with them and so on (Figs. 134, 135). If a mastino puppy is subjected to this treatment its desire for human company 80

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may become stronger than its tie with the flock and this spoils its effectiveness on the job. In standard circumstances the bond with the sheep develops as a matter of course since the mother normally delivers in some corner of the sheep shed where the puppies are surrounded by ovine impressions within minutes of coming to light. The sheep will come over and sniff the newcomers. Mutual bonds are formed. It is not surprising, therefore, that the mastino becomes far more attached to the sheep, and to its flock in particular, than to the shepherd. When a flock is sold the dogs go with the sheep and not with the shepherd. All this explains the aloof and distant behaviour with regards to man. In one of my walks in the Campagna Romana I picked up the news that there was a litter of youngmastini in a certain farmstead. Since I was looking for a dog to keep I decided to go and take a look. The dam was a certain Pastorella, a rather humble-looking bitch but known for producing large and beautiful offspring. The sire was Leone, a strong-boned, imposing specimen, the head dog of the shepherd who hailed from the mountain town of Pietracamela and was at present wintering in that part of the countryside. At the farm they said yes, there was a litter of puppies but nobody had seen it yet because the mother was keeping the young hidden in the thickets. I convinced the man to go in and fetch the puppies for me to see. Before diving into the bushes the man tied the mother in order to avoid any defensive reaction on her part. Shrill cries presently came forth as the small animals were being caught. He emerged with two puppies of approximately forty days in his arms. It had been their first encounter with a human and the red pin-pricks on the hands of the shepherd showed how, in an attempt to defend themselves, they had put their milk teeth to good purpose. In his arms, however, they kept perfectly calm. Strong and fat, they were truly magnificent and I then and there decided to keep one. These were two, he said, a third had managed to escape. Well, I thought, the one who escaped must be the sharpest so I sent him back in to fetch that special one. On the way home the little dog stayed perfectly calm as I carried him in my arms, but as soon as I put him down in my garden he scuttled away and hid under a hedge, showing his teeth and snarling if anyone approached. It took weeks to “tame” him and in the course of time a truly gratifying and close relationship evolved. It was quite clear that even at such a very early age the process of “imprinting” had very much advanced and socialising with man had had no part in it. This would not have been a too serious handicap in the work it was expected to do. Its brothers which had been left behind would have soon enough emerged from the bushes and joined up with the rest of the dogs, copying their behaviour and thus settling in their role of guardians of sheep. In this particular case, the shepherd had been rather careless about the upbringing of the new generation. Once he had realised that the bitch had delivered he should have sought out the 81



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

litter immediately and transferred it to some corner closer to the sheep where the puppies could have received the suitable conditioning necessary to their proper upbringing. It is clear that mastini are not trained but conditioned: man provides the proper setting and the genes do the rest. The shepherds keep an eye on the young dogs to see that their behaviour develops correctly. At Cocullo, a town in Abruzzo situated along one of the major sheep lanes used during transhumance, the shepherds used to bring their young dogs before a certain special isolated tree. According to the reactions of the animals it was possible to judge whether they would turn out well or not. The deep religious feeling of the Abruzzese folk extends to their dogs. Another village along the route between mountain and lowland pastures is Roccacerro. If the herds happen to being going by here on the day of St. Maximus, the shepherds may choose to have their dogs receive a sort of special blessing which serves to reveal if the dogs are infected with rabies. If this should be the case the animals will then drop dead as soon as they pass beyond the township. Notwithstanding the legendary trustworthiness of the breed with regards to sheep, the shepherd does, nonetheless, keep an eye on the young developing dogs because they may, after all, go the wrong way under the example of bad behaviour from dogs of other breeds or mongrels around the farm. Young dogs like to play but their playfulness must not be directed toward the sheep which, by running away, could unleash the predatory instinct. Pastoral lore has contrived various artful devices for discouraging any such misconduct. A stick hanging from the neck by a piece of string ( tramaglio) discourages the young dog from chasing sheep because, when it tries to run, the stick will knock on its forelegs and cause pain, while if the dog just walks the contrivance simply drags with only a minimum of discomfort. This method also serves to get the dog used to being tethered which becomes necessary in places frequented by wayfarers where big and dangerous guard dogs are a liability. Other tricks for flouting the mischievousness of a young dog is to bell him so that rabbits and other small farmyard animals can hear it coming. A stick tied crosswise to its collar serves to block it if it tries to put its head into a hen hutch to steal eggs. Immature dogs have no easy time because they are at the far end of the social hierarchy. Not long after they are weaned they begin to emerge from under the protective cloak of their mother and interact with the rest. Since feeding takes place collectively in the same trough, the immature dogs dare approach only when all the others have had their fill and there is often little left. Mortality is highest in this phase of life. The male mastino takes two years to attain the fullness of its secondary sexual characteristics whereas the females reach their definitive look within their first year. The immature dog gives the ungraceful impression of all legs and 82

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small head (Figs. 136 to 140) but with maturity the head and chest broaden out and a magnificent ruff develops around the neck, reaching from the shoulders to the cheeks. In the male it is the fore train which is accentuated while in the female it is the hind train. The bitch should be noticeably smaller, have a very feminine expression, with no ruff and a broad rump. We are reminded that it is a “masculine” breed with accentuated sexual dimorphism. The hard life of the Mastino Abruzzese does not go with longevity. A frequent cause of violent death derives from the conflict with sportsmen and hunters. These people frequent the same places as the flocks and do not like being charged at or their hounds being mauled so that a hasty shot is often the end of the matter. Entire local populations ofmastini are destroyed when poisoned bait is placed out in the area even though this practice is strictly forbidden. In the past when it was legal it was used by gamekeepers to fight “vermin” such as foxes, crows, hawks, etc., the enemies of their pheasants and hares. Today it carries on illegally here and there but, because it is done surreptitiously, the intention of the miscreants can only be guessed. In some cases it is done by the shepherds in order to get rid of the wolves or feral dogs of the neighbourhood but it recoils against them when it is their own dogs which succumb. In other instances it is the hunters aiming at the shepherds’ dogs guilty of chivvying and dispersing the local hares and wild boars, but here again the action backfires when it is the omnivorous wild boars, the object of the hunters’ solicitude, that pick up the bait and die. Sometimes it is the territorial warfare between rival teams of boar hunters that causes bait to be put out in the criminal intent of killing off the enemy’s precious hounds. In all cases it is the dogs of the flocks which are the most frequent victims. During the wintertime when the flocks are down in the lowlands often close to cities the risk of getting run over when crossing a road is high. Even as dead amastino had its uses in the past. A good winter coat would become a warm bedside mat and the hide used to make thongs for saddlery.

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In 1934, on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, F. Guazzaroni, a prominent landowner, was entrusted with the project of breeding improved mastini to distribute to the shepherds as a plan intended to support the quality of the breed (Fig. 141). After having inspected a sample of those kept by the shepherds, Guazzaroni thus summmed up the situation in his preliminary report: “At present this superb breed of dogs so highly appreciated by competent people has undergone such genetic and structural changes that it has split into a heterogeneous series of bloodlines, under-breeds and varieties with the consequence that pure individuals showing correct conformation are a near rarity.” And further on he says that the bitches are “obliged, because of their nomadic life, to mate with genetically and structurally different dogs every time; these matings produce nothing else but a splitting of the once homozygotic bloodlines into a very diversified series of populations, underbreeds, and varieties...” Twenty years later A. Gallese undertook a similar initiative on behalf of the Italian Kennel Club, organising several gatherings of working dogs in Abruzzo (1955-1956). His conclusions on the state of the breed were similar to those of Guazzaroni: “The cry today is one: we must save the shepherd dog of Abruzzo!” ... “The enunciation is brief; we are reaching the limit, and if there is still hope of recovering pureness from some residual stock we must act immediately; we must get to work before the last surviving pure blood becomes extinct and give new life to the breed. Only in this way shall we be able to multiply the pureblooded stock and re-establish the traditional nobleness of the breed.” The gist of these comments is that the two authors saw the morphological heterogeneity of the rural working dogs as a sign of decadence. Guazzaroni and Arese judged the dogs set before them purely on the basis of conformation, like at a dog-show where qualification depends on the narrowest conformity to a standard of points. What disappointed them was the variability of the physical characteristics exceeding the narrow range conventionally allowed by cynophilist standards, such as that regarding head and body proportions and angles, size, type and length of coat, ear carriage, tail carriage, eye colour, extent and intensity of the black pigment, presence or absence of dew claws, black or ginger patches on the white coat, etc.. 85



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At this point one must consider the great difference in mentality between the fancier or cynophilist and the man who needs and uses dogs for work. For the former, a breed is sufficiently defined by its appearance, whereas for the latter a breed is what it does. The original significance of a breed is functional; in other words, it is the result of systematic selection in a controlled canine population towards the hereditary aptitude for a particular function. Shepherds expect and breed for homogeneity in performance. Morphological homogeneity comes as a secondary consequence of this method of selection, and it is never so narrow as when primarily bred for as is the case with modern show breeds. If I am interested in hunting hares, I will breed to the dog that catches the most; this will lead to long legs and leanness but, vice versa, if I breed for long legs and leanness this will not ipso facto produce a dog capable and willing to catch hares. Powerful jaws and a strong body will be the result of having bred for dogs capable of arresting a bull or a boar with their grip, but to think that one can attain this kind of performance by simply breeding for bulk and size is an illusion. The pragmatic approach applied since time immemorial has been turned around completely in recent times. Such a way of thinking declares that animals (and humans, too, for that matter) are machines, that they are but the sum of their parts, and that Man can improve on Nature. It follows, therefore, that if dogs are but clockwork they can be planned, engineered and then expected to function according to a blueprint. In other words, the way an organism works derives from its construction, just like a motor vehicle; therefore if we breed for bulk, active strength will be produced; if we breed for leanness we expect active speed. This is the more or less conscious principle which inspires cynophilist dog breeding today. Functional uniformity derives from morphological uniformity and not vice-versa; what was once the cause is now considered the effect. Several popular breeds have undergone this fate and the failure of the method is quite evident. The placing of morphological selection before, and sometimes exclusive of, functional selection has flattened out the spirit of many breeds to the level of unspecialised doggy nature, which is maybe alright in a family companion but nothing else. Thus, for the two authors conformation was the only aspect they were concerned with in the mastini they inspected. But it is rather in the functional behaviour where the Mastino Abruzzese shows a very high level of genetic homogeneity. This is not to say that the shepherd of Abruzzo is not appreciative of looks but he is not led by an arbitrary standard of beauty for beauty’s sake. He expects that a powerful head, good size and suppleness are indicative of the necessary strength, courage and agility for tackling wolves and bears; a long 86

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coat is required for a lifetime spent in facing the elements, and the colour white ensures that in the melee of an attack the shepherd does not aim his weapon at the dog rather than at the wolf. For the shepherd, in any case, the first visual impression is purely preliminary to testing the dog on the job. No matter how good-looking the dog is, if it doesn’t do its work properly the shepherd will promptly discard it without an afterthought. In the case of the most heinous (but practically unheard of) of all crimes, the killing of sheep ( terribile dictu), the delinquent does not live a minute longer, no matter its other qualities, and so its genes do not have much chance of spreading. In the dog-lovers’ universe of shows, bulletins, kennel-breeding, clubs etc., apart from where field trials are required, nothing else is needed to identify a dog with a breed other than the image it conveys in the judge’s ring on condition that it is accompanied by papers stating that his ancestors have also undergone the same procedure. In serious animal husbandry only in a few cases is conformation sufficient to judge quality. This is true in meat animals or those raised for their wool or fur. Even in dairy cattle one cannot tell the amount of milk a cow will yield from the size of the udders. The dealer at the animal fair builds his reputation on how successful he is in guessing performance from looks. Many books have been written explaining all the clues to a good horse, but in the end it is merely a hopeful guess. How many times a rather unprepossessing horse has beaten more “beautiful” ones. The moment of truth comes when the animal is tried out. In some countries the excessive and exclusive cult of canine morphology has brought about a dividing of ways between conformation breeding and performance breeding. The following aphorism on the working collie by A. Croxton Smith, the leading canine authority of Britain, is paradigmatic of the reaction against conformation breeding: “Apart from his work, there is not much to be said about the Border collie,”. The Pit Bull Terrier is also the result of breeding strictly for work as a catch dog with livestock and hunting, and here also we find the rather ample spectrum of morphological types. (It seems that things are changing for this excellent breed, however, and conformation breeding is gaining the upper hand since it has recently become popular as a house dog and therefore also as a show dog.) The cynophilist wishing to view theMastino Abruzzese bred and used by the shepherds of today would make the same comments of Guazzaroni and Gallese of seventy and fifty years ago respectively. He too would be dismayed at the variability of the physical type. Let me attempt to describe in words the range of this variability. First of all there can be no doubt that there exists a recognisable genetic population sharply defined outwards and belonging to what I call the mastinoid category; it is also true that the variety of conformation within this population would not suit a standard of points compiled by a kennel club. 87



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

In trying to describe this population to the reader, one can say that there are three extreme morphological types with all the intermediate forms in between. One extreme is a light-limbed, less-than-large dog, with a head approaching the lupoid (Figs. 142 to 145). A second extreme is a large and tall animal, with a long and heavy muzzle somewhat approaching the molossoid (Figs. 146 to 150). The commonest type is to be found somewhere in between these two (Figs. 151 to 168). The third type is lower at the shoulder than the second but is stockier, it has a broad chest and a short and wide muzzle (Figs. 169 to 184). Ears are never erect but the degree of limpness varies. So much for the body structure. With regards to the coat, it is always basically white but markings are not unusual. The most frequent appear on the ears, then on the sides and on the rump. The patches may be black or russet but never combined. Black markings are always neat whereas fawn markings may be either neat or with shaded edges. The pigment of the iris goes from light brown to dark. The nose, lips and eye rims are black but sometimes the pigment is weak or even missing. In some specimens the black pigment extends to the foot pads and large areas of the epidermis. The coat also presents quite a range in length and texture. In some individuals it is short as in a retriever but normally it is long, sometimes up to eight inches as on the tail, neck and buttocks. The hairs assume varying degrees of waviness which confer quite different-looking coats: some appear smooth and follow the contour of the body (Fig. 144), others surround the dog like a muff (Figs. 156, 178). How should one consider such morphological heterogeneity? I would exclude simple mongrelisation. Uncontrolled outcrossing with the other canine types with which the mastino comes into contact in its environment, like the hounds and gun dogs of sportsmen (segugio, bracco), the little spitz dog (pumetto, vegliarino) (Fig. 103, 104), and the lupine dog ( cane lupo) (Fig. 101), is not a convincing explanation because the genes of these other dogs would not confer the above-described characteristics. The range of physical types is not easy to understand phylogenetically and I do not pretend to explain it. It is essentially the shepherds of Abruzzo, the core area of themastino, who strive towards a more fixed morphological type. They demand a pure-white coat and go for the third structural type described above (Figs. 169 to 184). It is the shepherds of other regions who are more lax about looks and do not weed out the sports, as long as the dogs do their job properly. Some students have tried to confer dignity on this heterogeneity, suggesting the existence of local breeds or varieties purposely selected on different lines from the basic type. The best known case is the fawn-coloured Cane da Pastore Maremmano described by Solaro in Rassegna Cinofila (1938), not to be confused with the Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese of official ENCI and FCI status. Another author with the “splitting” tendency was G. Bonatti i(n litteris) who believed in 88

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the existence of aCane da Pastore Lucanoand a Cane da Pastore Laziale.After much rumination I have discarded the possibility of the existence of these other breeds because in fact the shepherds of all regions recognise only one ideal type which is the one bred in Abruzzo. The fact that one comes across local populations in other regions showing more or less divergent type can be simply ascribed to less care on the part of the shepherds in keeping to a stricter standard as far as conformation. There is, perhaps, just one variety that could be justified and it is the Mastino Domenicano, so-called from its black-and-white coat which resembles the habit of the Dominican friars (Figs. 187 to 189). These religious identify themselves with such dogs, playing on the words:Dominicanes = Domini canes i.e. the hounds of the Lord, for just as the dogs chase away the wolf from the sheep so do the friars protect the flock of the faithful from the devil. This allegory can be admired in a fresco in the Dominican church of S.ta Maria Novella in Florence. Of this variety there are no bloodlines today which breed true, but individuals crop up here and there. Another occasional variant are those individuals with long hair on the face, called baffo or spinoso (Fig. 190). Some shepherds tolerate them but they are not generally favoured in any way. There is only one other pastoral breed in peninsular Italy the independent status of which is confirmed by solid historical evidence, and it is found in Calabria. The structure is similar to the Mastino Abruzzese but it is black-and-tan. It is mentioned in Strutt (1843), Lucifero (1906) and C. Keller (1918) but it is not recognised by the Italian Kennel Club. In recent times a good strain was kept by Dr Ferdinando Sala of Tiriolo in the province of Catanzaro (Fig. 11). According to Guazzaroni and Gallese the Mastino Abruzzese was on the brink of extinction but the fact that, more than half a century later, the dog is doing exceedingly well shows how wrong their interpretation was of what they had observed. This takes us into what happens when cynophilists discover a “new” breed. By “new” I mean a breed which historically exists but has yet to come under the aegis of dog-fanciers, is not recognised by a kennel club and has not been defined by a written standard of points. Examples of new breeds are the pastoral dogs of Asia; they are very ancient and are just beginning to turn up at dog shows. The passage into the world of cynophily can be a turning point for a historical breed with respect to the way of life it has followed up to that moment. How does this usually happen? A dog-fancier travelling in some corner of the globe comes upon a canine population showing a certain degree of homogeneity, he notices that the dogs are unlike any in the FCI list of breeds, takes a fancy to them and so decides to take a pair or more back with him. He has picked up a few notions concerning the animal from the people he bought them from who 89



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

will obviously tell him that he is getting the best possible stock. He is quite ready to be convinced. Once back at home within the FCI universe he will untiringly promote the acceptance of the “new” breed of which his own dogs are, of course, the perfect living representatives and which will serve as type for the standard of points. Later on, after the breed has become numerous and well-established within the FCI universe someone may happen to go back to the place of origin and discover that there is hardly any correspondence between the historical dog in the native setting and the pedigreed animal paraded at shows back home. How does this come about? It is because the dog-fanciers who initially discover and promote the “new” breed do not really bother about the historical, human and ecological setting in which the breed has evolved; the “beauty” of the animal suffices them. Before getting engrossed with all the measurements and fine points of the standard, the student should first of all get to know properly and interview the people who have traditionally used and bred the animal he is so enthralled with; in the case of the mastino these would be the sheepmasters of Abruzzo. Even though the worth of the Mastino Abruzzese lies in the work it does, the sheepmen also have an eye for looks and it is from their judgement that the only true and justified conformation standard can be compiled, if the dog-fancier wishes truly to be the depositary of the authentic historical breed. Considering that such optimum conformation (Figs. 169 to 184) is found only in a small percentage of the population (circa 5%), only after the student has fully assimilated the historical culture of the breed will he be able to choose the right specimens on which to compile the authentic standard and not make the mistake of rushing to conclusions based on unqualified subjective impressions. Many breeds taken under the auspices of the cynophilist have been deeply transformed both in performance and in conformation so there is often only a remote resemblance with the original historical dog. Selection based on the original function is abandoned. Who cares whether those huskies whose ultimate destination is a suburban garden can still find the breathing holes of seals in the icy wastes of the Arctic? Is it relevant that the Afghan hounds with the mincing gait one sees around are not able to chase a gazelle any longer? Besides performance, conformation can also go off on a tangent in the hands of the cynophilist. To begin with, the standard of a “new” breed is usually written up on the characteristics of the first few specimens presented at a dog show. But these specimens are not necessarily fully representative. If they are all fawn then the breed is defined fawn-coloured even though back in the home country they can be of any colour. When other dogs from subsequent importations appear at dog shows they are disqualified because they are not fawn even though they may be objectively of higher quality than the first. Once it is not linked with 90

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performance, conformation very frequently tends towards the caricature, e.g. the hugeness of the St. Bernard, the grotesqueness of the English Bulldog, the fragility of the Italian Greyhound, etc. The ordinary shepherd is conscious of the meaning of breed, being the inheritable aptitude for a determinate function, i.e. an innate specialisation. He knows that the mastino possesses in its genes the capacity to provide a very special type of service, and if he allows crosses with other dogs he will inevitably lose this quality in the offspring. But even if the shepherd is first and foremost interested in the efficiency of his dogs, he is not, however, insensible to their outward appearance and is, indeed, rather discriminating. The image he prefers is rendered in Figs. 169 to 184. The knowing Abruzzo shepherd looks at three things: good size, a pure white coat, a powerful head and a broad chest. A tall dog should not be simply rangy, it has to be impressive too. Because it is called upon to subdue such a formidable enemy as the wolf, largeness helps but not at the expense of dash. An unblemished coat is de rigueur, as the saying goes: “pelo rosso e cane pezzato uccidilo appena nato ” (those with black patches or red hair, put them down as soon as you care). This rule of pure white has come to us from a very remote past. The Avesta compiled by the followers of Zoroaster about 600 b.C. prescribes that a dog should not wander from the sheep beyond the distance that allows to distinguish a white animal from a black one. Black standing for the wild animal, particularly the wolf, whereas white is the noble colour of domestic animals. Why, then, are the dogs one sees on the pastures so heterogeneous, if the shepherd is so critical? The explanation lies in the way he breeds his dogs. He is strict in keeping out the influence of other breeds or mongrels but within the population of mastini it is the animals themselves who choose their mating partners (see preceding chapter). It never happens that a great and famous sire mates with dozens and dozens of different dams as would happen with a kennel-based breed, which would with time result in a narrowing-down of the gene pool. There is little chance, then, in the circumstances described, of consistent in-breeding which is the prerequisite for close uniformity. Some in-breeding does occur inevitably within the single sheep farm, or the group of neighbouring farms, so that one always finds a certain family resemblance in the local dogs. But since it is the habit of the shepherds to bring in, every so often, new dogs, at the stage of young puppies, from more distant places to “freshen-up the blood”, the gene pool stays very broad and this is reflected in the variety of physical type. Although the shepherd does not intervene in the reproductive process before, i.e. in the mating process, he does so afterwards by culling, immediately after birth, those he does not need and/or those he does not like. More males are required than females; the bigger ones are pre91



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ferred, and the ones with blemishes in the coat are discarded. Later on, when they start to become active he will suppress any that do not behave correctly. This type of selection may be sufficient to conserve the existing but less so for improving quality. What has just been described is the way things are run by the small-time sheep farmer of today, the owner of around five hundred head. With only six or seven dogs subject to a high turnover he cannot do much more in the way of selective breeding. It was different in the large sheep farms of the Abruzzese sheepmasters of the past. These highly-organised enterprises were run very competently and as a result had highly-bred stock. Considering that the normal ratio of mastino to sheep is 1:100, a ranch owning 10,000 sheep, a not uncommon circumstance before the 1950s, would thus have about one hundred mastini. Such a large gene pool in the hands of the qualified personnel that existed in those days produced the finest type through expert selection. A high point in the history of the breed is certainly the Bourbon period of the Kingdom of Naples. The first two rulers of this dynasty, Charles III and his son Ferdinand IV, had an overruling passion for the country life and therefore set the tone for the aristocracy and the rich. Ferdinand IV in person owned 20,000 sheep and personally dedicated much care to the quality of his stock with a very special regard for the dogs. In preparation for the wedding of his son, the crown prince, he thus wrote on 17 th April 1797 to his wife Maria Carolina, from Foggia, the administrative centre of the sheep industry: “Don’t say anything to Francis, but he will be a locato; all the locati are preparing him a gift of a complete massaria of six thousand choice sheep together with all the necessary equipment, beasts of burden and dogs; from myself he will receive the posta fissa of S.ta Cecilia capable of holding that many sheep”. L( ocati were the sheepmasters who leased crown land in the plain of Foggia for the winter grazing; posta fissa was a unit of grazing land; masseria is the term for farm in South Italy.) The problem today is that the great sheepfarms of Abruzzo, which nurtured excellence and to where in the past the shepherds of Italy and from abroad would go to get superior dogs, have disappeared. A first crisis came during the Second World War when the front, stretching across the middle of Italy from coast to coast, cut across the tratturi, the sheeplanes which linked the summer and winter pastures of the Abruzzese flocks. Blocked along their way, unable to proceed, many flocks were lost, falling prey to the soldiery or to the desperate local population. The dogs followed the fate of the sheep; the carefully-bred, homogeneous groups belonging to the great sheep-owning families were dispersed. But, even if these events had not occurred, the end of the great sheep owners was near at hand. By the 1960s no young people willing to become hired shepherds were left. Even though the pay might have been sufficient, yet the 92

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isolated and rough life in the high Appennines or on the grey, wind-swept plain of Foggia in winter held little attractions for the new generations. The role of the great Abruzzese sheepfarms in conserving a highly-bred core population could have been taken over by the kennel breeders and amateurs but this has not happened. Kennel-breeding, which started back in the 1930s, has produced the Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese, a diluted, emasculated version, which has essentially become a house dog (Figs. 185, 186). From the very start kennel-breeding has always had a one-way relationship with the shepherds. In order to boost his stock, the show-dog breeder is forever on the lookout to buy up any outstanding specimen he may spot on the pastures, but none of the resulting progeny, supposedly improved by scientific breeding, ever finds its way back to the sheep because the profitable market is with the pet-dog owners. Furthermore, the show-dog breeders and the specialist club tend to gloss over the Abruzzo origins preferring to call it simply Maremmano (see Chapter 2) with its snobbish associations of Tuscan gentility, the story being that it was once the watchdog of the patrician villas that dot the exquisite hillsides around Florence. The result is that kennel breeding has created a parallel breed, rather similar in morphology to the authentic Mastino Abruzzese, but quite different in temperament and no longer suitable for work with the sheep. The standard of points of the Italian Kennel Club for the “Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese” is the law for those who breed for showing and wish to register their dogs. This sacred booklet spends pages and pages in defining every possible morphological detail, but when it comes to saying what the breed is for we briefly read that it is a “cane da pastore”. Since this is also the term that the Italian Kennel Club uses for the herder, the innocent reader might expect the “Maremmano” to drive and pen sheep like the Border Collie! And this despite the fact that terms do exist in common usage for the two types,paratore or toccatore designating the herder and mastino the pastoral dog that guards sheep. To neglect defining the highly specialised work of the sheep-guardian and lump it with the profoundly different herder, reveals the total indifference for the performance of the Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese. There is some reprieve further on in the booklet when a few words are spent on temperament and even function. It is defined “coraggioso” (courageous), “docile, ma feroce quando è a guardia del gregge e della proprietà” (tractable, but fierce when guarding the flock or property). “Courageous” is reminiscent of its Mastino Abruzzese forebears but “tractable” is certainly not! The latter is a superb sheep-guarding dog but it is tough-minded and self-willed. It will humour you only if it cares to and respects you. For the Maremmano, on the other hand, whose place is by the fire with the children, docility is a necessary prerequisite. By qualifying it as “fierce when guarding the flock” the standard 93



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seems to hark back to the working dog but then blurs the message by adding “or property”. Breeds can be adapted to do other things besides the function they are genetically specialised for.Mastini Abruzzesi can be used for hunting, as draught dogs, and as watch dogs but these uses are not relevant in defining the breed. Consequently, if the standard recommends the Maremmano as a watch dog this aspect takes it a further step away from its working ancestor. In any case, the Italian Kennel Club does not prescribe work or character tests for qualification so that the hereditary working traits which were present in the ancestral mastino, not being bred for, tend to get lost in the course of generations, although they may reappear here and there as the involuntary result of fresh blood brought in from the pastures, a practice done, however, only with an eye for improving conformation. Because the fact is that many generations of kennel breeding have not only made the Maremmano forget its sheep but they have also softened its looks (Figs. 185, 186), making it lose that very special air of the open-range mastino. The people who breed show dogs see this and try to remedy by buying up from the Abruzzo shepherds their most handsome specimens to graft on the old kennel bloodlines. Besides the fact that a working dog taken away from its sheep will pine and lose condition, sometimes letting itself slowly die, the desired result is not forthcoming because the genetic effect of the inbred kennel bloodlines prevails over the more heterozygotic rural stock. Apart from the loss of keenness of temperament, another aspect of the diverging path of the Maremmano is the loss of sexual dimorphism. The difference in the sexes in the Mastino Abruzzese is very pronounced (see Figs. 33 to 43). The male is all in the fore part of the body, in the powerful head, the magnificent mane, the broad chest. The bitch is noticeably smaller, the accent is more in the hind half of the body, and is generally exquisitely feminine. In the case of the Maremmano, the male and the female are closer in size and the distinguishing features of the sexes are subdued. The head is not so impressive in the male and the ruff around the neck is less pronounced. The bitches are tall, rangy and nondescript.

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History of the Mastino Abruzzese and origins of the pastoral dog





In searching for documents relative to the history of the breed in Italy, I have been able to find references spanning the period from the present all the way back to Roman times. The most ancient accounts, those left by Varro (116-27 B.C.) and Columella (1st century A.D.) have been for centuries the most authoritative on how the pastoral dog should be, setting the standard for writers on matters rural up to the 18 th century. Yet these Latin writers were simply passing on a model coming to them from an even remoter tradition. In this sense Columella has a particularly revealing way of treating the subject. When he says that only the pastoral dog and the watchdog are of any importance (Fig. 192) he is transmitting a very ancient precept which is already to be found in the Avesta, the sacred book of the Parsees, which dates from the Achaemenid period (553 – 330 B.C.) of Iran but the original compilation can be traced back to the 11th century B.C. The historical setting of the Avesta is the predominantly pastoral culture of the ruling caste of the early Iranians. The thirteenth chapter of the Vendidad is dedicated to the dog and paragraph 49 says, “If these two dogs of mine, the pastoral and the watchdog, be passing by any of my houses let them not be chased away. Because no household could subsist on earth without these two dogs of mine, the pastoral and the watchdog, the creation of Ahura.” Of the two, the Avesta considers the former more important. This is evident in the penalties inflicted on those who mistreat dogs, the highest being for the offenders of the pastoral dog. Milk, fat and meat were the recommended fare; only a very precious and hard-worked dog could justify such a costly and highly nutritious diet. The Caspian lands and N. Iran are considered to be the area where many of our domestic animals were first brought under the sway of man. The name “Persia”, originally designating the southern part of ancient Iran, probably derives from “parsav” which means the land of domestic animals. From the earliest historical documents Iranian culture appears constantly dominated by its relationship with animals, domestic and wild. Hunting scenes are obsessively depicted in their art. The time when the pastoral dog first emerged out of primitive canine stock is certainly anterior to the historical period of West 95



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

Asia, probably somewhere among the distant Cimmerians. By the time of the Avesta, more than three thousand years ago, the pastoral dog was already such a superior and finished type that it was considered a creation of the divinity. Ecological reasoning suggests that the domestication of the sheep requires the contemporaneous development of a sheep-guarding dog; and this would place the event about 10,000 years ago (Clutton-Brock, 2001). Where the wolf is present, and in the past this meant literally everywhere, man by himself cannot hope to avoid the destruction of his herds by the wild predator. The hymns of praise for the pastoral dog in the Avesta are therefore not exaggerated. Although archaeology places the domestication of the sheep in the context of a Neolithic society, yet the pastoral dog is the result of sophisticated artificial selection, an indication of high culture. To consciously genetically transform a basic unspecialised canine type, as more or less represented today by the pariahs, the northern spitzes, the Dingo, the New Guinea dog, etc., still possessing a relatively unmodified wolfish behaviour, into a dog that is innocuous to sheep, keeps away wolves, and deeply attaches itself to the flock, is a wonderful feat. I personally like to imagine that the primordial pastoral dog was created by Takhma Urupa, an Aryan king of the remotest of times, whom the legend reputes to have taught people how to clothe themselves in skins of animals, to be responsible for the domestication of animals and who was the first to go coursing with the cheetah and practice falconry. The modern cynophilist reader who feels more comfortable in identifying a breed by its physical appearance may ask at this point whether the Avesta dog looked like the one described by the Latin authors and by the living representatives of the type today. There is a clue to this in the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux (Polydeuces). Writing around 185 A.D., he says that in the region of Hyrcania in northern Persia, corresponding to the Elbruz range of today, the sacred mountain of the ancient Persians from where their first king issued forth, there is a ferocious breed known as “Leonine”, the outcome of the cross between lion and dog. We know, of course, that this intercourse is biologically impossible but the underlying meaning is that the animal looked as if it issued from this cross. Do not the pastoral dogs of today look lion-like (see e.g. Figs. 9, 15, 21, 22)? In fact, we can still see these dogs in the Elbruz range today. The Mastino Abruzzese itself (Figs. 163, 170, 175) evokes the same image with its rich mane of hair, its broad head and rounded muzzle, and the cropped ears that appear short, upright and cupped like those of the feline. It is not for anything that the most common name given to these dogs is L“eone”. Varro too mentions the lion-like appearance of the canis pastoralis. By the time that the Greek and Roman civilisations came to the fore, the pastoral dog had spread well beyond its cradle around the Caspian. Besides pre96

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sumably arriving in the West with the nomadic wanderings of pastoral folk, this precious animal would have been traded everywhere from very early on by such active merchants as the Phoenicians and Greeks. Virgil in the Georgics writes: “Nor last forget thy faithful dogs, but feed With fattening whey the mastiff’s generous breed And Spartan race, who for the fold’s relief, Will prosecute with cries the nightly thief: Repulse the prowling wolf, and hold at bay The mountain robbers rushing to their prey.” Varro says that the best stock in his day came from South Italy (Salentum) and Greece (Epirus and Laconia). Columella does not geographically place the pastoral dog he talks about but, since he was a landed proprietor in what is now Spain, this country would implicitly be the setting of his treatise. Fine figurative testimonials from this period of antiquity are two statues, one in Athens from the 4th century B.C. (Fig. 193) and a later Hellenistic one from Pergamon, now in copies at the Vatican Museums and Uffizi (Fig. 194). Restricting my research to Italy, the oldest evidence I have yet found after the period of classical antiquity is a fresco in the 14th century in the church of St. Francis at Amatrice at the foot of the Laga range (Fig. 195) in Central Italy. The whole wall is covered with the Nativity scene and the setting is local. The shepherds are playing the bagpipes, the sheep are rounded up for the night in the temporary enclosure of rope netting still in use today, and one of the big mastini is actually barking at the apparition of the heavenly messenger. Because of the Biblical references, pastoral scenes are frequent in sacred art. We can see our dog painted on the walls of Sta. Maria Novella in Florence, where it is being restrained by the scruff from attacking the announcing angel. Other examples can be found in the painting by Bartolo Battiloro (Fig. 196) in the collegiate church of St. Gimignano showing Abraham and Lot on their journey to Canaan (1400 ca), and in the Nativity of Mariotto di Nardo (15 th century) (Fig. 197). The famous cavalcade of Benozzo Gozzoli (16th century) in Florence shows one of our dogs in the background with flock and shepherd, amidst steep mountains (Fig. 198). Coming up through the centuries and rummaging around without method, we find other evidence here and there. There is the 17th century etching by Johannes v. d. Hecke (Fig. 199) and the crude drawings filling the empty spaces on the maps of the Tavoliere compiled in 1686 by the land-surveyors Antonio and Nunzio Michele di Rovere (Fig. 200). The reader may be puzzled at these representations and ask whether it is always the same animal. If viewed critically they are, however, convincing. It 97



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

is sufficient to see that the size is about that of the sheep close by in the picture, the colour white, and that the setting is pastoral. The ears are naturally pendant as depicted in Figs. 195 and 196, for example, but when cropped they appear pricked like in the statue of Pergamon. The hair also has to be long. A spiked collar is a sign that the dog has to cope with the wolf, unmistakably the badge of the guardian of livestock. Perhaps the most prestigious rendering of the breed is the painting by Oudry (Fig. 74), the court painter of Louis XV of France. During the wellknown episode of the Beast of Gévaudan, a four-legged monster of uncertain identity, some say a cross between wolf and dog, others a hyaena, that plagued the countryside of the region of Auvergne killing over a hundred people, the Grand Louvetier of the King, Monsieur Antoine, in 1765 imported two mâtins from the Abruzzi to help him in the hunt. The two have been immortalised by the artiste as they assail a wolf, assisted by a greyhound and a hound. Written descriptions of the breed may be found inDe Canibus et Venatione Libellus by Michelangelo Biondo, published in Rome in 1544 (see Appendix III); in I Quattro Libri della Caccia by Tito G. Ganzarini, nicknamed lo Scandianese, printed in Venice in 1556; and in the Trattato Cinegetico by Francesco Birago, printed in Milan in 1626. All these closely follow the model of Varro and Columella. A richly erudite account is found in La Ragion Pastorale (1731) (see Appendix IV) by Stefano Di Stefano, a Neapolitan jurist and head of the Dogana delle Pecore (see Chapter III), who dedicated a whole chapter to the matter in his treatise. Excellent is the description given by Vincenzo Dandolo in his book on the husbandry of the sheep (1801) (see Appendix V). Dandolo was a man of the Enlightenment and wrote books, among other things, on how to improve farming methods. He kept a flock of Merino sheep in the Alps above the city of Varese. Although at that time dwindling in numbers, a few wolves were still present in Alpine Italy and he strongly recommends acquiring sheep-guarding dogs. There is a fine illustration of his best animal (Fig. 26). Coming up into the 19th century, references are more frequent. Foreign travellers on the Grand Tour sometimes mention encounters and brushes with mastini in their diaries, as they go their way through the country. A good example is the anonymous article in the March 1833 issue of the Penny Magazine (see Appendix VI) appended with a fine etching (Fig. 201). The incident that happened to A.J. Strutt (1843) has already been quoted elsewhere (Fig. 111). Careful representations can be found in the work of the artiste Charles Coleman, who in 1831 settled in Rome hailing from Yorkshire, and of his son Henry. They spent great part of their time observing and painting the rural life in the countryside around the city (Figs. 202, 203). With the invention of photography images become much more frequent (Figs. 204, 205). To conclude the series of historical references, I 98

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will quote an excerpt from the book of Anne Mac Donell who travelled through the Abruzzi at the beginning of the 20th century. “The shepherds of the Abruzzi, who form a large part of the population, crave special notice. They are entirely apart from the peasants. The contadini despise them; and this scorn is amply repaid. I am not speaking here of the keepers of the little stationary flocks and herds you meet on the plains or the lower slopes: old men these, or boys and girls. Such flocks are for home use during the winter, and in most places hardly suffice for that. Often as late as the beginning of June – if the past winter has been long – you can get no butter in the mountains, if you refuse the kind made months before and preserved in skins. Winter sets in early, and the great flocks are all gone by the beginning of October – earlier than that sometimes. Says the song – “La luna de settembre ha ju ciercjie tunne. A revederce, bella, tra maggie e giugno.” [“The September moon is round. Adieu, fair one, till ‘tween May and June.”] The sheep and cattle are driven down from their mountain pastures by the real shepherds, the shepherds de race, and make their way slowly by pass and glen to the coast, along which lie their ain roads, the grassytratturi, and thence to the plains all about Foggia in Apulia. The journey is three weeks or a month long, and thousands and thousands of sheep, with their several mandriani, fare thus to their winter quarters. From the north of the province, and from the Marsica, they go mainly to the Roman Campagna, but fewer in numbers. At one time as many as two million sheep alone were transported every year. This number is now greatly reduced since the invasion of the Apulian plain by cereals. (Omissis) To Apulia, however, they still resort from November till the end of May, and live there mainly in patriarchal fashion, as of old. (Here A. Macdonnell mentions the account from the Penny Magazine which is quoted in full in Appendix VI) In May, just after the close of the great fair at Foggia, begins the homeward journey. There are many halts, for cheese- and butter-making; and in hot weather they travel a good deal by night. This is the traditional order of march: A shepherd, in his sheep-skin coat, and with his crook, heads each division of cattle. He is followed by the manso, an old ram with a bell ( manso means “the instructor”). After each flock come the dogs – the huge, beautiful, shaggy white things, so docile to their masters, and to them alone! Next come the goats. 99



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The cows and the mares travel in separate bodies. A fattore, on horseback and armed, has charge of the flocks and herds of each proprietor. Behind follow the mules laden with baggage, the milking utensils, etc. Mr. Keppel Craven, the gentlemanly traveller, had his lofty nil admirari mood broken into by the sight. “I own,” he says – note that it cost him an effort – “I own that I never beheld one of these numerous animal congregations plodding across the flats of Capitanata, or the valleys of the Abruzzo, as far as the eye can reach, without experiencing a sensation of a novel and exciting kind, nearly allied to that of enjoyment , but which I shall not attempt to account for.” Neither shall I attempt to account for the eerie thrill as one lay and listened to the ceaseless patter-patter through the night, and to the strange low calls in the darkness; but neither need one apologize for it. Some echo of an earlier world was in the sound; and Man, the Wanderer, was passing to his restless destiny (Fig. 204). There is one short and joyousfesta when fathers and husbands and children come back to their villages; and then off again up to the mountain pastures. In the shepherd’s year there is no summer; and sheep-skin is his wear nearly the whole year round. Even when he is near home he comes down but once a fortnight for a night or two. (Omissis) The sheep-dogs of the Abruzzi are very formidable – huge, white, shaggy creatures that look as if they had in them equal parts of bear and wolf, unmatched for strength and ferocity too. As they rise slowly on the path, their eyes gleam red, and their ominous growl sends one’s heart into one’s mouth. Lucky if the master be near to call them off, though if they are not on guard they are generally harmless – but never ingratiating. On the road to Pettorano we were suddenly surrounded by six of the great creatures. One or two showed their teeth, and six pairs of eyes glowed like coals. But slowly the circle they made relaxed, and they went their ways. Their flocks were not by, else perhaps, as suspicious strangers, we should have received closer attention than a mere warning. They are trained to fierceness from the first, and by cruel methods. Says De Nino: “A lui si tagliano gli orecchi, e dopo che si sono bene abbrustolite, si dànno per pasto al sanguinante animale, che deve così diventare più feroce.”[His ears are cropped, and after they have been roasted well, they are given to the bleeding animal to eat so that he may become all the more fiercer.] Life is not to be play to them. Round their necks they wear a wide collar, with sharp spikes as long as your finger. In the winter plains, as in the high pastures of the summer, wolves are the constant enemy. If they can be kept off his throat, the great white beast may be a match for two or three.” (1908. In the Abruzzi. Chatto & Windus. London. Pp. 11-18.)

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Has the Mastino Abruzzese had genetic contacts in the past with the other very similar pastoral breeds of the Old World, especially those of Europe? Apart from those taken to France by M. Antoine (see above), I have not been able to find explicit evidence on the matter, but a few hypotheses are permissible. In view of the fact that the importation of Merino sheep from Spain to the Kingdom of Naples in various occasions is well documented, it is quite possible that specimens of mastines, although not mentioned, accompanied the consignments. The first two Bourbon kings of Naples were passionately fond of hunting, farming and the rural life in general. They were the biggest sheepmasters of the country, owning model masserie di pecore down in Puglia. Besides keeping a great number of the finest horses and hounds, they also had the finest mastini, exchanging the best animals of other bloodlines from home and abroad. Another well-known fact is that large herds of cattle used to be led west from old Hungary all the way to Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries providing a possible way of diffusion of the pastoral dogs of Eastern Europe, the ancestors of today’s Koovash, Choovach, etc. Before the era of the dairy cow, the sheep constituted the prevalent livestock of the Alps and if one considers that wolves were present there until the 19th century it is logical to think that there was also a population of sheep-guarding dogs. When Dandolo, who had his sheepfarm in the Alps, realised that he needed to defend his animals from the wolf, he sent his shepherd off to find a brace of mastini. The shepherd took two days going and coming which means that he found the dogs quite nearby and did not have to go south to the Appennines to find them which would have taken much more time. The last trace of sheepguarding dogs in the Alps is found in the book by M. Moyal (On the Road to Pastures New, 1956) which recounts the life of the shepherds of S. France that practised transhumance between the Alps and the Mediterranean seaboard. Although at the time, in the 1950s, they were not using such dogs any longer, the older men remembered them from their youth, a lingering relic of when there were wolves in the Alps.

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The ups and owns in the history of the Mastino Abruzzese follow those of the wolf and of the sheep. Some recent vicissitudes have already been recounted. During the 1960s it was thought that the wolf was becoming extinct and that there was no more use for sheep-guarding dogs. The very organisation of the sheep farms was undergoing drastic changes and this also influenced the condition of the canine breed. The high-bred nucleus had been the heritage of a few dozen families of great sheepmasters but because large properties with their superior culture died out in the 1950s, sheep-farming fell to a humbler level and the quality of the Mastino Abruzzese ran the risk of declining. The number of sheep has not diminished much but the resulting farms in reduced circumstances of just a few hundred head do not have the means for positive selection. In recent years sheep farming in continental Italy has been taken over to a large extent by Sardinians but these shepherds do not possess the culture of the sheep-guarding dog since wolves and bears have never existed in Sardinia. They have, it is true, begun using these dogs once arrived on the continent but they must be considered neophytes and lacking the lore of the old-time Abruzzo sheepmen. As it gradually became evident that the wolf would not disappear but was actually spreading out again, the concern for the usefulness of the dog rose again, this being in fact the only serious antidote. At this phase, the kennelbreeders could have stepped in and taken over from the big-time sheepmasters as depositaries of theMastino Abruzzese but they have always shunned this role, although many times given the cue. During the 1980s several reunions and country fairs were organised in order to bring together the cynophilists and the shepherds. Actually, the first meeting between the two parties occurred at the Foggia (Apulia) show in 1974 (Fig. 206). After this first occasion, a series of annual meetings were held at the sheep fairs of Pian di Roseto and at Campo Imperatore in Abruzzo, starting in 1982 (Fig. 207). The intention of the promoters, of whom I was one, was to establish a two-way relationship for the mutual benefit of each party, in a belated attempt to keep the Mastino Abruzzese and the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese as one breed. The old enfeebled registered strains could acquire the vigour and impressiveness of the working dogs and in exchange these could benefit 103



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

from the artificial selection practiced in kennels otherwise hardly possible on the sheep farms. For the benefit of the shepherds the artificial selection ought to have striven for the functional qualities and not just beauty for showing, the only ambition of the kennels up till then. As it turned out, only the cynophilists gained by these fairs. The Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese has been recurrently boosted by the influx of Mastino Abruzzese but there has never been any return of superior working stock from the kennels to the farms. An important cultural event in this period was the conference held at L’Aquila in August 1984 where L. Boitani, the Italian wolf expert, R. Coppinger from the livestock-guarding dog programme of the U.S. (Fig. 208) and myself were invited to speak on recent developments and give suggestions for the future. In the same year there was a fleeting moment in which the ENCI seemed to stretch out an arm to theMastino Abruzzese. One of the most prominent show judges of the time decided to look personally into the matter. He organised a gathering (Fig. 209) of a sufficient number of working dogs and proceeded to inspect their conformation to see whether they could be classified as molossoids because this would justify recognising them as a different breed from the Pastore MaremmanoAbruzzese which the E.N.C.I. classifies as lupoid! There are two mistakes in his approach. First of all, neither molossoid nor lupoid fits the conformation of the two dogs, as I have elsewhere remarked. The pastoral dog is in a conformation category of its own, for which I propose the term “mastinoid.” The other mistake is that the real issue between theMastino Abruzzese and the Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese is in performance and not in any morphological point. Working dogs have attentiveness/trustworthiness/protectiveness in their DNA and this is field tested at every generation since time immemorial; the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, instead, has been bred for seventy years to the ENCI standard which does not require functional tests. The ENCI judge who expected to unravel the matter merely in terms of conformation conveys the utter vanity of his methodological approach. In 1985 there followed another conference, this time under the official aegis of the E.N.C.I. This may be considered the last institutional effort towards some sort of syncretism between dog-showing and dogs working. The speakers were G. Giannelli, R. Coppinger, D. Mainardi, L. Guidobono Cavalchini, M. Perricone and P. Breber. The conference was chaired by the vicepresident of E.N.C.I., Oscar Monaco. A momentous turn of events came when, as the result of the renewed prestige of the working dog, the Regional Council of Abruzzo passed a bill in 1987 (Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Abruzzo, Anno XVIII – N. 20; 10.7.1987) for the conservation and promotion of the “Cane da Pastore Abruzzese” (Appen104

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dix VIII). It marks the complete and definitive parting of ways of the working dog and the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. The first point was to drop the adjective of “ Maremmano”, thus re-establishing a historical truth. It is a pity that the legislators did not render the naming even more significant and use “mastino” instead of “cane da pastore.” The bill declares that it wishes to foster that canine breed traditionally employed in the region for the protection of the flocks, considering it indispensable to the economy. In defining the breed, the text reveals a foremost concern for performance, placing functional traits (trustworthiness, devotion, protectiveness) before conformation. Unhappily, the bill contains a flaw which has stopped it from being implemented. The regional legislators have rather thoughtlessly included a representative of the Italian Kennel Club in the committee encharged with giving away the annual subsidies to the most meritorious working dogs. But since the Legge “ Regionale”, in fact, treads heavily in an area which the ENCI has long been used to consider as its own private garden, it was naïve to think that collaboration would come from this quarter. As the years went by the wolf population in Italy kept on increasing. The species was under the protection of the law since 1976 but the conservationists realised that if they did not find a way of stopping the inroads of the predator on livestock, the farmers would take the law in their hands and solve the problem by their own methods i.e. shotgun and poisoned bait. Boitani, the wolf expert, has already indicated in 1986 the way towards a tolerable co-existence of livestock and the wolf. His advice is the following. a) Subsidies for the construction of predator-proof stables and sheepfolds; b) All livestock must be shut in before nightfall; c) Each flock should be guarded by two or three dogs with spiked collars. d) The use of a breed of dogs suitable for defending livestock; e) No flocks larger than three hundred sheep per shepherd; f) Gradual reduction of livestock in the core areas of the wolf. The message was that, after all has been said and done, the immemorial method of sheep-guarding dogs remains the only way to reconcile livestock and wolf. Thanks to documentaries on television and image promotion by the conservationists, the wolf in Italy had recently acquired a certain widespread popularity but it was also understood that conservation cannot be at the expense of domestic livestock. Regional authorities have instituted a system of monetary compensation for the damage to the shepherds but this has proven unsatisfactory for various reasons, i.e. red-tape involved, lateness in the payments, difficulty in distinguishing deaths caused by wolves from those by stray dogs. 105



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During 1997 I was contacted by the French who were very much concerned with the recent arrival of the wolf in the Alpes Maritimes. The Assocation Nationale des Elus de la Montagne invited me to a meeting in Nice to be held between those in favour and those against the conservation of the species. The co-existence of sheep and wolves was impossible according to the livestock owners who were very vocal and positively denied that sheep-guarding dogs could work because of the way the sheep are farmed in the Alpes Maritimes. The flocks here are very large and dispersive, they are not accompanied by shepherds and are left by themselves for days on end in the high mountains. All the same, there were people who were trying to employ theChien de Pyrenées, now called Patou, to solve the problem. On the aside it should be remarked that the Chien des Pyrenées has undergone the same process as the Pastore MaremmanoAbruzzese. The last time these dogs in France had a chance to guard sheep against the wolf must have been a century ago since (Fig. 210) which they have been taken over and consequently beautified by cynophilists into the majestic dog we are familiar with. Has it retained the working traits of the pastoral dog? Did its working ancestor possess the current bulk and size which seems rather unsuitable for an active dog? Among the various wild prey species available in the Mercantour national park, I learned that the wolf concentrated on the mouflon. It falls an easy prey because in its original homeland of Sardinia and Corsica, from where it has only recently arrived on the continent, the wolf is absent. The mouflon has not developed a very efficient way of avoiding predation. In the same year I was approached separately by the Abruzzo National Park, by the World Wildlife Fund, and by the Legambiente, all bodies concerned with nature conservation and, in this instance, with the wolf. They asked me to prepare and carry out a programme for the diffusion of qualified Mastini Abruzzesi to shepherds operating in particularly sensitive areas. The Abruzzo National Park encompasses one of the two areas from where the wolf in Italy has never disappeared (the other being in Calabria) and where it reaches the highest density. It is also an area with the greatest pastoral tradition. My project, which I named “Arma Bianca” (Blanc Weapon) and for which I designed the logo (Fig. 211) (the project was destined for wide diffusion on the media), was planned as follows. The outlay consists in four contiguous dog-proof grassland enclosures of one hectare each, to which are attached ten kennels, four by six metres each. The collaboration of three sheep-farms operating in areas of high wolf density is also required. The initial stud dogs and the brood bitches are obtained from working stock and are placed in the kennels with access to the grassland enclosures where a small group of sheep is kept. This set-up allows for complete 106

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control over the matings while at same time keeping the dogs in their functional environment. The staff is composed of three biologists. The puppies born in this context are given out to the partner sheep-farms. After two years with sheep a report is made on how each individual has performed in its working capacity. Those judged excellent receive a Certificate of Proven Aptitude for Work (“Comprovata Attitudine al Lavoro”) and are brought back to the enclosures and used as breeding stock. The offspring of these receive a Certificate of Probable Aptitude for Work (“ Probabile Attitudine al Lavoro ”) and may be sold or ceded to whosoever needs them. After at least two years these may be promoted from “Probable” to “Proven Aptitude for Work” by the experts of the National Park on the verdict of shepherd, and may be used for breeding. The resulting puppies receive a “Probable” certificate, but now with two “Proven” generations behind them. Going on in this way, after just five generations, a mere ten years, the youngest generation will have all 62 ancestors of “Proven Aptitude for Work;” quite a guarantee of quality! It will be the care of the Park to keep the individuals with the longest line of “Proven” generations as brood-stock, in a continuing collaboration of give-and-take with the shepherds, the only ones truly in a position of passing judgement. The first task that befell the Blanc Weapon project was to come to the help of the Norwegians who were having trouble with bears in the region of Nord Trøndelag. These animals were coming in from Sweden and helping themselves to the sheep. The regional authorities had decided to tackle the problem with the use of sheep-guarding dogs. The project was based at a sheep-farm in the hamlet of Bakke (Lierne) at an altitude of 400 m, just three km from the Swedish border. Bernt Hågensen, the owner of the farm, called me up to establish contact and arrange matters. Since the Norwegians had no knowledge at all of pastoral dogs it was necessary to provide them with experienced adult dogs so that there could be no mistakes, as would have certainly happened with puppies. To find the animals I went to Gregorio Rotolo, a sheep farmer of my acquaintance who keeps his flocks in the mountains of Scanno, an area with a high density of large carnivores and where the mastini are never idle. Out of his twenty or so dogs we chose a male, Lazzarone, and a female, Lola(Figs. 212, 213). Adult dogs are expensive because they have proven themselves and therefore are guaranteed, as compared to puppies which are only a hope. Bernt and his brother Peter arrived on 1 st May 1998 in a Chevrolet Silverado with a horse trailer. At 9.30 p. m. on 2nd May Bernt, Peter, Gregorio and myself left Scanno for Norway with the two dogs in the roomy trailer behind, bedded comfortably down in fresh straw. By 6.30 p.m. of the day after we were in Berlin where we slept. At 1 p.m. on 4 th May we boarded the ferry at Kiel for Norway. Once arrived in Oslo we had another 800 km to drive. At 2 p.m. on 6 th May we finally arrived 107



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

at Bakken. It was the first time that Lazzarone and Lola had travelled in a car, or had left their native farm, yet they never manifested any untoward emotion or behaviour during the long journey; and kept a perfect phlegm throughout. My instructions to Bernt had been to place the two in a small pen next to the sheep for a few days in order to give time for the binding relationship to form, but Gregorio swept aside my precautions and let them loose right away. The dogs seemed to instantly settle down but we did have a few qualms, nonetheless, when more than once we saw one or the other head off for the horizon. But they were merely taking their new bearings and always turned back. Once back in Italy I kept in touch with Bernt and I was pleased to learn that our effort had not been in vain; the pair was giving them full satisfaction to the dismay of the marauding Swedish bears. After this bright beginning “Arma Bianca” came shortly to a standstill from lack of funding. The projects of WWF and Legambiente were very similar and this made them pool their efforts, at least in the first phase. The object of WWF (Fig. 214) was to distribute Mastini Abruzzesi to shepherds in the Western Alps where wolves were recently reappearing, migrating up from S. Italy, and to shepherds in the Eastern Alps where bears and jackals were colonising the area coming in from the Balkans. Legambiente, instead, (Fig. 215) was concerned in providing livestock owners in three recently established national parks in Central Italy, all frequented by wolves, with superior-quality pastoral dogs. To begin with I established a breeding station at the sheep-farm of a friend, Nunzio Marcelli, at the town of Anversa degli Abruzzi (Fig. 216). Marcelli owned a thousand head of sheep but had recently lost nearly all his dogs because of poisoned bait which had lately been laid out by the boar hunters as a reprisal against his dogs for their habit of going after this game. There was the need, then, to start from scratch. Knowing where to find good stock, I acquired seven male and eight female puppies from four different bloodlines and gave them to Marcelli to grow up with his flocks. On reaching maturity they became the brood-stock for producing the animals needed by the projects. Before conferring the dogs I had to consider the existing situation at the candidate sheep-farm. If adultmastini already existed on the premises then only the youngest puppies could be distributed. In the case of amasseria completely devoid of dogs but with people familiar with the nature of the breed, either puppies or older individuals would be acceptable. These are the two situations met with in the national parks of Central Italy where the local culture is familiar with the breed. It was quite another matter in the Alps. The shepherds there had no idea of pastoral dogs and were frankly rather doubtful of the trustworthiness of the animals. Their experience was that any dog, given the chance, will chase and kill sheep. In these circumstances only perfectly-formed and tested 108

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individuals of at least one-year could be distributed. The shepherds of the Alps would not have known how to properly bring a puppy up and the dog would have been spoiled as far as work was concerned. There was nothing special about presenting puppies to the shepherds of the national parks of Central Italy. Most of them already hadmastini and there was simply the inducement of giving improved stock to smarten their bloodlines (Fig. 217). Far more gratifying was the work in the Alps where I was able to witness the change from barely-concealed scepticism of the shepherds to their unconditional enthusiasm. The first pair, a sub-adult male and a female, was consigned on 24th April 1999 to a man who lived in the mountains of Friuli (Savogna) next to the Slovenian border. His livestock was being beleaguered by bears coming over from the neighbouring country. On 23 rd May two farms in Piedmont (Vinadio, Dronero), at the western extremity of the range, received a pair of sub-adults each. The problem in this area was with a pack of wolves which had recently settled just over the border in France and tended to visit this side also during the summer. In April of the next year another two shepherds from Piedmont (Borgo S. Dalmazzo, Avigliana) received a pair each. The instructions I gave to all these people was to keep the animals penned for a few days inside the stable in order to let them make friends with their new charges. In one case the male broke out the first night and the farmer thought it was lost, but it came back soon enough. It had been properly conditioned and the attraction from the sheep, even though unfamiliar ones, prevailed over everything. While I was in Piedmont the project was visited by a Swiss delegation also interested in our work since the predator was working its way along the Alpine chain and there had already been the first signs of its presence in Valais and Vaud. One of the delegation was thinking of putting to use the St. Bernard dog! The dogs in Piedmont became the subject of a thesis of a student reading Forestry Sciences at the University of Turin. As a special favour, not being part of the programme, I was requested to present a pair of sub-adults to a sheep farmer in Slovenia based at Nemska Loka (Kočevje), a very wild area with a high density of bears, wolves, lynxes and jackals. Thus in early May 2000 we delivered the usual pair. The very first day the animals had an unpleasant experience because they ran into an unfamiliar electric fence. The bitch recovered soon enough but the dog fled and disappeared. It eventually emerged that it had been sequestered by neighbouring gypsies and the man eventually managed to ransom it back after three weeks. The shepherd was quite amazed at the relationship our dogs had with sheep. He was quite familiar with sheep-guarding dogs and already had three specimens of the Balkan version, which is often known as Sharplaninatz, but they came nowhere near behaving so purposefully as ours. My impression was that this 109



Paolo Breber / The Sheep-Guarding Dog of Abruzzo

was not through any inborn fault of his dogs but rather from the way he had conditioned them. I suspect that when they were puppies he had not brought them up with the sheep. He would keep them tied up out of the way while the sheep were in the sheds and then bring them along when going out to pasture. But the animals had no special feeling for the sheep. The man was instead impressed how intimately our dogs cared for their charges, living in their midst all the time and showing concern with muzzle contact. Recounting his problems with predators, the man said that the dogs were generally quite effective except with the lynx which apparently has very little scent and therefore frustrates the guardians. He said you can tell when the dogs sense a lynx because they bark aimlessly in the air not knowing where to look. The last consignment in 2000 was a male and two females to a farm in the hinterland of Trieste (Sgonico Monrupino) (Fig. 218). The problem here was with stray dogs. The farmer had already tried to use sheep-guarding dogs but had been disappointed because, alas, he had sought them through the conventional channels and had acquired “Maremmani.” After having tried ours, he never tired of stressing the contrast with the former which had proven so inadequate. A curious aspect of the mentality of shepherds emerged in the case of the farmer of Savogna in Friuli. With the people in the Alps who had no knowledge of sheep-guarding dogs and how they are employed, I made it clear that just one was insufficient, and the bare minimum was a pair out of which, eventually, to build up a pack of three to five for every flock. The farmer of Savogna, however, resisted these instructions saying he just wanted a male because he had just a few sheep and would not know what to do with all the inevitable litters. I repeated that just a male and female were frankly not really enough for efficient work in the face of the local problem of marauding bears, quite independently of the smallness of the flock. In any case, he could distribute the offspring to the other livestock owners of the area and it would take many litters before saturating the demand. Furthermore, the lifespan of working dogs is short, I explained, and the risk of surplus individuals is remote. No, he was not convinced. Having spent these reasonable and logical arguments, I retorted rather exasperatedly, “You can always put them down; after all, you are shepherds and are hardened to such things like slaughtering lambs.” “No!” intervened the wife at this point, “we could never do such a thing: the lambs are used to such treatment but not the dogs.” They did, in the end, take the pair.

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ABATE E. 1903. Guida dell’Abruzzo. Ed. C.A.I., Roma. ANEM, COMMISSION ENVIRONNEMENT. AVRIL 1996. Premiers éléments d’enquête sur le retour du loup dans les Alpes Françaises. ANON. 1833. The Shepherds of the Abruzzi. The Penny Magazine, March n. 62. ANON. 1978. Abruzzese razza a sé. Mondo Canino, 2(1). ANON. 1985. Evoluzione di una antica razza. I Nostri Cani, 6. ANON. 1985. Editoriale. I Nostri Cani, 9. ANON. 1987. Cani da pastore italiani non riconosciuti. La Grande Enciclopedia del Cane. II(17), De Agostini. ANTHONIUS O. 1922. Grundzűge einer Stammesgeschichte der Haustiere. G. Fischer, Jena. ARICI C. 1824. La Pastorizia. Tip. G. Veroli, Bologna. AURIGI M. 1983. Il cane da pastore abruzzese emigra. Informatore Zootecnico, 6. AURIGI M. 1984. Alla ribalta il pastore abruzzese. Terra e Vita, 42. AVESTA. 2004. Ed. a cura di A. Alberti. Classici UTET. Torino. BALLOTTA F. 1937. Il cane da pastore italiano. La Rivista degli Allevatori, V(6): 17-18. BARBIERI I. 1975. Lezioni di Cinognostica. Ed. E.N.C.I., Mil-ano. BARSANTI D. 1987. Allevamento e Transumanza in Toscana. Ed. Medicea, Firenze, pp 294. BIONDO M. 1544. De Canibus et Venatione libellus. Roma. BIRAGO F. 1626. Trattato Cinegetico. Bidelli, Milano. BOITANI L. 1976. Il lupo in Italia: censimento, distribuzione e prime ricerche eto-ecologiche nell’area del Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo. In: F. Pedrotti ed., S.O.S. Fauna, Animali in Pericolo in Italia, Camerino. BOITANI L. 1986. Dalla Parte del Lupo. Airone ed., pp 270. BORGIOLI E. 1969. Genetica e Miglioramento degli Animali Domestici. Edagricole, Bologna, 3a ed. BOSCAGLI G. 1985. Il Lupo. Lorenzini ed., pp 239. BREBER P. 1969. Osservazioni sul cane da pastore denominato maremmanoabruzzese. I Nostri Cani, 14(1). BREBER P. 1971. Il cane da pastore abruzzese. I Nostri Cani, 17(2,3). BREBER P. 1973. Il cane da pastore maremmano-abruzzese. I Nostri Cani, 19(3). 111





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BREBER P. 1974. Alcune note sulla tipicità del capo del cane da pastore maremmano-abruzzese. I Nostri Cani, 20(4). BREBER P. 1977. Il Cane da Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. Ed. Olimpia, collana “Nuova Cinofilia”, Firenze, pp. 173. BREBER P. 1980. La funzione ed il carattere della razza. In: Il Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. A cura del Circolo del Pastore MaremmanoAbruzzese, Firenze. BREBER P. 1980. The Abruzzo shepherd’s dog. Komondor News, 7(1). BREBER P. 1982. In America il Pastore Maremmano difende le greggi dall’assalto dei coioti. I Nostri Cani, 7. BREBER P. 1983. Il Cane da Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. Ed. Olimpia, collana “Nuova Cinofilia”. 2a ed. aggiornata, pp. 205. BREBER P. 1984. Bello, bianco e disoccupato. Illustrazione Abruzzese, 1 (1). BREBER P. 1984. A tu per tu col lupo. I Nostri Cani, 5. BREBER P. (ed.). 1985. Il Cane dei Pastori Abruzzesi: Atti della Tavola Rotonda, L’Aquila, 29.VIII.1984, Comune de L’Aquila, Gruppo Cinofilo Aquilano, pp. 32. BREBER P. 1986. The Maremmano Abruzzese Shepherd Dog. The functions and character of the breed. The Shepherd, Dec. BREBER P. 1988. Il fedele alleato del pastore. L’Allevatore di Ovini e Caprini, V(11). BREBER P. 1993. Il Cane da Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. Ed. Olimpia, collana “Nuova Cinofilia”, 5a ed., 303 pp. BREBER P. & CHELINI A. 1981. I cani da pastore Maremmano-Abruzzesi così diversi, così puri. I Nostri Cani, 11. CAGNOLI F., COLONNA L., PISCHEDDA G. 1952. Il cane da pastore abruzzese. Rassegna Cinofila, 5. CANZIANI E. 1928. Through the Appennines and the Lands of the Abruzzi. W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 120-1. CELONA E. 2002. A volte ritornano. Parchi, 35: 48-53. CHAMBRE D’AGRICULTURE DES ALPES-MARITIMES, FDSEA, SYNDICAT DÉPARTEMENTAL OVIN. 1996. Loups et élevage, une cohabitation impossible. Vie Agricole et Cooperative, suppl. 874, Janvier, 12 pp. CHRISTIAN D. 2000. A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Vol. I. Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford (UK). CIRCOLO DEL PASTORE MAREMMANO ABRUZZESE. 1985. Circolare Informativa per i Soci, pp. 36. CLUB ALPINO ITALIANO, SEZIONE DI BOLOGNA. 1881. L’Appennino Bolognese, descrizioni ed itinerari. Bologna. CLUTTON-BROCK J. 1999. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK). 112

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COLACICCO G. 1959. Caccia in Puglia e Lucania. Tip. Leone, Foggia. COLAPIETRA R. 1972. La Dogana di Foggia. Quaderni Foggiani n. 1, E.C.L., Bari. COLY J. 1998. Les Chiens des Pyrenées. Ed. Privat. COLUMELLA L.J.M. 1954. On Agriculture. Vol. II. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. & William Heinemann Ltd., London. COPPINGER R. & COPPINGER L. 1978. Livestock Guarding Dogs for U.S. Agriculture. Livestock Dog Project, Montague, MA., 25 pp. COPPINGER R. & COPPINGER L. 1982. Livestock-guarding dogs that wear sheep’s clothing. Smithsonian, 13(1). COPPINGER R. & COPPINGER L. 2001. Dogs. Scribner, New York, 352 pp. COPPINGER R., LORENZ J., & COPPINGER L. 1983. Introducing livestock guarding dog to sheep and goat producers in the United States. In: A.C. Crabb & R.E. Marsh eds., Proc. 13th Vertebrate Pest Conf. Dept. of Range Management, Univ. of California, Davis, California. COPPINGER R., LORENZ J., GLENDINNING J. & PINARDI P. 1983. Attentiveness of guarding dogs for reducing predation on domestic sheep. Journal of Range Management, 36(3): 275-279. COPPINGER R. & COPPINGER L. 1994. Renovation of livestock guarding dog management in Slovakia. Draft Proposal. Hampshire College, Amherst MA, USA. CORSINI T., PLATTS R., CORSINI A., ARCHER E.C., SPEARS G., SPEARS B., BRIERLEY V. & LOCOCK L.M. 1975. The Maremma Sheepdog. Maremma Sheepdog Club of Great Britain. COSTA O.G. 1839. Fauna del Regno di Napoli. Napoli. COUPLET G. 1952. Il Cane da Guardia, da Difesa e Poliziotto. Ed. Hoepli, Milano, 7a ed., 314 pp. CURATO R. 1933. Piano Generale per la Bonifica del Comprensorio. Consorzio Generale per la Bonifica e la Trasformazione Fondiaria della Capitanata. Tipografia della Camera dei Deputati, Roma. DANDOLO V. 1804. Del Governo delle Pecore Spagnuole e Italiane. Tip. L. Veladini, Milano, 327 pp. D’ANDREA U. 1976. Notizie Relative a Catture e Uccisioni di Lupi in Provincia di Aquila tra gli anni 1810-1823 e 1877-1924. Tip. Casamari. D’ANDREA U. 1988. Catture ed Uccisioni di Orsi e Lupi in Abruzzo Citeriore Durante i Secoli Passati. Tip. Abbazia Casamari, Frosinone, 104 pp. DE CUPIS C. 1911. Le Vicende dell’Agricoltura e della Pastorizia nell’Agro Romano. Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, Roma, pp. 789. DE SANTIS MANGELLI A. 1918. La Pastorizia e l’Alimentazione di Roma nel Medio Evo e nell’Età Moderna. Roma, P. Maglione & C. Strini. Pp 239. DESPLANQUES H. 1975. Campagne Umbre. Regione Umbra, Perugia. 113





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DI STEFANO S. 1731. La Ragion Pastorale I & II. Tip. Roselli, Napoli. D’ORAZIO E. 1906-1907. La pastorizia abruzzese dalle origini agli inizi del ‘900. R.A.S.L.A. Ristampa 1985, I Tascabili d’Abruzzo 2, A. Pollo ed., 140 pp. ENTE NAZIONALE DELLA CINOFILIA ITALIANA. 1958. Caratteri Etnici del Cane da Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. A cura del Circolo del C.P.M.-A., ed. E.N.C.I., Milano. FAELLI F. 1908. Cani e Gatti. Ed. Hoepli, Milano, 429 pp. FEDERAZIONE ITALIANA CONSORZI AGRARI. 1961. Allevamenti Italiani, 2. Ovini. A cura dell’Ufficio Tecnico, ed. R.E.D.A., Roma, FEHRINGER O. 1940. Unser Hund. Ed. D. Reimer, Berlin, 186 pp. FERDINANDO IV DI BORBONE. 1965. Diario 1796-1799. A cura di U. Caldora, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 585 pp. FIORONE F. Il Maremmano e l’Abruzzese. Rivista di Zootecnia, 50(1): 10-11. FIORONE F. 1977. Il Piccolo Fiorone, Enciclopedia Tascabile del Cane. De Vecchi Editore, Milano, 227 pp. FRADDOSIO G. 1993. Un viaggio nella Storia del Mastino Abruzzese. Schena Editore, Fasano, 45 pp. FRADDOSIO G. 1995. Un viaggio nella Storia del Mastino Abruzzese. Schena Editore, Fasano, 59 pp. FRANKLING E. 1978. Practical Dog Breeding and Genetics. Popular Dogs, London, pp.191. GATTI G. 1977. Le Lane d’Italia. E.L.S.A. Editoriale Laniera s.p.a., 269 pp. GALLESE A. 1955. Il pastore d’Abruzzo. Rassegna Cinofila 97:24-25. GIRARDON C.A. 1930. Il Cane nella Storia e nella Civiltà del Mondo. Istituto d’Arti Grafiche, Bergamo, 320 pp. GRAGERA DIAZ F. 2001. El Legado del Lobo. Ed. Regional de Extremadura, Merida, 287 pp. GREGOROVIUS F. 1968. Wanderjahre in Italien. C.H. Beck, Műnchen. GUAZZARONI F. 1934. Spunti di Cinofilia. Umbria Verde, 3(12). HAMMOND A. 1980. The Maremma Sheepdog. Crufts, 1980. HAMMOND A. 1982. A visit to the shepherds’ dogs. Maremmarandum 6(4). HEDIN S.V. 1905. Abenteuer in Tibet. F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, pp.414. HUBBARD C.L.B. 1947. Working Dogs of the World. Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. London, pp. 240. HUBBARD C.L.B. 1964. The Observer’s Book of Dogs. F. Warne & Co., London & New York. HUBER A.L. 1983. Can sheep be safely grazed? Part 1, Southern Sheep Producer, Dec. HUBER A.L. 1985. Can sheep be safely grazed? Part 2, Southern Sheep Producer, 3(9). 114

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HUMME R. 1976. Mit der Meute auf Sau und Hirsch. Die Pirsch, 12(28). HUTT F.B. 1979. Genetics for Dog Breeders. W.H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 245 pp. KELLER O. 1980. Die Antike Tierwelt, erste Band: Säugetiere. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim – New York. LATTES COIFMANN I. 1983. Trema coyote, arriva l’italiano. Europeo, 21 maggio. LENORMANT F. 1883. A Travers l’Apulie et la Lucanie. Levy, Paris, 419 pp. LETTA C. 1952. I Marsi e il Fucino nell’Antichità. Ce.S.D.I.R., Monografie e supplemento degli “Atti”, 3, Milano, 175 pp. LAFISCA S., TURCHETTO M. 1983. Recensione de “Il Cane da Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese.” Bollettino di Zoologia 50(3/4). LAURO F. 1973. Il Cane nella Legge per la Legge. Ed. Il Momento Legislativo, Roma, 182 pp. LINNELL J.D.C., SMITH M.E., ODDEN J., KACZENSKY P. & SWENSON J.E. 1996. Carnivores and sheep farming in Norway. 4 Strategies for the reduction if carnivore-livestock conflicts: a review. Oppdragsmelding 443, NINANIKU, 118 pp. LUCIOLLI G. 1985. Due giorni tra i cani pastori maremmano-abruzzesi. I Nostri Cani, 10. LUQUET M. 1985. Le Chien de Montagne des Pyrenées. Ed. De Vecchi, Paris, 191 pp. LORENZ J. & COPPINGER L. 1986. Raising and Training a Livestock-Guarding Dog. Extension Circular 1238, April, Oregon State University Extension Service, 8 pp. LORENZ J.R., COPPINGER R. & SUTHERLAND M.R. 1986. Causes and economic effects of mortality in livestock guarding dogs. Journal of Range Management 39(4): 293-295. MACDONELL A. 1908. In the Abruzzi. Chatto & Windus, London, 309 pp. MCCLELLAN G. 1988. Maremma Livestock Guarding Dogs, the Northern Way. Maremma Sheepdog Club of America, 1818 W. Bippley, Lake Odessa, Mich. 48849, 70 pp. MANICONE M. 1807. La Fisica Appula. Napoli. MOYAL M. 1956. On the Road to Pastures New. Phoenix House Ltd., London, 160 pp. PANTANELLI E. 1932. Studio di massima per la trasformazione agraria del Comprensorio di Bonifica delle valli del Cervaro e del Candelaro. Firenze. PARETO R. 1872. Relazione sulle Condizioni Agrarie e Igieniche della Campagna di Roma. Annali del Minstero per l’Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, Firenze-Genova, 219 pp. PATINI V. 1794. Saggio sulla pastorizia dell’Abruzzo Ulteriore. Effemeridi Enciclopediche, Nov., Napoli. 115





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PETRUCELLI E. ed. 1999. La Civiltà della Transumanza. Cosmo Iannone Editore. 692 pp. PHÉBUS G. 1986. Le Livre de la Chasse. Editions du Félin, Philippe Lebaud Ed. PISCHEDDA G. 1953. Differenze fondamentali tra abruzzese e maremmano. Cani 8(3):19. PIETRA P. 1958. La Madonna del Divino Amore, cenni storici. Roma. PRATESI F. 1983. Il maremmano varca l’oceano. L’Espresso, 20 marzo. PRATESI F. 1983. Cani pastore italiani per difendere le pecore USA. Corriere della Sera, 22 febbraio. PUGNETTI. G. 1980. Cani. Ed. A. Mondadori, Milano, 441 pp. RENDELLA P. 1718. De Pascuis, Defensis, Forestis, et Aquis. Tip. G.B. Parri, Napoli, 170 pp. ŠARKĂNY P. & ŎCSAG I. 1977. Dogs of Hungary. Corvina Press, Budapest, 141 pp. SCANDIANESE, T.G. GANZARINI DETTO LO. 1556. I quattro libri della Caccia. Venezia. SCANZIANI P. 1958. Abruzzesi e Maremmani. Cani. SOLARO G. & GROPPI L. 1924. Caratteristiche del cane da pastore maremmano detto anche abruzzese. Bollettino K.C.I. SOLARO G. 1938. Caratteri differenziali fra il tipo maremmano ed il tipo abruzzese del cane da pastore italiano di pianura. Rassegna Cinofila, 6. SOLARO G. 1958. Sunto delle Lezioni di Cinognostica. Ed. E.N.C.I., Milano. STEPHANITZ M.V. 1950. The German Shepherd Dog. Verein fűr Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV), Augsburg, 983 pp. STEWART R. 2004. The Places in Between. A Harvest Original, Harcourt, Inc. Orlando. 299 pp. STRUTT A.J. 1843. A Pedestrian Tour of Calabria and Sicily. TRINCHIERI R. 1953. Vita di Pastori nella Campagna Romana. Fratelli Palombi ed., Roma, 157 pp. VALDERRAMA J. 1986. Mastines Espaňoles. Ed. De Vecchi, Barcelona, 157 pp. VALENTINI C. 1970. La protezione del Lupo. I Nostri Cani, 10. VALVERDE J.A. & TERUELO S. 2001. Los Lobos de Morla. Al Andalus Ed., Sevilla, 550 pp. VARRO M.T. 1967. On Agriculture. W. Heinemann, London & Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. VECCHIO A. 1904. Il Cane. Ed. Hoepli, 2a ed., Milano, 442 pp. VIAZZI L. 1986. Se vedevano un cane inoperoso abbaiavano contro l’”imboscato”. L’Alpino 65(1). WHITNEY L.F. 1980 How to Breed Dogs. Howell Book House, New York. ZAVATTARO S. 1996. I Cani da Pastore dell’Est. De Vecchi Editore. 206 pp. ZIMEN E. 1980. Der Wolf, Mythos und Verhalten. Meyster Verlag, Wien, 333 pp. 116

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Appendices





Appendix I. Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 B.C.), On Agriculture. The Loeb Classical Library, 1967. William Heinemann Ltd, London. (Transaltion by W.D. Hooper, revised by H.B. Ash.) IX. “There is left,” said Atticus, “of the discussion of quadrupeds only the topic of dogs; but it is of great interest to those of us who keep fleece-bearing flocks, the dog being the guardian of the flock, which needs such a champion to defend it. Under this head come especially sheep but also goats, as these are the common prey of the wolf, and we use dogs to protect them. In a herd of swine, however, there are some members which can defend themselves, namely, boars, barrows, and sows; for they are very much like wild boars, which have often killed dogs in the forest with their tusks. And why speak about the larger animals? For I know that while a herd of mules was feeding and a wolf came upon them, the animals actually whirled about and kicked it to death; that bulls often stand facing different ways, with their hind-quarters touching, and easily drive off wolves with their horns. As there are, then, two sorts of dogs – the hunting-dog suited to chase the beasts of the forest, and the other which is procured as a watch-dog and is of importance to the shepherd – I shall speak of the latter under nine divisions, according to the scientific division which has been set forth. “In the first place, they should be procured of the proper age, as puppies and dogs over age are of no value for guarding either themselves or sheep, and sometimes fall prey to wild beasts. They should be comely in face, of good size, with eyes more or less dark, matching nostrils, lips blackish or reddish, the upper lip neither too drawn nor pendulous, well-fitting jaws with the two lower canines projecting outwards left and right whereas the upper ones being straight rather than curved, the lips covering the teeth, large head, large and drooping ears, thick shoulders and neck, the thigh and shanks long, legs straight rather than bowed, large, wide paws which spread as it walks, the toes separated, the claws hard and curving, the sole of the foot not horny or too hard, but rather spongy, as it were, and soft; with body tapering at the top of the thigh, the backbone neither projecting nor swayed, tail thick; with a deep bark, wide gape, preferably white in colour, so that they be more readily 117



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distinguished in the dark; and of a leonine appearance. Bitches, in addition, should have well formed udders with teats of equal size. Care should also be taken that they be of good breed; accordingly they receive their names from the districts from which they come: Spartans, Epirotes, Sallentines. You should be careful not to buy dogs from huntsmen or butchers – in the latter case because they are too sluggish to follow the flock, and in the other because if they see a hare or a stag they will follow it rather than the sheep. It is better, therefore, to buy from a shepherd a bitch which has been trained to follow sheep, or one that has no training at all; for a dog forms a habit for anything very easily, and the attachment it forms for shepherds can be stronger than the one it develops for sheep. Publius Aufidius Pontanus, of Amiternum, had bought some herds in furthest Umbria, the purchase including the dogs but not the shepherds, but providing that the shepherds should take them to the pastures of Metapontum and to market at Heraclea. When the men who had taken them there had returned home, the dogs, without direction and simply from the longing for their masters, returned to the shepherds in Umbria a few days later, though it was a journey of many days, having lived off the country. And yet not one of those shepherds had done what Saserna, in his book on agriculture, directed: that a man who wanted a dog to follow him should throw him a boiled frog! It is very important that the dogs be all of the same family, as those which are related are the greatest protection to one another. The fourth point is that of purchase: possession passes when the dog is delivered by the former owner to the next. With regard to health and liability to damage, the same precautions are taken as in the case of sheep, except that it is advisable to make the following stipulation: some people fix the price of dogs per head, others stipulate that pups go with their mother, others that two pups count as one dog just as normally two lambs count as one sheep, and many sustain that those dogs accustomed to being together should not be separated. “The food of dogs is more like that of man than that of sheep: they eat scraps of meat and bones, not grass and leaves. Great care must be taken for their supply of food; for hunger will drive them to hunt for food, if it is not provided, and take them away from the flock - even if they do not, as some think, come to the point of disproving the ancient proverb, or even go so far as to enact the story of Actaeon, and sink their teeth in their master. You should also feed them barley bread, but not without soaking it in milk; for when they have become accustomed to eating that kind of food they will not easily stray from the flock. They are not allowed to feed on the flesh of dead sheep, for fear that the taste will make them less inclined to spare the flock. They are also fed on bone broth and even broken bones as well; for these make their teeth stronger and their mouths of wider gape, because their jaws are spread with greater 118

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force, and the savour of the marrow makes them more keen. Their habit is to eat during the day when they are out with the flocks, and at evening time when these are folded. The beginning of breeding is fixed at the opening of spring, for at that time they are said to be ‘in heat,’ that is, to show their desire for mating. Those that conceive at that time have a litter about the time of the summer solstice, for they usually carry their young for three months. During the period of gestation they should be fed barley bread rather than wheat bread, for they are better nourished on the former and yield a larger supply of milk. In the matter of rearing after birth, if the litter is large you should at once pick those that you wish to keep and dispose of the others. The fewer you leave the better they will grow, because of the abundance of milk. Chaff and other like stuff is spread under them, because they are more easily reared on a soft bedding. The pups open their eyes within twenty days; for the first two months after birth they are not taken from the mother, but are weaned by degrees. Several of them are driven into one place and teased to make them fight, so as to make them more keen; but they are not allowed to tire themselves out, as this makes them sluggish. They are also accustomed to being tied, at first with slight leashes; and if they try to gnaw these they are whipped to keep them from forming a habit of doing this. On rainy days the kennels should be bedded with leaves or fodder, and this for two purposes: to keep them from being muddied, and to keep them from getting chilled. Some people castrate them, because they think that this means they are less likely to leave the flock; others do not, because they think this makes them less keen. Some people crush filberts in water and rub the mixture over their ears and between their toes, as the flies and worms and fleas make ulcers there if you do not use the ointment. To protect them from being wounded by wild beasts, collars are placed on them – the so-called melium, that is, a belt around the neck made of stout leather with nails having heads; under the nail heads there is sewed a piece of soft leather, to prevent the hard iron from injuring the neck. The reason for this is that if a wolf or other beast has been wounded by these nails, this makes the other dogs also, which do not have the collar, safe. The number of dogs is usually determined by the size of the flock; it is thought to be about right for one dog to follow each shepherd. But the number varies with the circumstances; thus in countries where wild beasts are plentiful there should be more, as is usually the case with those who escort the flocks to summer and winter pastures through distant woodland trails. On the other hand, for a flock feeding near the steading two dogs to the farm are sufficient. These should be a male and a female, for in this case they are more watchful, as one makes the other more keen, and if one of the two is sick that the flock may not be without a dog.”

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Appendix II. Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (1st century A.D.). On Agriculture. The Loeb Classical Library, 1964, William Heinemann Ltd, London. (Translation by E.S. Forster and E.H. Heffner.) XII. I have now, unless I am mistaken, dealt in sufficient detail with animals used for ploughing and other cattle and with the herdsmen who are employed to look after and watch over flocks of four-footed animals at home and out of doors with all the resources of human intelligence. Now, as I promised in the earlier part of my treatise, I will speak of the dumb guardians of the flocks; though it is wrong to speak of the dog as a dumb guardian; for what human being more clearly or so vociferously gives warning of the presence of the wild beast or of a thief as the dog by its barking? What servant is more attached to his master than a dog? What companion more faithful? What guardian more incorruptible? What more wakeful night-watchman can be found? Lastly, what more steadfast avenger or defender? To buy and keep a dog ought, therefore, to be among the first things which a farmer does, because it is the guardian of the farm, of its produce, of the household and of the cattle. There are three different reasons for procuring and keeping a dog. One type of dog is chosen to oppose the plots of human beings and watches over the farm and all its appurtenances; a second kind for repelling the attacks of men and wild beasts and keeping an eye at home on the stables and abroad on the flocks as they feed; the third kind is acquired for the purposes of the chase, and not only does not help the farmer but actually lures him away from his work and makes him lazy about it. We must, therefore, speak of the farm-yard dog and the sheep-dog; for the sporting hound has nothing to do with the art which we profess. As guardian of the farm a dog should be chosen which is of ample bulk with a loud and sonorous bark in order that it may terrify the malefactor, first because he hears it and then because he sees it; indeed, sometimes without even being seen it puts to flight the crafty plotter merely by the terror which its growling inspires. It should be the same colour all over, white being the colour which should be rather chosen for a sheep-dog and black for a farm-yard dog; for a dog of varied colouring is not to be recommended for either purpose. The shepherd prefers a white dog because it is unlike a wild beast, and sometimes a plain means of distinction is required in the dogs when one is driving off wolves in the obscurity of early morning or even at dusk, lest one strike a dog instead of a wild beast. The farmyard dog, which is pitted against the wicked wiles of men, has a more alarming appearance if it is black in the case the thief approaches in the clear light of day, whereas at night it is invisible because it 120

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is like the shadow and so, under the cover of darkness, the dog can approach the crafty thief with greater certainty. A squarely built dog is preferred to one which is long or short, and it should have a head so large as to appear to form the largest part of it; it should have ears which droop and hang down, eyes dark or light, sparkling with rays of vivid light, a broad and shaggy chest, wide shoulders, thick, rough legs and a short tail; the joints of its feet and its claws, which the Greeks call drakes, should be very large. Such are the points which will meet with most approval in all farm-yard dogs. In character they should neither be very mild nor, on the other hand, savage and cruel; if they are mild, they fawn on everyone, including the thief; if they are fierce they attack even the people of the house. It is enough that they should be stern but not fawning, so that they sometimes look even upon their companions in servitude with a somewhat wrathful eye, while they always blaze with anger against strangers. Above all they should be seen to be vigilant in their watch and not given to wandering, but diligent and cautious rather than rash; for the cautious do not give the alarm unless they have discovered something for certain, whereas the rash are aroused by any vain noise and groundless suspicion. I have thought it necessary to mention these points, because it is not nature alone but education as well which forms character, so that, when there is an opportunity of buying a dog, we may choose one with these qualities and that when we are going to train dogs which have been born at home, we may bring them up on such principles as these. It does not matter much if farm-yard dogs are heavily built and lack speed, since they have to function at close quarters and where they are posted rather than at a distance and over a wide area; for they should always remain around the enclosures and within the buildings, indeed they ought never go out farther from home and can perfectly well carry out their duties by cleverly scenting anyone who approaches and frightening him by barking and not allowing him to come any nearer, or, if he insists on approaching, violently attacking him. Their first duty is not to allow themselves to be attacked, their second duty to defend themselves with courage and pertinacity if they are provoked. So much for the dogs which guard the house; our next subject is sheep-dogs. A dog which is to guard cattle ought not to be as lean and swift of foot as one which pursues deer and stags and the swiftest of animals, nor so fat and heavily built as the dog which guards the farm and the granary, but it must, nevertheless, be strong and to a certain extent prompt to act and vigorous, since the purpose for which it is acquired is to pick quarrels and to fi ght and also to move quickly, since it has to repel the stealthy lurking of the wolf and to follow the wild beast as it escapes with its prey and make it drop it and bring it back again. Therefore a dog of a rather long, slim build is better able to deal with 121



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these emergencies than one which is short or even squarely built, since, as I have said, sometimes the necessity of pursuing a wild beast with speed demands this. The other joints in sheep-dogs if they resemble the limbs of farm-yard dogs meet with equal approval. Practically the same food should be given to both types of dog. If the farm is extensive enough to support herds of cattle, barley-flour with whey is a suitable food for all dogs without distinction; but if the land is closely planted with young shoots and affords no pasture, they must be given their fill of bread made from emmer or wheaten flour, mixed, however, with the liquid of boiled beans, which must be lukewarm, for, if it is boiling, it causes madness. Neither dogs nor bitches must be allowed to have sexual intercourse until they are a year old; for if they are allowed to do so when they are young, it enfeebles their bodies and their strength, and causes them to degenerate mentally. The first puppies which a bitch produces must be taken from her, because at the first attempt she does not nourish them properly and the rearing of them hinders her general bodily growth. Dogs create vigorously up to ten years of age, but beyond that they do not seem suitable for covering bitches, for the offspring of an elderly dog turns out to be slow and lazy. Bitches conceive up to nine years of age, but are not serviceable after the tenth year. Puppies should not be allowed to run loose during the first six months, until they are grown strong, except to join their mother in sport and play; later they should be kept on the chain during the day and let loose at night. We should never allow those whose noble qualities we wish to preserve, to be brought up at the dugs of any strange bitch, since its mother’s milk and spirit always does much more to foster the growth of their minds and bodies. But if a bitch which has a litter is deficient in milk, it will be best to provide goats’ milk for the puppies until they are four months old. Dogs should be called by names which are not very long, so that each may obey more quickly when it is called, but they should not have shorter names than those which are pronounced in two syllables, such as the Greek Σκύλαξ (puppy) and the Latin Ferox (savage), the Greek Λακων (Spartan) and the Latin Celer (speedy), or, for a bitch, the Greek Σπουδή (zeal), Άλκή (valour), ‘Ρωμή (strength) or the Latin Lupa (she-wolf), Cerva (hind) and Tigris (tigress). It will be found best to cut the tail of the puppies forty days after birth in the following manner: there is a nerve, which passes along through the joints of the spine down to the extremity of the tail; this is taken between the teeth and drawn out a little way and then broken. As a result, the tail never grows to an ugly length and (so many shepherds declare) rabies, a disease which is fatal to this animal, is prevented. XIII. It commonly happens that in the summer the ears of dogs are so full of sores caused by flies, that they often lose their ears altogether. To prevent this, the ears should be rubbed with crushed bitter almonds. If, however, the 122

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ears are already covered with sores, it will be found a good plan to drip boiled liquid pitch mixed with lard on the wounds. Ticks also fall off if they are touched with this same preparation; for they ought not to be plucked off by hand, lest, as we have remarked also before, they cause sores. A dog which is infested with fleas should be treated either with crushed cumin mixed in water with the same quantity of hellebore and smeared on, or else with the juice of the snake cucumber, or if these are unobtainable, with stale oil-lees poured over the whole body. If a dog is attacked by the scab, gypsum and sesame should be ground together in equal quantities and mixed with liquid pitch and smeared on the part affected; this remedy is reported to be suitable also for human beings. If this plague has become rather violent, it is got rid of by the juice of the cedar tree. The other diseases of dogs will have to be treated according to the instructions which we have given for the other animals.

Appendix III. Michelangelo Biondo. 1544. De Canibus et Venatione libellus. Roma. The Shepherd’s Dog Since the dog, together with the shepherd, defends the flock and the livestock, you must put great care in choosing, raising and preparing it to face the attacks of fierce beasts, so that it may not succumb in fights with wolves. Choose, then, a dog similar to the one used for guard work and train him with the same methods. Columella preferred a white coat for sheepdogs; but if this colour is not having, you must make do with some other coat so long as it is uniform, because the ancients did not recommend parti-coloured dogs neither for the farmer nor for the shepherd. It is not to be wondered that in our times white dogs are preferred by the shepherds since they stand out from the rapacious wolves which attack the flock as dusk falls on the land, when the shepherd cannot distinguish between attacker and defender; so that with his spear he often transfixes his ally, the dog, and lets live the attacker. In any case, I do not require raciness in a sheepdog nor do I consider a pure white coat essential, but neither do I want too much bulk or size, because what is really needed is courage and dash. Regarding this type Columella says “he should be brought up to fight and give battle, and also to run quickly, because he must counter the attacks of the wolf and chase the thief as he flees, and recover the prey 123



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from him“. This dog must be, with regards to size, like the farmer’s except a bit more long in limb in order to be more agile in pursuing the enemy. However, in order that he should not lose in a fight, it is essential to protect his neck with collars armed with iron spikes or jutting nails, the size of a finger and thickly set. Caesar Constantine is of the same opinion; however, in stony and thorny regions it is well to fit the dog with special leggings so that, with limbs thus protected, he will feel more confident in facing the assaults of the enemy. Such is the most suitable kind of dog for facing the threats that men and beasts bear on flocks and livestock.

Appendix IV. Stefano Di Stefano. 1731. La Ragion Pastorale. Volumi I & II. In Napoli presso Domenico Roselli. Il cane da pastore. Vol. I, pp. 195-201. Remarking how sheep and goats always go out in troops and how such a company could not survive for long and safely without the protection of the shepherds and a pair of dogs at least, all together forming the flock; leaving aside those dogs used on the farmstead, or for amusement, hunting and other purposes of man (all of which, according to Athenæuslib. XIII. deipsonoph. 302. in fine, possess the four prerogatives of smell, docility, watchfulness and fidelity that sets them above other brute animals and gains them the affection of their master, so much that Pliny lib. 28. hist. nat. cap. 5. affirms: Cor caninum habere qui fugiunt canes), we will limit ourselves to discoursing on those dogs useful and necessary to the flock of sheep and called pecuarii by Columella, pastoritii by Apuleius, molossi by Virgil from Molossia the city in Epirus, and by others commonly known as mastini. Truly sheep, more than other animals, are helpless and by no others can they be better watched over and defended than by the above sheepdogs, their so very faithful and diligent guardians; and inasmuch as they have no more fearsome enemy than the wolf, and that these dogs are the wolf’s natural contrary, thus their safeness totally depends on these. Therefore Virgil inlibr. 3. georg. vers. 404. admonishes that the same care should be taken for the dogs as for the sheep: Nec tibi canum fuerit postrema: sed una Veloces Spartae catulos, acremq; Molossum Pasce sero pingui, etc. 124

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They are so useful and necessary for watching the sheepfarms that they are included in the flock as accessories; reference toTes. in l. quaesitum 12. § si in agro venationes sint ff. de fund. intr., Pietro Gregor. in pr. part.syntag. jur. cap. 18. de servit. rustic. appuls. pec. ad acquam. They must be raised with every care and fed with rich whey , which is the liquid left over in the cauldron where cheese is made, as noted by Dioscor. libr. I. cap. 80., ibi , serum, quod à caseo est reliquum, optimum est ad alendos cane.Although Columella cap. 12. lib.7., and Varro 2. rustic.cap.9. declare that whey, mixed with bread or barley meal, binds the dogs even more to the sheep since this nourishment comes from the latter; yet Oppian lib.I.Cyn. says quite the opposite, that dogs should not be nourished with whey or milk of sheep or goats because they will become slothful, corpulent and fat, as Homer notes odis. 17., but rather with the milk of the hind, the lioness, the she-wolf and of other wild and rural beasts so that they may wax strong, tough and sharp and in all things similar to the animals that suckled them. But where will the shepherds find these wet nurses? However it may be, the sheepdogs in question are such vigilant and faithful lovers of sheep that even the smallest suspicion of wild beasts, whether in daytime or night time, will set them barking to wake the shepherds and tense them to mortal battle; whence Homer in lib. 10, iliad., describing the vigilance of the Greeks, says: Ac veluti canes circum pecora aegre custodiunt in caula Feram audientes ferocem, quae in sylva Graditur per montes: multus autem tumultus in ipsam Virorum, et canum: atq; ab ipsis somnus perit; Because vigilance, being part of the nature of dogs, causes them to be ever prepared against attacks by sleeping during the day and staying alert during the night, as commented by Gispon. lib.19., by Oros. cap.I.lib.I.histor.; and by Ludov. de la Cerda regarding loc.cit. of Virgil. Many centuries ago in Rome those dogs were hanged which, being kept on the Capitol to act as sentries, did not bark warning of the arrival of the French, as, after Livy and Pliny, is related by Hering. de jur. Burg. num. 248., and by Gallode fructib. disput. 8. n. 24., as they should have done instead, following their proper instinct, and reveal the presence of the enemy with their barking, drive them away and limit their expressions of companionship and affection only to friends. It is true, though, that sheepdogs sometimes become lazy, and forsake their duty because of the shepherds who do not keep them vigilant, following the comment of Selvaggio in eglog.I. in Arcadia by Sannazzaro. E sai ben tù, che i lupi tacciano, Fan le gran prede, e i can dormendo stannosi, Però che i lor pastor non vi s’impacciano. 125



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At the same time these same dogs can be so aggressive and fierce that, aroused by their masters, the harm they cause may even result in the killing of people, and, if there is positive intention, their owners or keepers are liable to the penalty of homicide, Caball.de homicid. n. 219, or, when there is no intention, for the penalty extraordinary if it appears to be simply the incapacity to call the dogs off and restrain them; because fierce dogs should calm down at the simple appearance of the master in the same way all agitated spirits are soothed by the presence of God; so recounted the wise shepherd royal, complaining:Canes circumdederint me multi; in Rome in ancient times there was the Fasulania law wherewith, by ædile edict, action could be brought against the owners for damages caused by their dogs, see Tes. of l. hi enim 40., and segu. de aedilit. edict., in the case where the owners neglected to restrain them or if they brought dangerous dogs in places frequented by the public, De Angel.de delict. par. I. cap. 69. n. 21., or in the case of the dogs eating the grapes of the neighbour or doing other damage, Tom. de nox. anim. cap. 3. n. 25., and the quoted Leisser lib. 2. cap. 17. n.15., which occurs at vintage time and in the parts of Puglia, of Abruzzo and of other nearby regions where the farms are and where the vines are low and not wedded to the poplar or other trees like in Campania Felix, but stoop so low that even a child just out of swaddling clouts could pick the bunches; so if the shepherds in such parts and season are not very careful, their mastiff dogs could cause notable harm and their owners obliged to repair the loss. In some places, therefore, the dogs must be tied up; hence Claud. lib. I. in Eutrop. Sic pastor obesum Lacte canem, ferroque ligat, pascitq; revinctum. otherwise their owners or the shepherds would be at fault, as they would also be if they kept them near to the public way, or in other places, where, even if tied, are liable to offend, Novar.de gravam. vassall. grav. 215. n. 3., et seq., the cited de Angel. part. 2. cap. 23. n. 25.; so much so that the shepherds of the Electorate of Saxony are obliged to lead their dogs or keep them shut up or in some way restricted; and this provision is the same as what prescribed in the constitution of the Brandendurg Electorate, drawn up in 1622. tit. 14., as testified by Leisser d. lib. 2. cap. 8. de pastorib. num. 41. But in this our Realm of Naples it is otherwise observed because if the dogs are not prone to bite, rabid or harmful they are left free and loose in homes, gardens and especially on the sheepfarms, as is known and evident to everyone; and regarding the sheepfarms in Puglia, says Roberto Marant.in cons. 136. n. 5, although dogs may be found near or on the public road, where they go barking 126

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after wayfarers who come too close to the sheepcotes;nam est naturale, he recites, canum, stantium in massariis, ut semper latrando insectentur homines transeuntes; if they were to be tied, or in other ways impeded, they would be useless instead of necessary and helpful; in any case if the sheepcotes are close to the public way the dogs should not be left to themselves. The dogs will cease their noise and their anger, and not offend, if the instigator throws himself on the ground or sits down calmly, letting fall his stick or other instrument that may give the impression of menace, and thus did Ulysses behave, in Homer lib. XIV odiss., when, in entering the place of Eumeus, he was surrounded by a pack of excited dogs eager to assault him Repente autem Ulyssem viderunt canes latratores, Qui quidem clamantes accurrerunt: At Ulysses Sedit astutia, virga autem ei excidit manu. or some do even better and shut their mouth with food or with some other expediency; so with Ariosto c.20, st. 139. Come il mastin, che con furor s’avventa Addosso al ladro, ad acchetarsi è presto, Che quello, o pane, o cacio gli appresenta; O che fa incanto appropriato a questo. It should be understood that, as a rule, in the case of violations or abuse, it is not the farm owners who live in town that can be held responsible for the dogs but the shepherds in charge of the flock who must answer for the injuries, as indicated by the already cited Marant. n. 6. Aside from this, if the dogs are not normally dangerous and harmful, and there is no intention or fault on the part of man, the shepherds too are not held guilty, as in Tes., e glo. in can. de occidendis 23. qu. 5., who refers to Marant. n. 5., Rendell. de vinea p. I. c. 3. fol. 2,Danz. in tract. de privil. Bacon. tit. de offic. Bajul. cap. 7. m. 16., and 17., because it is in the nature of dogs to bark and, when provoked or insulted, to bite and offend; because if it were otherwise they would not be abiding their duty, they would be useless and of no purpose, and we would accuse nature of having bestowed them with teeth in vain; hence the Emperor Titus wanting Apollonius to find him a master endowed with all the virtues for instructing a Prince, sent Demetrius with the messageCanem pedissecum, qui non tantum latrare sciat, sed etiam mordere, quoties injustum aliquid operantem viderit. Furthermore, if the dogs cause harm while they are chained, because of carelessness or wantonness, there is also no ground for legal action, Leisser. 127



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loc. cit. cap. 17. n.10. Not otherwise is it when the shepherd, as Dante sings in Inf. c. 21., unleashes the mastiff Con tanta fretta a seguitar lo furo; and Serrano too in Arcadia of Sannazzaro rightly regrets not having spied the thief that stole two goats and two kids from the herd Che se’l vedea, di certo era impossibile Uscir vivo da’ cani irati, e calidi; Ove non val, che l’huom richiami, o sibile, or when they seize upon each other or upon the dogs of the neighbouring sheepcotes out of jealousy or anger or other reason in the way described by Ariosto in c. 2. st. 5.: Come soglion talor due can mordenti, O per invidia, o per altr’odio mossi, Avvicinarsi, digrignando i denti, Con occhi biechi, e più che bragia rossi; Indi a’ morsi venir, di rabbia ardenti Con aspri ringhi, e rabbuffati dossi. and the reason is that it is lawful to repel with sticks, stones or dogs those who threaten the flock or cause other harm, and if the attackers should be wounded or killed the defender would not be called to answer for the deed committed in the course of his duty, Hand. R. lib. 2. art. 40., and Leisser d. lib. 2. c. 18. n. II. But if one incites a dog to kill a calf, pursue an animal or cause damage in any way, he is punishable by criminal law; if, on the other hand, his sole fault is not having stopped the dogs, without any other sign or action, then he is liable to civil prosecution, De Nigr. comment. sup. pragm. illustr.post cap. 235. n. 55, and Rendella de pasc. cap. 6 cart. 266. The shepherd would be furthermore excused if, without any fault of his, the dog, suddenly revealing itself to be rabid, enters the sheepcote and tears the sheep or does other harm; inasmuch as it is to be considered an unforeseeable and chance event the shepherd is not liable to damages, Carpzov. p. 2. constit. 26. def.16., and Leisser d. lib. 2. c. 17. num. 13,; because even prudent and shrewd men cannot avoid being bitten by a rabid dog like the famous jurisconsult Baldo who left the world four months after being bitten on the lip by a lapdog, Schorer. in medic. peregrin. p. 157., and the above Leisser. d. c. 17. n. 14. 128

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And though the dogs of the flock should not be as large as those for guarding the farmstead yet they should be bigger than those for the chase, as indicated by Columella lib. 7. cap. 12, who, after having mentioned how to choose the dogs for the farmstead, goes on to describe those for the foldsit robustus, & aliquatenus proruptus, ac strenuus, quoniam ad rixam, & ad pugnam, nec minus ad pugnam, nec minus ad cursum comparatur; even more vivid is the description byVarro lib. 2. cap. 9., where, facie debente esse formosi, magnitudine ampla, oculis nigrantibus, aut ravis, naribus congruentibus, labris subnigris, aut rubicundis, mento suppresso, & ex eo enatis duobus dentibus dextra; & sinistra; foeminas volunt esse mammosas aequalibus papillis; nonetheless they must be big, tough and strong as depicted in Gesner ’s Thesaurus because they should be provided with such force and daring to drive back thieves, tackle bears, attack wolves and fight all the beasts of the forest. Hence Ulpian inl. Pompinius 44. ff. de acquir. rer. domin., talking of these dogs capable of snatching from the wolf its prey, refers to the annexes, where, cum robustis canibus, & fortibus ; and truly they safekeep the flocks from the inroads of wolves, like Virgil lib. 3 georg. sang of the Molossus ...numquam custodibus illis Nocturnum stabulis furem, incursusq; luporum horrebis ... Notwithstanding that these big dogs and mastif fs may appear to be slow, sleepy and slothful yet when stirred there is no power or fury to beat them, like those Albanian dogs, narrated by Pliny, presented to Alexander the Great by the King of Albania, that, placed next to bears and wild boars and similar beasts did not move, seemed indolent and lacking vigour, but when confronted with lions they went afire and without more ado threw them down and tore them apart. Similarly with the dogs of England, that appear dull and sluggish but are so faithless and treacherous that no trust can be placed in them as they may on occasion turn on their master, as related by Vallemont. in tom. I. degli elementi della storia part. 2 della geograf. c. 8. §. 2. The dogs of India are reputed of prouder and haughtier spirit because, like magnanimous kings, they will not contend with lesser beasts but will come out to fight only with bulls, wild boars, lions and other fierce and hardy beasts, as one learns in Aelian de anim. lib. 8. cap. I., Strabo lib. 15., Diodorus Siculus lib. 17., and in Sebastian Munster’s Universal Cosmography lib. 5 on Asia Major p. 1160 where he relates how, in the presence of Alexander, an Indian dog having fixed its teeth in a lion during a fight let itself be cut in pieces by the king’s men rather than let go the hold. With regards to our sheep mastiffs, when, lying in the shade of trees in summertime, they are bothered by flies and horseflies they will assail them with their teeth without moving any other part of their body, like Ariosto so vividly depicts in cant. 10. st. 105.

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Simil battaglia fa la mosca audace Contra il mastin nel polveroso agosto; O nel mese dinanzi, o nel seguace, L’uno di spiche, e l’altro pien di mosto. Negli occhi il punge, e nel grifo mordace Volagli intorno, e gli stà sempre accosto: E quel sonar fa spesso il dente asciutto: Ma un tratto, ch’egli arrivi, appaga il tutto. and Dante inf. 17, Non altrimenti fan di state i cani, Or col ceffo, or col piè, quando son morsi, O da pulci, o da mosche, o da tafani. The killing of these dogs is very forbidden, and unlawful, and apart from the destroying of one out of necessity, the slayer must compensate by paying the price of the dog as assessed by the owner, according to Carpzov p. 4. constit. 37. def. 8.; and like there is no greater offence for a gentleman than to kill or wound his hunting dog, so for a shepherd there is no greater injury, or spite, than to kill a dog that is good and able in the duty of guarding sheep; from this derives the adage that litigations arise because of dogs and whores, as Arnoldo Ferrone notes ne’ coment. alle consuet. Bur digalensi lib. 2. tit. XI de animal. invent. in alien. agr. ; but if the impending harm or bite of the dogs can in no other way be avoided then it is permitted to kill them in self defence, in accordance with Tes. della l. ut vim 3. ff. de just., & jur., and l. si servus. 3. C. de iis, qui ad Eccles. confug., and Feltman. de inclus. anim. cap. 22. sect. I. Now logic wills that, after having conversed on sheep, goats and dogs, one should talk about wolves which are their natural contrary because nature teaches that in the same place where one finds wolfsbane, a bad and deadly poison, nearby also grows yellow monkshood that serves as remedy and antidote; civil law also affirms that of contraries there is a same cognition, and doctrine in Tes. of l.1. ff. qui sunt sui, vel alieni juris, and §. jus autem lib.1. Instit. de jur. natural., gent., & civil.; for it should be known that wolves are such irreconcilable enemies to sheep and goats that neither living nor dead can there be any commerce between the two; and myths recount that Lycaon, ancient King ofArcadia, on account of his vices was transformed into a wolf by the Gods to serve us as a reflection of the deformed state of depraved men; and there is a mount inArcadia called Lyceum because of the quantity of wolves, since lycos means wolf in Greek, with a temple dedicated to two-horned Faunus. Therefore, as vice is the implacable enemy of the virtues in like manner the vicious wolf is the natural contrary of the simple and innocent sheep; hence Arnob. lib.1., meditating on such opposites, exclaimsnunquid in culpa natura est, quod laniciis extulit importunissimam 130

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belvam? Considering this, the Egyptians used to illustrate this case of natural opposites by painting wolf and lamb, or sheep, together, on which Virgil egl. V. v. 60. also spake Nec lupus insidias pecori, etc. and Ovid. Nat. lupus inter oves and Horace: Sed prius appulis jungentur capreae lupis, even though wolves do mate with dogs and the offspring that are born are called Crocuti. Thus it is that unjust and avaricious kings who do nothing else but burden their subjects with unbearable weights, without giving any aid of sorts, not content with milking them and shearing their fleece, they go so far as to drawing their blood and skinning them like rapacious wolves, as in Ezekiel.cap. 22. Principes facti sunt hodie quasi lupi rapaces, qui effundunt, & devorant sanguinem miserarum ovium, quas ad custodiam Dominus ei tribuit. There is such antipathy between wolf and sheep, and viceversa, that the Ecclesiastes cap. 13. deems it as impossible, si communicabitur lupus cum agno aliquando, and Homer warns in the Iliad 10. Utque ovibus prorsum concordia nulla, lupisque, Sed semper cupunt male, seque odere vicissim. and wolves are so intent in oppressing sheep that all that the owners can do to multiply and foster them it is less than the zeal of the beast in killing and destroying them. In order to better approach unseen they come at night or when it is cloudy; they lie in ambush off the path and to avoid making a noise with their feet they soften their pads by licking them and if, as they pass along a hedge, they happen to slip and make a noise they feel so angry and at fault that they will snap at the guilty foot. And so sang the poet, Qual lupo predator all’aer bruno Le chiuse mandre insidiando aggira, Secche l’avide fauci, e nel digiuno Da nativo odio stimolato, e d’ira. 131



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For this reason the poor shepherds and dogs are obliged to sit up during the night, and wakeful Pervigilantque lares, pervigilantque canes, so that at the smallest suspicion or sign the dogs will band together and go chasing or catching them, & cum occurrerit (exclaims Isaiah 21. n. 4)(?) ei multitudo pastorum, a voce eorum non formidabit, & a moltitudine eorum non pavebit. Uranius narrates what happened to him in eglog. 2. in Arcad. Montano, io mi dormiva in quella grotte, E’n sù la mezza notte Questi can mi destar, bajando al lupo. Ond’io gridando, al lupo, al lupo, al lupo, Pastor correte al lupo, Più non dormii per fin, ch’io vidi il giorno. One should be advised that a wolf defends itself like a lion from whoever tries to harm it, like in the case of Nifus who having wounded a wolf near Rome would have been killed if not succoured in time. But if shepherds and dogs come up while he is preying on sheep, he will relinquish the booty and run away, knowing he is no match. When he feels he is stronger, however, he will stay and face the foe, and so it is that he bands up with other wolves, filling his belly with earth to be more firm and stout-hearted. He attacks cattle, water buffaloes and other horned beasts by jumping on their back. In a closed space he looses all spirit, like what happened in Italy, not far from Milan, where a mother fleeing from the place where a wolf had penetrated found later that no harm had come to her two infant children she had left behind in her fright. This and other instances are narrated in Conrad Gesner lib. I. de quadrup. tit. de lupo pag. 72. lit. D. In the darkness of the night when the shepherds sense that the wolf is deceitfully approaching, they become raucous with shouting: to the wolf! to the wolf! to the wolf! the dogs joining in with their barking. It is a popular belief that it is the gaze of the wolf that causes this loss of voice as Opico in pr. VI. of Sannaz. says, commenting his own low voice caused by age, that it must be because a wolf has turned his eyes on him; the which seems quoted from Virgil in eglo. 9. v. 54. Lupi maerin videre priores. The more hungry the wolf is, the more he is ferocious and cruel, but once replete, he is like a meek lamb, says Philetes. Availing of abundant prey, with 132

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much foresight he buries the leftover for times of need. But no matter what, for reason of his unceasing and unchanging thoughts on livestock, he may change his coat from black to white but not his nature and bad ways, from whence the proverb Ch’l lupo cangia il pelo, e non la mente, and the divine Petrarch Vero è’l proverbio, Ch’altri cangia il pelo, anzi che’l vezzo. What is more, the sheep fear not just the big, adult and armed wolf but the weak, innocent, suckling wolf cub also. Even the sight of their colour is enough to frighten them and the men say the lambs exanimescunt, & subitaneo eo perculsi metu concidant at the sound of the wolf’s voice. For such reasons it is usual for the sheepdogs to be rather white than black and hence also the proverbche non si grida mai al lupo, che ivi, o desso, o can bigio non sia. Sheep may walk, graze and be on familiar terms with such dogs, with bulls and oxen, with elephants, horses and other animals but with wolves, even if they are little, never for a moment can they hold intercourse. Even a helpless wolf cub not yet with teeth will try to go for the throat of the ewe or she-goat to which the shepherd is holding it for to suckle, as Alciatus cautions in his moral lessons Capra lupum, non sponte, meo nunc ubere lacto, Quod male pastoris provida cura jubet. Creverit ille simul, mea me post ubera pascet Improbitas nullo flectitur obsequio. It should be furthermore beheld that they are their opposites in the voice too, for the defenceless sheep, with their weak and ineffectual bleating, are not even capable of complaining of their wrongs. On the other hand, the wolf with its daring, fangs, speed and fierceness, fills the air with cries and shrieks, hence in Virgil georg. Per noctem resonant lupi ululantibus Urbes. And Ovid lib. I. trist. eleg. 5. Utque rapax stimulante fame, cupidusq; cruoris Incustoditum captat ovile lupus. 133





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Nor does the enmity between wolves and sheep end and conclude with life, but carries on after death: there can be no mixing or bringing together of their respective skins, entrails or blood: quippe etiam oves mortuae mortuum lupum per horrescunt; thereby Oppian relates that if a drum made of wolf skin is beaten in unison with those of sheepskin only the first will be heard to resound deeply, the sheepskin drums falling dumb and silent, as if sheep not only in life but in death too are terrified by a defunct wolf, as referred by Arnaldo Ferrone ne’ coment. alle consuet. Burdigalensi lib. 2. tit. XI. de animal. invent. in alien. agr. §. 2. So where these animals abound sheep cannot thrive, as was experienced in times past in England where because of numerous wolves no sheep industry could be practiced; but after the wolves were destroyed by an universal hunt that region became similar to the place beneath the Palatine Hill called Lupercal or Lyceum on account of the she-wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus; in Cesare Calà de feriis qu. I. n. 127 and Ovid in 2. lib. fastor. Quid vetat Arcadio dictos a monte lupercos? Faunus in Arcadia templa licaeus habet. Thus on the excellent pastures of Scotland and in England, since no wolves are forthcoming, and if they do show up do not last long, the livestock are left out grazing during the night too, with no man to watch them, as testified by Sebastian Munster in Cosmograf. univer. lib. 2. dell’Isole d’Inghilterra pag.55. Such a great number of flocks have been introduced that the English now hold great commerce in wool. Through the scarcity of wolves the sheep out on the countryside are safe at all times and greatly to they contribute to the beauty and perfection of woollen textiles; see Vallemont in to: I. degli element. dell’istor. alla par. 2. della geograf cap. 8. §. 2., and herein n. 37. In relation to such matters, it happened that the ancient Kings of Naples, in order to save their ovine stock from the wolves, would send hunters, called lupari, at their own expense to the parts ofApulia, as annotated by the Regent Moles inde Doh. menep. Apul. §. I. n. 9. In some places the communities of fer salaries or prizes to hunters for tracking down wolves and killing them; see Garzia de expens., & melior. cap. 20. n. 14., Avend. de exequend. mandat. reg. par. I. cap. 2. num. 8. and Prospero Rendell. de pasc. par. 4. cap. 9. vers. & ne a lupis. These authors state that a public salary may be conferred on those who capture animals dangerous to others, making themselves useful and necessary to the country and fellow men.This is also stated by Guglielm. de Bened. in cap. Raynutius beneath the word & uxorem nomine Adelasia, fol, 120. n. 321. In Bavaria according to Leisser de praed. lib. 3. cap. 12. de venat. n. 75 and Kraysser ad jus venan. Bavar. cap. 16 the persecution of wolves is not merely useful to the province and to the whole Kingdom but it is moreover a hunt worthy of a Prince. Struv . syntagm. jur. feud. cap. 9. aph. 28. adds that in the case the Prince were to ordain the destruction 134

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of wolves the subjects of those nobles, who for other hunts are franchised and immune, would be liable to the call; see the same Leisser n. 75. From this latter noble custom stems that other praiseworthy habit observed certainly in parts of this Realm, and especially in those of Abruzzo where the coldness of the climate renders the wolves there more bitter and cruel; the custom being of welcoming in triumph whoever captures a wolf, dead or alive, in the streets and squares, in front of every house and in the whole district receiving prizes, blessings, tribute and applause from children, youths, adults, men and women. The doubt arouses whether whoever kills a pregnant she-wolf should have claim to one or to two bounties. Baldo in1. fin. ff. de liber. caus., and 1. qui in utero ff. de stat. homin. esteems his having title to only one reward, but if he should capture or kill a shewolf with cubs then the hunter deserves more than one reward; se also Sebast. Medic. de venat. p. 2. qu. 14. The quoted Leisser, at n. 76. and n. 77., sustains that whoever saves a sheep from the jaws of a wolf cannot keep it but should restore it to the owner; see Tes. of 1. Pomponius 44. ff. de acquir. rer. domin. and 1. Pomponius 8. §. u ultim. ff. famil. ercisc.; Cepoll. de servit. lib. 2. cap. 21. num. 6.; for the reason given by the legislator, & sane melius est dicere, & quod a lupo eripitur, nostrum manere quamdiù recipi possit id, quod ereptum est. Justice requires, however, that the shepherd who happened to be at hand, watching his animals, cum robustis canibus, & fortibus (in the words of Ulpian in d. 1. 44.) quos pecoris sui gratia pascebat, consecutus lupis eripuit, aut canes extorserunt,or, for that matter, any rescuer who, in whatever way, happens to save the prey from the beast should be repaid for his trouble, costs and exertions spent in going after it Per scoscese rupi, Per aspre selve, per fangose valli, Per rapidi torrenti, ed antri cupi. The rescuer has the right to retain the sheep he has saved until he has been indemnified for any injury incurred and also for the time spent in recovering it; so is glossed by Giacomo Menoch. lib. 5. de praesumpt. praes. 29. n. 28. Which event the owner should be willing to suffer, recovering, that is, what he had lost increased in value, because the meat of a sheep bitten by a wolf becomes more savoury, tender and delightful. For this reason Martial desired his table to be prepared with some nice kid Di bocca tolto al fero ingordo lupo Haedus inhumani raptus ad ore lupi and Horatius Flaccus Epod. od. II. 135



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Vel agna festis caesa Terminalibus, Vel haedus ereptus lupo. A horse bitten and wounded by wolves becomes stronger, faster and bolder, as related in Plutarchsymposiacon lib. XII., but a gravid mare will miscarry if she merely steps on the footprints of a wolf, let alone the skin. Pasquale Caracciolo lib. 3 della gloria del Cavallo a cart.202. lit. F., testified by Rasi and Alberto, affirms that the Egyptians would paint a mare in the act of kicking a wolf to represent a woman that had miscarried. There are two kinds of wolves: the solitary ones and the hunters. The solitary ones do not move in bands, like sheep, but keep to themselves. Lacking emulation, they are lazy and slothful, but are also more audacious, savage and cruel to the extent of attacking men, especially those that are found in Egypt, Africa and in cold regions, about which Pliny writes inlib. 8. cap. 23., and those that we have in Abruzzo. The hunter wolves always go about united and together; they are slimmer and faster which enables them to assail wild animals. Conrad Gesner writes in lib. I. dell’istor. degli anim. pag. 640: Venatores lupos intelligo (says this Author) qui alacriores, velocioresque sunt, ut animalia aggredi, aut persequi cupiant, & possint. Unipetos vero, qui non gregatim, sed solitarii incedunt, atq. ideo fere inertes, & tardi sunt, cum nullo aemulationis studio excitentur. Our discourse is on these light and quick hunter wolves that go after the tracks of sheep and other animals, and it is of these that Silvia talks in the Aminta of Torquato Tasso, sc. I. act 4., when, after having spied the wolf, she says: Il vidi con molt’atri intorno a un corpo D’un animal, che avea di fresco ucciso. and Nerina, sc. 2. act 3, ... Vidi sette lupi, Che leccavan di terra alquanto sangue. Thus it is that Monsignor Giusto Fontanini, whose rare erudition and delightful writings are greatly an ornament to our Arcadia, by defending and illustrating the said Aminta of Tasso against the late censures of D. Bartolomeo Ceva Grimaldi, Duke of Telese, who, in the essay printed in par. 3. delle lettere memorabili, raccolte da Antonio Bolisone, regards as extravagant that a wolf, a very quick animal, could not have reached Silvia, as recounted in d. sc. I., and that she should have escaped the danger of the pursuing wolf, notwithstanding the hindrance of the veil, on the score of the above distinction and thus save the 136

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clear and incomparable glory of our Torquato, letting it clearly be understood to have been one of our hunter wolves scarcely inclined to attack men and especially a Nymph of Diana, the Goddess of the chase, like Silvia who insc. I. act 4 recounts to have shot an arrow at the ear of the same wolf Il vidi, e riconobbi a un stral, che fitto Gli aveva di mia man presso un’orecchio, All this and more diffusely, and with better style and eloquence can be found in cap. 5 of the said Aminta, and the splendid argumentation by the said Monsignor Fontanino at pag. 79 to pag. 87.

Appendix V. Dandolo. 1804. Del Governo delle Pecore Spagnuole e Italiane. Tip. Luigi Veladini, Milano. Chapter XX, pages 156-160. Concerning the Use of Dogs Against Wolves. With all his wisdom, man would find it hopeless to stop the wolf from destroying his flocks without the aid of dogs. Everybody had told me that wolves were unknown in the mountains where I had sent my sheep (translator’s note: Dandolo sent his sheep in the mountains above Lake Maggiore in the Alps) and trusting on this I did not deem getting wolf dogs an urgent matter. But twenty days did not go by ere, on counting my sheep as they returned to the fold, I discovered that two ewes and a lamb were missing. I straightaway sent my animals back to Santa Maria del Monte till the necessary dogs could be found. Within eight days my sheepman had gone out and come back with a very handsome wolf dog (Fig. 26) of the best kind, and for my part I too had found an excellent bitch. These dogs are 17oncie long, 15½ oncie high, and 18½ oncie large (?). There is a larger kind but not for that any better. I was able now to send my flock back up into the mountains. The dogs promptly found the rotting remains of the stolen sheep and from there were able to pick up the track of the wolf. Soon enough they caught up with the beast and after a short battle it fled away with frightful cries. It is important that the shepherd should always have a gun ready because a lucky shot at the wolf is sometimes possible. Subsequently howls were heard more than once close by but with such dogs of the true shepherd’s breed we felt reassured. 137



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The best specimens cost just four or five sequins and just one if they are still young. I, however, advise getting them fully developed. A young dog of the breed I had bought nearly at the same time as the others started one day to play with a lamb and he ended by nipping it so severely in the leg that the lamb died after four months of ailing. The bone had been chipped. This kind of trouble never happens with grown-up dogs. Unlike the shepherds’ dogs I saw in France (translator’s note: Dandolo obviously saw the ancestor of the Briard), our wolf dogs are not used to saving the shepherd leg-work by rounding the sheep up and stopping them from encroaching on crops. But we, on the other hand, do not risk seeing our sheep damaged by these dogs which, unless very carefully trained, throw themselves so violently on the animals in the course of their work that they sometimes cause the ewes to miscarry. Generally speaking, the more restricted the fallow land is, the more troublesome it is for the shepherd to keep the sheep out of the crops, but if he places himself like a sentry, as it were, in full view, the sheep will gradually learn to stay inside the bounds in order to avoid his shouts. Actually, therefore, the task of keeping the grazing animals out of the cultivated fields is not so difficult. The attachment of our wolf dog to sheep is very great and neither the most pressing need nor the greatest discomfort can induce it to leave them. It is also possessed of foresight. In repelling a wolf, the dogs refrain from giving chase knowing that this might leave the sheep defenceless to an attack from the rear where another wolf might be waiting just for this moment; a ruse often resorted to. The concern of the dogs shows in their great agitation. In the mountains it is necessary that many of the sheep should wear bells so that if anything happens to alarm them either during the day or the night, the men and the dogs are warned by the sound of the tinkling. The sheep seem to like the bells and move their heads just to listen to the sound. The neck of the dog should be protected by a leather collar bristling with iron spikes and lined with burlap. The dog, and perhaps the sheep also, are very keen in perceiving the lurking presence of the wolf and seem to get wind of the beast before it actually appears, and this saves the sheep from being taken by surprise. Of all the dogs of which we have knowledge none show such fearsome light in their eyes as these. They are of the toughest constitution and are exceedingly powerful; nature has provided them with a thick coat against the rigid cold. The shepherds make themselves understood and obeyed by these dogs which are also proficient against thieves so that the flock is preserved from both man and wolf. Two dogs cost 132 Lire a year in upkeep. It is worth reminding that when these dogs are in the mountains they should have a shelter for the night. Note to Chapter XX. 48 lbs of millet flour whole and 16 lbs of barley or maize flour are needed to make one month’s bread for two dogs. As 16 lbs of 138

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millet cost 2 lire and 17 lbs of maize cost 3 Lire, one month’s bread including grinding and baking costs 11 Lire for two dogs, and 132 Lire for one year. The dogs have a right to the scrapings from the pot in which the shepherds cook their polenta. After having emptied out the polenta, water is poured in the pot and warmed a bit to make the crust come off the sides. All is then poured in a wooden trough and served to the dogs together with any other scraps.

Appendix VI. Anonymous. 1833. The Shepherds of the Abruzzi. The Penny Magazine. March n° 62. We lately gave an account of the wandering Italians who are so frequently found on our streets; and we now propose to attempt a short description of a pastoral people in the South of Italy, who, though they do not quit their country, make annual migrations with their flocks on an extensive scale and to considerable distances. These are the Abruzzese shepherds, inhabitants of the Abruzzi, two mountainous provinces in the kingdom of Naples, which, comparing things with our own, may be called the Highlands of that country. The plains about Sulmona and Chieti, two of the most important cities in these parts, indeed the whole valley of the Pescara; the flats and declivities of the hills that surround the beautiful lake of Celano; some strips of land along the coast of the Adriatic, and a few other places, are susceptible of profitable cultivation, and well cultivated; but, generally speaking, the country is mountainous and rugged in the extreme, offering little to rural economy, save almost boundless sheep-walks and browsing grounds for goats. Nature has therefore made the inhabitants of this country a pastoral people, and they are so to a degree which can hardly be imagined but by those who have seen these much neglected but interesting provinces. Entering fairly into the Abruzzi, above the romantic town of Castel di Sangro (as you do so coming from Naples), the traveller finds himself in a new world, the simple, primitive manners of which are most striking. He no longer sees the vines hung in festoons from the elm-trees, not the broad-bladed, vividly green Indian corn, not the exuberant soil bearing two crops, not the flowering orchards and shady Italian pines, nor the thronging, noisy population he has left behind him in the agricultural and most fertile province of the Terra di Lavoro or Campagna Felice, but he sees immense flocks of sheep spread over the mountain pastures, he hears the continual tinkling of goat-bells from the mountain summits, he 139



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observes that the cottages and hamlets, instead of being surrounded by gardens and cultivated fields, are flanked and backed by sheepcotes and stables; and that almost all the quality of person he meets on his way is a shepherd clad in his sheep-skin jacket, with sheep-skin buskins to his legs, and followed by his white, long-haired sheepdog. Instead of the water being carried along in stone or brick aqueducts for the purposes of agriculture and horticulture, as in the lowlands, he sees it here and there, caught and contained in hollowed trees, cut from the mountain’s sides, which are fashioned not like our pipes but like open troughs, so that the flocks may drink out of them at any part of the course. Besides these simple ducts, he occasionally passes little stone fountains equally rustic in their structure, before which are placed a number of hollowed trees for the convenience of the sheep. In short, the aspect of the country is essentially pastoral. Manufacturing and (though to a much less degree) even agricultural populations are found gradually to adapt themselves to the changes which are introduced into society and manners, and to keep somewhat near to the march of the age in which they live; but it is far different with a pastoral race inhabiting a wild and secluded country, and passing the greater part of their time in almost absolute solitude on the mountain’s side; consequently the primitiveness of manners which we have mentioned here is indeed most striking, and carries back the imagination to the early ages of the world. The Abruzzi peasantry have the same taste for romantic traditions that distinguishes our highlanders and the inhabitants of mountainous countries generally; they are as superstitious – they have the same love of music, and their instrument is the same as that of our northern brethren, for their z‘ ampogna’ scarcely differs in anything from the highland bag-pipe, which instrument, be it said, is also found in nearly all the mountainous countries of the world. Some of their superstitions are evident remnants of classic paganism; others are a compound of monkish legends and paganism, and the mass is, of course, what has arisen from the Romish church. They have a traditionary reverence for the name of their countryman, Ovid, but, like the poor Neapolitans who believe that Virgil was a great magician, they make their poet’s fame depend upon his having been a mighty adept in necromancy. In the town of Sulmona, the place of the poet’s birth, they keep a rude stone statue which people have chosen to call Ovidio Nasone, though it is more probably the effigy of some portly abbot of the fourteenth century. As the writer of this article was standing before it one day, a shepherd boy who was returning from the market in the town, took off his hat to it, as though it had been the image of a saint. The traveller did not then know Ovid’s fame as a magician, and was much delighted at what he thought a mark of popular reverence to genius, and asked himself the question whether an English peasant would doff his cap to the statue of Shakespeare or of Milton. 140

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The Abruzzi shepherds are a fine race of men, and make excellent soldiers, particularly cavalry; though they are naturally averse to the military service. The best disciplined and steadiest troops in Murat’s army were raised in this part of his kingdom. In former times the country was much infested with Banditti, and one of the most famous robber chiefs mentioned in modern history – Marco Sciarra – was an Abruzzese. Except in time of execrable government, as under some of the Spanish viceroys, these depredations were almost confined to the frontiers and to the mountain passes that lead into the Roman states, and the troops of brigands were rather composed of Roman and Neapolitan outlaws, invited there by the facilities for plundering, and the security offered in those mountainous wilds, than of the native peasantry. Of late years scarcely an instance of brigandage has been heard of – except in the case of a band that came from a different part of the kingdom, and was soon suppressed, mainly by the peasants themselves. In 1823 the writer of this short account travelled through the greater part of the country – in the wildest places alone on horseback, or only with such a guide as he could pick up among peasantry, and instead of robbers and cut-throats he found every where honest people, who were civil, and even hospitable. Winter is felt in these mountains in great, and in some cases in its utmost rigour. The lofty summits of the Gran Sasso d’Italia (The Great Rock of Italy, the highest peak in the Peninsula) are nearly always covered with deep snow – so are the mountains above Aquila, the capital of the provinces, and many others of the ridges; while the crevasses (rifts) in the superior parts of Monte Majello that towers above Sulmona offer enduring and increasing fields of ice and glaciers that may astonish even the traveller who has seen those of the Alps. Among the wild beasts the bear and the wolf are still found in considerable numbers. The “Piano di cinque miglia” or the Plain of five miles, which is a narrow flat valley almost at the top of the Appennines, but flanked by the summits of these mountains, and which is the principal communication with Naples, is subject to drifts, and those hurricanes called ‘tourmens’. Accumulations of snow frequently render the road impassable, and sometimes endanger and destroy life. The winds that blow from these mountains even so early as the end of summer, are often bleak and piercing. The numerous flocks that feed on and beautify their pastures in summer, would droop and perish if exposed there in winter. Consequently at the approach of that season, the Abruzzesi peasants emigrate with them to the lowlands of Puglia. The plain of Puglia is an immense amphitheatre, whose front is open to the Adriatic sea, and the rest is enclosed by Mount Garganus and a semicircular sweep of the Appennines, prominent among which is the lofty cone of Mount Vultur (an extinct volcano, the craters of which are now romantic lakes). The 141



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mountains, however, generally defend the plain from the worst winds of winter, and the climate is as mild and genial throughout the year as might be expected from the favourable latitude of the place, and its trifling elevation above the sea. The want of water, and the entire absence of trees which would attract humidity to the thirsty soil, have been reasons why this immense flat has been left almost untouched by plough or spade. The great expanse presents the appearance of an eastern desert, over which, when so sparingly enlivened by the presence of the Abruzzese and their flocks, you may travel in all directions for miles and miles without meeting a human being, or any signs of human industry – without seeing a tree or bush, or any elevation in the dead flat, to mask the view of the Adriatic and the surrounding mountains. It is said by the Neapolitan historians, that their king, Alfonso of Aragon, seeing this immense plain destitute of men, determined to people it with beasts; but it is probable, from the advantages it offers, and the difficulties of their own mountain climate, that the shepherds of the Abruzzi have in all ages resorted to it in winter as they do now, and that Alfonso merely regulated some laws and duties, whose principal tendency was to enrich the exchequer of the state by deriving some revenue from waste lands. In modern times a department of government has been appointed exclusively to the charge of the “Tavogliere di Puglia” as it is called in Neapolitan statistics; and the head of this department, who was generally a person of rank, was obliged to reside occasionally at Foggia. Of late years some changes have been introduced in this branch of the administration. Every flock of sheep as it arrives is counted, and has to pay a certain sum, proportionate to its number, for the right to pasture; and small as are these rates, from the immense droves which come, they form an aggregate which, after the expenses of collecting etc. are paid, annually gives to the Neapolitan government many thousands of ducats. Large sheds, and low houses built of mud and stone, that look like stabling, exist here and there on the plain, and have either been erected by the great sheep proprietors, or are let out to them at an easy rent by the factors of the Tavogliere. Other temporary homesteads are constructed by the shepherds themselves as they arrive; and a few pass the winter in tents covered with very thick and coarse dark cloth, woven with wool and hair. The permanent houses are generally large enough to accomodate a whole society of shepherds; the temporary huts and tents are always erected in groups, that the shepherds of the same flocks may be near to each other. The sheep-folds are in the rear of the larger houses, but generally placed in the midst of the huts and tents. On account of the wolves, that frequently descend from the mountains and commit severe ravages, they are obliged to keep a great number of dogs, which are 142

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of a remarkably fine breed, being rather larger than our Newfoundland dog, very strongly made, snowy white in colour, and bold and faithful. You cannot approach these pastoral hamlets, either by night or day, without being beset by these vigilant guardians, that look sufficiently formidable when they charge the intruder (as often happens) in troops of a dozen or fifteen. They have frequent encounters with wolves, evident signs of which some old campaigners show in their persons, being now and then found sadly torn and maimed. The shepherds say that two of them, “of the right sort” are a match for an ordinary wolf. The writer of this notice has several times seen a good deal of these Abruzzi shepherds in their winter establishments. The first time he came in contact with them was in the month of February 1817 in the course of a journey through the southern provinces of the kingdom of Naples. He had no companion except the Scotch terrier (a creature of very different disposition), when he arrived at the almost undistinguishable site of the old town of Cannae, near which the fatal battle was fought, which is in the midst of the wild plain, about six miles from the town of Canosa (anciently Canusium), and not quite so far from the shores of the Adriatic. The most perfect solitude and stillness reigned there; but when he ascended the slightly elevated mound on which Cannae had stood, he saw in a little hollow at a short distance a very long, low tenement, at the door of which were some men with sheep-dogs, and he perceived large flocks of white sheep nibbling the short grass on all the little hillocks around him, and over the plain on both sides the river Ofanto, on the identical field of the Roman and Carthaginian conflict, to a great distance. The only objects that remained on the site of Cannae were some traces of walls that once girded the mound; on the summit of the mound some excavations, or subterranean chambers, with well or cistern-like mouths, which were open; and a little distance two large slabs of stone; placed on and in the the ground, and leaning against each other. – a simple monument, by which the peasantry of the country point out the field of Cannae, or, as they call it, “the field of blood.” Attracted by his appearance, for the sight of a stranger is a rarity, two of the men came up from the house to the traveller while he was measuring and examining the ground. Though uncouth in their appearance they were very courteous, and not only gave him several little pieces of local information, which showed that local tradition had faithfully preserved the memory of the great events that once occurred in that solitude, but they assisted him to descend into one of the subterranean chambers, which they called (as the chambers in all probability had been) “granaries,” or corn magazines. By the time the stranger had finished his examination and queries on the spot the sun was setting, and at the invitation of the shepherds, he went down to the house. As he reached the rude but hospitable door, a tall venerable man with a snow-white sheep-skin pelisse, who had just dismounted 143



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from a shaggy little mare came up, and bade him welcome. This was the chief shepherd. He expressed his regret that the tugurio (hut) offered so little that a gentleman could eat, but all that he had the stranger (who was too hungry to be delicate) was welcome to. A youth, the old man’s grandson, was immediately set to work to fry an omelette and somelardo or fat bacon. While this was doing, several other shepherds arrived, driving their flocks before them to the spacious cotes in the rear of the house – and later, there came others in a similar way, until all of the company were collected. Besides his omelette and bacon, the traveller’s repast was enriched with some good Indian corn bread, some ricotta, which is a delicious preparation of goat’s milk, and some generous wine bought at the neighbouring town of Canosa. The sun meanwhile had set – there is scarcely any twilight in these southern regions, and before his meal was finished it was almost dark night. The kind old man did not like the idea of his travelling at such an hour: he, however, offered him two shepherds as an escort to Canosa if he would go; but if he would stay where he was, and content himself with a shepherd’s lodging for the night, he was welcome. The traveller did not hesitate in accepting the invitation, and when his pony was put in a sort of barn attached to the house, he made himself comfortable on a low wooden bench which the men covered with sheep-skin for him, near the fire. When all the pastoral society was assembled, the patriarchal chief shepherd taking the lead, they repeated aloud, and with well-modulated responses, the evening prayers, or the Catholic service of “Ave Maria.” A boy then lit a massy old brass lamp, that looked as if it had been dug out of Pompeii, and on producing it said, “Santa notte al capitano e a tutta la Compagnia ” – (a holy night to all the company). The shepherds then took their supper which was very frugal; consisting principally of Indian corn bread and raw onions with a very little wine. Some of them, after their meal, sat round the fire conversing with their visitor and others went to rest. The whole of the interior of the room was occupied by one long apartment, in the middle of which was the fire-place, unprovided with a chimney, the smoke finding its way through the crannies in the roof and other apertures: on the sides of the apartment were spread the dried broad blades of the Indian corn and sheep-skins which formed the shepherds’ beds, but there were two or three little constructions (not unlike the berths on board ship) made against the wall, which were warm and comfortable, and occupied by the old man and other privileged members of the society, one of whom kindly vacated his dormitory for the stranger. Besides these rustic beds and the wooden benches, the lamps and some cooking utensils, there was scarcely any other furniture in the room. 144

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The scene which presented itself in that singular interior, as the traveller peeped out of his snug berth, was such as cannot easily be forgotten. The light of the lamp – and, when that was extinguished, the flickering flames of the fire in the centre of the room, disclosed in singular chiaroscuro the figures of the shepherds sleeping in their sheep-skins, along the sides of the room near to the fire; the remainder of the apartment, by smoke and time, was obliterated and the two extremities of the habitation were lost in gloom. Some old fire-arms hung by the berth of the principal shepherd; the strong knotty sticks and the long crooks of the men were placed against the wall. Several of the huge dogs lay dreaming with their noses to the fire, and round the fire-place still remained the rude wooden benches, on some of which the shepherds had thrown their cloaks and other parts of their attire in most picturesque confusion. Soon, however, the flames died on the hearth, the embers merely smouldered, and all was darkness, but not all silence, for the men snored most sonorously; the wind, that swept across the wide, open plain, howled round the house, and occasionally the dogs joined in the chorus. These things, however, did not prevent the traveller from passing a comfortable night, and with a sense of as great security, inasmuch as the poor shepherds were concerned, as he could have enjoyed had he been among friends in England. The next morning, when he was about to continue his journey to Canosa, he offered money for his accomodation. This the old shepherd refused, and seemed hurt by his pressing it upon him. Nothing then remained but thanks and a kind leave-taking. These shepherds were to remain where they were than until the middle of the Spring, when they would slowly retrace their steps to the Abruzzi, whence they would again depart for the Pianura di Puglia at the approach of winter.

Appendix VII. R. Coppinger’s expedition to Abruzzo, 1982 From 19th June to 18th July 1982 prof. R. Coppinger of Hampshire University, Massachusetts, U.S.A., together with three collaborators came to the mountains of Abruzzo to study the sheep-guarding dogs. Coppinger’s project was how to tackle the problem of sheep predation by coyotes in N. America. It was estimated that every year 8% of the lambs were lost in this way, totalling one million animals worth $100 million. The way the Americans had tackled the problem up to them was the systematic destruction of the canid with a variety of methods: 145



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poison, shooting, snaring, gas, etc. The annual toll amounted to 300,000 head which may seem impressive but constituted only 7% of the population and was not even curbing the general increase in the population. As an alternative to this costly, ecologically dangerous and furthermore ineffective method, a new approach was beginning to be tested with the discovery by the Americans of the sheep-guarding breeds from the Old World. Most of the rural culture of N. America derives from those countries of Western Europe, especially G. Britain where the wolf is absent, so that the farmers could not know that large-scale sheep raising is possible in a country infested with wolves (much more dangerous than coyotes) and other predators if the right sort of dog is used, like the situation in Spain, Italy, the Balkans, etc. Coppinger’s first experiment was with the Anatolian breed. His first dogs came from registered kennels in the States but they proved to have lost the instinct for sheep. The pride of the breed club was so piqued by this bad show that it paid Coppinger to go to Turkey to find the true working stock. He found the breed at its best in the province of Kangal to the east, and this is where he bought several puppies which eventually turned out well, reprieving the honour of the club. During the subsequent expedition to the Old World he spent fifteen days watching half a million sheep migrate from the winter pastures in Greece to the summer grazing grounds in the mountains of what was then Yugoslavia, each flock accompanied by dogs of the Sharplaninatz breed. Afterwards he went to the Estrela range in Portugal to observe the local dog there. The wolf threat here was quite serious at the time and he found some flocks tended by as much as fourteen dogs. For his trip to Italy Coppinger contacted me to accompany him up into the high pastures of Abruzzo. Besides acquiring dogs to bring back to the States, he wanted to carry out field observations on a reference condition. His project at the time was already monitoring 460 sheep-guarding dogs distributed over the whole North American continent from Canada to Texas, sixty of which were “Maremmas” descended of a pair bought from a shepherd at the liveth stock fair of Pian di Roseto up in the Laga mountains of Abruzzo. Thus on 19 June 1982 he arrived at Rome airport with Jay Lorenz, John Glendinning and Peter Pinardi, his collaborators. Before leaving for the mountains he made the acquaintance of Luigi Boitani, the Italian expert on wolves and feral dogs and who knows all about the problems they cause to livestock. On Monday morning we left for Campo Imperatore, a classic summer grazing ground, which is a vast grassy plateau at 2000 m a.s.l. within the Gran Sasso massif. At the nearby mountain village of Castel del Monte we went to meet Leotizio Aromatario, one of the major sheepmasters of the area, and made plans with him. The dogs of Castel del Monte are of particularly fine quality and show good uniformity. 146

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The shepherds told us that wolves had recently shown up again in those parts after many years of absence. On 22 nd June we went to meet Giovanni Potena, the forestry official who gave us admission to the pastures of Chiarano, an extensive state-owned area, hidden in the mountains, where many flocks are led in summer and where Coppinger was to later conduct the better part of his studies. Coppinger visited five different establishments scattered over this highland. The smartest dogs were those belonging to the Ovile Nazionale, a government research institution dedicated to sheep, that has its buildings and winter quarters near Foggia and uses this mountain in the summer. Wolves had already put in their appearance with two inroads, accounting for five and two sheep killed respectively. At 10 a.m. as the sheep were leaving the fold we thanked and bade farewell to G. Potena and proceeded to our next appointment with Sig. Luigi di Loreto, another owner of flocks, who invited us to his house at Barrea. Later on in the afternoon we went to see his sheep return from the pastures for milking time. Di Loreto’s dogs formed the best group we had seen up to then. On June 23rd I bade farewell and left Coppinger and his collaborators to start their work. In the course of those days Jay and Peter would, by an extraordinary stroke of luck, experience a textbook example of sheep-guarding work while they were conducting their observations in the Chiarano area from the 6th to the 9th July. They were walking over the open grassland towards a distant flock when they heard intense staccato barking. They at first thought that they had been spotted by the dogs of one of the several nearby flocks, and were expecting to be shortly challenged. But the barking, instead of approaching, became fainter. Going towards the sound, the two students soon spotted a group of five dogs furiously barking up the side of the mountain, with the shepherd hard by, waving his staff to urge them on. A keener glance revealed two dark shapes higher up the slope which turned out to be wolves! Then one dog moved forward to within a metre of the closer animal. The domestic and wild canid looked at each other hard in the eyes for a few moments and then, as if at a signal, the wolves turned on their steps and disappeared over the ridge but not without stopping a moment on top to urinate as a slap in the face to the despised dogs, the servants of man. The howling pack charged up for a short distance but then hurried back, not letting themselves be drawn away and maybe betraying the sheep to a rear attack. In the meanwhile themastini from di Loreto’s sheep grazing in the vicinity arrived on the scene and immediately read the recent drama with their noses. They promptly followed the tracks of the arch villain up to the divide where they lingered a bit to urinate repeatedly on the place marked by the wolves in order to reaffirm their supremacy, and then went dutifully back to their charges. 147



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After Chiarano Coppinger and students transferred to the Monti della Laga, a range further to the north, accompanied by Di Cesare, another forestry official colleague of Potena. The month spent in Abruzzo was fruitful and yielded precious information and data for future work back in the States. Since then the “Maremma” sheepdog has had quite a career in N. America and by now there are many thousands all over the country doing their job as efficiently as back in the old country.

Appendix VIII. The bill of the Abruzzo Region on behalf of its pastoral dog Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Abruzzo XVIII(20) Regional Legal Act, 16th June 1987, N. 31: The protection and utilisation of the Abruzzese shepherd dog. The Regional Council has approved; The Government Commissary has seen;

the following legal act.

The President of the Regional Government promulgates

Article 1 (Object) With the present act, the Region wishes to promote the canine breed traditionally employed by Abruzzese sheep farmers for protecting their livestock, in consideration of the indispensable role the dog plays in the economy of sheep husbandry. Article 2 (Promotion) The present act is aimed at promoting only those individuals having the functional and morphological characteristics of the breed, meaning those that conform to the following specifications in articles 3 and 4. 148

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Article 3 (Functional characteristics) The functional characteristics of the Abruzzese shepherd dog are the following: a) It should perceive the coming peril and give warning in advance. It should physically repulse the enemy, whether man or beast; b) It feels a strong tie for sheep so that it never abandons the flock; c) It is not tempted to chivvy the livestock it is entrusted with. Article 4 (Morphological characteristics) The morphological characteristics of the Abruzzese dog are those which best enable it to carry out its function in the environment of traditional sheep farming. Traditional points of type are: large size (height at withers: 68-75 cm for dogs; 60-68 cm for bitches); a broad and powerful head; almond-shaped eyes; hanging ears normally cropped short; no loose skin around the head and neck; a pure white coat; black nose, lips and eye-rims; long and thick hair except on the muzzle, on the forehead and on the front of the legs where it is short. The males have a rich ruff of hair. Article 5 (Certificate of breed) The Abruzzo Region confers on the Provincial Livestock Farmers Associations the task of directing the breeding programme along the lines indicated in articles 3 and 4. The performance/conformation certificates are issued by a commission residing at the Agriculture Section of the Regional Government, thus composed: - the director of the Zootechnical Service of the Agriculture Section, or his delegate, as President; - two experts nominated by the Regional Government, in agreement with the 3 rd Council Commission, proposed respectively by the Abruzzese representative of the Italian Kennel Club and by the Abruzzese representative of the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese Club; - an expert nominated by the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute “G. Caporale”; 149





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- an expert nominated by the Regional Association of Livestock Farmers; - three experts nominated by the three most representative Professional Bodies of the Region; - a veterinarian nominated by the local Health and Sanitary Unit. An employee of the Zootechnical Service, not under level six, acts as Secretary. The commission is nominated by a decree of the President of the Regional Government. Article 6 (Incentives) In order to encourage the use of typical specimens on the part of shepherds, the regional government confers yearly incentives to those farmers who possess dogs having the features described in articles 3 and 4. The subsidy is distributed at the request of the interested party on condition that the dogs are certified (art. 5) and that the owner is a sheep farmer as testified by the Provincial Inspectorate for Agriculture. The contribution of Lire 70,000 for each dog cannot exceed Lire 350,000 per sheep farmer. Article 7 (Financial regulation) (Omissis)

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Fig. 1. The author as a young man with Ciccio. Fig. 2. “Cane da Pastore Italiano, varietà Abruzzese” from “Il Cane” by A. Vecchio, 2nd ed. 1904, U. Hoepli publisher, Milan. The is the earliest representation of the Abruzzo pastoral dog in cynophilist literature. Fig. 3. “Cane da Pastore degli Abruzzi” from “Cani e Gatti” by F. Faelli, 1908, U. Hoepli publisher, Milan. The second earliest depiction of the Abruzzo pastoral dog in cynophilist literature.

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Fig. 4. Map of Italy showing the routes of transhumance. Fig. 5. 1982. A meeting of the Maremma Sheepdog Club of the U.K. to which the author was invited as judge.

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Fig. 6. A working Portuguese (Serra de Estrela) pastoral dog. Fig. 7. The Mastin Español after having been processed by the fancier. The image is impressive but it is difficult to imagine such an animal nimbly countering the tactics of the wolf and surviving the wear-and-tear of the life of the pastures. The term “mastin” has erroneously led dog-fanciers to believe they are dealing with a molossoid and this has brought them to insist on bulk and loose skin which are in fact a handicap in a pastoral dog (see chapter on nomenclature). Fig. 8. A Mastin do Pirineos showing the effect of breeding by fanciers in the exaggerated size and bulk. Fig. 9. A Chien des Pyrenées as developed by fanciers. Fig. 10. A working Mastino Abruzzese Fig. 11. The pastoral dog of Calabria Fig. 12. A kennel-bred Kuwasz.

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Fig. 13. A kennel-bred Slovakian Choovach. Fig. 14. A kennel-bred pastoral dog of the Tatra Mountains in Poland. Fig. 15. A kennel-bred Sharplaninatz. Fig. 16. An old photograph of a pastoral dog from Bosnia. Fig. 17. An old photograph of a Roumanian pastoral dog. Fig. 18. Greek pastoral dog. Fig. 19. The head of an Anatolian pastoral dog. Fig. 20. An old photograph of a pastoral dog from the Caucusus.

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Fig. 21. The head of a contemporary Caucasian pastoral dog. Fig. 22. Kennel-bred pastoral dog from Central Asia. Fig. 23. a short-coated pastoral dog from Central Asia. Fig. 24. A Tibetan Mastiff. Fig. 25. A pastoral dog photographed in Mongolia in the 1930s showing the size limit compatible with work. Fig. 26. One of the wolf-guarding dogs kept by E. Dandolo with his flock in the Central Alps in the early 19th century.

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Fig. 27. The sketch epitomises the difference between the herder and the pastoral dog. The former relates to the shepherd, awaiting orders, while the latter relates to the sheep and is little concerned with the man. Fig. 28. Comparing this 18th century etching of the Mastiff with the verbal description by A. Fleming in 1576, cited in the text, and the living Mastiff of today, it is evident that the term in English has always indicated the same molossoid type for the last four hundred years. Fig. 29. The Mâtin of the French in the 14th century (Gaston Phoebus,1389) is a mastinoid. It is quite similar to the pastoral dog of today: strong but not heavy, no loose skin, white coat, cropped ears, powerful head, spiked collar. The only slightly discordant note is in the length of the coat which seems rather short but this is not wholly compromising because short coats do also appear occasionally in contemporary pastoral dogs. Fig. 30. The Mâtin of the French in the 18th century (Buffon,1749) is totally different from the 14th century version. It has a long lean head and is either a lupoid or a graioid and cannot be identified with any contemporary breed. Buffon does not tell us what it was used for and it cannot be a herder which is the Chien de Berger (Fig. 32). Fig. 31. The 18th century print is titled Dogue de Forte Race (Buffon, 1749) and is identical with the English Mastiff in Fig. 28.

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Fig. 32. According to Buffon (1749), the Chien de Berger is not to be confused with the Mâtin in Fig. 30. We can identify the conformation of the Chien de Berger with that of the herders of today but there is no correspondent today of Buffon’s Mâtin. Fig. 33. The head of a male Mastino Abruzzese showing evident masculinity. Notice, in the case of un-cropped ears, how their carriage is always high. Fig. 34. The head of a male Mastino Abruzzese showing typically pronounced secondary sexual characteristics. Fig. 35. The head of a male Mastino Abruzzese showing typically evident secondary sexual characteristics. Fig. 36. A male Mastino Abruzzese showing typically pronounced secondary sexual characteristics. The stress is on the fore part of the body: chest, head, mane of hair. Fig. 37. A male Mastino Abruzzese showing typically pronounced secondary sexual characteristics. The chest, head and mane of hair are particularly stressed. Fig. 38. The head of a Mastino Abruzzese bitch showing exquisitely feminine characteristics. The broadness of the head between the ears is less developed and the ruff of hair starts farther back. Fig. 39. The head of a young female Mastino Abruzzese showing a typically pronounced feminine expression.

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Fig. 40. A Mastino Abruzzese bitch showing the typically feminine conformation. The fore part of the body is not so pronounced as in the dog. Fig. 41. A Mastino Abruzzese bitch in summer coat showing the typically feminine conformation. Fig. 42. A Mastino Abruzzese bitch showing the typically feminine conformation. The fore part of the body (head, ruff, chest) is not so pronounced as in the dog. Fig. 43. The sketch shows the pronounced difference between the bitch and the dog.

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Fig. 44. A flock of sheep moving into Campo Imperatore, one of the main summer grazing areas in the Abruzzi mountains. The plateau is over 1500 m asl. Notice how the shepherd is in the van leading the sheep. A dog is on the left flank to the fore, the others would be in the rear outside the picture. Another flock is to be seen far off at the upper left. Fig. 45. The Appennines in early summer. At the higher altitudes the snow lingers on the shadier slopes. Fig. 46. A view of Chiarano, an upland of very good summer pasture adjoining Monte Greco in Abruzzo. Three mastini are in foreground, placed where they can scan the land. Fig. 47. A flock on the march during transhumance in Abruzzo. The mastino to the left is an outrider preceding the sheep in order to forestall any ambushes from wolves. The picture shows how a flock is led on the march. The animals follow the man in the van while another shepherd closes the procession, watching that none are left behind.

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Fig. 48. The staff of a property of about 2000 head on the summer grazing gounds (1950s) of Chiarano (Abruzzi). The dogs in foreground are wearing their iron collars. Fig. 49. A scene from the 1950s showing the staff of a large property down in the winter quarters of the Tavoliere (Foggia) in Apulia. The men are all Abruzzese shepherds; today they would be Macedonians and Roumanians. Fig. 50. A group of Gentile di Puglia rams at a fair at Foggia in the 1950s. This is the traditional breed kept by the Abruzzese sheep farmers. The Merinoderived breed has been largely substituted in recent times by milch breeds such as the Sarda or Carapellese.

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Fig. 51. Milking time in the afternoon when the sheep have returned from the pasture. The ewes are sent in by turn into one of the passages where they are checked by a yoke allowing the man to milk it. When the milking is over the yoke is lifted and the ewe is sent into the fold for the night. Fig. 52. The summer encampment up in the mountains showing the various chattel. The milk cans on the foreground, the cauldrons for making cheese behind, various items of the trade here and there, and in the background a fence protects an improvised vegetable garden for the benefit of the shepherds’ diet. Fig. 53. The three flocks of the farm are waiting to be taken out to graze. The camp is situated in the mountains on the edge of the Abruzzi National Park. Three mastini may be seen next to the sheep.

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Fig. 54. An early 19th century picture of a summer camp in the Alps. A fence of intertwined branches surrounds the enclosure; lean-tos protect from the north wind; separate areas inside are for the ewes with lambs, for the rams, and for a select stock of ewes; there is a hut for the men with an annex for storing the manure. Two small huts outside the enclosure are for the dogs. Fig. 55. A scene from the XIX century. A small-time shepherd with his meagre flock and only dog. (G. Raggio, 1883). Fig. 56. A high altitude stazzo in Abruzzo not yet occupied by the summer herds. The dry-stone structures show the signs of winter abandon under heavy snow. There are two pens for the ewes and one smaller one for the rams. The hut in the middle for the men will be roofed over with materials brought up for the purpose. The roof will be taken down on departure in autumn.

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Fig. 57. Ewes not in lamb are sent up to highest, less accessible grazing grounds. Fig. 58. A flock of sheep on the march on the way down from the mountains to reach the wintering grounds. A dog is in the van with the men, the others are behind guarding the rear. The man close to the flock has the bell wether next to him. Fig. 59. Posta Torrebianca, a large traditional sheep farm in the Tavoliere (Foggia). The head shepherd is showing one of the mastini. In the background can be seen the extensive sheds (scariazzi) with pens originally planned with a capacity of 3000 head. Such permanent structures of masonry became possible after the Tavoliere lands were sold by the crown at the beginning of the 19th century. Fig. 60. An old-time lowland sheep farm in Apulia where the flocks pass the winter. Fig. 61. A scene from the past in the mountains east of Rome. The massaro is conferring with the pastore, the chief shepherd, while two guardamorra are busy in the background. The smoke reveals that cheese-making is going on inside and the three mastini next to the door must be waiting for their helping of whey. There are still a few people living who know how to make such huts as shown in the picture. A picture from the early XIX century by Henry Coleman.

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Fig. 62. Sheep grouped for the night in the countryside just outside Rome near the Appian Way. The landscape here has not changed much since the scene was painted in the first half of the 19th century, and flocks still frequent these fields today during the winter months (H. Coleman). Fig. 63. Butteracchi, young shepherds very smart in their Sunday best. A picture from 1898 taken on the wintering grounds north of Rome (Cerqueto).

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Fig. 64. The timeless scene of pastoral Abruzzo on the high plateau of Campo Imperatore. The man carries the inseparable umbrella of the shepherd. Fig. 65. A brace of mastini on the look-out, high up in the mountains of Abruzzo. The summer grazing grounds are the meadows above the line of trees like the one to the right in the picture. Fig. 66. Well-matched siblings on the job. They have just turned around to look at the photographer. The flock is heading for the gully in the background on the way up to the high meadows. The trees may hold an ambush from the wolf and the guardians are called to special alertness. Fig. 67. A specimen of vreccale (also called droccale, roccale or cannale), the spiked iron collar worn by males when in the mountains where the danger of wolves is most acute. Fig. 68. Various models of spiked iron collars. The wolf is reputed to have razor sharp teeth and to go for the neck when it attacks. Some models are hung with small clappers which by their jangling are said to unnerve the enemy. Fig. 69. A veteran mastino wearing the vreccale. Fig. 70. Breastplates not to be seen any longer. The model to the right has a protruding spike in the centre as an extra weapon which is brought into play when the dog charges the enemy.

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Fig. 71. The arch-villain in person: the wolf of the Appennines! Fig. 72. A wolf caught in the act of grabbing an ewe. From the studies of L. Boitani. Fig. 73. The nightmare scene for livestock men: sheep slaughtered by the wolf. Fig. 74. The painting by J.-B. Oudry (1686-1775), the court painter of Louis XIV, shows in action the two Mastini Abruzzesi brought to France by the Chevalier François Antoine, Grand Louvetier to the king, in order to help bringing down the terrible Beast of Gévaudan, a strange animal that spread terror in the district, killing more than a hundred people. Fig. 75. R. Coppinger, squatting on the right, with his collaborators in Abruzzo at a sheep fair. The author is standing, second from left. 1981. Fig. 76. A flock settled for the night in the Roman countryside. As part of the agreement with the owner of the land, the pen of rope netting is moved every day so that the animals may fertilise a new lot each time with their droppings.

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Fig. 77. Dogs and sheep at the winter encampment down in the plains. Fig. 78. It is typical of the behaviour of mastini to always stay close to the sheep. Fig. 79. A young dog with cropped ears right inside with the ewes. Fig. 80. At sunset in the Roman Campagna. Fig. 81. The lamb is getting on its feet for the first time. The dog stays at hand to watch over and protect the ewe while it was giving birth, in this most vulnerable phase. Fig. 82. The ewe has become entangled in the netting and cannot free itself. Seeing the animal thus in straits the dog has lain down close by to defend and calm it. Fig. 83. The dramatic painting by Palizzi (1851) shows the fierce clash between mastini and wolves. The artiste was from Vasto,a town in Abruzzo, and therefore familiar with such occurrences.

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Fig. 83. The dramatic painting by Palizzi (1851) shows the fierce clash between mastini and wolves. The artiste was from Vasto,a town in Abruzzo, and therefore familiar with such occurrences. Fig. 84. A pack, one adult and three young, rushing to the source of danger (but it turned out to be a false alarm). Fig. 85. The dogs of the flock space themselves out tactically to cover all possible points of approach by the enemy.

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Fig. 84. A pack, one adult and three young, rushing to the source of danger (but it turned out to be a false alarm). Fig. 85. The dogs of the flock space themselves out tactically to cover all possible points of approach by the enemy. Fig. 86. While on duty mastini give the impression of not doing anything, but loafing. Since their Spartan diet does not allow them to waste energy, they save it for when it is truly needed. Even though they may be lying down with eyes closed, they are monitoring the situation all the time with their ears and especially their nose. Fig. 87. Dogs on a rise from where they can best see, hear and smell the wind. Fig. 88. The flock’s outfit of three males. Fig. 89. Down on the lowland farm for the winter.

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Fig. 90. The midday snooze. Fig. 91. The midday heat makes the dogs sleepy. It is also the most peaceful time of the day when there is the least risk of attack. This bitch carries a particularly rich variety of coat. Fig. 92. Relaxed but alert. Fig. 93. The wrong way with a working mastino. The daughter is spoiling the dog for the shepherd. Such fondling behaviour will make the animal seek the company of man rather than stay with the sheep. Fig. 94. The crucial moment in an experiment by Coppinger to verify whether protectiveness in pastoral dogs is inherited. The herder is attacking the sheep while the pastoral dog is defending it. This researcher raised a herder and a pastoral dog without any contact with sheep. When the time was ripe he placed the two dogs in the presence of a sheep. The herder went aggressively for the ewe whereas the pastoral dog attacked the herder. Fig. 95. At the stazzo in the mountains. The entire pack of the property. Such are the numbers of dogs one needs in areas frequented by large carnivores. Fig. 96. The stranger is given a hostile glance. Fig. 97. If the shepherd were not present the stranger would be subject to a very unpleasant confrontation.

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Fig. 98. The flock is grazing in place and the heads are pointing in various directions Fig. 99. Flock grazing on the move. The sheep that is following the dog is probably its special friend. Fig. 100. The flock is grazing on the move with the heads all pointing in the same direction. The herder can be seen in the middle. Fig. 101. The herder (paratore or toccatore) is the shepherd’s dog and never is really member of the rest of the pack. Fig. 102. The dogs space themselves out, each occupying a tactical position. The one in front is there to flout possible ambushes; the one in the back prevents a thief from sneaking out of the bushes to smuggle away a straggler; the dogs in the thick of the crowd give moral support to the flock. Fig. 103. The mastino with its aide: the small spitz. The very sharp senses of the small dog, especially the eyesight, serve as an extra alarm system for its bigger companions. Fig. 104. Two pumetti, also called vegliarini. The small spitz is the rustic and working version of the city-dwelling Volpino Italiano.

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Fig. 105. A 19th century print showing the lamentation of the small-time shepherd over the blight that has struck his flock; his dog nearby tries to console him. Fig. 106. The fresco painted on the ceiling of the sitting room in an old house of Abruzzo holds the memory of a past episode in which the timely intervention of a Mastino Abruzzese saved the child of the family from a villainous serpent. Fig. 107. The pack has assembled for a hand-out from the shepherd’s daughter. Fig. 108. Feeding is from a communal trough. Whey with various occasional ingredients (bran, old bread, leftovers, etc.) is the staple. Fig. 109. Harmony within the pack is especially evident at feeding time. Fig. 110. The photograph is taken from inside the car where the person involved had to take refuge. The scene took place on a by-road in the countryside of Foggia. Fig. 111. The drawing by Strutt of the shepherd he met on leaving Rome heading south. The dog is probably one of those that attacked him. It carries the black markings which sometimes appear in random individuals.

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Fig. 112. The icon of the Madonna of Divine Love who can be invoked for pacifying aggressive pastoral dogs. Fig. 113. Pastoral dogs are expected to respect the entire domestic fauna of the farm. It takes a lot of self-control not to chase chickens. Fig. 114. When a wolf puts in an appearance well-trained pastoral dogs should not go off in pursuit and thus be drawn away, leaving the flock open to attack from a hidden accomplice in the rear. They should instead encircle the sheep and keep a lookout in all directions. Fig. 115. An old photograph showing a countryman who has managed to kill a wolf and is doing the round of the villages in order to receive presents for his exploit.

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Fig. 116. A kill of three young wolves by poisoning during the 1930s in Abruzzo. Fig. 117. A 17th century maiolica plate from Castelli (Abruzzo) showing a Mastino Abruzzese together with two cani corsi being used in a bear hunt.

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Fig. 118. Mastini Abruzzesi harnessed to carts for delivering supplies to the front line in the Alps during World War I. Fig. 119. Mastini Abruzzesi doing service in World War I. Fig. 120. The disgrace of the breed: a drop-out from the flocks. This fat and shameless individual, with no owner but many friends, may be seen sleeping and lolling around Pescara Central Station every day (a considerate friend has just sheared its coat because of the summer season).

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Fig. 121. A male showing a muzzle scarred from the fights with other dogs over the bitches. Fig. 122. A dog with a swollen muzzle from the fights with other males for precedence in mating with the bitches. Fig. 123. A bitch with young puppies. The puppies push with their forelegs on the udders thus stimulating the milk to flow. Fig. 124. This bitch with her litter has found the perfect den among the bales of straw. Fig. 125. A puppy with eyes just beginning to open. Fig. 126. These puppies are beginning to move outside their den. Fig. 127. Although still suckling these puppies are already eating more solid food.

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Fig. 128. When in the mountains it is not so easy to find a den where to give birth. In this case the thoughtful shepherd has provided a makeshift shelter. Fig. 129. It is never too early to begin. Even at this age a mastino is happy to follow the flock all day long. Fig. 130. The head of month old puppy. The black pigment of the lips, nose an eye rims should begin to appear after about a week from birth. The lack of this pigment impairs the beauty of the animal. Fig. 131. Young ungainly puppies recently shorn of their earlobes. Fig. 132. The proper way of conditioning a pastoral dog. It should be placed among the sheep and ignored. Fig. 133. A scene being the epitome of the relationship between pastoral dog and sheep. The bond with sheep is formed very early in life, just after weaning. Fig. 134. The way to ruin a mastino for its future job. The puppy the object of petting and caresses will rather seek the company of humans in later life than stay all by itself with the flock. Fig. 135. An importunate visitor from the city attempting to spoil this magnificent puppy for its role in life. The ear lobes have been recently cropped.

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Fig. 136. A puppy growing up to its job. This individual has not had its ears cropped. Fig. 137. Older puppies with the shepherd on the winter pastures of the Tavoliere (Foggia). Fig. 138. A sub-adult male not yet showing secondary sexual characteristics. These will emerge with full maturity at two years of age. Some individuals which never attain dominant-male status never develop very pronounced masculine characteristics. Fig. 139. A young male not yet presenting the ruff around the neck and other features of the adult. Fig. 140. Another young male with secondary sexual characteristics yet to develop.

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Fig. 141. A male individual from the breeding programme of the 1930s conducted by Guazzaroni under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture (see text). Fig. 142. A male at the lighter end of the scale of types. Fig. 143. The same individual of fig. 142 showing a different view of the head. Fig. 144. A male. The lighter type of Mastino Abruzzese also presenting the shorter version of coat. Fig. 145. Male with cropped ears and unusually docked tail. A very light version of the breed. The spiked iron collar is a sign that encounters with the wolf are expected. The camp is, in effect, within the Abruzzi National Park. Fig. 146. A male mastino showing extreme bulk. Such individuals are rare and not particularly favoured by the shepherds although they impress fanciers very much. It is with such occasional individuals that fanciers establish the standard in pastoral breeds and then place them among the molossoids. Considering that wolf and dog really belong to the same species and fully understand each other’s ethology, when the former is confronted by a much bigger dog, just the difference in size may be sufficient to deter it since this is a prime factor in determining dominance and therefore submission. On the other hand, heavy pastoral dogs are not very dynamic and not very suitable for going after flocks that graze on the move in difficult mountain terrain. Fig. 147. A tall, rangy male with a long muzzle. One of the possible morphological expressions of the breed. Fig. 148. A male Mastino Abruzzese of the tall and big type.

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Fig. 149. A male of the tall and big type up in the mountains in summer coat. Fig. 150. A masculine head of the big type. Notice the iron collar. Fig. 151. A male specimen showing the most frequent middling type. Fig. 152. The same dog as in Fig. 151 in a different attitude. Fig. 153. A fine male head of the common type. Fig. 154. A front view of an average male head with cropped ears. Whatever the type, the skin around the head should never sag. Fig. 155. The same dog of fig. 154 showing the head in profile. Fig. 156. A fine average male dog showing a highly developed coat. The body under the coat is lean.

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Fig. 157. A good male specimen of the middling type. Such a perfect combination of black pigment on a pure white coat is not always easy to come by. Because it is a hindrance to grazing, snow is not the usual setting for pastoral dogs. Fig. 158. A fine male specimen of the average type on the grazing grounds of a high plateau in Abruzzo. Fig. 159. A very nice male of the medium type down on the plains for the winter. Fig. 160. The same individual as in fig. 159 in a different pose. Fig. 161. An average couple, with the bitch in the foreground. There is too much fawn in the coat of the dog. Fig. 162. A handsome pair of adult male siblings. Such concord between two or more males provides the perfect teamwork that is needed for effective protection against large predators. Fig. 163. A close-up of the commoner type of male head. Notice the perfect pigmentation: pure white and pure black. Fig. 164. An average male head. The small scars showing through the hair are mementos of clashes with other males for precedence in mating.

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Fig. 165. A one-year-old male showing the strong and supple body structure required for a very active and strenuous life. Fig. 166. A male dog showing the typical ease and lightness of movement. Fig. 167. A typical bitch of the average type. Notice the pronounced sexual dimorphism. The bitches appear quite nondescript with respect to the male gender yet they are the sister and mothers of the dogs of the preceding figures. Fig. 168. The same bitch of fig. 167. Fig. 169. The male conformation as preferred by Abruzzo shepherds: a broad chest and a broad head with a short rounded muzzle. The individual shows faulty black pigmentation around the nose. Fig. 170. The ideal conformation of male head according to the Abruzzo shepherd’s standard. Fig. 171. Another male specimen showing the morphological characteristics preferred by the Abruzzo shepherds. Fig. 172. The same dog as in fig. 171.

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Fig. 173. The ideal male mastino type following the Abruzzo shepherd’s standard. The Gran Sasso mountain is in the background. Fig. 174. The same dog as in fig. 173 seen from a different angle. Notice the broad and compact head. Fig. 175. Three male specimens showing the type of head which, according to the shepherds of Abruzzo, denotes the higher type of mastino. Fig. 176. The male head of the higher morphological type. This individual is in summer coat. Fig. 177. A strong male head of the favoured type, with cropped ears. Fig. 178. A male mastino having the conformation of the higher type. The coat is particularly rich and unkempt. There is too much fawn in the white, however. Fig. 179. A bitch having the feminine conformation corresponding to the type preferred by the shepherds.

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Fig. 180. Another bitch showing the feminine equivalent of the favoured type. Fig. 181. An ideal Mastino Abruzzese male head with cropped ears; from a flysheet designed by R. Di Fiore. Fig. 182. Another artiste’s (Volpi, 1994) interpretation of a typical male Mastino Abruzzese head seen in profile. Fig. 183. A typical male head of Mastino Abruzzese; modified from R. Di Fiore. This type of head is common to all pastoral dogs and it is evident that it is neither molossoid nor lupoid and that is why they should have their own conformation category of mastinoid. Fig. 184. A full view of a typical male; modified from R. Di Fiore. Fig. 185. A pedigreed show champion Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. Notice how the features have been softened and emasculated with respect to the Mastino Abruzzese.

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Fig. 186. The drawing shows the difference in the head between the fancierbred Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese (top) and the Mastino Abruzzese (bottom). Fig. 187. A fine example of the Dominican variety. The black and white of the coat recalls the habit of the black friars. Fig. 188. Another specimen of the Dominican variety. Such dogs are much less frequent now than once. Fig. 189. A shepherd with his granddaughter holding two puppies of the Dominican variety. Fig. 190. An individual showing long hair on the face and muzzle. Such sports called baffo or spinoso occur occasionally but are not favoured in any special way. Fig. 191. Rugged dogs for rugged men.

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Fig. 192. This 17th century print perpetuates the concept of the two basic canine types defined by the classical authors, Varro and Columella, and which can be traced all the way back to the ancient Persians. In the foreground is the canis villaticus, the guard dog of the homestead, and behind is the canis pastoralis, the guard dog of livestock. Fig. 193. A statue in Athens of the pastoral dog from the 4th century B.C. All the defining morphological features are there: large size, shape of head, cropped ears (although broken), long hair (although barely suggested around the neck, along the back, on the legs and on the tail), and watchful expression. Fig. 194. A Hellenistic statue of the canis pastoralis with cropped ears. The original pair was in place at Pergamon in Asia Minor, guarding the temple entrance, but several copies were made one of which is at the Vatican Museum and another is at the Uffizi Museum in Florence. Fig. 195. A detail from a 14th fresco of the Nativity in the church of St. Francis at Amatrice in the Central Appennines. The mastino is barking at the angels come to tell the shepherds where to find the crib. The dog presents all the distinguishing features. It is guarding the penned sheep (it is, of course nighttime); it is big, white, with semi-pendant ears, and the brush strokes tell that a long coat is intended, and it also carries the unmistakable badge of its profession: the spiked iron collar. Fig. 196. A painting by Bartolo Battiloro (ca 1330-1410) at S. Gimignano (Siena) showing Abraham and Lot leaving for Canaan. Our dog is with the flock in the front: all-white, large size, long coat, un-cropped ears. Fig. 197. A detail from a Nativity by Mariotto di Nardo (Florence, 1394-1424). All the elements for identification are there except the spiked collar: large size, white coat, pendant ears and it is next to sheep. The shortness of the coat does not compromise the identification since short hair does occur here and there in working pastoral dogs. Fig. 198. A 16th century representation of the pastoral dog in a detail from the Cavalcade of the Wise Men by Benozzo Gozzoli (Florence). 222



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Fig. 199. A 17th century etching of the Roman countryside by Johannes v. d. Hecke showing a pastoral dog lapping from an ancient sarcophagus used as a drinking trough. Fig. 200. A primitive sketch filling an empty space on one of the 17th century maps of the Tavoliere drawn by the royal surveyor Nunzio Michele di Rovere. The series of maps depicted the locazioni, the crown lands in the plain of Foggia leased to the sheepmasters for the winter grazing. Notwithstanding the crudeness of the drawing the dog is sufficiently well-defined: large size, white, long hair, ruff, cropped ears and accompanying sheep. Fig. 201. This is the etching accompanying the article in the Penny Magazine (March, 1833) which can be found in Appendix VI. Fig. 202. The reclining animal is a fine male specimen of the breed: good size, spotless coat and strong head framed by a magnificent ruff. A pastoral detail from the Roman countryside in an etching by Charles Coleman (1850). Charles, together with his son Henry, has left us a beautiful series of paintings and etchings of the landscape around Rome from the first half of the 19th century. Fig. 203. 1873. A water colour by Henry Coleman (b. 1846) of a pastoral scene from the Roman countryside. Fig. 204. Anne MacDonnell, In the Abruzzi, 1908: “Neither shall I attempt to account for the eerie thrill as one lay and listened to the ceaseless patterpatter through the night, and to the strange low calls in the darkness;” (photo by courtesy of Capone ed.). Fig. 205. 1910. A shepherd with his head dog and flock on the Maiella mountain in Abruzzo. The man is wearing the classical outfit of goatskin chaps and sheepskin mantle (photo by courtesy of Cosmo Iannone Editore).

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Fig. 206. The dog show at Foggia in 1974. A rare occasion in which working dogs came in from the countryside. Notice the spotless coats which the sheepmen consider de rigueur. Fig. 207. The annual sheep fair at Campo Imperatore where working dogs are occasionally shown. Fig. 208. A consignment of puppies of various sheep-guarding breeds to U.S. farmers as part of R. Coppinger’s project. Fig. 209. Mastini Abruzzesi at a dog show in 1984. It was in this occasion that the Italian Kennel Club made a half-hearted attempt to confer an independent status to these working dogs with respect to the Pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese. Fig. 210. This French print from 1870 presumably shows a Chien de Pyrenées tackling a wolf. Notice how the structure is much lighter than today’s show variety. Fig. 211. The logo of the Arma Bianca (Blanc Weapon) Project of the National Park of Abruzzo.

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Fig. 212. Lola and Lazzarone, the pair taken to a sheep farm in Norway to keep away the bears coming in from Sweden. Fig. 213. Lola with the Gregorio Rotolo, the breeder and Abruzzo sheep owner, during a short stop in Oslo to stretch our legs. Fig. 214. The logo of the WWF project: “adopt a dog and you will save a wolf.!”. Fig. 215. A humorous vignette illustrating the spirit of the Legambiente project.

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Fig. 216. The WWF project. A dam with her litter eventually destined at a later age for the shepherds of the Alps where wolves, bears and jackals are returning. The dogs were bred at the sheepfarm of Nunzio Marcelli at Anversa in Abruzzo. The dugs of the bitch are sore from the milk teeth of the puppies. The half-hidden fawn puppy trying to suckle is from a mongrel bitch off the picture. Fig. 217. The Legambiente project. Puppies being given away to the shepherds living in the national parks of Central Italy where wolves and bears are a threat. Notice how the dogs are always given away in twos or more, never singly. Fig. 218. The WWF “Life” Project. Three siblings just arrived at a sheepfarm in the Carso area near the Slovenian border from where bears and jackals are penetrating into Italy. The puppies have been placed in a pen inside the sheep shed where they can bind with the new flock for a few days before being set free. In preparation for their job, the dogs had been carefully familiarised with sheep at the farm of Nunzio Marcelli at Anversa in Abruzzo. Fig. 219. Legambiente project. A pair of puppies on their way to their destination.

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