Two years old of our Maremma sheepdog AKI (Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese).

The Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog, Italian: Cane da pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, also called Maremmano, Maremma Sheepdog or Abruzzese Sheepdog, is an Italian breed of livestock guardian dog. It is indigenous to central Italy, particularly to Abruzzo and to the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio. It has been used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves. The literal English translation of the name is "shepherd dog of the Maremma and Abruzzo". The English name of the breed derives from that of the Maremma marshlands where, until recently, shepherds, dogs and hundreds of thousands of sheep over-wintered,​ and where the dogs are still abundant although sheep-farming has decreased substantially. It is widely employed in Abruzzo, where sheep herding remains vital to the rural economy and the wolf remains an active and protected predator.
Similar-looking dog breeds include the Pyrenean Mountain Dog, the Kuvasz of Hungary, the Polish Tatra Sheepdog, the Slovenský Cuvac of Slovakia and the Šarplaninac (although not white), with all of which it may share a common ancestor; and the Akbash of Turkey. Descriptions of white flock guardian dogs are found in ancient Roman literature, in works such as those of Columella, Varro and Palladius. Similar dogs are depicted in numerous sculptures and paintings from Roman times to the present. Among the earliest is the series of large statues (two in Rome, one in Florence, one – the Duncombe Dog – in England) copied from a Hellenistic bronze from Pergamon.

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