Benedict
Posted : 7/16/2008 10:27:46 AM
huskymom
Aw Kate, I'm sorry. Is there something about the breed that makes the breeding hard to take? Seems to me I read something about that in the post you made before. I could be dellusional though, its happened before.
I think it was actually Becca who said it first....once successfully bred they are excellent mothers, but getting to that point is tricky. They are not particularly easy dogs to breed even with successful ties. In the 70's (I think, may have been a bit earlier or a bit later) an Italian breeder loaned two bitches in whelp to essentially save the breed here. They were sent over, whelped the litters in quarantine and the bitches were sent back, the puppies stayed here. Out of two large litters (I believe they were 9 puppies and 8 puppies) not a SINGLE ONE was ever successfully bred....so while people like me got their Maremmas at that point...it didn't do anything to really help.
A lot of the history is long and complicated...I don't know nearly all of it LOL...but suffice it to say there are no puppies around and no guarantee that there WILL be puppies even when the bitches that are here go into season.
huskymom
But....if you import a bitch... would you whelp the litter? and would we get more pictures? Of Maremma Puppy Toesies?
I would not whelp it, no...I'd let the breeder try to have a litter with her.....all that, of course, being dependent on whether she'd want to. I'd go and take pics of toesies, though.