Hey everybody, well it is a beautiful late January day.
As you can see here it's snowing, it's very beautiful.
And I thought, we should probably make a video
and explain a little bit of how we ended up here.
What happened along the way,
and why the Maremma was kind of the worst choice for us as a dog
and also the best choice for us as a dog.
And before I get into that, for those of you that don't know,
before we moved here to Raspberry Fields,
we lived on about an acre parcel of land, just outside a small town.
But we had neighbours on either side. And when we decided we were gonna get a dog
I did a lot of research and came up with the Maremma as a breed.
And I did a lot of research the Maremma, and if you do a lot of research the Maremma,
the first thing they say is, not a housepet.
This is a barn dog, this is a livestock guardian dog.
And I, ignored that. And there were so many things about the Maremma
that was just so amazing that I said, you know what, I'm gonna get this puppy.
So we went out, we got Asa, and I'll link below his gotcha video, if you're interested
in seeing that, it's kind of fun. And we moved him to his home, and
everything was wonderful for a little while. But, Maremma's bark a lot.
So if you at home are thinking, I'm gonna get a Maremma,
the first bit of warning is, they bark a lot. And once they find their voice they,
(dog barking)
Asa would bark at our neighbours dog, our neighbours getting ready for work in the morning.
He would bark at cars going by, everything.
And right now what he does is, he gets up in the morning he comes out
here he barks for about an hour. He barks for an hour before bed.
If there's anything around here that he hears, he barks.
If there's a squirrel, he barks.
So just imagine living with neighbors on either side.
And I have this puppy that's already barking.
Which is a Maremma trait, they wanna bark, they're a livestock guardian dog, that's what they do.
So instead of training him out of barking, we thought maybe
we would be happier and he would happier with more land.
Right Asa?
Are you laughing at me?
Okay, so Asa is a livestock guardian dog and he is going to guard.
And that just seems to be who he is and what he wants to do.
So what we have done, in the meantime, because we don't have any animals here yet.
We are planning on getting Asa some goats, for some friends.
And some chickens,
but for now we have our rabbits here. Which is like, a pretty good substitution.
He loves his rabbits, he loves taking care of them.
Gets very excited whenever we're feeding them, when we're watering them.
And pretty much loves being outside just to be with this rabbits, just to be with his rabbits.
So it's given him a new purpose out here in the yard.
So eventually he's not gonna be in this little yard,
he's gonna be over there, obviously with the goats once that's all fenced in and ready for them.
(Jennie giggles)
So Asa loves the freezing cold.
And he will fight me in minus 33 weather about coming in.
Today it's about minus 13 and he's typically fine with it.
Get the toy.
So when he acts up, I try not to give him any reaction.
Usually I leave the yard completely, but I'm trying to film a video.
And like a child, redirect him to a better play behavior than running into me and nosing me.
The one thing I have found with Asa is he extremely mouthy.
So, that can involve nipping, and pulling.
Was very bitey little puppy.
No, get the toy.
So, the one thing they say with Maremma's is that they are extremely independently thinking.
And we see this all the time.
If we were playing right now, and
he's playing he's having fun, but if a large bird say, flew overhead, or if I
brought the chihuahuas out he just immediately would stop playing and go back to work.
And he's been like that since he was seven weeks old.
Oof.
(sweet music)
(upbeat rock music)
Okay, Asa, are you ready to do Asavision?
Let's see what Asa sees in the woods.
And go!
No not the treats, go, go, go.
I forgot his treats.
(Jennie giggles)
Bye Asa!
So we're gonna see what Asa sees, where he goes.
- [James] We hope.
- We hope.
No, this way.
Good boy, yes!
So the one vehicle that we get by here,
a week maybe, just went by when we started the dog's walk,
and Asa loves to chase large vehicles and that one was an excavator and
he didn't chase it, so, that's pretty cool.
Didn't stop me from being stressed out.
So today's entire point of this trip is to see where Asa goes.
'Cause we don't really know where he goes, do we dear?
- [James] Mm mm.
- He goes places we can't reach because we have two legs.
Here he comes.
So I have to say, Asa has been the easiest dog to train
that I've ever had.
It's taken, takes usually about four minutes to teach him a simple trick.
Sit.
Asa sit.
Sit.
Good boy, yes give paw.
Good boy, yes.
Look at me.
Not the food, look at me.
Look at me.
Good boy, ah, look at me.
Yes, good boy Asa, yes.
Okay we do the new one.
Up.
Down, yes.
Good boy.
Okay, and then we have to do this, look at me. Boop.
Gots to do the boop, boop. Good boy, Asa.
Eat.
But he only does it if he wants to.
So that's why we have these, which is like a super high-value reward.
Because he knows what come here means, that's not a question.
But if he thinks something more important is going on he's not a big fan of listening.
He's taking a doot on my trail.
He just deuced on my trail.
- [James] Where you going?
Asa.
How's the Asa cam?
Is it doing good, or do you got it covered in snow?
-
Okay so, Asavision has been cancelled by Asa himself.
Thanks Asa.
Asa lost the camera.
So somewhere in this 80 acres is a really rugged expensive camera.
Thank you Asa.
- Thank you Asa. - Head home.
- So as you can see, living on one acre
of property outside of town was not the ideal situation for Asa.
And was probably a mistake on our part.
But I would definitely say he is happier,
he's healthier having 80 acres to run around on.
And having something to guard.
And eventually he's gonna have so many more animals to guard and take care of
and that's what he really really needs to feel happy and to feel successful.
And although I know that there are, there are Maremma's that maybe are more suited to
like a more suburban lifestyle, we did not get that Maremma.
If there ever was a Maremma that could Maremma, Asa could Maremma.
He just wants to watch his bunny rabbits and
get more friends I guess to take care of here on the homestead, so.
We're open to giving that to him.
God, he just eats those.
Like he doesn't chew them.
Look at him, he's eating it like it's freaking slim jim.
He's eating that bully stick like it's a slim jim.
(theme music)