26/03/2026
OUR NEWEST FARM GUARDIANS Introducing Zara’s pups, Ruby and WindRunner *please allow me explain this name absurdity at the end.
We kept one male and one female from Zara’s litter in October last year.
Getting the training right for a maremma pup can be tricky. You can’t just leave a pup in the paddock with chickens (like we were led to believe when we started out😅) because they’ll very likely “play” with the hens. So far these two are doing incredible and learning quickly, even better than we expected, but we started them out really strong.
To begin, we had a really good setup for the pups where they were in their own fenced area just next to the chickens for the first 4.5 months of their life, so the smells, sounds and sight of the chickens were all familiar right from the start (they were born in this pen too).
The fence was electrified chicken netting so they were *I call it kissed by the fence* if they got too close, to teach them to stay inside.
We put them in with Zara and her flock a few weeks ago, and they’ve been doing so well! She’s putting them in their place when they step out of line.
She has zero patience for nonsense, which is perfect. If they get a bit playful or forget they’re working dogs, she lets them know very quickly, then goes straight back to watching the paddock like the professional she is.
*So the name… once upon a time I totally would have judged you for naming your dog WindRunner 😅 but here we are, letting our six year old live out his dog dreams and name the big boy. At first I thought we’d change it but it stuck and now we all love it, so WindRunner is here to stay. *judge away*
