There’s a beautiful sheep farm not too far from me, and when I drop by, I love to visit the Maremma Sheepdogs who guard the flock from coyotes. I learned early on that it is easy to photograph them, they always move in front of the sheep to protect them when strangers arrive.

Like most Maremma’s, these two live outdoors with the sheep all year ( I don’t think the people seeking to ban the carriage horses in New York would approve of their lifestyle, they don’t ever get to sleep inside.) Maremma’s are guardian livestock dogs, originally bred in Central Italy to fight off wolves. They used to winter with sheep when they moved around to find grass.

They are beautiful dogs, smart and vigilant. Whenever I arrive, they rush to get between me and the sheep and bark loudly, sounding the alarm.If I stop and move back, they generally do the same thing. It would be great to have one of these dogs living out in the pasture with the sheep, except I can’t quite imagine them getting on with donkeys.

Different breeds of sheepdogs have different functions. German Shepherds and Rottweilers – both herding breeds – are border and boundary dogs, they keep the sheep where they are supposed to be, especially in European countries where there is little land and boundaries matter, border collies take the sheep out to graze, bring them home, move them around farms. Maremma’s live with the sheep, that is their entire existence. They expose the common misconception that working animals do not like to work.