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To work with the flock any foreign presence is regarded with great suspicion, and also the day approaching with friendly intentions requires a cool head because, scortovi from a distance, the dogs will be met by all parties with furious momentum. Often this impulse cost them dear as some of the most usual frequenters of our shores are the hunters who, fearing for their safety, they are easily led to shoot the dogs. Indeed, there is a particular animosity between the two sides and the shepherds dogs quickly learn to recognize and fear the rifle. For their part, hairy guardians do not spare the hounds distracted or careless chasing the hare from between the legs of the sheep.
Similarly, it was very interesting to study the behavior of this dog when it is to guard the flock, because it originates from the basic essence of character of ancient and infallible guardian of sheepdog. To better fulfill this task, he puts on a hill or rise that dominates the landscape and overlooking the cattle grazing.
As soon as a person appears in the distance the dog starts barking so long and dragged it becomes progressively more short hand and dry at the approach of strangers. As a result, all the other dogs are warned that they chorus the first from their vantage points. As soon as the man passes a limit heard by dogs, these are launched against him in the manner described and, as such things go, it seems that he should be torn to pieces in an instant; But, behold, if he remains calm the dogs charging stops abruptly a few steps. It is surrounded by a dozen enormous dogs, shaggy and menacing the traveler does not feel certain a pleasant feeling, but, really, it was just for preventive action to avoid further approached the precious sheep. Remains certain that the aggression is never far away and, knowing this, the shepherds, who descend into the busy Roman countryside, linking the day in the mountains or leave their fiercest subjects. Likewise, dogs that go down into Foggiano are known to be more dangerous since their solitude in the desert plains generates little confidence with men.
Nell'accorgersi of the visit, the pastor, who was lying quietly at the scene, chase the arrogant and detached affably welcomes the rare visitor who offers him the unusual diversion for a chat. Dogs, meanwhile, does not seem s'accorgano most of foreign presence and come to watch. But then, after the visit and went away fifty paces, the traveler all hell breaks loose with the dogs again, that will leave him alone only when it is very far away.
It 'clear that exists for the dog a strip of territory around the stazzo or to grazing flock which constitutes a kind of security zone beyond which a foreign presence is too far away to be a threat, and within which the intruder , though friendly, it is considered part of the camp. But it's when you cross this threshold that the dog shakes and feels he has to face the potential danger, behaving in the manner described.
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