Mosby (“Mose”), Kamille (“K” or Kiki”) Stella and Jeb are our Anatolian Shepherd Dogs. Sadly, the four of them recently lost a friend; Leeloo who was our very first Anatolian and has passed away at the age of 7.  You may find Leeloo mentioned in the stories that follow.  They group is a  working  team of livestock guardians, property protectors and companions.  ASD’s have been used to protect small livestock such as sheep and goats but  have been used on just about all types of stock with success.  Mosby, Kamille, Stella and Jeb have run of our 40 acres and keep themselves busy looking after the horses (maybe not so much), our herd of goats goat, our flock of Corriedale Sheep , our pigs and our couple hundred head of  poultry running about the place. The Anatolian Shepherd evolved to its present conformation while isolated in rural pockets in Turkey where it was called upon to keep the stock and shepherd’s home (when not on pasture duty) free from intruders.

Make no mistake, these are large dogs.  Leeloo, Kamille and Stella are easily 115 - 120 lbs each.  Mosby is, by our best estimates, about 160 lbs.  I base that estimate on the size of our departed Akita male Koji who was 28” at the shoulder and 130 lbs.  Mosby is 33” at the shoulder and just as beefy as Koj was in his prime.  So, without access to a good scale that would support the weight of Mosby, I put him in  the average sized man weight class.

Before purchasing our first Anatolian Shepherd, we did quite a bit of research.  I had a number of “buying criteria” but the first one was for a dog that was more stock friendly than our Akitas.  The Boys (as our Akita makes Koji and Yoshi were called) had a high prey drive that did not square with our move to sheep.  Yoshi once tried to take down a pony that we brought to our first farm-ette so I was pretty sure sheep would be like sport.  The second most important criteria was to have a dog that demonstrated the same drive to protect house and home as The Boys.  In the past, I traveled quite a bit and The Boys gave me the piece of mind to know that a stranger to the property would be dealt with severely.  I did not want to lose that piece of mind being that we are rural folk and my research showed that the Anatolian Shepherd is possessive of not only his stock but will also protect a “territory” which in this case is our farm.  The third item was the Anatolian Shepherds aggressiveness toward strange dogs.  I know that sounds odd, but our area does not come under coyote pressure (yet) so my main source of predation would potentially have come from stray or feral dogs thinking that our sheep looked like furry kabobs with legs.  I had read that some of the other livestock guard dogs cannot always be depended upon to aggressively confront and deal with a dog intruder.  So, stock friendly, property protector, dog aggressive and it didn’t hurt that I was fond of the fawn with black mask.

What we have found is that the Anatolian Shepherds have proven to be good at the primary job of eliminating “intruders” that venture onto their property.  Case in point is Mosby.  Mosby began to watch over our sheep when he was only months old.  When he was 8 months old, our ewes lambed.  One morning, shortly after the lambing, Mosby had just come off the “night shift” when the Boss noticed a gaggle of turkey vultures in the lamb’s pasture.  Mosby had eliminated a fox in the middle of the sheep field. If you are familiar with foxes you know that they are quite quick so for him to run it down at 8 months old shows that his is quick and nimble for his size.  That was the first of his run-ins with our neighborhood foxes.  In addition to the demise of the foxes there have been other “casualties” at the hands of our Anatolian pack.  Some have been large (deer for example), others smaller (raccoons, opossums, skunks, stray cats and the like).  They take their job very seriously.  Also, it has taken some time but since Mosby turned about 18 months old, he has taken a much more proactive approach to property protection.  Kamille joined the group a few months before turning 2 years old so her instinct was already there and she has considered the farm her territory from day 1.  Leeloo, having learned her human aggression from the Akitas was very serious about protecting the property...just ask the barn builders how serious she was!

There were also unforeseen and unlooked for bonuses that we discovered with our Anatolian Shepherds.  The most happy bonus is that our dogs are affectionate.  The Boys never sought you out for attention.  Ever.  If their tail was wagging, it usually meant that something was about to die.  The Anatolians Shepherds on the other hand seek you out and need to feel contact with you.  That takes the form of a good lean on the leg, sitting on your foot or sitting in your lap (as best they can) if you let them.  The Anatolian Shepherds are also as attentive to our children as The Boys.  This is a big one for me.  The Boys would take up posts in the old house.  One on the landing and one next to the child.  Woe betide the person who thought they would get  between one of The Boys and his child.  Mosby, to my surprise, rivals The Boys in that respect and then some.  Quick story:  we were turning our goat shed into a chicken shack one weekend with the daughters and Mosby in our nearest paddock.  Since there was work to do inside the shack, the daughters went to play.  When I stepped out of the shack a few minutes later to see what the daughters were up to, I saw, to my surprise, our oldest (7 at the time) astride Mosby.  Yep, she was riding him like her pony, something that neither one of The Boys would have stood for.  Too much dignity and reserve for them.  That in itself was remarkable to me but the part that I appreciate more than the pony ride is the look on Mosby’s face.  I can only call it affectionate indulgence.  It was only after I called the Boss over to look and talk it over with daughters when I discovered they had been taking turns riding Mosby for about 15 minutes.