When You Have an Anatolian Shepherd...

you realize that they work in teams....and that you need another.

It takes over a year to train one of these dogs to be a loyal livestock guardian, and another 6 months after that to teach it "manners".  You can not train one that has no instinct.
Both Aegis and Koruma are outstanding dogs.  Koruma can be a handful, but she learns quickly and she has her livestock skills.  Now we need to teach her manners.  Her daddy does a great job.  He is a guardian of goats and chickens, protector of all things small....and shredder of trash.  Koruma is learning.

Think it is all fun & games?  Have a look at this face!  (and try to ignore all the shredded trash in the background)

Welcome home Koruma

I can not say enough great things about Aegis.  He has truely been a Godsend to us. 

Yesterday we saw the litter of puppies for the first time.  Our breeding agreement is that we get our pick of the litter......

I picked our puppy right away.  I had actually picked her out from the first picture...but I knew for sure once I saw her......and now Aegis meets Koruma...

Koruma is the Turkish word for guard.  At barely 6 weeks, she is already showing instinct to watch over her keep.  Aegis checked her out really good....and they had a nose-to-nose meeting.  Note that they greeted each other as equals...both tails up.

I think they will work together as a fine team....especially if Koruma walks in her daddy's steps...

Daddy Dog!

Buffy has had her puppies!  We have not yet been out to see them but the breeder did send us a picture of the little darlings!  8 girls and 2 boys!  I can't wait to get out there and pic out our baby Aegis!

These will all be working Livestock Guardian Dogs.  What a great job Aegis and Buffy!!

New Tasks

Aegis is 15 months old now and never stops amazing me.  The Lord really blessed us when he brought us this dog.  This week Aegis is learning to guard the new turkeys as he does the goats.  Since he's been raised with poultry, this is just another step....but he's never seen grown turkeys before today.

Aegis and his wife Buffy

The worlds greatest LGD is going to be a daddy!! We were contacted by some very nice folks that have a female longhaired Anatolian Shepherd and made the decision to breed Aegis.  It is very rare for us to breed any of our dogs, most of them are spayed or neutered before they ever get old enough to reproduce.  But with Aegis, we feel that his instinct is outstanding and we want a puppy by him. 

Both Aegis and Buffy are working LGD's. 

This is the one and only shot for him to be a daddy, so we really hope he'll produce some nice puppies.  We plan to have him neutered in the next few months.

No shock collar

Aegis has had his shock collar off for about 5 days now and he's doing great. Today the neighbor's dogs were loose and he stopped them at the fence each time.

Raw Fed Guardians

Since all our other dogs are raw fed, I was concerned with talking to other folks that had experience with raw fed LGD's. I found none.

Aegis has been raw fed since the first week he was here. I despise buying dog kibble, an and it took only a day or two for him to eat raw meat. All of our dogs are raw fed, meaning raw meat and bones. I have been concerned about raw feeding a LGD, but now I am confidant that it can be done, and it is best for us.

That's a 10 month old Anatolian Shepherd puppy, Livestock Guardian....eating a big hunk of ribs....

Raw fed dogs are happy dogs....regardless of their jobs!