Turkish Dogs - particularly Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

Inmates!

Long faces above... we had some work done on the property today so all the dogs had to go into the big kennel (the one that is strong enough to be Anatolian-proof!) while the gates were left open for lots of to and fro-ing for a few hours. The orange twine is for holding the kennel door open which it is most all the time.

Work done for the day, front gate closed. I go out to let them out, giving them a cheerful greeting. First, they give me happy, hopeful looks, because I'm about to let them out of the jail -- then I realized I should get the camera! -- Whee! snap snap...

After I got the camera, however, upon seeing the camera, instead of looking excitedly at me, they look resigned as I snap away... poor pups! All you peeps clamoring for pictures after my doggie picture hiatus. Look what you've done! LOL.

Close-ups of the Inmates--

This is taken from another pic, where they look to the front door, maybe accusingly at James who is just standing there watching. They are pointedly refusing to look at me. (lol) :D

Coco

Boone

Ruya

I had to move to another angle to get a better picture of Helmut. He looks happier than Ruya who is still glowering (it seems) at James in the doorway. :)

Helmut

Project isn't going to be done in one day, so they'll all have some more jail time, a few hours each day, in the next few days. sigh... Yeah, I'm not happy either but it'll be nice when the projects are finished. James laughed when he saw the photos of all the accusatory looking glances. The dogs are so expressive. After I let them out of jail, they all clustered around me for attention then each dog curled up nearby.

Boone snuggles against me as Helmut, his son, relaxes.

Labels: ASD_Pics, Boone, Coco, Helmut, Ruya

Sun Nov 26, the pups will be seven weeks old. I'm still catching up on the backlog and am actually making headway. Yay, me! These pics are from a collection covering the end of their fifth and going to the end of their sixth weeks. :)


A five week old Coco, snoozing.


Coco's eyes are turning grayish. They have a faint amber (yellowish) tinge that is increasing around the iris which gives them a sage or moss coloring in some photos. As a liver colored ASD, the transitions in eye color will continue through her first year.


Cuddly Coco - this pic shows how fuzzy she can look. :)


Neil at five weeks. Sporting the ever popular 'wet look' -- thanks to helping to fill the water bowl.


Darth at 5 weeks. Snoozing after a meal. Does he look roly poly or what?!


Batman 5 weeks - very mellow guy.


Mr T playing with a suspended tug toy.

Starting their sixth week, I let them out to explore part of the yard for a few hours every day.

The pics below are from the first time they had a chance to explore outside their contained puppy area.


Neil in front - Darth behind him.


Darth coming forward.


Spot & Neil


J & Coco


Synchronized yawning . . . Ruya yawns, so does Coco.
Spot in the middle and Neil in foreground


Neil again.


Adult girls, Zor (furthest back) and Ruya (forward) on the left.
Puppies from 12 o'clock to the front are Spot, Coco and Neil.
On the right, Boone watches over all his babies.


Boone

. . . new camera - pics follow.


Ruya being mobbed by her siblings.
With pic above and those that follow, I'm trying out a new camera. This one is a Kodak EasyShare Z650.
It has a very different feel to it than my other digital cameras.


Above pic: Bottom right, you can see Ruya's feet in the forground, still mobbed by puppies. Are those are hind feet up in surrender? :)
Zor being mobbed by puppies for a snack. Boone in the background, head hidden behind Zor -- missed the shot I really wanted while fumbling for the new button locations.

What I wanted - Zor was laying down and Boone standing just behind her. The pups were approaching them. Only took a few seconds for me to lose the shot completely. :)

Above pretty much captures some of the chaos these darling little abductors have created in our lives here! Boone has actually been chased by his kids from time to time. He enjoys watching over them but doesn't want the whole pack closing in on him at once. Can't blame him. :)


'J' puppy - nicknamed for the capital J on her chest.

This new camera has 10x optical zoom with something called Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon. Don't ask. I had to look it up too.
I only took a few pictures because I had little idea if anything was coming out right and the camera seemed to be very busy focusing on things and adjusting this and that or some other thing within. Everything looked fuzzy in the viewfinder til I started to figure out how to use the buttons.

I wasn't even sure if above puppy was still in the picture when I took this one. Turned out okay.


Coco looking rough coated in a picture from the distance! This coat texture detail doesn't show up very well in distance shots from the other cameras. I'm starting to like this camera!


Neil
Nice detail. Every blade of grass and his coat shows up well with this shot. Compare to the shots with Neil from the Kodak EasyShare C330 above. James found the camera at a local Walmart sale. Not bad. :)

Other pup stuff: The boys all have their nether packages which started coming in on week 5. They are all also demonstrating some bite inhibition, not chomping quite so hard on their playmates or human victim. The girls are pretty social. Most social is Spot, then Coco, and finally 'J' in the current rankings for seeking social activity. Neil is the most social and adventurous of the boys, followed by Darth and T. Batman seems to be the most mellow although he gets up and about when I'm least likely to be ready with camera.

On the coats, Spot and 'J' (of the girls), have the smoothest of the medium coats. Next level up for coat length and increased plush appearance for a medium coat is 'T', who will probably have a coat like his big sister, Ruya. Coco and Darth have rough coats of about the same degree of increased intermediate texture. And finally Neil and Batman have definite rough and rugged looking coat and perhaps will have more in the way of feathering as adults than will Coco and Darth.


Mental note: Don't take this new camera for a swim in the puppy dish!

Labels: 2006Litter, Boone

Okay, I'm really behind on everything lately but I'm working on it!
This is a continuation of week five with the puppies, so go back here and read if you missed it, then come back here.

Ready now?

Here are some photos from the puppies' fifth week dated November 10th, sent to us by the Koerners after their visit. They get all the credit for these great pics. I did was crop them down to take advantage of the high resolution detail in some of the pictures.

There are soooooo many photos but here are a few samples of scattered shots and some extra stuff thrown in. :)


Darth and Ruya

Ruya loves Dave and Karolyn, and she loves "her" puppies too. Here she is laying in the straw in the puppy area.


Ruya with one of the girls, showing how much room there is in the little doghouse in the Batcave.

In the above pic, see that gray blob on the right with a tail stepping out the front?
That's Batman stepping out of the Batcave


The front end of Batman, outside the Batcave, with Coco, of course.


Ruya demonstrating how to be a lapdog even when the victim Karolyn isn't using a chair


Lapdoggie


Spot wants to get on Karolyn's lap too!


Mr T (on step) talks to Neil, probably about the popularity of the Batcave


Popular spot indeed. Ruya and Spot inside. Batman on the step. Darth playing with Neil off to the side.


Naptime. Everyone looks drowzzzzzzy

Ruya in the dog house.
Clockwise, starting with Batman on the step, Neil and Darth (on the bottom), Spot with her head above Darth.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gotham City.... Mama Zor in the background and noble Daddy Boone in foreground


Sleepy Darth


Headstudy Neil


Mr T arrives at the Batcave with news for Coco and Neil


New(ish) Kennel:
Our cheap chain mesh dog runs became demolished over the years due to weaknesses of the chainmesh material, so we bought this setup by Magnum. It has two doors, one of which is always open unless used. Both doors are temporarily held open with baling twine for the pups as part of their puppy area. It can be divided in half with a center panel if the need ever comes up (the giant doghouse would have to be pushed sidways or taken out).

We don't kennel dogs but these things are handy when you have workers around or need to contain a dog for any reason. I'm impressed with the quality of these panels and hope these will be good for a long time to come.

A fun side trip on doghouses now!
That giant doghouse which we have moved in the dog run, is well over 15 years old. It has been a favorite dog house (one of three big ones) for all of our Anatolians over the years. Because of the headroom, it is big enough so that I can get in there with two or more adult Anatolians and be pretty comfy! With fresh straw in the doghouse, we have fun 'making the bed'! Yep, it's true, I love that doghouse too. :)

The original frame was rebuilt this year and James given it three new sides and a new roof. You can see a few of the old boards being used as the front panel of the doghouse above.

The second largest doghouse still needs repairs.

Zor and Ruya cuddle inside on a rainy day. (old pic by James)


Zor demonstrates one of many deficiencies. This one also needs a new frame and some new sides due to the wear and tear it has suffered.
(this pic by me)
And finally, the very oldest doghouse of the three big doghouses, the one that Aslan, my former old service dog used to love standing or sleeping or just BARKING on top of and occasionally sleeping inside of, has long since collapsed!

Old frames can only be reboarded, renailed before the wood just gets too old to hold a good nail. Then there's nothing for it but to rebuild it from the ground up . . .


My favorite old picture of this old doghouse (by Bill McKeon). There's Aslan on top with Disi, next to him. Bertha inside and Sabah with her head sticking out over the retaining wall for the straw. No wonder that house eventually collapsed! It became unsalvageable. I used to get into it and help spread the fresh straw - less headroom than the giant doghouse, but still not bad! With two adult Anatolians to help me, it was a lot of fun! I'd get out of the doghouse with straw in my hair, in my clothes and jeans and just grinning from ear to ear.

The picture wasn't a setup! Actually we had some visitors over and all the dogs came to greet. The exercise pen off to the left had a litter inside - this was 1994 . . . Anyway after "the meet and greet", the conversation got boring to the dogs, but they all wanted to stick around to monitor our guests and make sure nothing evil happened to the pups. Two went inside, two on top. (and one flew over the cuckoo's nest?) ;)

Aslan used to play "King of the Mountain" games up there, and would wrestle with other ASDs on the top board which had to be reinforced several times. It is at least three layers thick in the pic above. It was like the World Wrestling Federation sports going on up there. None of the occupants below would pretend to sleep through it. And the wrestlers didn't play 'dirty'. The object of the game was to keep to the middle of the roof with all four feet. If you got pushed to the edge, you didn't get thrown off but you were the clear winner if still in the middle. Speaking of grinning ear to ear, I wish I had some shots of grinning Aslan, standing up there, the undefeated champion. He will forever be a champion to me. :)

Speaking of wrestling, it's interesting that the dogs seem to understand certain rules. Actually it's kind of like Sumo wrestling. They all have to stay within a certain boundary near the center. A movie I have of Boone and Ruya wrestling using the same rules, can be seen here.

BTW, that orange Volkswagon also had a dented-in, flattened roof. You want to guess why? :rotfl:

:) :) :)

Anyway, back to the present:

After Zor has a meal, she dashes into the puppy area and beelines for her big doghouse.

The puppies then try to pile in after her for quick refreshments. :)

In the above case, Zor only gave a demo of what happens when she makes a dash for her big house. But she told the puppies in rather clear language that both human and puppy could understand, "No ZUUP for YOU!"
Sigh . . . Oh well!


This pic!

NOW, I don't know what Dave may have said or done to Darth and Coco to get this expression (above) from them both, but I couldn't resist sharing this shot. LOL


Here is Spot On Guard, while Ruya sleeps.
Coco kisses Spot, who seems to have fallen asleep on the job.

Well, more pics to come. Thanks so much to the Koerners for sending all the pics for this entry! :D

Labels: 2006Litter, Boone

Joan Sinden shares, "Just about the saddest - and well written - things I've read lately." Go and visit!

I have a lot to say about this general topic. This message is one that more people should read before they get a dog (or other pet).

For now, I'll let that message speak for itself.

On a happier note, here's a cute pic of Boone (who we had NO idea was going to get sooooooo big, ;) LOL... just kidding--sigh because that's one of the other 'reasons' too, and you'll know what I mean)

Labels: Boone

Bozkir Çanavari: The Steppe Monster is the latest of articles available online, written by Guvener Isik in the ASDI newsletter (Anatolian Shepherd Dogs International, Inc., Choban Chatter ).

It is an authorized English translation of a chapter from the Turkish dog book, Turk Çoban Köpegi Kangal by Dogan Kartay. Thank you Dogan Kartay and Guvener Isik for doing this work!


This chapter explains a little about the mystery and intrigue behind some of the wolf/shepherd dog hybrids of Turkey, the parents of which "can be karabas, akbas or crosses of these two. The possibility of the survival of the cubs from the Çanavar parents is greater in the steppes."

It has been generally understood that wolf crosses have occasionally been used in the breeding of some of the shepherd's dogs, so this makes for some fascinating reading for Turkish dog fans! The robust health and the original diversity of these dogs, the hardships and the cultures behind them can be really appreciated here. Warnings about character of the cubs/puppies are mentioned as well. (lest anyone think that wolf/dog hybrids come without risk)

Here's another bit from the article...

Male Wolf and female Kangal pairs are bred under the control of the villagers of Yesildag region that is in the west of Beysehir Lake, which is located, further north of Toros Mountains.

I'm really into maps, so I'm always referencing areas when specific regions are mentioned. This helps put a lot of what is said about Turkish shepherd dogs into clearer perspective. The Toros Mountains is the Turkish name for the Taurus Mountains and the region mentioned above can be seen here just at the northern edges of the Toros Mountains and between Konya (east) and Isparta (west) just south of Lake Beysehir...Map of Yesildag TR

Here's a photo of a twisting, winding road to Yesildag going around Lake Beysehir.

Courtesy Lux's World

Here's a fascinating satellite map which helps put the rough terrain into a little more perspective. Pink spot is approximately Yesildag.

Boone ponders a squeaky toy that is not a Steppe Monster.

Labels: Boone, breed_info, isik

Some puppy fun... an old photo (2003)


Baby Boone grappling with Ruya during his first week with us.

They are only a month apart in age here. Boone is 8 weeks old and Ruya is 4 weeks older (3 months) in this picture. It's still hard to believe the difference in sizes!

Here's another, Boone walking under Ruya after the day of his arrival.

So cute!

Here (below) is a pic of them both at 2 years (2005)
(still puppies, yes!)

Boone in foreground and Ruya standing behind him.

They still love to wrassle. They play hard. It's doggie War Games! In fact, right after above picture, I think Ruya grabbed Boone's exposed hind leg to continue the game which I had (apparently) rudely interrupted with my camera. You can see THAT look in her eye and that playful relaxed grin on her face.

Here's a really short (and rough) movie clip. I took out the indistinct sounds to make it smaller, about 12K update -- unfortunately I had to reformat the movie because it was missing too many files from the Quick Time original, so it is now nearly 3 meg, eep, sorry about that but as they say, "animals can be trained." - and I'm still in training.

You may have to double click this to get it running. This is a clip of the two at one year of age, playing Wargames on a wooden board that they like to use as their official wrestling ring. UPDATE: IE users- You may have seen a prompt when you entered this page. IE continues to fight with Mac plugins such as Quicktime Active-X, which this movie needs in order to run. It will run fine in Firefox browser (hint, hint).

Boone is the boy on the left, has the blacker looking head markings and Ruya is the girl on the right. Ruya getting the upperhand with Boone (he's a good sport). Note toward the end, Boone's tail goes down and then he turns and gives ME a look of exasperation as Ruya gets a good hunk of his neck and drags him away!

At three, Boone is still ever so sweet with Ruya, and Ruya still basically treats him like a chew toy, a roping goat and a doormat! Ruya is very laid back, friendly and confident. She's got the type B personality. She is actually the dominant dog in my group and is generally the one to initiate play and to decide when the fun and games end. If the others invite her to play and she's not in the mood, then nothing happens. But usually she's a good sport and leads a merry chase. A benelovent alpa bitch, she's not pushy but the mere set of her lips, eyes, tail position and the tip of her head conveys a lot of meaning to her subordinates. Even her mother, who is more of a 'type A' personality, tends meekly to defer to her daughter, choosing to take the easy way out.

Anatolians do have some amazing growth rates. Here's a link to a previous post with the puppy growth rate chart that several people helped to compile. (Both of these pups are among the puppy stats in this chart)

Labels: Boone, Ruya

Three Anatolians having a conversation. I wonder what they're saying?


L-R: Mama Zor with Ruya and Mr. Boone

I guess I'll never know. ;) The minute I mentioned something about cookies, their little tête-à-tête ended abruptly! (oops!) With slightly raised ears pressed against their heads, hinting of an agreed conspiracy of silence on the subject, all three came to sit in front of me.

They gazed at me expectantly, giving me no clue of whatever they were talking about. Boy, I wonder what that was all about? ;)

Anyways, a fun link that I had bookedmarked a little while ago, a link that should get more publicity is the Oodle Maker site. ...and do check out the Oodle Maker Blog! :)

Labels: Boone, Ruya

Boone has just turned three years this month. He's still like a puppy in so many ways. Goofy, huggy and sweet. He's a one cool dude. :)


Old Glory Boone


Old Glory Boone at Semavi Anatolians

Labels: Boone