Turkish Dogs - particularly Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

Above: Khazu (L) and Dylan (R) with Susan at Amboy Crater, Mojave National Preserve.

Happy update from Khazu and Dylan, who I last posted as Surprise Visit in 2006.

Khazu is Ruya's brother and Dylan is Zor's sister. Dylan is starting to slow down but Khazu is apparently ready to climb any mountain. Don't they look good?! There they are standing shoulder to shoulder, blocking access to Susan, and each looking in opposite directions. Nice guardian shot. :)

More pics below...
Dylan is ten years old in April. Over the years, she has loved the challenge of hiking, being with her people and Khazu, and she was strong and as sure footed as a goat. This trip was a bit rough on her due to the desert heat -- also perhaps arthritis has taken a toll... made the rough terrain a challenge this time.

No fun watching our beloved dogs grow old. :(

Khazu in the midst of desert sunflowers!

Khazu enjoying the terrain.
He was naughty once and took off but never went out of sight, and came back when he was tired and ready to.

I loved the update. Thank you Susan and Steve!

Labels: Dylan, Khazu

Susan and Steve, from hundreds of miles away, were in the area and dropped by with their Anatolians yesterday. I didn't know they were in the area and it was such a wonderful surprise to see them and their Semavi dogs.

Of course, being unprepared, a nice Saturday morning, I had been in the house in my lingerie, my hair tangled into a bun (no bone today, sorry Wilma), reading, cooking and trying to get caught up with some email and other projects when James came in and told me that they were all out front waiting for me! EEEEEK! Ha! So I grabbed a sweater and overalls and shoved my babydoll into them (don't ask, I wasn't thinking), grabbed a digital camera, and a notepad (for scribbling to me, I'm deaf) and went out to see them.

Wonderful!! Steve and Susan looked wonderful and the dogs were just gorgeous, healthy, happy and so well behaved! Steve took some great pics for me on my digital so gotta share my fave!


Me with Khazu and Dylan

Khazu (Semavi Kale Kumandan) is a pinto three and a half year old male from my 2003 litter, a littermate to my girl Ruya. He is OFA hips good and elbows normal and so cute! Because of his large bone and size, he looks like he will be mature in another 2 years. He's very loyal to Susan and Steve, so he doesn't love on 'just anyone'. He's polite and confident in public. Like his brother Kadim in Finland and my other Anatolians, he seems to regard public displays by smaller fiesty dogs (with an attitude toward big dogs) - as mere invisible little insects that must simply be ignored. For fun and apparently good muscle conditioning for him, Susan says he pulls her along when she rides a scooter, and he proudly breezes along at 20 mph. It's fun she says, but she's gotta work hard at keeping it all under control, lol. I got the mental visual of a big and flashy cart horse commanding everyone's attention as he trots by!

Dylan (Semavi Dylan) is 8 years old, a spay, the red female. She's sister to my Zor (Khazu's mom) and thus the auntie to Khazu. She's very social and loves everyone and I think typical of my girls, tends to be more independent(stubborn) than the boys. Both dogs go on hikes with Steve and Susan. They have a photo page here. A side note on 'loves everyone', after Dylan and Khazu went back into the car, Susan and Steve visited with Ruya and Boone. Ruya zoomed around excitedly and just threw herself on the ground with legs running in the air (squirming about on dusty crushed granite, no less) a couple times, for belly rubs, which rather startled them, sheesh! Boone was polite and standoffish, rather aloof to them but bold and sweet. Ruya is in heat so we didn't bring her to meet her brother.

You can't really tell from the smaller size of this picture, but Susan had arranged the dogs to stand just SO, and the dogs are all EYES on Susan while Steve snaps the shot. I'm the only one looking at Steve and the camera. Great shot! Too funny because Susan is alpha mom and the kids know it! I'm just a cardboard figure in the pic for all they care. Haha! (j/k!)

I'm impressed too, since one of my chickens came out to check out the commotion. The dogs' ears came forward, but there was no tugging. Now you can never predict how a dog will react to a strange chicken unless they continually lived around them and grown bored. When Khazu was a pup with us, he had of course known our chickens and including the one trying to join us, but chooks tend to look alike when you don't personally know them. He hadn't been around mine for over 3 years. Auntie Dylan had also known our assorted chickens and had been a baby when we had a batch of pesky roosters too. So her chicken experiences included her being beat on with claws, pecking and beating wings by puffed up broody hens with their babies. (That'll sure teach an Anatolian pup to respect that particular group of chickens)

I'm really fond of chickens (and *hint* chicken jokes, you guys!), so here's some shots.

Broody hen and one day old baby chicks


Chickens waiting to steal puppy chow
Above pic shows L-R counter-clockwise: Kabul, Zor and Dylan (one month old) and a few pesky hens scheming to clean up their puppy chow. I'm holding the camera and flipping a rag back and forth to shoo the hens - to keep the hens from shooing the pups away from their chow. (it's a "dog eat dog" world sometimes!)

Labels: Dylan, Khazu