Turkish Dogs - particularly Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

Above, Ruya (L) with our foster Molly (R) after checking out the corral. They coming up to see if I have cookies and rubs for them. Molly is available to the right home.

Speaking of rescues...
National Anatolian Shepherd Rescue Network (NASRN) now has its own MySpace page. Go visit and if you have a myspace page, sign up as a friend! Kudos to Tammy for her NASRN rescue and networking efforts!

Tammy is working with a foster that needs a home. Meet Tramp, below!

Contact Tammy for more information about "Tramp" and other rescues.

Labels: Molly, Rescue, Ruya

Meet Molly :D

A few days ago, Lynn Howe of New Hope Animal Foundation sent an email to let me know there was a possible Anatolian in a Placer County Shelter.
James and I went to look at the dog and decided to foster her.

I decided to call her "Molly" the first night we had her for no particular reason but it is pleasant enough and she responds to it. I have another page right here, with other details and photos specific to Molly. Even if you're not looking for a rescue, be sure to check out 2- Feb 15, scroll down the page and see Molly's haircut!

I'm not certain what breed she is. She is around 26-27 inches high. Definitely appears to be purebred LGD and her character and behavior is right on the money.

Her first day or so after arrival, was spent in the Magnum kennel, getting handled and getting to meet my Anatolians. After that, we let her start mingling and free ranging in the yard. She seemed happy to be cagefree after being in the shelter for what I understand was two weeks. She was walking around, eating grass, checkout scents, curling up and snoozing in the grass. She picked out spots where she could watch activities going on around her; places where she would snooze throughout the day. She hasn't done anything hyper yet and I have yet to see her run to check anything out. This could also be due to social respect to the two Anatolians she is with. LGDs don't usually like strange dogs tearing around their property. So maybe in time she will feel comfortable in that respect.

She has however taken quite happily to the evening routine of sleeping in the Magnum kennel. She beds down for the night in the straw of the big doghouse at around dusk.

Here are some pics I got of her on Friday with Anatolians, Ruya and Coco.

Molly - left front.
Headless sisters- Coco, right. Ruya, behind Molly's tail.

Trio responding to noise by suddenly sprouting heads.

Molly watching minihorses come into the corral next to the red slatted fence.

Her first day of freedom was also Molly's first chance to meet the miniature horses through the fencing. They were down in the other field but when the horses heard me talking to Molly, they came into the corral. That's when Molly raised her head - picture above.

The stallion is bold and came up to the fence to peer into the yard. I like that Molly didn't over stimulate upon seeing minihorses (and a chicken that followed them). Another transient dog we had here sometimes went berserko upon seeing horses. :o

Molly watching the mini-stallion at the gate.

Coco and Ruya both dropped what they were doing by the house, and came over to monitor how Molly reacted to meeting the stallion through the gate. Coco, above pic, is closer to Molly. Molly seems to be more comfortable with Coco at close range, than she is with Ruya. Not sure why, although Ruya is quite a bit bigger. Ruya is the alpha of my pack as well, but she rules with the benevolent firmness that her great granddam always had, never throwing her weight around.

The Anatolians are a couple inches taller at the shoulders.
Molly is full grown.
Here, Ruya and Coco watch carefully.

Closeup - Almost nose-to-nose with Mr. Stud Muffin.

This stallion, btw, has a perverse sense of humor sometimes. He occasionally tries to get a rise out of the dogs by jiggling the gate with his nose, scratching his butt on the fence, or by laying down with his back against the fencing, just inches from the dogs and facing the other way. If you ask me... that is truly evil behavior from a warped and capable mind! If dogs react, he tends to stand just the other side of the fence and stoically studies the dogs as if he were watching TV. You've probably seen it! It's the same way some cats will sit just inches from a fence and watch dogs go ballistic. ;)

Since my crew have gotten a lecture or two about indulging and entertaining this evil horse in this manner over the past year, Ruya and Coco are wise to this now and usually ignore him. (once in a while, they just can't stand it any more, I can hardly blame them)

So it was interesting to watch Molly try to figure him out. I think Molly got her cues from the Anatolians.

Other pics.....
Rear to front- Ruya, Coco & Molly.
You can kinda see it, but Molly's coat has a really bad haircut along the topline and on this side of her body.

Trio

Molly

Coco- 16 months.

Coco - she went through another collar. This one is chewed up but still serviceable.

Ruya - 5 years old. She's wearing Sabah's collar. Sabah was her great granddam.

I need to get another batch of martingale collars eventually!


Anyway, if you have contacts that might be interested in Molly. Let me know. Be sure to read all of Molly's pages before inquiring.

Labels: Coco, Molly, Rehome, Rescue, Ruya

Ruya in quiet reflection.

Ruya is a great granddaughter of my first Anatolian, Sabah (Masallah Sabah Sarki). Like her great granddam, Ruya has always been a sweet, contemplative, long fused and bold girl. And like Sabah, she has sometimes done work for me in the capacity of a service dog. I tend to joke about my disabilities with friends, sometimes saying such things as I was "Made in Taiwan" (my birthplace) and that the warranty on some of the parts I originally came with has run out. ;)

Ruya's tasks when she is in her service dog harness, are to help me keep my balance (darned vertigo), help stabilize me when I get muscle spasms (cerebral palsy) in my legs and also she's a hearing 'alert' dog (not a hearing dog in the usual sense) so that if she indicates a sound of interest (I am deaf), I can look to see if we have an upcoming obstacle.

Due to circumstances not under my control, I haven't been able to get the mileage on her (or Boone for that matter) that I was able to accomplish with Sabah (see at left with my nephew, click to enlarge) and Aslan, both of them worked for me in the early 90's. Aslan went just about everywhere with me and since he didn't look like huge white polar bear, it was somewhat easier to accomplish daily tasks without quite the degree of attention Sabah attracted ("Eeeee!!!! Look Mommy! It's a polar bear! Let's go see!") and this increased efficiency caused me to prefer working with Aslan - through no fault of Sabah! From work (the blood and gore dept of a medical laboratory) to shopping, appointments, visiting friends, family and longer trips. I had so much freedom!

I am so looking forward to when the surmountable obstacles can be ironed out. (ahem, to hubby with sidelong glace at the "to-do list")

At left, and also in the blog template, here is a pic with me and James sitting with Kabul (in the party hat), who is Ruya's uncle. We were at a park with Cindy of Growlsburg Anatolians and were celebrating the birthday of her Anatolian SD, Sabrina.

Kabul was a very promising SD, a sweetheart, bold, happy, very loyal and confident, but his life got cut short in a freak accident when he was 3 years old. I still miss him so... :(

Take it from me, there is much more accessibility and ease of movement when one exchanges a clunky walker (can you hear it?-- clunk, scrape, draaaaaaag..., clunk, clunk, clunk, scrape, draaaaaaaag...) for a well trained service dog! As an example, upon finding all the handicapped parking spots taken (this is not a gripe but a "that's life, get used to it" comment) one has to use a distant spot where cars are crammed so tightly together that a walker cannot fit between the cars unless the walker is folded up to ease passage between the cars - which pretty much defeats the stability offered by a walker. A service dog helps navigate these tight spots; flow with ease through tight aisles and squishy store checkouts lines and make it easier to quickly navigate steps and stairways with comparative ease. (try carrying a walker up the stairs or down!) If I get tired or out of breath (leaky heart valves), I can stop and rest with my dog at my side, on the alert for me -- in case unwanted strangers think the handicapped are an easy target.

A detail from a Navy hospital photo. Pic of me, in green and brown (sans ubiquitous lab coat) posing with Aslan. He usually stayed in the lab office or stockroom while I worked in micro and hematology. Workmates from the whole building would drop by HIS office to say hello. Many more knew him by name, than knew me. :)

All that said, I do get inquiries but I never recommend Anatolians to someone who wants to start with this breed as their first service dog. I think previous experience with Anatolians or other LGDs (Livestock Guardian/Protection Dog breeds) is a definite benefit to temper unrealistic expectations and instill a sense of reality to the person who contemplates an LGD service dog. I have had a few Anatolians that didn't make the grade due to conformation/soundness or stress issues. (If the dog doesn't enjoy it, they shouldn't be made to do the work, period.) I have some friends and associates who have found that one or more of their Anatolians have had a natural inclination to brace for them and give support when they are injured. There are a few people that have Anatolians deliberately trained to do service work and also have been proofed in various ways including with CGC, TD, ATT, various SD certifications.

Why aren't (more) Anatolians formally trained by service dog organizations? (We don't want that to happen to our breed!) Well, the major issue has to do with their independent character. Two decades ago, Jean King, founder of Independence Dogs, Inc. (IDI), started with Shantih, a Blue Yayla-bred Akbash (white variety of Anatolian Shepherd Dog) who trained and served as Jean's SD. A little about Jean is here. It is my understanding that while some of the Akbash trained by IDI worked out well, they did not have quite the success and acceptance that other breeds do. I also became aware that some Akbash breeders really had issues with the whole concept but I'm not sure how much that had to do with vendettas with Blue Yayla dogs and the kennel owner(s), or the idea of stock dogs being used in the cities, and plain old Akbash dog club vs club politics ("Spy vs Spy" from Mad Magazine, remember that?). But while issues about breed character are understandable at many levels, some of the ideas (from able bodied breeders) were not entirely accurate about an SD's life (one breeder described SD life as depressing, total drudgery compared to working out in the fields with livestock -- yeesh!).

The crux of the matter with program training is that it most usually involves transfer of a "trained" dog to a handler. The Anatolian is not a dog that immediately assigns authority to the next person holding the dog's leash. "Hey, Charlie, you have to earn my respect first!" This element of breed character doesn't go naturally for many SD users, who are just not very good at 'reading dog' and who may begin having problems at the outset, or may be having an especially bad disability day while their dog is still training, or who just have little natural aptitude to create and maintain a working partnership with such a dog.

Dogs that transfer their training well from the trainer to the handicapped user are generally the dogs most commonly successfully used in programmed-directed SD work. Labs and Golden Retrievers are especially popular. This is not to say that all members of those breeds are naturals nor that mixed breed or individual dogs from other breeds don't make excellent service dogs. I knew of a person who had no legs, got around via use of a skateboard (for longer distances) who used a pit bull terrier as an SD. This dog was ideal, as the dog was powerful, the right height, and had the innate enthusiasm, gameness and endurance to work all day by his owner's side. The training programs for service dog associations are quite rigorous. But independently trained by their primary keeper, Turkish dogs can do a very nice job, particularly in assisting mobility -- but I still don't recommend them for a newbie to LGDs.

While on the subject of Program (trained) dogs, there are many disabled people that have a dog with a natural aptitude for the job who can do whatever is required in their locale to be accepted as an authentic SD. On the other hand, the waiting list for Program dogs can sometimes be several years long. The ADA allows us to use dogs (and other animals - e.g., guide horses) to go into all areas of a public facility where customers are normally allowed to go. Dogs that are owner (or privately) trained to do the required work specific to the SD users needs, are part of the solution so we don't all have to get in line for a Program dog (CCI, Guide Dog, and other groups). I'm finding that more people with hidden disabilities such as bi-polar disorder, can qualify under ADA to use service dogs and their specific needs with their dogs are not as specialized as say, a guide dog's (dog for the Blind) training needs to be.

The main requirement is that the animals must be trained, not be disruptive, and if the handicapped person does not have the ability to control their animal, they must have a person with them who can. (examples are disabled young children who may forget themselves and not keep their trained service animal under control)

Another good read to enforce a sense a reality in using such a huge dog, is this page written by Leonberger SD user, Samantha. Leos are not LGDs but their size and elements of their character have some similarities with the sort of challenges an Anatolian SD user would face. Do check out the "Pictures of Fergus at Work". Isn't he handsome! :)

::: Related link regarding Americans with Disability Act, service dogs, accessibility and a mention of Jean King.

Labels: Ruya, service_dogs

Voila! See Ruya!

From the inset above showing our entry -- Ruya helps to make up the right eyebrow of the Pedigree Doggie on the Million Dog Mosaic.

EDITED: January 27 - Apparently Ruya keeps moving!
As I write, she's shifted downward on the left side of the doggie's nose. The dogs that were adjacent to her have changed, so the whole thing appears to be pretty dynamic! To find her, go to the mosaic page - Select the link to Browse the Mosaic - Then I type ruya1 into the search box when the mosaic window opens up and in zooms in on her newest location. :)

Labels: Ruya

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

This is Helmut, after having a good time in the corral when I took some video.

Well, finally some homemade video! It's not Steven Spielberg or Pixar for sure but we had fun. :)

The two vids below are actually the same four minute composition in different resolutions featuring "Three Anatolians in a Corral". The Youtube one will be better for those with slower connections but it's harder to read my text additions. The larger one below it is huge .... well, normally I format blog posting widths to fit on small resolution screens but am making an exception for the high resolution version of this vid -- until this posting ages enough and I move with a link to it to its own page so it won't cause problems with viewing other archives with which that post is connected. IE users may or may not be able to play it online, so try the link to download.

I converted the MOV file from my still Kodak Z650 Zoom camera to AVI, after which I was able to explore Windows Movie Maker with the video. Okay the actually footage is not very good since my fancy digital Kodak camera cannot do Zoom while in video mode like a real camcorder can. But it's still footage that some may find entertaining, and I enjoyed it because it allowed me to learn some more tricks with my resident programs. Certainly any footage taken with less than a 1/4 acre will not suffer as much from lack of detail on the subject dogs, but I wanted this footage because I wanted to get video of the dogs romping around the corral. Boone is not in the video because Coco smells so interesting to him now (she's not in heat yet) and I just wanted focus on the current project.

The original video is taken in a large screen mode on my camera, so converting to the half size YouTube resolution causes some loss of detail in the text I added. I think the solution to that is to shrink the movie first, then add the 'captions' (grin). If you do have broadband speeds, then see the second version. You can also use your right mouse button to view the larger one in full screen because it is not a flash file.

Youtube version-



Windows Media Player version (High Resolution)-
you can right click for options like slow motion

Launch in external player - Watch full size for best detail

That's all for now, I think! Will edit this later, as needed. It was fun doing the videos. Hope you enjoy!

Labels: Coco, Helmut, Ruya, Video

. . . of Ruya's collar!

Earlier this month, Ruya lost her collar. I didn't find it til recently and about 8 inches of it is still missing.

Apparently she'd been playing war games with my other ASDs and someone got her collar off. One (or both?) of the seven month old pups then turned it into a chew toy! See the nice puncture marks?! This is a rather old and soft, nylon web collar. This remnant is about 14 inches long.

It is a martingale style collar that used to be an odd lime green color which can partially be seen on the headshot of Ruya posed on the bottom left of this page. I like these martingale type collars because they can be left on loose enough so that the dog can slip out if the dog gets caught on something. And the style of the collar allows it to be effective on a leash -- as it will tighten up and not slip over the head when in use.

Anyway, time to buy a new collar for Ruya. :)

Labels: Chewing, collars, Ruya

Ruya checking out the boundaries of the paddock.

Today is the first full day that the miniature horses spent out in the paddock so I went to get a closer look at our temporary guests. I brought along Ruya -- one of my Anatolian Shepherd Dogs for company. Ruya is just so used to the gentle sweetness of Tessie (my late Arabian mare) who never nipped, so Ruya had no idea that the little Studmuffin would start out sweet as anything, then steathily move on to the offensive with his nips and bites. Ruya quickly got wise to this and kept out of reach.


Mr Studly ...looking studly!


Der Princess


Ruya checking out the two beasties


What are they all munching?


I think the Princess is really quite sweet but shy.


Ruya keeping an eye on them at the corral gate.


Mr and Miss Lawnmower

They seem happy and content. :)

Labels: horse, Ruya

& Now with Pictures!

I got some photos of Ruya messing around near the #300 Vari-Kennel.

We have the puppies outside to socialize with the adult dogs and visitors, and also to enjoy the sunshine and get socialized to noises. Right now they are kept safely in an area contained within two exercise pens that are clipped together with bolt snaps. The penned area is freely accessible to Zor (mom of litter) and also to Ruya, who is a 3.5 year old female from the previous litter.

Inside the layout is a 300 size Vari-Kennel, in which the puppies autonomously pile up for snoozes. There is an old bed sheet draped over the top to keep it snug and warm when the sun goes down, before we bring them in. I have a baby weighing scale on top of that puppy crate now. To the top left in the pic, is a smallish dog house lined with straw, where the puppies can also choose to go to snooze. Sometimes Zor lays down in there and nurses all the babies. Sometimes Ruya goes in there to snuggle with the puppies.

So here are some pics of Ruya near and inside of the #300 Vari-kennel.


In this pic from a few days ago, above, she didn't spontaneously decide to go in but it gives an idea of the layout and about how tall she is in front of the crate. The puppies are snoozing in the red dog house at the moment. She's checking out a puppy sitting in the corner checking out the photographer. :)



Today she decided to go in and let me take pictures. Um... Okay, I cheated! I tossed a Milkbone into the back of the crate, and she decided to go in after it. This pic shows her fully inside with part of her tail sticking out as she retrieves the biscuit. She is starting to turn around because she now has the biscuit in her mouth.


Apparently she is pretty comfy in there. She has quickly turned around in the crate and dropped the biscuit toward the front. She happily munches away.


Here she is looking for any crumbs. And then satisfied she missed no crumbs, she looked at me. She seemed relaxed and happy to be in there.


Now stepping out. She's sitting with her butt still inside the crate. She still wanted to know if I had more Milkbones, but I didn't have any pockets on me at the time. A puppy in the red dog house suddenly barked or said something that interested her, so she turned around to listen.


Here is a side view, showing how tall her hips are next to the puppy crate when she stands up.

Ruya's mom, Zor, was less inclined to go all the way inside. I saw Zor stick her head into the crate to sniff. Something interested her so she went down on her belly with her head, only part of her shoulders inside the puppy crate, with the rest of her body and tail sticking out. She didn't attempt to go inside, to say nothing of going completely in to turn around!

A size #300 Vari-kennel is normally the size used for transport of Anatolian puppies at least 8 weeks old and initial housebreaking. I don't think an adult ASD, even Ruya, is going to be able to travel in one. :)

Labels: Ruya

Today I learned that a 120 pound Anatolian around 30" tall, can fit in a size 300 Vari-kennel.

It was her idea! Sorry no pics, it was getting dark!

I was going to feed the puppies (outdoors) and Ruya had let herself into their play area, which includes a Vari-kennel that's been set up to give the pups a place to snuggle up and nap. As I entered the area with pup chow, I told Ruya it was time for her to step out of the area, and she gave me a look that said she knew what I wanted but she was sure that this was something that required a vote! She headed straight for the puppy kennel which is 23" high and only large enough for "Springers, Border Collies, Bull Dogs" according to above site.

Medium: (Vari-Kennel #300 or General Cage #203/213)
Cocker Spaniels, Field Spaniels, small Shelties, etc., with average weight of 21-40 lbs.
another opinion from:
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html

She ducked and went inside and curled up in a tight ball, even bringing her tail in. Completely out of sight because I have a sheet draped over the kennel to give it a flap door which the puppies seem to like (darker, snugger).

Amazed, I couldn't help but laugh and decided to ignore her and put the gruel out for the puppies. They all dug in happily enough and as they started snarfing it up, Ruya backed out of the kennel and politely let herself out of the puppy area without further comment. I decided not to say anything else to her but I was sure giggling. :D

Amazing.

UPDATE: Pix here

Labels: Ruya

Well, a fun weekend was had by all and this post has two overlapping sections :)

Part One:
I've been gradually catching up with sleep in bits and pieces (generally less than four hours at a time), and trying to get caught up on some of the email that has amassed over the past month or so, when I'm feeling somewhat coherently awake -- I am, alas, quite a bit behind still. Thus it was really great fun and a change of pace when some friends came to visit Sunday to meet and inadvertently help us socialize the puppies (that's serious work in case you didn't know! lol).

Right after their visit, we left for Apple Hill bringing Ruya along. She enjoyed the ride and hung out while we waited in long lines at various checkouts as we purchased our annual fix of goodies from apple harvest. She was very calm and sweet, and politely accepted a lot of petting including gentle pats and playful pokes from children who were a fair bit shorter than she. Everyone there was very courteous and asked if it were okay before petting. There were other dogs on leash to meet too, spotted doxies, a cute Bernese Mountain dog, shelties, various poo mutts, and others. She seemed interested mostly in the tiny dogs and would go on alert to gaze at them (are they puppies? she must have wondered). She was indifferent about most other dogs. She seemed to impress a lot of people and we answered the standard FAQs on breed ID, what do they do, what is her name, how old, where do they come from, etc. It was great fun!

We didn't get home til dark and with James driving, poor Ruya and I were literally drooping in our seats with fatigue from the long day (both of us had been awake before dawn). It was funny to see she didn't want to lay down to sleep during the ride but had her eyes closed and neck drooping as she snoozed and sometimes startled herself by flopping against the back of the car seat. Rinse, repeat!

Part Two:
The weekend was also p