Anyone have Anatolian Shepherds?

[2pinkmom]

I'm going to be looking for an LGD or two in the next couple months. We have an extremely large (260 lbs!) mastiff who will guard the flock when the kids and I are outside with him. He really prefers being a people guardian dog and wants to be wherever the family is, though. I've been tossing around he idea of an Anatolian, but I've heard they can be quite a lot of dog to keep on top of. I'm pretty dog experienced, and i know that some of those "breed finder" websites aree written to scare people from getting anything other than a Golden Retriever. Can anyone give me the low down on how Anatolians are in real life?

 

[Mahonri]

I've never seen one so I googled it.

Big dogs!

 

[2pinkmom]

Yup, they are pretty big. But having a mastiff that comes from a line of very big examples of a giant breed has totally skewed my perspective of dog size. I consider a 100 pounder to be medium sized. My husband and I had a discussion about getting a new dog recently. He said "I think we should get something smaller and easier to transport. Like a bullmastiff or a Great Pyrenees."

 

[pride&joy]

Quote:
Hello, I have two Anatolians out of my current crew of five dogs. I also make a living as a dog trainer / veterinary technician. I love my Anatolians great LGD’s , if they have a job to do, mainly critters to look after they will be just fine. However these are not dogs for couch potato duty. They do some barking as a way of letting possible predators know. There is no easy meals here! We have goats, chickens and what ever I bring home from work some times. I would probably recommend an opposite sex one from your Mastiff as two lg males will unbeatably butt heads. Some obedience training is always necessary with any dog but I have found them to be very instinctual with my live stock. We have children running around and all of the dogs are very tolerant and protective. I also have a South African Boerboel (mastiff type), she prefers to follow the humans around. The Anatolians will take turns sitting in the pastures, knock on wood but have never had a loss due to predation. We live in rural South Florida, my neighbors have consistent trouble with raccoons, possums, feral dogs and now even pythons. No such problems here. You will need good fencing as they are lg and very capable dogs a true working breed, hopefully one that will remain a well kept secret. I will hunt down some current pics of mine but as you could tell I love them…………….

mg]

This was my two Anatolians and my Boerboel with our very first MPC mail order chicks a while ago. My male now about 170 lbs will sit for hours and watch the broody hens with their chicks and tolerate it with no problem when mama hens flog and peck for being to close.

 

[arabianequine]

I use to have one. They are very good guard dogs and loyal. Ours would let some people pet him and some he would not. He would bite at them after close enough. So maybe they can be unpredictable. Very playful and hyper. Yes big dog and will be a hairy mess too.

 

[2pinkmom]

Pride & joy, are they prone to wandering off the property if you don't have a large fence? Seems to me that I read that somewhere. Do you find that they are pretty wary of strangers? One thing I do like about our english mastiff is that I don't have to worry about him hurting an innocent visitor to our property. On the few occasions I've needed him to be protective, he has been. But he seems to be good at taking stock of strangers and sensing how I feel about them. He freaks most people out just by sheer size even though his tail is wagging - I have to reassure visitors that it is OK to get out of their car. I've heard that anatolians tend to regard visitors with suspicion. Do you find that to be the case?

I suppose the thing to do would be to find a breeder near me and go observe. I've never actually met one of these dogs in real life.

 

[9gerianMile]

I have an Anatolian/Pyrenees mix. He is 4 1/2 months old, teething and a little mischievous. Like any other breed, it's on the owner- how the dog turns out.

I can speak to his success and his current problems:
He's great at alerting to animals and people coming hear my property lines. He does his job very well, and we have one less raccoon running around eating chickens because of him.
However- he is 4.5 months, 67 lbs. and doesn't know his own strength. He will try to play with anything that moves (ie all my animals if he runs near them)- so he is in his own pen in the center of the goat pens. Lots of training time is required to get a lone LGD pup trustworthy with the herd.

It's not wise to go get one and toss him out with the animals and assume he'll know how to behave. Like any puppy, you have to help them discern between desired and unacceptable behavior.

At the end of the day, he's the best investment I've made in my animals, and he's only getting better. We're teething now, so that's fun

He's a very smart and loyal puppy, and I can only imagine him improving with age.

If I were you, I'd do some research on www.LGD.org on the individual breed sites. That's how I picked the mix I did

Good luck!

Puppy Spam!

 

[arabianequine]

Quote:
I would say in my case yes I did not solely trust him after trying to bite that guy. He was not known to the dog. The guy was on the outside of the fence talking to us and our dog was wagging his tail and everything seemed fine the guy put his hand up and started petting his face then he snapped so the guy pulled back my dog was up on the inside of the fence. We were right there so he got in trouble but not sure why he did it. My dog seemed welcoming at first. My dogs are usually fenced or chained up or in a kennel or inside always contained in some fashion. Seemed to be more trusting to ladies but loved me and my husband. Went right up to the pound lady and the sheriff had his gun drawn on him. The guy in the back of where we lived though just got done harassing him with a hose spraying him and all kinds of stuff we were in las vegas and our dog got loose somehow....oh yeah fourth of july probably scared to death and we did not think of that before leaving.....we did have him staked on a leash line plus in a fence but got loose then jumped the fence so don't know what exactly happened. I had family checking on our animals daily. That guy acting the same way to my 10 pound wiener dog too. This snap incident happened before the las vegas incident so that did not cause it.

When loose he stayed fairly close to home....we had a home in the country when he was a puppy he grew up outside and did not leave to far.

 

[EweSheep]

A chicken friend of mine has one and it is a beautiful BIG dog! Very loyal as well.

 

[zazouse]

I have a half GP half AS he;s a great pup, but he can eat more than all my other dogs put together.

Very loyal ,protective of property and sleeps with my birds at night.