My dog, Alanya, is a registered Anatolian Shepherd – one of the breeds of livestock guardian dog (LGD) bred for thousands of years to protect sheep and other livestock from predators like wolves. I have over the years had pet dogs of various breeds, including Labrador Retrievers, Chows, and Terriers, but LGDs are a completely different type of dog.
Recently, a friend of mine who was visiting told me she has a Shih-Tzu for a pet. I told her, “Alanya is not my pet, she’s my servant. I treat her well and feed her well, but she is here for a purpose.” LGDs know they are here for a purpose. If they guard sheep or goats, they stay with the flock or herd and keep a watchful eye out for any intruder, two-legged or four-legged. In guarding my family, Alanya mostly lies on the porch and barks if she sees anything out of the ordinary. If the grandboys visit, she patrols. She will disappear into the woods for an hour or more, making sure there is not the slightest chance of someone or something taking those children by surprise. I know without a doubt that if a stranger were to grab one of those boys, he would never know what hit him. He would be dead or injured before he could take two breaths.
I have seen Alanya kill animals with incredible swiftness. She doesn’t mess around.
Other characteristics I’ve noticed in Alanya and other LGDs I’ve had:
- Watchful eyes. Alanya’s eyes are golden and very expressive. She can almost speak with those eyes. They seem human.
- Maturity. Alanya does not try to please me, she knows her business and goes about her business like an adult.
- Awkward, shambling gait….until there is something to pursue. Then she transforms into a blurred bullet.
- She hugs with her butt. When approaching family, she bends her whole body into a question mark, and wraps her tail around you. We have a family friend that says he doesn’t like our dog, because she always hits him with her butt.
- Independence. I posted on a forum once that my dog “considers obedience optional.” A fellow LGD-owner responded, “Saying an LGD considers obedience optional is like saying the Titanic sprung a little leak.” LGDs make a decision on their own. They will take into account the request of their “owner” but in the end, they make up their own mind.
With these characteristics in mind, here are some of Dickson’s comments about wolves…
The wolf-dog…moved. It became a blur of gray rushing toward the oncoming dogs. The awkward-looking, shambling gait he had noticed through the window was gone. The wolf-dog, its head and ears erect, was closing the distance in great fluid bounds that reminded Jeebee of dolphins he had once seen, breasting the bow waves of a cruise ship—“lads, before the wind,” Herman Melville had called them in Moby Dick …
Later, as the main character, Jeebee, joined a wagon of other travelers who had dogs, he observed the wolf’s interaction with this other species of canine:
Twice, the single dog was one of the males and actually tried to be aggressive. In each case, Wolf merely turned side on and twisted his body in a manner that threw the weight of it behind the impact of his left hip; and the other was sent tumbling. Only in the case of one other single attacker from the wagon was the dog persistent enough that Wolf turned on him suddenly and pinned him to the ground by the neck.
Regarding his personality:
The fact was, Wolf was a person – an individual with his own likes, dislikes, wishes, desires, and purposes.
Reading the author’s analysis of what made Wolf a wolf made me begin to wonder if maybe there might not be some wolves in the background of many (if not all) of the livestock guardian breeds.
LGDs are very large, powerful dogs. They are swift as deer and have their own way of thinking. The legend behind Anatolian Shepherds is that someone crossed a dog with a lion. When I see that noble look in Alanya’s eye and hear her roar when there is a dangerous individual about, I can almost believe it.
Maybe there isn’t a lion in her blood, but a wolf? I think it's true!