Amir - show dog and livestock guardian. In 2006, Amir was the #1 AKC Anatolian Shepherd - for number of Anatolians defeated. When not in the show ring, he lives with our females and their crias. In 2007, he saved Kate from a potentially dangerous situation by fighting off two large coy-dogs who invaded out property. See the news video on out home page.
Last year, we had encounters with coyotes (checking out the alpacas) and foxes (they were after our geese). In both instances our LGDs convinced these predators that they would be better off elsewhere.
One day, Kate was walking Mooshee (now deceased but Oh, what a guardian when she was alive) down to the barn when 3 foxes bolted across our property and went after our geese. Moo did not approve of this behavior and about pulled Kate off her feet.
The speed at which an LGD can move can be very deceptive as these fox could attest to. Moo sent these little invaders fleeing for their lives. By the way, going up and over a hot-wired fence will not slow down a fox when 165 lbs of Anatolian Shepherd is on it’s tail......
And not long after that, coyotes were spotted at the back of our pasture....again outside Mooshee’s field. Not a smart move on their part. They ran along the fence and who should they see next but Amir (click here for photos of Amir at work) - our 140 lb, protector. They continued along the fence only to see our two more Anatolians - Tissors and Tara...and we haven’t see hind nor hair of the coyotes since!!!!
While fencing is an effective deterent....our LGDs still stand as our first line of defense against predators.