Aka “The olympic Schizophrenic”

Lefty below hanging out with a newborn goat kid, 

Lefty’s photo album

Lefty’s fellow KANGO litter-mates album 

 So, now that we’ve done it, we’ve thanked the president of the the Kangal Dog Club of America for his inspiration, and expressed our heart felt disregard to the Kangal and Dogo purists everywhere… what did we get ?

  Mostly I’d say what we got was pleasant surprises.  I kept one, “Lefty,” but I’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback from owners of his litter mates and the general picture is pretty consistent.   Somehow in crossing two very serious, pretty hard, and relatively aggressive dogs….. we actually got something softer than either parent in many regards.

 Who’d a thunk it ?  Experienced dog crossers might.  I’ve heard similar refrains with a whole slew of bandog/pit dog type crosses.  It’s more art than science to be sure, but anecdotes do form patterns in numbers

 But I’m going to concentrate on Lefty, because that’s what I know, first hand.  And the biggest and most pleasant surprise with him is that he can be trusted as a stock guardian.  I didn’t bill any of these dogs as such, nor would I, and I do crosses better suited to that end.  But the fact remains with no particular training he has learned to leave my critters alone.  That is a thing a Dogo really can’t be taught.  If Lefty were one of Mendel’s Peas we might be tempted to say a Dogos prey drive is recessive to a Kangals lack there of, of course it’s not that simple.  But for practical purposes it might as well be.

 The other big surprise is he demonstrates a minimal amount of dog aggression.  Given the relatively high amount of that in both parent breeds I was frankly a little concerned.  Turns out Lefty, and from what I hear, his litter mates, are relative gentlemen of the Canine world.  Those are the big surprises.

 Here’s what’s not.  He roams more than a Dogo, less than a Kangal.  His coat is in between.  His independence level is in between.  His biddability seems to oscillate between both extremes.  And he’s extremely smart, like both parents, even if his thinking is not quite like either, he is definitely a thinking dog.

 Lefty is very, very good with all things small; children, puppies, goats kids etc.  He seems to have gotten the protective thing from the kangal along with a healthy dose of self awareness ( won’t lick a toddler over like a dogo ) and the nurturing, licking tendency of the Dogo.   I’ve witnessed Lefty dutifully clean the wound of a male dog “Mandela” between growls, as if to say hold still while I clean this, or I’m gonna kick your a$$.

 Lefty does exhibit prey drive, more so than his Kangal father, in fact he goes a little crazy if I don’t let him get after anything that he suspects is lurking.  Bottom line, he’s working for me here on and around my land, and he’s great out in public, I couldn’t ask for a whole lot more.  

Physically he’s a very tall athletic looking dog, 30 plus inches at the shoulder, but not too heavy, with a beautiful light footed floating movement that would be better filmed then typed at ( video is on the to do list ) When people see him they think he’s some sort of Dane cross, and perhaps the best thing about him is… they’re wrong.  Though he’s on the scale of a Dane, just minus any of the associated pitfalls

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1. Pure Kangal pups

Oz x Sevdi  (9) pups, 5 female 4 male, born 11/24/2011

see Kangal link for more info, photos of past litters, etc

 This is a proven pairing, I’m confident we get a lot of good dogs from this breeding, still have some very nice pups not spoken for !

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2.  Pure Boerboels:  

 1 female pups available, born January 19th

from:

Mandela ( See Boerboel link ) is turning into about everything I could want in a Boerboel. 

And

Tallwater ( See Boerboel link ) is my favorite Boerboel bitch, so, I’ll be keeping at least a pair, probably three.  This is a breeding not to be missed.

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 3.  Pure Boerboel pups:  females 12 wks old January 24th/ 2012

 These pups pretty much fell in my lap.  I didn’t breed em, I don’t own the parents, but I have some experience with both of them, and I’ve seen the kennel the bitch came out of in S. Africa.  

  Suffice to say, the breeder needed em gone, so I took em, and I’m looking to find homes.   I’ll be selling them without papers for now, although the litter will be registered, and it will be possible to buy papers later.

 Contact me for more info, pics coming soon.

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4.  Finders Fee $300

For anyone that points me in the direction from which I ultimately acquire a Great Dane.   I’m looking for something special, I don’t care where in the world it is, but please do have some reason to believe it’s a Dane of exceptional smarts, nerve, and courage our you’ll waste our time, yours and mine both.

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1.  Pure U.K.C. registered Turkish Kangal pups:  Oz x Sevdi

click the word ” Kangal” on the left for more info/photos etc on these two.  This is a repeat breeding pairing two proven working dogs with what I suspect is the best pair of Penn hip scores in the nation, and quite possibly the world.

Due November 21, 2011

Accepting deposits now, going to new homes around January 21/ 2012 

This is my favorite Dog !

Need I say more ?

 I Love this f&^%ing dog !

 Smartest, bravest, best nerves out here.  He’s the only dog out here I won’t go to make a point with empty handed, and he’s the gentlest and most graceful around young kids, two or four legged; a lotta heart, a lotta grace… equals class.

He’s something special, he’s something to build on.   More on him later, for now I just want to get some photos up.

Oz’s Penn hip ( exceptional also .28 .28 )

Oz at just over two.

2 years old

Ever wonder why dun with a black mask is the default color of so many creatures ?

Oz at 14 months

Oz at 14 months

Oz under a year here, all arms and legs.  The Boerboel is an honest 160lb.  good looking bastard, that I never used cause he’s not even close to right temperamentally or mentally ( he’s retarded )

Every time I look at the photo below I’m reminded of the earnest scolding I got from a well educated and worldy Turk in Istanbul who was adamant that Kangals simply die if taken from their dry native Eastern Turkey region ( chuckle )  Urban Turks, turns out, often know even less about dogs than urban Americans, and spout all manner of proud and often foolish gibberish about their National dog the Kangal.

Below Oz risks sure death in one of the ponds in my woods

Oz at 8 months

5 months

Oz here at 5 months, witnessing his first kidding.  Most people that deal in livestock guardians would scold me for even allowing a pup this age unfettered access to this, but I was willing to lose a kid to see for myself if there was any real truth to the claims.  And sure enough, as rambunctious as was at that age with the big goats, all he wanted to do was lick this kid.  He never needed teaching from an older dog or to be separated till he was older; that’s probably not a fair expectation to set, but it’s true of him.  Now as an adult he’s the teacher and I rotate young dogs/pups into a pen with him and young kids, said young dogs and pups promptly get hammered by Oz if they even think about getting rough with the young goats.

Oz here around 10 weeks, shortly after we made it back.

Oz here at about 8 weeks, in Istanbul

O

8 wks again, with me in Istanbul, preparing for the final leg of our great adventure