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

Sevdi’s Penn Hip ( .27 .27 )  I don’t think anybody in the world can put to better scores together than her and Oz ( .28 .28 )

The most striking thing about Sevdi for me is the way she moves, talk about floating, she’ll be the first dog I shoot video of.   She came to me as an adult, so I don’t have quite the same bond or knowledge, as I would a dog I raised; but she’s good with my goats and my kids, and always on the job.  She’s also got that same steady temperament I see so often in Kangals, no nervous energy at all, self contained.  I’ll start with a couple shots of her just after arriving at my place after a few days on the road with me and my 14 year old,  this is her meeting two of my younger children for the first time… needless to say I trusted her implicitly by then, she’s a very sweet dog, she was a family dog in her first home.  

below; Sevdi and Oz

The world belongs to a good looking dog that can dance

Could be love

But it’s not all roses

11 pups born on the coldest night of the year, a record breaking 5 degrees that night I heard the little shrieks of newborns not happy and went out to find she had some how dumped about 5 of them still wet from being born, out the opening of the dog house and into the snow.  I put them back in and I went back inside.  I don’t believe in helping.   They all lived.  The Kangal, as a breed, has not been babied, it has not been ruined; It is I’m sure the healthiest and most hardy of all that I work with.

Touchdown !

I have no excuse for showing this photo… except I love it :)  My fascination with genetics baring the ultimate fruit :)