 Barked: Sat Dec 22, '12 5:08pm PST |
 | |  | | I see a few Akbash in my area here in Utah at the dog park here and almost always the people have no clue what they have and I tell them to go home and google the breed to learn more. The reason we have more than you would expect is that there are quite a few pairs in Wyoming and surrounding states where farmers leave them out on the range with the sheep. When it is time to move the sheep they take the parents and many times the pups are left to fend for themselves. If they are lucky enough to find thier way to town then people rescue them and they get distributed to area states. They are almost always puppies when they come to the dog park but are getting to be difficult to handle and the people are clueless as to what they have. I have toyed with the idea of eventually getting one but only once we have increased our land. It is hard enough to keep 3 herders worked enough on just 1/2 acre of land to try to add a LGB that needs his own area to roam and guard. My opinion is that this is not a breed that you can "compensate" for a lack of a herd. My girls are a range of really well adjusted to reasonably well adjusted dogs because we create work and training and jobs on a regular basis that replace the brain work a herd takes but you cannot really replace the roaming and guarding instinct a dog of Akbash heritage has. I can easily make hiding games and training excercies to keep the mind of a smart herder busy but I cannot provide the large boundaries and herd to protect that is central to an Akbash's needs and the replacement for that would end up being a family and small lot to protect, I think that would drive one to insanity. I am not against someone owning a working dog that is able to really accomodate those dogs needs, Dalmations can work out their needs if they have a running companion, my ACD/other herding mixes get mind games and training games and off leash runs and fetching and searching games, a shepherd can be a family dog and protect a relatively smaller area and be content but I think that the ancient Turkish breeds and other breeds that are similar are still too close to that need for very large areas and a herd to protect. |  |  | |  |
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