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Working Kangal Dogs
USA
Amy –
Alaska
Amy lives with her family on a sheep ranch in
Alaska
. Her flock is comprised of 18
Shetlands and is growing. Her ranch
is her Grandparents homestead comprised of 45 acres that has been passed down
through the family generation to generation.
It is located between Kenai and
Soldotna
,
Alaska
.
The Kenai river area is known as “
Alaska
’s last frontier”. This area
caters to commercial fishermen as well as sports anglers.
To many, the only word to describe angling opportunities in the
Kenai Peninsula
is “incomparable” and is ranks high on the list of favorites in the state.
The area is noted for the world’s larges run of Sockeye salmon and the
largest King salmon every caught.
Amy and her family began their search for a livestock guardian dog since they
had begun having problems with predators in their area.
A few years ago one of their Shetland rams was eaten by a bear.
The family did not hear any sounds in the night to alert them to the
trouble.
The following spring, Amy had shipped in a second Shetland ram only to almost
loose him as well to a bear attack. In the summers the family has chickens,
turkeys, and ducks as well. They
have a garden and have had issues with moose.
Where Amy lives is isolated and neighbors stop by occasionally for the “bear
report”. In her area farmers had lost livestock to packs of dogs, bald eagles,
and coyotes.
Amy and her family did a lot of research into livestock guardian dogs before
deciding on a Kangal. The
history of the Kangal was very intriguing to Amy.
She was also impressed with the way Kangal owners talked about their dogs
and how important it was to the owners/breeders to maintain the Kangal dogs
working traits and temperament.
Since there are children around the farm, a major drawing factor that was very
important to the family, was that the Kangal dog is a people friendly dog.
Amy was also looking for a great guarding to go along with the good
disposition. The Kangal seemed to be
an excellent LGD that could also be so gentle with children and other people.
An added draw was that the Kangal could be good with animals that are not
a threat to their livestock. All
these traits were a combination they felt they could not do without.
The family purchased Misty Acres Berk. Berk
is out of Doga Farms Lokum and Kahraman of Misty Acres.
Berk has successfully spent his first summer protection the sheep and
poultry against 7 brown bears.
He has also keep bald eagles away from the livestock. The eagles have been
known to go after small lambs and poultry at her farm in the past.
An added plus has been that Berk has kept the moose out of the family garden.
Amy’s mom has been very pleased with this.
Berk is well cared for and loved. He
has been an asset to Amy’s family.
