Good article about Kangal Dogs

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/kangal-soldier-of-the-steppe/

Kangal: Soldier of the Steppe

January 5, 2016 | 

Editor’s note: The kangal (pronounced khan-ghahl) is a breed of large livestock guarding dog originating from the city of Sivas in central Turkey. The breed is not used for herding, but to defend flocks of sheep from wolves, jackals and even bears. The kangal is such an effective guardian that it has been imported to the U.S for the purpose of protecting livestock from wolves, lessening the need for more extreme control measures such as wolf culls. In the piece below, Bernd Brunner, a writer who splits his time between Germany and Istanbul, explores the relationship between these fearless dogs and their Turkish masters.

The Kangal – also known as the “Anatolian Lion” – is Turkey’s national dog

The independence and courage of these hard-working animals is the stuff of legend, and exporting Kangals from the country is forbidden. The history of the dogs is intimately tied with the history of Turkey itself. But as the forces of modernity find their way into the furthest reaches of Anatolia’s wild plateaus, the role of the Kangals is changing, too.......

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/kangal-soldier-of-the-steppe/

Second time together

 

 

 

This evening was Esma and Lokum's second time being together. They're reunion is coming along nicely.  

The first time together Lokum tried mounting her two times and each time I told him to stop it he stopped right away.  This time he tried playing with her, he kind of tackled her he's very much a puppy still even at  4 years of age, but like when he tried mounting Esma I told him to stop it and he stopped.  Esma's response was to ignore him even though she was getting tackled.  

I let Esma and Lokum spend many hours by each other in adjacent pens, she seems happiest when she is by him. She eats best by Lokum as well.  

I still bring her in at night as she is still very skittish around us and people in general.  However Esma does wag her tail and get a little excited when I bring her food.  

So far the only way I can catch Esma is if she is in confined quarters.  She tries to evade me but as soon as my hands touch her she stops and submits to having a leash put on, once the leash is on she calms down and does quite well.  When Esma is in the back play yard I can't catch her out there and she won't come to me so I let her in the house and then I can catch her in the house.  

Even getting her in the house has been a process, in the beginning Kelli and I had to kind of round her up and herd her into the house the two of us, but now If we step to the side and open the door she quickly scoots inside breezing past us so as not to get too close.  

We are convinced that she has had one or more bad experiences with people.  Perhaps when she was loose for 5 days or something else.  

Last night we had a thunder storm and she seems to be quite afraid of storms and hid under the piano all night until morning.  

Esma 4 weeks-Kangal Dog

It's been 4 weeks since we got Esma. 

This is her favorite place in the back yard. 

9-14-19 Esma and Lokum First Walk

This was Esma and Lokums first walk together. I've been keeping them in adjacent pens for extended periods and several times all night.  Numerous times on the walk Esma made the first move to go closer to Lokum.

Esma is a different dog outside away from people, way more confident of herself. In the house she is still rather jumpy.

I have her on canned dog food and some dry. She prefers the canned food.  It's been a challenge getting her to eat enough to put some weight on. She prefers to eat outside rather than in the house and even more so out by Lokum which I find interesting.

Esma-Day 8 "Awkward"???

The photo's below were about the 4th time of bringing Esma and Lokum together through fences. Each time Esma wags her tail when she sees him. And Lokum is usually overly demonstrative. 

Lokum on the left Esma on the right

I posted a couple of of these pictures on facebook and someone thought that the dogs looked "awkward". If they look awkward or stressed it is because I was making Lokum sit by the fence so that I could get them both in the picture at once.  So he wasn't real happy about being made to do something and Esma was being shy about the whole thing. So yeah they don't look at ease in the picture but that's why. And I had just brought Lokum back from having a run so he was panting heavily. Otherwise when I first brought Lokum over to the fence they both were at ease and happy to see each other.  It was actually the first time that Lokum didn't become overly demonstrative, probably because he had just burned off some energy.

These pictures were taken yesterday which was Day 7 of having Esma. I am counting the drive day last Thursday August  29 when we actually picked her up. 

Today is Day 8.  And for the past several days I have switched her to canned dog food.  It's been hit and miss trying to get her to eat as we want her to gain a little weight. But the canned dog food is the key to getting her to eat regularly. I've been feeding her twice a day with whatever treats in between that I can get her to take.
Today she started sleeping in our grand kids tipi.  Another step to feeling more at home here.

Also just a few minutes ago I went out to feed Esma and it began to rain I thought she'd run back into the tipi but when I opened the door of our house to come in she was right there and eager to come in with me. This is unusual because almost every time we bring her in we have to "herd" her in as she will not just come in when we open the door. She gets spooked and runs around the outside perimeter until we can funnel her inside the house, usually taking 2 of us to accomplish it.  Only a few times has she come in when we open the door and coax her.  So this too was a first. There will be many more "firsts" in the days to come. 

Esma day 5

As of last night Esma began to bark while out in the back yard, which I think is a good sign that she is acclimating to her new home. She also barked a couple times today.  

Yesterday I brought a half dozen sheep in the back yard to mow the grass and then brought out Esma, she did very well with them even when they would try to butt her. Her response was exactly what I would hope for in a livestock guardian dog, she simply avoided them.  Lokum on the other hand snarls and bites at them if they try bossing him.

Esma came from a farm that had goats so fortunately she is already accustomed to livestock. But with a new dog I never know what to expect and one that's 5 years old already.

 

In the above video I happened to catch a perfect scenario of the sheep getting bossy with Esma and her great response of simply getting out of the way.

It's been a little touch and go with feeding Esma, she won't eat out of a bowl so I have been putting it on a paper plate, mixing dry commercial dog food with the raw meat that we got from Jennifer. She has actually been leaving a lot of the dry dog food. 

So today I went to the store and got various kinds of canned dog food. This seemed to be the trick as she quickly devoured the canned dog food. I happened to open the diamond brand lamb and that's what she liked. 

Diamond is the brand I have been using for all my Kangals.  So if she keeps liking it I will probably stick with this brand. Just trying to get some meat on her bones before winter gets here.  

Esma-Day 4

This morning we introduced Esma to the sheep and Lokum. She did excellent with the sheep. I kept Esma on the retractable lash.  Every time the bossy ewes would go to head butt her she quickly dodge their advances. Esma is nimble and quick on her feet.

Then we took her to see Lokum and of course Lokum was over the top exuberant, whining profusely and barking. Esma was interested in him and sniffed him through the fence unintimidated by Lokums demonstrative behavior.

Esma does excellent on any leash the retractable leash or a regular 6 foot leash.  Which is remarkable becasue out in the back yard or even in the house she is jumpy and won't come to us. To get her inside from the back yard two of us have to almost herd her inside with the door propped open. Yet on leash she comes instantly when we call her.  

As I am writing this Esma is in the back yard and she alerted to something out in the field and barked. I see this as being a good step in her integration to her new home.