Livestock and Predators
When do Anatolian Shepherds start guarding?
Guarding behavior can show up in the first months, but most sources put reliable guarding at 18 to 24 months or later. Anatolians mature late.
A USDA bulletin on guarding dogs reports guarding behaviors in pups as young as four and a half months. The same bulletin says there is no set age at which a young dog becomes an effective guardian. It says Anatolians seem to reach a degree of behavioral maturity at 18 to 30 months.
Texas A&M AgriLife says it takes 18 to 24 months for a puppy to become an effective guardian. Ontario’s agriculture ministry says about two years. The breed club puts full maturity at three years.
The months in between are the hard part. Oregon State University Extension says pups 5 to 10 months old may play with sheep and usually outgrow it by 12 to 18 months. In the USDA bulletin’s evaluation of yearling dogs, 38 percent of 26 Anatolians were rated good, against 83 percent of 59 Great Pyrenees, mainly because of a higher tendency to injure or kill sheep.
Our position is that a young Anatolian needs supervision and guidance with stock until about two years old.
The information on this page is general information about the breed, drawn from the sources listed and from our own experience. Individual dogs vary. Nothing here is a guarantee about the health, size, temperament or working ability of any particular puppy. The terms of any sale are those in our written contract.
Sources
- Green and Woodruff, “Livestock Guarding Dogs: Protecting Sheep from Predators,” USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin 588 (revised 1996)
- Texas A&M AgriLife, “Livestock Guardian Dogs: An Overview,” ANSC-PU-468
- Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, “Livestock guardian dogs: selection and training”
- Anatolian Shepherd Dog Club of America, Breed Facts at a Glance
- Lorenz and Coppinger, “Raising and Training a Livestock-guarding Dog,” Oregon State University Extension EC 1238