Will an Anatolian Shepherd protect against mountain lions?

A guardian dog probably lowers the risk, but the evidence is thinner than for coyotes. A mountain lion can kill a dog.

In Colorado surveys, producers with guardian dogs lost smaller proportions of ewes and lambs to mountain lions and black bears than producers without dogs. In fenced pastures, where those losses were already low, the dogs showed no clear effect. With all operations combined, Colorado producers also rated Akbash and Great Pyrenees lower against mountain lions and black bears than against coyotes.

A four-state field study from 2013 to 2016 linked Kangals, some imported from Turkey and some bought from US breeders, with about 69 percent lower cougar risk to sheep than mixed white guardian dogs. That figure rests on only 10 cougar kills, and the dogs were not American Anatolian Shepherds. A USDA bulletin cautions that data on cougars are limited and that cougars are known predators of dogs.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks says mountain lions have reoccupied their historic range across the state, and its northwest region report describes lion habitat as nearly continuous across the region.

We have seen a mountain lion on the edge of our property. Nothing has come onto it.

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

• Andelt and Hopper 2000, “Livestock guard dogs reduce predation on domestic sheep in Colorado,” Journal of Range Management
• Andelt 1999, “Relative Effectiveness of Guarding-Dog Breeds to Deter Predation on Domestic Sheep in Colorado,” Wildlife Society Bulletin
• Kinka and Young 2019, “Evaluating Domestic Sheep Survival with Different Breeds of Livestock Guardian Dogs,” Rangeland Ecology and Management (readable copy)
• Green and Woodruff, “Livestock Guarding Dogs: Protecting Sheep from Predators,” USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin 588 (revised 1996)
• Montana FWP, Mountain Lion
• Montana FWP Region 1 mountain lion report, license year 2025