You’ve heard me rave on about Anatolian Shepherds a lot on the blog, it’s easy to say they are a breed I feel strongly about and absolutly adore. I’m lucky that Melbourne has a pretty amazing community surrounding these dogs and on Tuesday I went and helped out on the Takas Volkodav property. By help out I mean, play with all the animals.

This is Geronimo, he’s HUGE! It takes a lot to make me feel small and standing next to him, well, I felt pretty small! There is a picture where his head is in front of my body and it’s pretty much the size of my torso. He was absolutely stunning and so friendly! I fed him a hay brick and then some bread from my hand! It’s true, I turn into an excited 7-year-old around animals.

PUPPIES! I’d never actually met any Anatolian puppies before, so it was a lot of fun getting to baby sit them! They are crazy cute little terrors who tried to eat all my clothes and hair. I’m not sure of their exact age but they were born in October.

This is Sunny, who nearly bowled me over with her beauty and her strength, seriously, I couldn’t walk her, she was a bit too strong for me. She is a Georgian Shepherd imported from Georgia. I stupidly asked ‘As in America?’ because I really do suck when it comes to geography. No, as in Georgia, the country in Europe. It then clicked in my head, because while I didn’t know about Georgian Shepherds, I did know about the Caucasian Shepherd/ Ovcharka.

She was super friendly, I am still surprised when you meet such a friendly huge dog. Not that large dogs aren’t friendly, it’s just that a lot of these dogs are guardian dogs and so much of the research i’ve read points to them being very protective and somewhat standoff-ish. Nope, not Sunny!

This is Shamash, who I got to walk, she was very strong too and at one point was dragging me along the path. It was gravel and I couldn’t get a good enough grip on it. Once he got all her excitement (& pee) out he calmed down a lot and was easier to walk. This was my first time meeting a fully grown Central Asian Shepherd, I’d previously met Baby Sham Sham who is one of Shamash’s progeny. I got to meet a couple more CAS through windows as they aren’t as friendly and loving as Shamash.

Puppies again! George, the brindle (lower left corner) will be heading off on a new adventure to Italy soon! Jicky is now protecting thousands of free range chickens on an organic chicken farm & Rajah will be a working dog on a farm in Dubbo!

It was such a wonderful day and my idea of heaven. Horses, dogs, beautiful land and a view. I learnt that hay gets everywhere, I came home with more hay in my bra than boobs! I’ve learnt that while I love huge dogs, I think Anatolians are still the right choice for me. The CAS are gorgeous, but I think too much of a strong dog for me, strength wise and personality wise.

What’s your favourite farm animal?