Anatolian Shepherds, Cozy Fleeces, And The Ethics Of Affiliate Links

Vol. 3

Is An Anatolian Shepherd Right For Me? 

Kevin messaged me on Instagram to ask if if an Anatolian Shepherd might be the right dog for him. He’d just met one, and came away impressed. It was, “the most interesting dog I’ve ever met,” he wrote. 

Virginia and I are rescue mutt people. Mutts tend to be more genetically robust than products of unscrupulous breeding (which describes pretty much all pure breeds these days), leading to longer, healthier lives, and less propensity for insanity. See: the royal family. 

But, our youngest dog Teddy is a pure breed—an Anatolian Shepherd. How’d we end up owning her? Well, the tiny, independent rescue shelter in northeast Montana thought she was a Great Pyrenees-German Shepherd mix. My recipe for a good dog is to find one with some German Shepherd in it, and I wanted something that could fight a Grizzly Bear. We didn’t realize what she actually was until a reader pointed it out on Instagram. And, as she’s grown (Teddy is now two years old), her breed has just become glaringly obvious. 

My good dog formula, plus the desire to own something capable of kicking a bear’s ass both point towards a contradiction with the whole mutts make better dogs thing. And that’s because it’s a mix of nature and nurture that determine a dog’s personality. 

Things like size, physical appearance, and some aspects of a dog’s personality are obviously determined by genetics. Teddy is very large, with the long, lean body of an Irish Woflhound, and the head and jaws of a mastiff. That’s obviously genetic. Other factors that make Anatolians so unique is that they’re fast, agile, and long-lived. All three are rare among other dog breeds that grow this large. But what about personality? Anatolians were originally bred to defend livestock against brown bears and wolves in Turkey’s mountains. They were simply introduced to the flock at a young age, then left to live independently among their wards for the rest of their lives, with minimal human guidance or even interaction. That gives them a unique mix of seemingly conflicting characteristics: they’re capable of extreme violence, but are also able to build caring connections with vulnerable livestock—especially the young. They’re fiercely independent, and strong willed, yet empathetic and sensitive. They were also used in packs, to defend against wolf predation. That makes them able and willing to work with other dogs and people, even if they’re not the most easily trained dogs out there. 

But, genetic predispositions are just a beginning. They’re a start in determining what a dog will look like, act like, and what it will be capable of, but they’re also just that: a start. We adopted Teddy when she was five months old. Before that time, she’d been abused, neglected, run feral, then lived in a kennel alongside a couple dozen other dogs, competing with them for food and other resources. That Teddy is a fearsome barker, for instance, is something she inherited. And something we’ve worked on every single day we’ve had her. Other Anatolians probably bark a lot more than than Teddy does. She was also malnourished through her crucial early growth phase, so at only 115 pounds, is smaller than most other Anatolians. But, since we intercepted her with a healthy raw food diet at that young age, she’s probably more athletic, and will remain that way for longer, while likely outliving the typical Anatolian’s 14-year expected life span, too. Teddy also probably spent more of her young life around more (and more diverse dogs) than most other Anatolians do. So, she’s likely more apt to play, and to be able to play with dogs of different sizes than most other dogs of her breed are. 

I could go on, but you get the idea. My point here is that dogs are individuals, even within the vague parameters a breed gives them. Teddy is a really cool dog. If you meet her, you’ll likely want one just like her too. I’d argue that the fact you, I, or anyone else could never recreate her is the coolest thing about her, or any other dog.

I guess my point to Kevin and everyone else is that if you want a dog that might be able to fight a grizzly bear, then you can probably do worse than an Anatolian. But with any dog, you need to go into the whole thing knowing that the experiences you give it, the training you do, and the life you lead are going to be much more important than the breed alone. 

Kevin seems to understand that, and also gets the responsibility and liability that come along with owning very large, very active dogs like these brings. So, I told him I’d keep an eye out in my dog person circles, and let him know the next time an Anatolian in need of a new home comes up. You can totally set your heart on adopting a certain type of dog, and still actually rescue one rather than furthering the cycle of unscrupulous dog breeding. Just network with dog people in your community, be patient, and the right dog will come along. 

What’s The Best Fleece Jacket?

Tim emailed to hassle me about producing more Land Cruiser videos. (My shooting budget was paused due to the pandemic, hopefully we’ll be able to start shooting again in the new year.) And, while he had my attention, asked for a recommendation for a new fleece jacket. 

This is a good question, because fleece is a material that’s commonly misunderstood. Basically just lofted polyester, fleece is a cozy, practical material. But it’s also one that should be cheap.

These days, typical fleece comes in two flavors: tightly woven, with a knitted face (think Patagonia’s Better Sweater), and a more lofty sherpa fleece. The former is better for layering, the latter is warmer. 

I was recently shopping for a new fleece, because I lost that Better Sweater. An effective flow chart for determining which fleece jacket is right for you would be to determine first whether you want a tightly woven one, or a sherpa item. Then decide how long you want the zippers to be, whether or not you want a hood, and what colors you look good in. Next, see who will sell you that fleece for $100 or less. 

For me, the answer was the new Dawa Sherpa Full-Zip Hoody from Beyond. Made from fleece that’s brushed on both sides for maximum loft, it should be very warm. I prefer a full-zip to a pullover, and like hoods. It’s available in good, subdued colors, and Beyond cuts its stuff to flatter athletic bodies, and I’ve been really impressed by the brand’s quality. That it only costs $80 should make this fleece perfect. A box containing a green one is waiting for me at home, when we get back from the cabin. 

Tim’s questions identifies a need for a larger explainer around the different types of fleece materials, and how best to wear them to maximize their performance. I’ll put that together for Outside in the near future. It’s often emails like these that give me story ideas, please feel free to send those over.

Are Affiliate Links Ethical? 

One of the things that’s emerged from the cluster fuck that is the media world right now is a conversation about who’s getting paid to say what. The President has convinced the stupid half of the country that legitimate news outlets are fake news, even while a massive industry has sprung up pushing disinformation to those low-information Americans. Making stuff more murky, social media influencers and YouTubers have begun occupying some of the same spaces as us traditional journalists, putting paid shills in front of millions of eyeballs, even as new business models are making traditional journalism profitable again. 

From an insider’s perspective all the above seems pretty clear. But even very smart people who aren’t involved with making the media’s sausage seem to be confused. My friend Graeme, who co-owns a local business, and who I met because he read my stuff, then decided I would like him, emailed to ask about affiliate marketing. 

Affiliate is where a publication links out to a retailer, and activity through that link is tracked. If a reader of a publication clicks that link, and buys a product, the retailer will give the publication a certain cut of that purchase. That’s usually 3-5 percent. In small volumes, that probably seems like pocket change, but at scale, getting a few thousand readers to buy something can lead to real revenue. 

And make no mistake, revenue is the name of the game. Journalism is a business, and it must make money to survive. The traditional model for newspapers, magazines, and online publications has always been display advertising. That’s where a publication—let’s call it Graeme Life—goes to a brand (say, Depends) that sells stuff, and offers to help them sell more stuff by putting that brand’s message in front of Graeme Life’s audience. For our example, let’s say Graeme Life reaches a million people in the United States aged 75 and older. Depends sells diapers to people 75 and older, so they need to reach that audience with messages that drive sales. Depending on how engaged Graeme Life’s readers are (using metrics like time on site, return visits, etc etc), and how well they fit Depends’ desired demographics determines the rate Graeme will be able to charge. A typical rate might be $10 per thousand viewers, so Depends will pay Graeme Life $100,000 in a given month for that ad. 

But doing that deal is where things get murky. When Graeme goes to Depends to try and sell that ad, he’s going to need to make the argument that it’s his publication, and not Babies&Trucks that holds the most value. He might need to undercut B&T’s rates in order to do that, offer added value in other ways, or just take the Depends brass out for an all expenses paid night of strippers and cocaine. I’m sure you can see where the lines of journalistic integrity might start getting crossed. If Graeme Life is really hard up for cash one month, will they promise Depends a positive review in return for that sale? 

Traditional media outlets have always done a good job of creating a firewall between money and journalism. Doing so just made good business sense; it’s the publications that are most trusted by their readers, and which carry the most credibility that are able to charge the highest advertising rates (and this is visible in metrics). I’ve written for dozens of different newspapers, websites, and magazines in Europe, the United States, in Canada, South America, and Asia, and have never once been asked to change an opinion or conclusion based on the desires of an advertiser. (Full disclosure: I have created advertising content for brands.)

But, the rise of the Internet, and the countless numbers of new publications it’s given life to has created two problems: 1) the number of publications competing for advertiser budgets has increased faster than the amount of money being spent. And 2), not every new publication may use the same ethical practices established brands do. Graeme Life has to work harder for its dollar, and is also competing against dozens of new competitors that may not spend as much money doing things the right way. 

Enter affiliate. By linking out to Depends diapers at an online retailer, Graeme Life can take a piece of the diaper sales it generates. That direct link might seem ethically murky, but the scale required to make this pay actually rewards integrity, not lies. Graeme Life was able to accrue those million readers and give them a reason to come back regularly, because they like the content Graeme and his employees produce. If Graeme says a certain brand of adult diapers is best, they know they can trust him. And, his diaper reviews are so compelling that it just makes sense for those readers to click through and buy a box after reading, so they too can experience the same odor-fighting abilities Graeme raves about. Let’s say 10 percent of Graeme Life’s readers click through and buy a $20 box of diapers after reading one of Graeme’s articles. That delivers the same $100,000 in revenue Graeme Life might have been able to earn from a display ad, all without the need for Graeme to blow lines with Depends executives. 

As a reader, which arrangement do you find more ethical? Scale all this in your mind. If Graeme can profit equally from any diaper brand regardless of how large their advertising budgets or drug habits might be, and makes the most money when his readers trust what he says, does that not free him to recommend any diaper brand, and compel him to recommend the one that he thinks you’ll like best?

As a journalist, I often explain to people that my job is to work for my readers, not the publications I write for. I get paychecks because those readers trust me to tell them the truth. And affiliate is an ideal model for supporting ethical journalism. The more readers who trust what I say, the more affiliate sales my articles will generate. No sales meetings required.

There’s a few obvious gaps in all the above. I’m hardly a real journalist in the sense that someone doing investigative reporting for The Washington Post is a real journalist, but even I don’t write about products most of the time. So, there will always be a need for other revenue models like display advertising, and reader subscriptions. There’s increasingly some murkiness around which retailers get linked to: the ones who offer the most competitive rates, or the best experience for the consumer? And, as outlets are being financially incentivized to link to retailers, who take their own cut of the purchase, and not necessarily to the brand’s homepage, those brand’s are seeing a missed opportunity to maximize revenue, and are implementing their own affiliate programs. How does all that shake out? The answer is evolving. But I know the publications I write for are trying to navigate all this with the reader’s needs foremost in our minds. After all, that’s who we work for.