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 ha…