Akilli’s Story

Nursing a Goat

Our first Anatolian Shepherd, Akilli, arrived at our farm only 5 weeks old. She was a survivor from her first week of life. Unable to get enough milk from her mother, with her bigger, bossier littermates pushing her aside, she was supplemented with goat’s milk, a tiny thing held up to actually nurse from a goat when she was only a few days old. Little did we know when we brought her home, that she would start us delving into the history of the breed with her fascinating behavior. A beautiful rough coat, she won our hearts with her loving devotion to the goats. Akilli, whose name means "intelligent," is a fabulous working dog. She lives, sleeps, and eats with the goats. Sometimes she has the privilege of overseeing the birth of kid goats in the pasture, and takes care of eating the afterbirth so the coyotes won’t be attracted. When coyotes do come around, she never lets them outrun her.

She keeps pace with them as they occasionally run back and forth along the outside of her pasture fencing, particularly at dawn. Never has she allowed one in her pasture. She also protects her goats from large birds, squirrels, raccoons, and has killed a possum, as well as a huge rat. Akilli has gotten sprayed more times than we can count by skunks, as she manages to corner them in her pasture. Smells don’t seem to bother her, as she is just as much at home with the stinky billy goats, as with the goat mothers and their babies.

Excavator is Akilli’s middle name! She has dug a huge underground fall-out shelter . . . several times. Every time we fill it in, she digs it again. Her gigantic pits, when the earth roof caves in, become playgrounds for the goats, which love to jump in and out of the holes. Once when we moved her and her goats to the pasture adjacent to the barn, she surprised us by digging a hole under the barn. Then one day when we were milking the goats, up popped Akilli’s head into the barn to say hello! We have to keep the pasture fence hot-wired along the inside bottom so that Akilli does not decide to "go visiting!"

Farm friends of Akilli include two ASD pups (Kaptan and Tess), an elderly Golden Retriever, and a Black Lab. Sirin, our adult female ASD is another story. At times Akilli and Sirin will happily run together along their fence line. Mostly they go about their guard business in their own pastures. Every six months, however, Akilli cannot believe Sirin has the gall to come into heat on her property. How dare she! That’s when you will occasionally hear Akilli’s heart-stopping displeasure toward Sirin through the gate. Although the two intact female ASDs could never work together in the same pasture, they do work together beautifully in side-by-side pastures. While one sleeps, the other is always visible and alert. Often during the day they can be found facing different directions while on lookout.

Babies, human or animal, are Akilli’s favorite visitors. She is happy to greet them and give them loving kisses. While she would stay aloof with an adult visitor to her pasture, just give that person a baby to hold and Akilli is then their best friend!