When she found a young pregnant doe slaughtered in a ritualistic manner, Nat
knew she had to act. Her aim was to protect not only her animals but also her children.
Her first phone call in search of a herd guardian proved to be the last one!| AKBASH DOGS: ANCIENT ORIGINS | IN THE NEW WORLD|
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The qualities of the Akbash Dog which make it so valuable to the livestock person are the same qualities valued by many of today's families: loyalty, intelligence, and protectiveness. Patteran Vashi was born on a farm in Texas. She and her littermates were on pasture with goats and cattle when three weeks old. At about ten weeks of age, she made a big move to the suburbs of Miami, Florida. Her adjustment was quick. What Akbash Dog puppy would be unhappy moving from the "herd" into a comfortable home? But a career change dictated a move for Vashi's owner. He considered what would be best for his Akbash Dog and contacted her breeder.
Meanwhile, back in Texas, Dr. Nat Adams began having problems with her sheep and dairy
goats. Nighttime -- human -- prowlers were the cause. When she found a young pregnant doe slaughtered in a ritualistic manner, Nat
knew she had to act. Her aim was to protect not only her animals but also her children.
Her first phone call in search of a herd guardian proved to be the last one!
Nat's call was to one of her clients, Vashi's breeder. Three years earlier, Nat had recommended Akbash Dogs to her client as herd guardians, for the breed is naturally protective, typically relying on "posturing" (barking and growling") as a warning to intruders. Outright attack is only used when the Akbash Dog has decided there is no other option. Nat's call led to Vashi's return to Texas -- to a new home where goats and sheep were waiting. Life in the big city had not affected Vashi's attitude toward livestock. She enjoyed her new human family, but stayed with the herd.
In less than a week after Vashi's arrival at eight months of age, Dr. Nat Adams was awakened late one night by a commotion coming from her barn. Grabbing a shotgun, barefoot and dressed only in her nightgown, Nat ran out of the house toward the commotion and the barn where her stock were bedded down at night.
Before she reached the barn, Nat heard shrieks and curses and, above it all, the snarls and sharp angry barks of Vashi. She arrived at the edge of the barn in time to see the second of two people clear the fence -- as Vashi's teeth fastened into a hip pocket. Nat stopped in her tracks. With the threat to her property and stock gone, Nat decided to watch from the shadows. While two young men screamed, cursed, and threw things at their young pursuer from the other side of the fence, Vashi never backed down and repeatedly charged at them, snarling and snapping through the fence. She made no effort to leap over the fence (which was within her ability) to leave her property and her herd, but she showed no fear of these intruders. After some long moments, Nat began to realize how cold it was and how many stickers were embedded in her barefeet. The would-be, wounded butchers left. Only then, Vashi, satisfied, returned to her post.
Nat returned to the house to warm up, pick stickers from her toes, and be grateful for Vashi and the day she recommended Akbash Dogs to Vashi's breeder.
postscript: The photo is of Vashi's younger full brother, who took over Vashi's duties after she died.
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This page is copyrighted and maintained by Tamara Taylor. If you wish to use any material from these pages, please request permission by email: ttaylor7@gte.net. This page was last updated July 14, 1998.