Another Great Christmas Present for 2009

This is a photo of Hali at 8 weeks old.

At the ASDCA National Specialty Show held in Napa, CA, on November 6, 2009, I had another very nice surprise. CH Alaturka's Havali Savasci was awarded BEST OPPOSITE SEX. After her BOB award at Eukanuba last year, this was a wonderful addition to her resume. Hali's rise in the dog show arena has been pretty amazing, considering that she is shown very little. All in all, I am very proud of this little girl who looks amazingly a lot like her mom, CH Alaturka SenRuya Eiserntor.

Over the last couple of months, my beautiful pinto Anatolian and I have gone to a couple of really great festivals held here in Florida.

The first was at the end of May when we went to the Watermelon Festival held every year in the small town of Newberry just west of Gainesville. There is a parade and lots of vendors with all kinds of handmade things to sell .... and Daisy's favorite thing ... lots and lots of children, along with lots of other dogs ... nothing makes her happier.

The parade had lots of floats, sirens, horses, and those little shriner cars ... a little kid's dream. Since it was so hot, after the parade, Daisy and I only stayed a little over an hour at the festival, which was held this year at the horse complex. But, we saw all the vendors and spent some time in the food court with all kinds of food for the hungry. Daisy even got a cone of ice from one of the vendors who became a devoted fan of hers in no time.

The second festival was the first weekend in June in Chiefland, my home town ... it was very similar to the one in Newberry, except there were a lot more vendors with just about everything you could think of to buy ... and, at this festival, my friends Debi and Jani brought puppies "Enya" and "Jake" as seen in this photo.

2008 - The BEST Christmas Present EVER!!:

Since the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship seems to be stuck in Long Beach, CA, and I live in Florida, I had resigned myself to never being able to enter any of my dogs in that particular BIG EVENT. This year, however, I had a big surprise when a pup I bred (co-bred by Sally Jaffe of Eiserntor Anatolians) was not only entered, but was awarded BEST OF BREED!! She is Alaturka's Havali Savasci (aka "Hali"), out of CH Alaturka's SenRuya Eiserntor (also bred by me), sired by CH Kandira's Encore, and is owned by Stephanie Lindemann who lives in Colorado. Hali is a working livestock guardian whose main job is to protect Stephanie's miniature dachshunds from the local predators, a job that she is very good at. The thing that made this such a big deal is that, at this time, Hali is the only NON-CHAMPION Anatolian to ever take BOB at Eukanuba and, at this show, she was the only non-champion entered with some of the top Anatolians in the country. This win made Hali AKC's #3 Anatolian bitch for 2008 ... pretty amazing for a little girl who is shown in only a few shows each year. As of December 2008, Hali needs only one point to finish her AKC Championship. She was awarded her first Major when she took BEST OF BREED over Champions at the 2008 Scottsdale Dog Fancier's Dog Show held in Scottsdale, AZ, in March 2008. Her second Major happened at the 2008 ASDCA National Specialty weekend held in Atlanta, GA, in Sept 2008. Since there have been no Anatolians showing in Colorada, Steph has had a hard time finding shows with competition for Hali, so she does not get shown a lot, but, when she is shown ... SHE SURE MAKES IT COUNT!!

The 2008 ASDCA NATIONAL SPECIALTY

After being out of the show ring since February 2008, Moose traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2008 to defend his 2007 Best In Specialty Show title. It was an amazing show, with a high number of actual working dogs entered, making it a true test for Honorable Judges Carl Vitner (sweepstakes Judge) and Dorothy Collier (judge for regular classes). Alaturka had two dogs from its line do very well.

AWARD OF MERIT went to BISS CH Eiserntor AA Mustafa of Turkay (aka "Moose"). While Moose did not repeat his Breed Win a second year in a row, Linda and I are still very proud of this amazing boy!! Not many dogs can come right out of the pasture and still stand out in a show ring. With the competition that showed up at this show, we were thrilled the judge still saw Moose's special qualities.


BEST PUPPY IN SWEEPS went to TILSIMLI'S FLASH FLOOD (aka "Kedi"), a puppy bitch sired by CH Horizon's Zafer (aka "Rocky") out of CH Alaturka Tilsimli Taksirata (aka "Sira" - bred by me in 2004). She is owned by Lindsay Zirkel & Jamie Beaver and bred by Jamie Beaver. I look for great things from this little girl in the future.


BEST VETERAN DOG & BEST STUD DOG went to CH Kandira's Encore (aka "Ernie" -- Moose's Sire & Kedi's Grandsire) owned by Debi Grunnah of Island Farm. Ernie is a spectacular dog that I fell in love with the first time I saw him at the 1999 ASDCA National Specialty when he was just 18mo old. I knew then that there would be few dogs that would stand out like Ernie does.

All in all the National Specialty show surpassed all our expectations. I was overjoyed to see Anatolian folk I had not seen for many many years ... it was a real treat to sit around and swap dog stories and catch up on each others doings over the years. I really miss these get togethers and talking with old friends. I cannot wait until next time!!

KAI IN HIS NEW HOME:

Every breeder knows that having to take back one of their pups can be a very stressful and traumatic event for the dog. I took back a dog last year that had to be shipped all the way from Washington State to Florida. I was expecting a very sad pup. But, when the door opened from the transport bus he was shipped in, out came a dog that was very happy to be back with his grandma!


Kai was from my Dani/Kiral litter and the people he went to drove all the way from Washington State to pick him up ... they wanted the bonding time on the drive home. Seemed like a great home for him since he was my "social butterfly". However life happens, circumstances change and, after only two years, Kai was back with me and I had to once again look for a good home for him.

Although he was with me for a few months after getting him back, he was a real joy to have. He got along with all my dogs, even my older male, Safa, who seemed to adore him. Daisy, my youngest female, thought he was the most wonderful playmate she had ever had. I might have been tempted to keep him for myself, but three dogs is pretty much my limit nowadays.

After interviewing several people who looked good, but just not "good enough", I received a call from Tanya! After several conversations and several visits from her and her family to meet Kai, I was convinced this would be the perfect home for him ... he loved the whole family, including the other two family dogs, a neutered male beagle and spayed female doberman.

Finally, one weekend I told Tanya she could take Kai home ... with the stipulation that she would send photos and keep me up to date. Since the day she took him home, I have gotten regular updates on Kai's antics and stories about how "wonderful he is". And, although it has been nearly a year since he went to live with Tanya and her family, I still feel that this is the home he was meant to have all along. For an Anatolian such as Kai, Tanya's family was made for him.

MOOSE AT HOME AGAIN

Moose is back home with his Nigerian dwarf goats, Babydoll sheep, horses, chickens and cats, and especially back with his family, the Currans of High Springs, Florida. It has been an exciting year for Moose, his family, his co-owner and his breeders. This amazing dog has done his time and shown his worth in matching the breed standard for the Anatolian Shepherd Dog, now he is home and doing what he loves the most. It is a time for destressing and getting back to basics for him.

In a total of 65 shows in one year of showing, Moose has 42 BEST OF BREED wins, a Group One and a Group four. He won the 2007 National Specialty Show exactly one week after he turned two years old, he qualified for Eukanuba, finished 2007 as AKC's #2 Anatolian, and was invited to the 2008 Westminster show. That's an amazing year for basically a puppy!!

There may be the occasional dog show here and there, but the most important thing is that Moose has nothing to prove when it comes to strutting his stuff in the show ring. He has more than proved he is fit to join the ranks of other outstanding Anatolian Shepherd Dogs!!

THE WESTMINSTER EXPERIENCE

This will be only the second time a dog I bred has ever been invited to go to Westminster in New York city for the big event held every year in February. The show is televised and all the dogs that win their breed get to have their minute in front of the camera in the Group ring. It is a very exciting and very exhausting experience. This year Moose was invited as AKC's #2 Anatolian for 2007. Normally, we would not have considered this, but since we had decided that Moose needed to get back to what he really loved, being a Livestock Guardian, we thought this would be an important show for him to go to. So off to New York City with Gary Sheetz, his handler for this show.

The first day of the show we watched as dogs in other groups strutted their stuff and vied for their chance at a group placement. On the second day, we found out that Moose was not awarded Best of Breed and would not be seen in front of the camera in the Group ring, but he did take the only AWARD OF MERIT for our breed. We were very excited. Moose had already done more than we ever expected in just one year of being a show dog and we were very happy with AOM he was awarded by Judge Beverly Capstick.

THE FLORIDA JANUARY CIRCUIT

This year the competition was pretty intense. Out of the ten shows on the January Circuit, Moose took BEST OF BREED only seven times. He did manage to finish up #1 by the end of the month, but, of course, that doesn't mean much at the beginning of the year. Here are some photos of Moose in the Group ring at a couple of these shows. As you can see he really enjoys his short vacations in the show ring.


We are grateful for the experienced training and grooming performed on a daily basis while Moose has resided with Gary Sheetz this past month.

KHYRA IN HER NEW HOME

Khyra is a pup from my May 2006 litter and is a very sweet girl. As I am getting older and not as energetic as I once was, I had to downsize my kennel to a more manageable number of dogs. So Khyra was placed with a good friend of mine in Wisconsin. Here is a photo of her the first day getting acquainted with "Ozzy", an 8-month-old male Anatolian ... of course she had to pretend she wasn't interested in him at all!

It didn't take long for the two of them to become best of buds, but Khyra had to make sure he knew his place!! Khyra is, of course, in charge of everything. She eats first ... she picks out the toys they play with ... she lets him know when it is okay to wrestle ... and she makes sure he knows that it is his job to keep her warm while they watch TV. They have now become pretty much inseperable.

Here are Khyra and Ozzy in August 2007, doing perimeter checks around their 5 acre yard. It is almost impossible to see Khyra and not see Ozzy right beside her. Ozzy is so thrilled to have a playmate, he's afraid to let her out of his sight! One of their favorite games is to play "tag! you're it!" by chasing each other all over their yard.

Here are Khyra and Ozzy in December 2007. Wow! What a difference a few months makes. They love to play in the snow and it is almost impossible to get them to come in the house when there is lots and lots of snow to play in. They feel it is even more important to do their perimeter checks when it is nice and cold outside. And, it is more fun to play and run when it is so cool ....