Kehlibar |
Guardians of |
Hisar Anatolian Shepherd Dogs |
Continuing the legacy......
Firstly,
let me explain my connection with Hisar Anatolian Shepherd Dogs; when I was
eight years old, I met with a lady who lived in our village. She was walking
with one of her dogs, who became known to me as Dalga.
We sat on the wall of our village hall so I could properly
‘introduce’ myself to Dalga, with whom I was instantly mesmerized! The lady
became known to me as Natalka, and it was to be the beginning of a long and
educational friendship.
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Caroline with Hakim, also shown are Damiz and Kasaba |
Apart
from teaching me everything she could about our wonderful breed, the most
important lesson I learned from her was to develop my own opinions, based on the
facts in front of me, to trust my judgment, and be loyal to my beliefs.
Throughout my time with Natalka, she encouraged me to make my own studies
with my own conclusions, and to speak to as many people in the world of
Anatolians as possible; something which I in turn now encourage people to do.
Natalka’s
life was dedicated unconditionally to our breed, and the preservation of the
true working Anatolian Shepherd Dog. She
made many trips to Turkey, spending many months at a time traveling to the most
inaccessible and inhabitable places to study working Anatolian Shepherd Dogs.
Throughout her own breeding, Natalka maintained excellent temperament,
and working ability, which is second to none.
She campaigned tirelessly to further the testing of health in our breed,
in particular, hips. It is such a
shame that there are not more people in our breed campaigning for the same;
instead, their energies are used in other ways, destructive to the breed, and
eventually to themselves.
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Natalka with Yarma |
There
are already many controversial web-sites about Anatolians, Kangals, Akbash, or
what ever name takes your fancy, so I am not going to enter into that debate on
my web-site, except to say that there are many people who have tried to
discredit Natalka, and her work, many of these people were not lucky enough to
have met her, or even to have communicated with her; if they had, their opinions
would indeed be very different.
Natalka
used to have a saying, one that is very fitting to our breed, “Truth Will
Out”.
