I still remember the morning my first Anatolian Shepherd, Atlas, turned ten years old. He moved a little slower getting up from his bed, took an extra moment before jumping into the truck, and his muzzle had gone completely silver. But when a coyote appeared near our fence line that afternoon, he transformed into the…

The first time I watched an Anatolian Shepherd assess a potential threat—ears forward, body still as stone, eyes locked on a distant coyote—I understood why this breed has protected livestock across the harsh Anatolian plateau for over six thousand years. This wasn’t a dog waiting for commands. This was a guardian making calculations, weighing options,…