Instinctively Speaking

Instincts in the animal kingdom seem to be fully ingrained, even for those species who have become domesticated.

Take, for example, the Anatolian Shepard. Well, one particular Anatolian Shepard actually. Our newest addition to the homestead.

Her name is Bella. Bella was abused when she was young and it is evident in every moment of her waking life. She is a four year old monster-sized dog who is afraid of absolutely everything around her: noises, people moving, voices that are raised ever so slightly - even when they are raised in laughter or excitement.

Bella came to live with us a little more than a month ago and we have been working with her to get her accustomed to her new way of life here: lazing around in the house with the basset hound while life around them moves on. She has calmed down a little bit since she's been here, but I'm afraid that skiddish and neurotic will simply be what her personality is.

On Bella's first day with us, she firmly adopted me as her protector and hid behind me, followed me everywhere and laid under my desk at my feet. As time passed, she warmed up to the rest of the homestead and has now become attached to each of us in her own way. 

Being the size that she is (that being BIG, no, bigger than that, no, bigger than that too - yes, small pony, that's the visual you are going for) we were concerned at first, about us being able to control her if she ever decided that the chickens were tasty morsels so we introduced her to the flock as soon as she arrived and only accepted her residence here based on her ability to not drool at the chickens during her first visit.

Each day, we let Bella and Beau outside to run, play, romp and do whatever they decide to do within the confines of the fenced-in front yard and each time Bella makes a run around the outside of the property lines checking things out. This is instinctual for her, according to the Anatolian Shepard website information. She is a "flock protector" and will make her rounds to be sure there are no intruders. According to them these dogs will place themselves in a high position in the yard and settle in to watch over the area and make sure nothing interferes with the flock or her peoples' safety. The problem with Bella being able to do this, is that they are supposed to be introduced to the flock when they are puppies so they can instinctively begin to bond and accept them as being in their charge. Bella is already about 4 years old.

Yesterday, Old Head and Bella went outside and were going about their outdoor chores, walks, etc when they noticed that one of the roosters had gotten out of the run and was in the front yard. Old Head considered letting the rooster explore and go out on walkabout, hoping it would find another place to live (he is our noisiest rooster, crowing at all hours of the day and we do have more roos than we need), but he thought since he'd noticed it out, he might as well see about getting it back in the pen. He slowly approached, trying to figure out how to catch him without having to run around the yard like a crazy man chasing a rooster. At that moment, Bella came out from behind him running back and forth between Old Head and the rooster looking very upset and, pushing the rooster over toward the chicken run, and pinning him in the corner of the fence. Old Head was sure he was going to have to pull a dead rooster out of Bella's mouth as she lunged forward toward the freaked-out ball of feathers. Bella stopped, dead on in her lunged position, having cornered the rooster and waiting for Old Head to grab it and throw it back over the fence. He did, and looked down at Bella amazed at the instincts that were still in this domesticated dog that had spent most of her life in apartments in suburbia.

I think Bella is gonna be happy in her new life. 

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