Featured Animal

Simon
Anatolian Shepherd (medium coat)

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Tanner is one of seven dogs who came into rescue as working livestock guardian dogs. They were on a Texas ranch that's almost 10,000 acres, so they rarely saw their human caretakers. As a result, when "The Magnificent Seven" arrived at Windsong Ranch, they were all very unsocialized to people. Great at protecting goats, and good with other dogs, but not sure about people. Tanner is also safe with our chickens.

We're not sure about Tanner's breed/s, so we've taken our best guess based on his appearance and temperament, and comparing him to photos we've seen of other dogs of the same mix. A DNA test might show that our guess is completely wrong, but in our view, the most important thing to know is that in more than 1.5 years with us, Tanner has been a reliable LGD, living in the pasture with goats and sheep 24/7, barking to keep predators from getting any ideas.

Tanner has made a lot of progress during his time with us. He is not going to walk up to a stranger to ask for attention, but he has never shown any aggression to people. He doesn't particularly like walking on a leash, but he will tolerate it long enough to go from the pasture to the van for a trip to the vet. At the vet's office, he has very good manners.

Tanner gets along with other dogs, but can be slow to warm up to any dog that he thinks is not serious about protecting our goats. We recently moved a dog who is VERY people-friendly into the same pasture as Tanner, and Tanner barks at the other dog regularly, keeping space between himself and the newcomer. We think Tanner is annoyed that the other dog is more interested in US than in his work. So if you have dogs who are PETS, Tanner might bark to keep them away from your livestock.

Tanner has not challenged our fences at all, neither digging or trying to climb over. He has been in a pasture with 5' tall no-climb fencing.

If Tanner sounds like the right match for your farm or ranch, please go to our website and submit your application. www.bluebonnetrescue.org.