Featured Animal

Brigitta
Akbash (short coat)

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Jan came from a ranch where she lived outdoors 24/7. Once she came into rescue, we tried moving her inside the house, but she really seems to prefer living outdoors. She currently lives in our free-standing garage, which has a room with kennels for 3 dogs, plus its own fenced yard. Jan gets along with other dogs and is very playful. She has always been one of the smaller dogs in any playgroup, but she definitely has no trouble keeping up with dogs who are twice her size.

Jan has shown some food protection tendencies, and we deal with those by managing her location for eating. When she lived inside the house, she willingly went inside a wire crate for meals. When she lived in a paddock with a Great Pyrenees, we fed both dogs about 10' apart, and stayed nearby to make sure each dog was able to eat in peace. In her current living arrangement, Jan takes her meals in a 5' x 5' kennel. No matter where she eats, we pick up food bowls after each meal to be sure there's nothing to cause any fights. Jan has never shown any aggression toward people. But given her history of being abandoned on a ranch where she was the smallest dog, we think it's natural that she protects her food bowl from other dogs. She's still learning to trust that there will always be another meal offered.

Jan is still young and enjoys shredding stuffed toys and bedding, so we have a heavy-duty (horse) stall mat inside her kennel to provide a cushion on the concrete floor. And we stick to hard toys (like Kong and Nylabone toys) rather than stuffies. She may outgrow this behavior as she matures.

We're really unsure about Jan's breed/mix. She looks almost like a miniature Anatolian Shepherd, and with her naturally bobbed tail, she may have some Australian Shepherd in her DNA. She has double dew-claws so may have a Great Pyrenees in her family tree as well. She was rescued from a ranch where there were at least two Great Pyrenees, and a dog whose coat and coloring makes him look like a combination Pyr/Aussie/Anatolian. So it's reasonable to guess that any or all of those breeds are part of Jan's DNA.

If you would like to consider making Jan Brady a member of your family, please submit your application here.