The beginning of October 2004, Gypsy Anatolians packed up and moved from Southern Illinois to Southwestern New Mexico.
Our little ranch is located on 13.66 acres in the Southwestern mountains at an altitude between 7400 and 7500 feet.
All three dogs love the new place and act like they've never lived anywhere else!
They've learned to work together as a team to guard their new home!

Bear has found a new spot where he can survey his domain and has strongly indicated his preference for staying outside.
The instinct to guard has not been diminished by this time in the show ring.

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Bear thinks he can't be seen!!
The property has been left in it's natural state and some of the weeds are over 36" high. With the fall/winter colors, Bear blends in with the foliage.
Every plant seems to have some kind of sticky thorn of some kind. I was told that I would spend hours grooming Bear's long coat. WRONG! Bear has what has been termed as a really good Field Coat. All the burrs, stickers, thorns and seeds just fall off! Grooming has been minimal and does not include removing plant life from the fur.

One of Bear's favorite pasttimes has been to hunt and dig up the little pocket gophers that are everywhere!
So far, Bear has dug out several gophers, killing them and leaving the carcass near the hole.
None of the dogs seem to be interested in eating the gophers.

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The soil here is a combination with clay, sand and volcanic matter. When it rains, the resulting mud sticks to everything. Bear has come limping up to the house with clumps of the stuff between his toes and pads. It gets so hard, it's like concrete and I have to cut it out.

The process of digging out a gopher can involve some major excavation!

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Until we get our goats, Bear, Bungee and Maggie will continue to hunt the dreaded pocket gophers . . .