An Andrew Johnston dog;
Sadik turkish adj. loyal, faithful, obedient, devoted, true blue, true hearted, adhesive, constant, devout, staunch, trusty.
Sadik is the name of our dog a purposefully cross-bred kangal/boerboel. Kangals are turkish flock guardians that can be over 150 pounds and more than 30 inches tall at the shoulder. Boerboels in contrast are South African a shorter, more stocky dog with a shorter nose and short hair.
Sadik’s traits are a combination of the two breeds although he favors the Kangal. He is approximately 29 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. He has a sleek body with very muscled shoulders and hindquarters. His obvious strength belies his speed. We estimate that he is as fast as the wolf-hybrids we used to keep. He can leap too, to the top of our sons car that is parked in the side yard.
Sadik was nine weeks old when he entered our household. He joined our elder statesman fila brasileiro, Hoover, who is ten years old, Rhett a seven year old bluetick/bloohound mix and Quisp a three year old Airedale. They accepted Sadik into their pack and have shown him the ropes around our 2 acre property.
It is curious to see what we can only ascribe to be flock guardian attributes. I have found him laying in the shadow just inside our toolroom door staring horizonlike towards the back fence. He turned and glanced at me for a second and then resumed his scan.
Sadik is not a dog to hang on you, like a golden or a lab. He is at times affectionate, but often he keeps his own company. Sadik has a calm demeanor and is not an idle barker. He is aloof to most strangers especially men. He is particularly protective of my wife. Since Sadik was a pup he has had infrequent contact with our son Greg, once a month, once every two months, but instantly recognizes him as part of the pack and even hangs on him. We wondered how he would accept our daughter when she visited recently. We arranged a proper introduction with cheese treats in the driveway of our house and from that time forward for the duration of her visit Sadik treated our daughter as a co-incarnation of my wife, flipping over on his back and resting his head in her lap while our daughter sat on the sofa.
We have had some scrapes between Sadik and our other dogs, but none so serious that vet care was required except in one instance where the Airedale went through a window, for a reason we have yet to determine, to get at Sadik. We got Quisp the Airedale when she had been unceremoniously bounced from a kennel for fighting with other two female Airedales. Since that time we keep them apart.
To be continued……………