Anatolian Shepherd the transhumance, guarding flocks of sheep from wolves and cheetahs. It is probable that dogs of this type existed 6,000 years ago in what is now Turkey. Anatolian Shepherd Dogs are members of a very old breed, probably descended from powerful hunting dogs from Mesopotamia. This mountain dog breed was developed over time to meet a specific set of circumstances. The most formative were climate (very hot, dry summers and very cold winters), lifestyle (sedentary, semi-nomadic and nomadic) and duties (guarding flocks moving great distances on the Central Anatolian Plateau). In the 1970s, breeders in the West became interested in
Anatolian rug Kurdishand Yürük tribes were living as nomads for most of their history, they tended to weave traditional tribal, rather than any local, design. If a rug with an overall Yürük design can be attributed to a specific region (as Yürüks also live in other regions of Anatolia), the name "Yürük" sometimes precedes the regional name. The region around the towns of Diyarbakır, Hakkâri, and the Van province has a large Kurdish population. The towns of Hakkâri and Erzurum were market places for Kurdish kilims, rugs and smaller weavings like cradles, bags ("heybe") and tent decorations. Anatolian rug Anatolian rug is