Sunny Lee Kennels is located in northern MN, near Bemidji.
I started training dogs in 4-H and that began a life long love affair with all things dog. I was always looking for better ways to communicate with my dogs and the more I learned the more I loved it. I got my start in dog sledding in my early teens when my older brother had dogs and I helped him. Eventually I was given three puppies, Wolf, Fang, and Gavin. My team grew from there to now, almost two decades later, to include around 10-12 huskies at any given time. This number includes my working adults, my young dogs and pups that may not be ready to race yet, and my old, retired dogs.
How did I get into Anatolians? That is a story. I met my first Anatolians right around 1999/2000 when I went with my dad (who was a farrier at the time) to trim some horses feet. I had never met these people before, but their daughter became my closest friend over the years and still is. Anyway, I had never before heard of Anatolian Shepherds and thought that I would be getting into German Shepherds or a similar breed at some point. But this family had a pair of these huge fawn dogs. Grumpy who was a long haired, dark-grey fawn, and Creamy, a short haired fawn, to guard their goats. I very quickly made friends with the dogs and fell in love with their intelligence, independence, loyalty and work ethic. What sealed the deal for me, was one day when I was farm sitting for them, I went for a walk by myself. I told Grumpy very firmly that he would stay home, he moved off and settled. I go for my walk and something made me look behind me. Grumpy was tailing me from a distance. He saw me looking at him and he put his head down and wagged just the end of his tail. I tried to tell him to go home and all he did was put is head down further, look sideways at me and wag his tail some more. I finally told him, fine, come on with, and his head came up and he came to walk at my side. I found a crick to sit next to for a while, and for the duration of that time, Grumpy laid nearby only to get up and stand guard over me whenever traffic came by. And I knew that I would someday have one.
After Grumpy passed away, I spent some years researching breeders, always with Grumpy in the back of my mind. I found a kennel, Shepherds Rest, who worked to include import bloodlines in their breeding program. I got my first Anatolian, Raven, from Shepherds Rest in 2013 and lost him very suddenly and unexpectedly three short years later in 2016. With Raven, I learned lessons about the breed, dog training, and the partnership that you can develop with a dog, that will follow me the rest of my life. In the mean time I had already acquired my first female, Sammy. My kennel has since grown to include several Anatolians who work both as livestock guardians and take turns to come up and guard the house.
I started training dogs in 4-H and that began a life long love affair with all things dog. I was always looking for better ways to communicate with my dogs and the more I learned the more I loved it. I got my start in dog sledding in my early teens when my older brother had dogs and I helped him. Eventually I was given three puppies, Wolf, Fang, and Gavin. My team grew from there to now, almost two decades later, to include around 10-12 huskies at any given time. This number includes my working adults, my young dogs and pups that may not be ready to race yet, and my old, retired dogs.
How did I get into Anatolians? That is a story. I met my first Anatolians right around 1999/2000 when I went with my dad (who was a farrier at the time) to trim some horses feet. I had never met these people before, but their daughter became my closest friend over the years and still is. Anyway, I had never before heard of Anatolian Shepherds and thought that I would be getting into German Shepherds or a similar breed at some point. But this family had a pair of these huge fawn dogs. Grumpy who was a long haired, dark-grey fawn, and Creamy, a short haired fawn, to guard their goats. I very quickly made friends with the dogs and fell in love with their intelligence, independence, loyalty and work ethic. What sealed the deal for me, was one day when I was farm sitting for them, I went for a walk by myself. I told Grumpy very firmly that he would stay home, he moved off and settled. I go for my walk and something made me look behind me. Grumpy was tailing me from a distance. He saw me looking at him and he put his head down and wagged just the end of his tail. I tried to tell him to go home and all he did was put is head down further, look sideways at me and wag his tail some more. I finally told him, fine, come on with, and his head came up and he came to walk at my side. I found a crick to sit next to for a while, and for the duration of that time, Grumpy laid nearby only to get up and stand guard over me whenever traffic came by. And I knew that I would someday have one.
After Grumpy passed away, I spent some years researching breeders, always with Grumpy in the back of my mind. I found a kennel, Shepherds Rest, who worked to include import bloodlines in their breeding program. I got my first Anatolian, Raven, from Shepherds Rest in 2013 and lost him very suddenly and unexpectedly three short years later in 2016. With Raven, I learned lessons about the breed, dog training, and the partnership that you can develop with a dog, that will follow me the rest of my life. In the mean time I had already acquired my first female, Sammy. My kennel has since grown to include several Anatolians who work both as livestock guardians and take turns to come up and guard the house.