THIS is just the beginning...

Have you ever wondered why Anatolians are said not to be a "breed" by some? Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Kangal, Akbash and now Kars... Have you ever tried to understand the arguments? Doesn't it get confusing? Spurious stories and conjectures about purity and of breed origins and history are given without supporting evidence.

The principal groups that support the splitting of the Anatolian into multiple breeds are foreign-raised breeders representing a "Western" or Pan-European conformation "show dog" view. In their view, the dog must be made to fit the standard - one considerably far more restrictive than the ones by which these dogs developed (working ability, breed character).

In contrast, the principal supporters in the development of the Anatolian Shepherd Dog examined what their dogs produced and developed a breed standard to fit the dog so that within the standard there is room for individual kennels to 'specialize', without forcing everyone to conform to one view, and limiting the genepool to the modern breed-harming mistakes brought about by narrow breeding.

See native "Çoban köpegi" here:

The Journals

A lovely pictoral journey into the remote reaches of Turkey.

The 1996 Symposium at Selçuk University featured assorted foreigners including an American puppymill and English women, among others who represented themselves as authorities about Turkish Dogs. Some of the material that the foreigners presented at the symposium included material written by other tourists or journalists who speculated freely both about the natives and their dogs. Some of the discussion apparently resulted in instructing some Turkish people on which breeds to devise out of their native landrace shepherd dogs to fit these non-native visions.

The failures in the limited genepool breeding programs of these speakers were not disclosed to the Turkish people. Perhaps these foreigners had valid reason for hiding this information? Perhaps they felt that the Turkish people didn't need to know because they wanted Turkish support for their modern Pan-European views of breed development.

In stark contrast to the foreigners, Turkish speakers at the symposium were primarily focused on nutrition and care of their dogs. But due to the number of foreign 'dog show' and conformation specialists at the symposium, the foreign views proved to be attractive to Turkish media and tourism. Some have capitalized on this 'endorsement' and attention.

The original "Çoban Köpegi" represents a highly successful primitive land-race working breed which native shepherds bred based on knowledge of their stock. They selected dogs from within the resulting litters for their own preferences.

Even now as media influences breeding choices as encouraged by the foreign breed specialists, these dogs have generally shown progressive degenerative changes in size, or health and genetic vigor - just like many of the modern breeds which the specialists themselves have abandoned.

While the views and successes of the Anatolian Shepherd dog have been misrepresented by these specialists, there are those who can see the unfortunate trends and are already attempting to correct those problems which specialization can cause.

Take a look at the evidence yourself and make up your own mind. Take a little journey behind the scenes with AnatolianWorld...

Let us begin:

In the Beginning - England

The Karabash evolves as Mythology - Evolution of a Vision...

Foundation Akbash - U.S.A.

Another Vision

Pure Kangal breeding - A Pedigree Analysis

International Kangal pedigrees

A Geneticist speaks - Letter from Dr. Malcolm B. Willis

Special Dogs

Mektup of Obruk - Setting the Record Straight, by Caroline Southen
Aslan of Murted - Aslan's Beginnings, by Nancy Lane

Landrace Breed - What is it?

Article by Jennifer Floyd

Off site link:

Yoruks and Kangals - Comparative Analysis of Two Different Strains of Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

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