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Dogs - Akbash BreedThanks to turkishdogs.com for much of this text!
A latter day dog writer, the Dutchman Antal (1977), referring to Columnella and others, perhaps summed it up best... "It is for this reason of old that a sharp contrasting color was considered of enormous importance for those dogs whose real job was found in the fight. Therefore, one bred for the white color, and maintained it carefully. The importance is the same everywhere; in Poland and Hungary, in the Pyrenees, and in the Balkans. And it is for this reason that everywhere one sought and found the same solution in tall, white, brave dogs." Purebred Akbash Dogs are white. White color is one requirement of the breed standard -- just as it is a requirement for all the white guardian breeds of Europe. Moveover, the definition of white is important. When we say white, we mean "milk white" or sut beyaz. An all over yellowish, or porcelain color is not acceptable. Furthermore, purebred Akbash Dogs are free of heavy spotting, brindle, and other non-standard colors. The Akbash Dog has two varieties of coat: long and medium. The ideal Akbash Dog represents a complex relationship among three major components: color, conformation, and temperament. We express the totality of this relationship as the "Akbash Dog Triad." Color: Conformation: We (turkishdogs.com) have observed and collected 42 Akbash Dogs for export to America during the past 20 years. We accomplish this on a highly selective basis. We use the same technique that Monsieur Thomas Dretzen, a founder of the French Great Pyrenees breed used when he selected only six out of 350 dogs observed, to reconstitute the Great Pyrenees breed in 1907 (Strang, 1977). Over the years we have found Akbash Dogs in many different locations in the Akbash Dog Triangle. As the years go by, we see population shifts of these dogs from one village to another -- as one might expect in a fluid breeding situation. While it is still possible to find good Akbash Dogs in the region, it is becoming more difficult as time goes on. The sheep industry is in decline in the region and when the sheep go, so, too, do the livestock guardian dogs which accompany them. The decline is caused by changing agricultural patterns and the migration of villagers to cities. This trend is of major concern to international Akbash Dog breeders. Perhaps these circumstances are what prompted a villager in 1996 to say to us, when we showed him pictures of our dogs in America, "Send them (Akbash Dogs) back to us! That's what they used to look like! The authors' views on the status and classification of the native dogs of Turkey were fully confirmed at the International Symposium on Turkish Shepherd Dogs, which took place on October 23, 1996. This was the first international conference on the native dogs of Turkey and was participated in and attended by leading international canine experts. The conference itself was hosted by the Veterinary Faculty of Selcuk University.A letter from Prof. Dr. O. Cenap Tekinsen summarizes the results of the conference. The Veterinary Faculty of Konya
University now maintains a collection of Akbash Dogs -- thus extending the
protection of the Akbash Dog to the academic level. Thus, the Akbash Dog
now joins the Kangal Dog, which is also under the protection of the Selcuk
University Veterinary Faculty. Fifty Akbash Dogs were imported to the United States between 1978 and 1996. Forty-two (42) of these dogs were imported by the authors. These dogs form the basic gene pool of the Akbash Dog in the United States. Two new, unrelated, stud dogs were imported by the authors in 1996. There are two classes of breeders: companion dog breeders and agriculturists. The former consists of breeders who are breeding the dogs primarily for placement as home companion, guardian dogs. The latter group breeds Akbash Dogs primarily for placement as stock guardian dogs on ranches and farms. At the present time, the Akbash Dog is bred primarily by ranchers and farmers. Approximately 55% of all registered Akbash Dogs are working on farms and ranches guarding domestic animals, such as sheep, goats, miniature horses, and ratites (ostriches and emus). Purebred Akbash Dogs do not produce dogs whose color is other than white. For example, purebred Akbash Dogs are free of pinto, skewbald, and brindle markings or other indeterminate colors. They come in two varieties of coat. They look like the dogs pictured in this Home Page. The puppy pictured here has a long coat. Akbash Dogs are now being dispersed all
over the United States and are valued guardians of livestock as well as
companions in the American home. We now have sufficient numbers and
diverse bloodlines to continue breeding Akbash Dogs in the United States
without further imports from Turkey. We do, of course, desire to continue
to import purebred Akbash Dogs from Turkey. We value and appreciate the
help of Turkish government officials who facilitate this process. As the
author's official Turkish government export papers attest, they import
Akbash Dogs to the United States legally and in full compliance with
Turkish government export regulations. Progeny testing is basically a process of validating field observations and the genetic characteristics of any given breed stud book by evaluating successive generations of these dogs to determine if they breed true to type; i.e., that a standard morphology, temperament, and color are consistently reproduced over time and combine to become the phenotype for the breed. Progeny testing may also be used to modify or even redefine a preconceived phenotype. Top resource sites about the Akbash Want great medicine for your dog's arthritis?
Akbash Dog Homepage
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Your Dog Zone.com
For
ages, travelers in Western Turkey have noted the presence of large, white,
intimidating agricultural guard dogs. No one, however, drew the
correlation that these dogs, known locally as "ak-bash" ("white head") or
"ak-kush" ("white bird") dogs, are the Turkish counterpart of the other
white agricultural guard dogs of the northern Mediterranean Basin and
western Europe and, as such, constitute a distinct, natural dog breed. 
"Sheepherders
wish to have white dogs in order to avoid confusing them with wild
animals, since, when the wolf attacks in the twilight, it is important
that there be a color difference between the dog and the wolf; otherwise
the sheepherder might strike his dog, thinking he was killing a wolf." So
wrote the first century A.D. Roman author of farm treatises, Lucien G.M.
Columnella (as quoted in Fiorone, 1970.) 
Temperament: