A Review of the ASD History
When looking through the articles on the history of the Anatolian Shepherd Dog (ASD) development as a pedigree breed outside Turkey, contrary to the general reality of working and non-working dogs at home, we come across a strangely all-embracing concept of ēoban köpeši.
According to the ASD
breeding theory, the ēoban köpeši is a “breed” that they have renamed “Anatolian
Shepherd Dog.” The ASD fanciers then claim that “Anatolians”, i.e.
ēoban köpeši, have been bred by villagers in the Anatolian Penisula for
thousands of years to guard against predators. They argue that there was no
reason to discriminate for colour and coat. It sounds wonderfully functional and
wise, does it not? It must have sounded the same to the AKC and FCI, too.
All dogs in rural Turkey have a job: a
hard one indeed, but at least they are not unemployed. They either guard the
flock, or they guard other belongings—the garden, the house, or the garbage
dump. However, if they are not “livestock guardian dogs” where do all the other
thousands of dogs fall into, then? Turkey is not a country where you can easily
distinguish, just by looking, the working ēoban köpeši from street dogs with
similar phenotype. You can find large mountain dogs in remote high pastures that
are claimed to be “wolf killer", but will it produce desirable wolf-killer
puppies? Even crossing that ēoban köpeši with a fine dog from Sivas / Kangal
area still results in a middle-of-the-road dogs—which is usually where they are
found. They are neither consistent in litters nor in demand. That's what makes
the Kangal Dog stand out in the first place—everyone knows their reputation, and
they reproduce themselves consistently—in ability as well as looks.
Two of very few ēoban köpeši in the villages
of Kangal. They are incoperated into Kangal breeding now and then, and cause
off-coloured puppies to pop up in litters.
The Anatolian Shepherd Dog outside of Turkey is nothing but a selection of pariah dogs, some of good LGD type and some not, from all over Turkey, and crossed with Kangal Dogs and Akbash Dogs. They say that ēoban köpeši is a “breed” and that the Kangal and Akbash Dogs are “just colors.” If the dog bonds and protects, if it’s big and has pendant ears, it’s a ēoban köpeši considered "purebred" outside of Turkey.
The common
characteristic of these dogs are of being territorial, and their potential
to bond with the environment and creatures they are supposed to live with, which
is one reason why we domesticated the dog. Navajo Indian's dogs which were
raised and socialised with their flocks, were expected to alarm against
predators. They do not defend against them. If these dogs had done the right job
the Predator Control Department, the USDA project, would not have gone
looking for real livestock guardian dogs in the Old World, which were bred to a
consistent type and colour under specific names.
In the ASD breed, what they did was collect
some dogs with broadly similar phenotype from all over Turkey, which have an
inclination to bond with livestock, streets, yards, or whatever, and promote
them as the majestic ēoban köpeši of thousands of years ago. Some will guard
livestock dependably, many will not. How about the same-looking dogs all over
Turkey roaming the streets of towns, cities and even some villages which have
the same “working potential” and the behavioural patterns. Are they simply
useless because they are called "street dogs" in this case? Or are they also
“ancient” ēoban köpeši?
Probably if a promising puppy stands out
of the litter of a similar random breeding, you can always adopt him and tie him
in front of your house, expecting him to ward off intruders. Less socialisation
will guarantee a more fierce dog and more pride on the owner's side. That is
still what some people are doing in my country, and why not? After careful
breeding of such dogs in years to come there you have a freshly named guard dog
of some sort, or just a ēoban köpeši, if you will. (Expect a widely varying
temperament—dependable guardian behavior doesn’t just happen.) Not to paint
yourself into a corner, do not forget to add "all colours and coat
types"—because that’s what you’ll get.
But then the entire Old
World's dog population will fall into your category, and your breed standard.
Enjoy the genepool. In fact, with such a “breed” standard you can embrace the
dogs from the steppes in Middle Asia to the mountains in Portugal. If you’re
going to be a lumper, why stop at the Turkish border?
I
am perfectly aware that I am telling the world that an AKC-registered breed,
claimed as an “ancient Turkish breed”, is actually a descendent from dogs of
pariah origin, increasingly being crossed with some other dogs with a history of
breeding true for at least hundreds of years. To call this an “ancient Turkish
breed” or implying that breeding for 3 generations makes a “pure breed” is a
fraud. To seek out Kangal Dogs to improve your dogs, and
then violently deny that Kangal
Dogs exist as a breed, is even worse.
Żlker Ünlü/April 2002