1-Yoruk Shepherd Dogs, which are found all over the Turkey they were originally brought to Turkey from Central Asia A.D. 1000 by the Turkmen nomads. Yoruk means nomad in Turkish. These dogs can bee seen with different coat types and colours. They are very agile dogs with sharp temperament. These dogs are mixed with the local dogs and the result is a collection of types native to various regions.
2- Kangal Shepherd Dogs, which are also Central Asian origin dogs, however they have been in Turkey for at least 8000 years.  In general they are seen in the Central Anatolia. They have shorter coats, thicker bones with a square face that they relatively present a Mastiff  appearance. Their coat colour varies from fawn to steel grey to white. Whites are called Akyaka, and dark greys are called Karayaka, which are both harder to find. Kangal type dogs are possibly originated from South Eastern Anatolia.

Kangal is the name of the town in Sivas city. The word "Kangal" comes from "kangli", which is the name of a Turkmen tribe who settled down in that area after 1071 A.D. "Kangli" means cattle cart builders. The word "kagni" is used for ox cart. However the word "kangal" is also interestingly a Greek origin word according to TDK dictionary. The same word is used for a native plant in Turkey as well.  
3- Caucasian Shepherd Dogs, which are found in the north-east of Turkey. They are mostly long coated heavy dogs. They cannot perform well in the warmer climates. They do well in the rugged terrains instead of flat the land. They can be seen in all colours.Since there has never been a systematic breeding in Turkey, all these dogs are somehow related to each other and the main criteria at breeding these dogs are their working abilities. In other words structure means nothing when function lacks. 

Nutrition

Today everywhere in Anatolia ASDs are heavily fed on "Yal": broken wheat or bran mixed with mostly hot water or depending on the abundance, sometimes with milk. This mix is made with tomato sauce in some regions instead of water or milk. Milk contains almost every kind of protein, and it is especially good for young dogs. But in general, food with high protein makes ASDs over active that is not a desirable trait, because they are supposed to calm the flock down and not to attack it. Too much energy may make them go wild or crazy or become unnecessarily aggressive. Excessive energy makes them to chase after everything they see. This is also not a desirable trait, because a good ASD is supposed to stay with the flock and must not stray away from it.

In addition too rapid growth in ASDs causes proportionally less muscle versus bone development. A healthy development in ASDs is one, which is spread over about two years. A concern is not having large dogs but more importantly well built and well proportioned dogs. Wheat products, milk or yal with milk appears to be the best nutrition  for these dogs. According to Aral and Sezen Altay who are Doberman and Kangal Shepherd Dog (KSD ) breeders in Izmir; considering the weights of the dogs, Dobermans consume three times more food than KSDs, and when Dobermans are fed by yal, the growth rate that is seen in KSDs is not met. On the contrary, wheat products have a positive effect on the growth of KSDs. Moreover it is a must (discussed in the main section).I must add here that you do not see any shepherd dog with hip and elbow dysplasia. It is not because it is not detected, but because of the following reasons:1- They are fed traditionally. This leads a slow growth process. Traditional nutrition does not stress and pressure the body. This way the body has enough time to expand.2- They have sufficient exercise which is an insurance against arthritis.3- Dogs, which have hip problems are physically are not competitive enough to pass their genes. 4-All the Asian origin shepherd dogs have heavier bone structure. They have flexible joints. They are unlike German Shepherds. The rules applied on GSDs cannot be applied to them. Their mentality, physiology and anatomy are different.

Of course, dogs with known hip problems should not be bred. A proactive approach as mentioned above is the fundamental solution. When the dogs go through a very strict and heavy performance testing, the results will pretty much tell us what to do. The active shepherd dogs like wolves go through it all the time, that is why shepherds do not need any hip dysplasia testing. What do we do in order to replicate the circumstances in the cities? Raise them traditionally.

Choosing a Puppy

Most of the time the standard is how large a puppy is, its pain tolerance and who the father is. Naturally the puppies from the parents, which are good shepherds, are preferred. Colour has no weight in decision-making. It is only a secondary personal choice.   

Wrestling

The job of the ASDs in Anatolia is defending the property or the life of their master. ASDs are supposed to be reserved, distant, stubborn, and aggressive toward strangers. ASDs are born wrestlers; it is what they are famous for. It is an essential characteristic if they are to defend the flock from a wolf attack. It is a dog's decision to attack a wolf or to run away from it. In order to test this ability of ASDs. neighboring villages gather during winter months for the purpose of conducting dog wrestlings. Good wrestlers do not always make good shepherds; however wrestling ability is one trait a shepherd dog should possess (discussed in the main text). This practice is currently banned by the government in order to please animal rights movement in Turkey. This resulted in mass liquidation of the largest dogs by people who traditionally bred them.

Height

There is also variation within the same type or subgroup of dogs. The concept of breed will be studied in the following pages. I will avoid using the term "breed" for ASDs, since the local and regional variation is a more plausible approach to analyse ASDs.

Looking from this perspective, since the ASDs are natural, regional and functional group, not only the differences in height, but also differences in colour, and skull type should be taken as normal. One can observe variation even when a sample is taken from a certain place and from a certain group of shepherd dogs in Anatolia. ProportionIn some in individuals, distance from the chest to the anus is equal to distance from the withers to the toes. This is a square body. Some other individuals have a longer body rather than a tall body, which is like a rectangle. The preferences of body ratio change from region to region.

Colour

There is no relationship between the colour of the dog and its functions. ASDs are cared for to the extent of their capabilities. In general, KSDs are defined as Akyaka (white coat with no black mask), Karayaka (black or brindle coat with mostly a black mask), Sariyaka (pale yellow or beige with a black mask), Bozyaka (tones of beige with a black mask, Kizilyaka (red coat with or without black mask). YSDs on the other hand are called with different names but with similar words and meanings: Akbash-Akkus- Akit (white body with no black a mask), Karabas (any colour other than white with a black mask), Saribas (pale yellow or beige with black mask), Alabas (red mask, sometimes with red nose or a pinto face).  There are three main opinions why the dogs come in certain colours:1-Dogs of the dark coloured flocks are dark coloured and dogs of the white flocks are light coloured.2- ASDs are mostly light coloured because they must be differed from the wolves.

3- The colour of the wool on the sheep or the goat is determined by the abundance of the water, which is by the type of the climate. Abundance of water makes it easy to dye the wool; therefore white wool may be preferred. Otherwise naturally coloured wool is preferred because of the scarcity of water. In return, this determines the colour of the ASDs.

In practice none of the above three explanations work. They are useful to fit the formulae into the facts, but proving them backwards do fail (Discussed in the main text). 

Coat 

The coat is always double in ASDs. A wooly undercoat for keeping the body warm, and a rougher outer coat is for protecting the dog from external elements. There are three types of coat: 1) Long; 2) Semi-long; 3) Short 

Dew claws

The dew claw is a frequently observed characteristic of ASDs. Dew claw is a toe, which may be single or double, comes from prehistoric times with no apparent function that corresponds to humans thumb. The dew claw on the front leg is present almost at all dogs. Dew claws are appreciated in Turkey. There is no practice of removing them, because obviously they are not obstacles as it is believed so in the western countries (Discussed in the main text). 

Head

In some dogs the head is similar to the wolf, but the muzzle is not as pointed. Some dogs have flat faces, but this flatness is not like it is in the English Mastiff. The lips do not hang the same way. There is a distance between the ears, which makes the head appear broad and large. A large head and a thick neck are always preferred, for it shows the strength of the dog. There is a saying that, when the wolf was asked: why is your neck so thick? He answered: because I handle my work myself. It means, if you work for your daily bread and do not wait to be fed by man, you become stronger. In Anatolia wolves are known to be strong and swift animals with thick necks. It would be hard to knock down or carry a large prey with a weak jaw and neck. Intelligence The personality factor of ASDs has an effect on their exhibition of intelligence, which is in turn their trainability. A trainable dog must be able to withstand distraction, however ASDs are responsive to change in sights, sounds and odours. ASDs are not cut out for suppressing their reaction. This kind of mental control means that they have to disregard the ongoing activity. ASDs are problem solvers; they discover new ways to solve problems in the novel environments by applying their previously learned skills and experience. 

Territoriality is the fundamental motive behind aggression for defence. This is the instinctive part of ASDs intelligence, and it might be taken also as part of the temperament (Discussed in the main text). The confusion about the term " Pure Bred breeds do exist in Europe. However in Anatolia, there are "bloods" interrelated to each other. One concern in Anatolia is the quality of the blood (strain), not the purity of it. If quality brings purity, it is not objectionable; purity can be conserved, because of the quality. Instead of looking at absolute differences of ASDs, looking at relative differences will make it easy to realise the differences and the resemblance in locally separated populations (discussed in the main text).  Akit / Akkus/ Akbas / AkbashThe above three names are used for the same type of variety.  In the order they were presented, they mean, white dog/ white bird/ white head.  They are known as Akbaº  in Europe and North America.The question here is why are they called Akits? Is it because of their colour, or skull type, or temperament? Can a white dog, which looks like a typical KSD, or a mastiff like white dog be the same as a white YSD dog with its long, wolfish muzzle? Can both be called Akit ? As a matter of fact, the subject is not as problematic as it seems. Easy and artificial separations make the subject complex. For example; in Kertek village/ Sivrihisar I spoke with shepherd Niyazi Destecioglu, and he told me that there are white dogs, and some people have them, he also owns one in the mountains with his other flock, but there is nowhere that one can go and encounter white dogs exclusively (Discussed in the main text).Why are white dogs seen with the other coloured dogs? Did they get mixed a long time ago, because shepherds did not care, or was it just simply genetic? The simple reality is that Akbas is a white variety of Yoruk Shepherd Dogs. 

How to Determine the Standards of ASDs?

ASDs are not show-dogs . The reader should understand that when they become show dogs one can no longer call them ASDs. One cannot keep one strain as show dogs and another as working dogs and refer to them as ASDs. It is a matter of balance. It is an all or nothing situation. In order to understand the true meaning of the ASDs , it is critical to appreciate; where they originally live; how they are handled and under what kind of circumstances they finally become ASDs. No one should stand forward and declare that ASDs are what he wants them to be. They are what they are. No one can change them on paper, with a group of so called experts. They come from deep ancient traditions of Anatolia  and Central Asia. Individuals or organisations are not above traditions and practices.

If there are still pure-bred ASDs in Anatolia, one must explain how this pure line in different parts of the country could have been kept in spite of the negative effects of unconscious, low level, uncontrolled natural selection, providing there is anything like pure-bred! (Discussed in the main text). Supervised breeding brings principles, and descriptions along with it. The dogs, which do not deserve to pass their genes to the next generation, do weaken the strain.

One of the common characteristics of CDS and YSD is the almond shape or slanted eyes. The slanted eye in CSD and YSD indicates that they are closer to the wolf than the KSD. The KSD's; eye shape is between almond and oval. All three have broad and relatively round sculls. They do not have fold forming head skin. Their eyelids are flat, not droopy. They do not have hanging flews in general the males have thicker and shorter muzzle compared to the one of females. Prof. Dr. Conrad Keller describes CSDs in his article (Studien uber die Haustiere der Kaukasuslander) in 1913 as follows: "The cheekbones are massive and strong protruding outward, which causes in the wide heads. The cheekbones of bitches are less developed. The tapering from forehead to nose differs greatly and is overall steeper in the male scull. The bite is extremely strong." The above description is pretty much same for KSD and YSD as well. In terms of body structure and the thickness of bones KSD shows more similarity to CSD.All three groups have pendulous ears. However especially CSD and YSD have smaller ears compared to KSD.  Although the ears cannot stand, they respond to sound by moving lightly. CSD has much lower dewclaw frequency than KSD. Both CSD and YSD are seen in three different coat types: short, semi-long and long. The variation in the coat and colour types can be seen in all CSD, YSD and Central Asian Dogs (CAD). I have doubts that the KSD is exempt from these variations of coat and colour. CSD and CAD attack without any significant warning signal such as barking. Especially the KSD barks for warning. The way YSD responds is somehow in between. Personally I have been attacked twice without any warning in the Kackar Mountains by CSDs.which is located close to the Russian border of Turkey. Attack without barking can be seen in some Tajik Dakmarda dogs, but these dogs are mostly for fighting not for shepherding and they would not attack on command. They attack when the situation calls for it. The temperament information about CADs that I provided above is not my personal observation.  We should keep in mind those there are certain strains of dogs within the same type, which would not bark at all. Malcolm B.Willis mentions two different strains of Bloodhounds in his book "Genetics of the Dog" that a not barking strain was developed from the barking strain. However the problem with the non barking strain was that their tendency to get lost during tracking. As far as body hair, regardless of the length of body hair, none of these three groups have long hair on their face, feet and ears. All three types of dog switch their running styles based on the situation and speed. When they run with an average speed their style can change between pacing and trotting. The Old English sheepdog has the same pacing trait as ASDs. Pacing is a lateral gait that promotes a rolling motion of the body. The left foreleg and the left hind leg advance in unison, then the right foreleg and right hind leg. Trotting is a rhythmic two-beat diagonal gait in which the feet at diagonally opposite ends of the body strike the ground together.  While the diet of KSDs in Sivas and Kayseri region is mainly based on yal, the diet of YSDs in Denizli, Afyon and Toroslar region contains more animal based products. These two groups also have different fighting techniques. While KSDs prefer to use their whole body, especially their chests first and their hips second, YSDs would rather use their hips and muzzles. The YSDs style of lightning snaps during an attack, and quick retreats reminds one of wolves. I do not have any information about CSDs fighting styles. The above mentioned nutritional practices and fighting styles should not be perceived as absolute truths since variation is a rule in Anatolia. 

There is another approach that would enable us to see these dogs in terms of function which is discussed in the main text and there is more to add and discuss about this subject, but the above information should be sufficient for the time being.