Akbash Vs Anatolian Shepherd: One Breed Or Two?

Whether the Akbash and the Anatolian Shepherd are two breeds depends on which kennel club you ask. The United Kennel Club says yes and publishes a separate standard for each. The American Kennel Club recognizes only the Anatolian Shepherd Dog, and any Turkish guardian registered with the AKC carries that name. A white dog that the UKC would call an Akbash can be, on AKC paper, an Anatolian.

How the split happened

Turkey has several regional types of livestock guardian. The Akbash comes from the west of the country and the Kangal from Sivas province in the center. Turkish shepherds have generally treated them as different dogs, and a 17th-century account by the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi is often cited as evidence that the distinction is old.

The Westerners who imported Turkish guardians did not all draw the same lines. David and Judy Nelson studied the white dogs of western Turkey in the 1970s and imported them as Akbash Dogs. The first arrived in the United States in 1978, and the Akbash Dog Association of America formed in 1979. Other importers gathered dogs from several regions under the name Anatolian Shepherd. One widely held view is that the Anatolian Shepherd is a Western blend of the Turkish regional types, and the question has never been settled to everyone’s satisfaction.

The registries then went in different directions. The UKC wrote three standards, for the Akbash Dog, the Kangal Dog, and the Anatolian Shepherd. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale merged the Anatolian and the Kangal in 2018 under the name Kangal Shepherd Dog, and it has no Akbash standard.

Color

Color is the clearest difference in the standards. The UKC Akbash standard allows white only, with light biscuit or gray shading around the ears, and it disqualifies every other color along with defined spots, black whiskers, and black eyelashes.

The AKC Anatolian standard says all color patterns and markings are equally acceptable. Fawn and white are the most common, often with a black or brown mask, and brindle, blue fawn, and liver all occur.

A white Anatolian is therefore a correct Anatolian, and no colored dog can be an Akbash. If you are looking at a fawn or masked dog advertised as an Akbash, it is a cross or an Anatolian. The Kangal also has a fawn coat and black mask.

Size and build

The two standards express size differently. The UKC gives the Akbash a height range: 30 to 34 inches for males and 28 to 32 for females, with males averaging about 120 pounds and females about 90. The AKC gives the Anatolian minimums: males from 29 inches and 110 to 150 pounds, females from 27 inches and 80 to 120 pounds, measured at two years or older. The AKC adds that general balance is more important than absolute size.

On those figures the Anatolian is allowed to be the heavier dog, and the Akbash is described as the leaner one. The Akbash standard asks for a well-muscled, lean dog and describes a build that mixes sighthound and mastiff traits, with long legs, a deep chest, an arched loin, and a tucked-up flank. The Anatolian standard describes a large, upstanding, powerfully built dog that is also capable of great speed.

The coats are similar. The Anatolian’s coat runs from short, about an inch, to rough, about four inches, over a thick undercoat. The Akbash has a double coat in medium or long length. Both shed heavily, and the routine on the grooming page works for either.

Temperament

The AKC describes the Anatolian as alert, intelligent, calm, and observant, instinctively protective, courageous, highly adaptable, loyal, and highly territorial, and it accepts reserve around strangers. The UKC describes the Akbash as calm, quiet, and steady, independent, loyal and quietly affectionate with family, aloof and suspicious toward strangers, and liable to react aggressively to strange dogs on its territory.

Those two descriptions would fit the same dog. Both breeds guard by instinct, think for themselves, mature slowly, and bark at night. Nothing in either standard gives a buyer a reason to expect different behavior, and the parents of a particular litter will tell you more than the breed name does. The temperament and guardian instinct pages apply almost word for word to an Anatolian.

What the split means for buyers

If you want AKC registration, AKC conformation shows, or AKC events, you need an Anatolian Shepherd. The Akbash is not eligible, and anyone offering an AKC-registered Akbash is misdescribing the dog. The other red flags are in breeders.

If you want a white guardian specifically, you can buy a UKC-registered Akbash, or a white Anatolian, which the AKC standard allows. Akbash breeders select for white and for the rangier build in every generation, while Anatolian breeders treat white as one acceptable color among many.

If you want a working livestock guardian, registration matters least of all. Texas A&M AgriLife lists both the Anatolian and the Akbash among the most common working breeds in Texas, and its bonding protocol is the same for both: stock at four to eight weeks, bonding under way by 16 weeks, effective work at 18 to 24 months. A pup from proven working parents, raised with stock from the start, is the dog to buy under either name. See working with livestock.

The Anatolian is much easier to find. It has AKC recognition and more breeders, while the Akbash remains rare. In shelters, white guardian dogs of both kinds are usually labeled as Great Pyrenees mixes, so search under that name too if you are open to adopting.