Are Akbash Dogs Good Family Dogs? An Honest Answer

An Akbash is a good family dog for a family that lives on land, has secure fencing, and has owned large independent dogs before. It is a poor choice for most other households, including most of the families who ask. The breed is gentle with its own people and treats the rest of the world as something to be assessed, which is where family life gets complicated.

What the breed offers a family

The United Kennel Club standard describes the Akbash as loyal, gentle, and quietly affectionate with its own family, and as calm, quiet, and steady in general. Around the house an adult is undemanding. It does not pester anyone for attention or need hours of entertainment, and its exercise needs are modest for its size.

The standard disqualifies viciousness and marked shyness, so a well-bred Akbash is stable and hard to rattle. It will also watch over your property and everyone on it, every night, without being taught to.

Where it gets difficult

The same standard says the Akbash is aloof and suspicious toward strangers. In family terms, strangers means your children’s friends, the babysitter, relatives who visit twice a year, and everyone who delivers a package. Each of them gets assessed on every visit. A household with a steady flow of guests will be managing the dog most days.

The standard also says the breed may react aggressively to strange dogs on its territory. Friends who bring their dogs over, and neighbors whose dogs get loose, become real problems.

The breed takes two to three years to mature. For much of that time you have a dog of adult size, 90 to 120 pounds, with adolescent judgment.

It barks at night. Texas A&M AgriLife describes night barking as normal guardian behavior that keeps predators away, and it cannot be trained out. It also roams if the fence allows it. Texas A&M found that 57 percent of deaths among working guardians happen after the dog has left its property.

Children

Anyone who promises you a child-safe guardian is guessing. The risks with children come from the dog’s size and from its guarding.

A 110-pound dog can knock a toddler flat by turning around. Small children and giant dogs need an adult present, every time, for years.

Guarding creates the less obvious risk. A dog that considers your children its charges may misread rough play with visiting kids. Shouting, wrestling, and chasing look different to a guardian than they do to you. Separate the dog from the action when friends come over to play.

Children also need rules of their own. Texas A&M’s guidance for people living near working guardians tells parents to keep children away from the dogs and their fence lines. Your own children will have a closer relationship with the dog than that, and they still need to learn not to climb on it, not to bother it while it eats or sleeps, and not to bring friends to it without an adult.

Households it suits

• A rural or semi-rural property with a tall, secure fence
• Adults who have lived with large, independent dogs and do not expect obedience
• A quiet home with predictable visitors
• Neighbors far enough away, or tolerant enough, to live with barking after dark
• Children old enough to follow rules about the dog
• A family that wants a guardian for its land or animals and is happy for that guardian to also be a companion

Households it does not suit

• Apartments and any home with shared outdoor space
• Suburban lots with ordinary fences and close neighbors
• First-time dog owners
• Homes where friends, relatives, and other people’s dogs come and go freely
• Anyone who wants a dog for off-leash hiking or the dog park
• Anyone who would be in trouble with a landlord, a homeowners’ association, or the people next door over nightly barking

If you still want one

Raising makes a difference within the limits of the breed. Akbash Dogs International recommends early and continuous socialization, puppy classes, and obedience training for dogs going to companion homes. A well-socialized adult is calmer about visitors and easier to handle. It is still a guardian, and it will still bark, patrol, and keep strangers at a distance.

An adult can be a better fit for a family than a puppy. A grown dog’s behavior with children, visitors, and other animals can be observed before you commit, and a good rescue can tell you how it has behaved in a foster home. The rescue and adoption page explains where to look.

If what you want is the look of a big white dog with an easier temperament, read Akbash versus Great Pyrenees first, and be aware that the Pyrenees is also a guardian that barks and roams. The temperament page has the fuller picture of what living with an Akbash is like.