When does an Anatolian Shepherd Dog have its first heat?

Anatolian Shepherd Dog

Calm and watchful; guards largely by instinct.

Photo: Zeynel Cebeci

Adult male

48–60 kg

106–132 lb

Adult female

40–50 kg

88–110 lb

Lifespan

11–13 yrs

Class · Watchdog

also Working

What it's like

In temperament it is calm, watchful and independent, devoted to its own people and reserved with strangers. Its guarding is largely instinctive rather than trained. Since the nineteen-nineties, conservation projects in Namibia have placed these dogs with livestock farmers so that fewer cheetahs are shot in retaliation for lost stock.

Day to day

Activity

A good daily walk and play

Intelligence

Learns readily, likes games

Handler demand

Needs an experienced owner

With people

Affection

Likes its own space

Loyalty

Sticks close to its people

Independence

Decides for itself

Around the home

Sensitivity

Hardy, takes a busy home in its stride

Voice

Very vocal

Prey drive

Chases; needs managing

Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.

Is an Anatolian Shepherd Dog right for you?

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Living with one

Summary

Detail

It has a double coat, an outer coat over an undercoat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

The FCI standard describes a double coat, an outer coat over an undercoat ("thick and harsh guard coat")4. By its coat type, the undercoat moults, most heavily as the seasons change. As a rule of thumb for this coat: a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. Plan for a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds, judged from its FCI group: pinschers, schnauzers, molossoids and Swiss mountain dogs, guarding, draught and farm work.

Size and growth

Summary

Detail

An Anatolian Shepherd Dog is a giant dog, about the weight of a grown Rottweiler. Males end up clearly heavier than females.

It is a large, heavy-boned yet agile dog with a broad head, dropped ears and a tail that curls over the back when it is alert. The dense double coat may be short or longer, and is often fawn with a black mask, though other colours occur. Turkish shepherds traditionally fitted their dogs with iron-spiked collars to protect the throat in fights with wolves.

Two types

The growth curve, the weight table and the size class on this page use the UK / FCI type's weights.

UK / FCI type

FCI 331

Adult weight

Males

48–60 kg

Females

40–50 kg4

Its weights are the ones used on this page.

American type

AKC standard

Adult weight

Males

50–68 kg

Females

36–54 kg5

Its weights are not the ones this page uses.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log

Summary

Detail

By about 5 months, a male Anatolian Shepherd Dog puppy is already as heavy as a grown Golden Retriever. They grow fastest between 4 and 5 months old. They keep growing past their first birthday, longer than a Beagle does. Most males grow into the size large-breed puppy foods are made for.

By 5 months a male Anatolian Shepherd Dog puppy already weighs as much as a grown Golden Retriever6. An Anatolian Shepherd Dog is still growing past its first birthday, long after a Beagle has stopped: a male Beagle reaches 99% of adult weight at about 10 months, a male Anatolian Shepherd Dog at about 136. It grows fastest between 4 and 5 months, when a male puts on about 1.8 kg (4.1 lb) a week. Most males grow past 32 kg (70 lb), the adult size AAFCO writes its large-breed puppy-food profile for, with a lower ceiling on calcium7.

Expected range in kilograms: the breed's own adult weight, grown along the 40 kg and over band of a WALTHAM growth standard6.

Fully grown

13 mo

Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6

Male

Female

Shaded: expected range

Chart

Table

Age

Male

Female

2 months

8.4–10.5 kg 18.5–23.1 lb

7.0–8.7 kg 15.4–19.2 lb

3 months

13.4–16.8 kg 29.5–37.0 lb

11.2–14.0 kg 24.7–30.9 lb

4 months

19.9–24.9 kg 43.9–54.9 lb

16.6–20.8 kg 36.6–45.9 lb

5 months

27.0–33.8 kg 59.5–74.5 lb

22.5–28.1 kg 49.6–61.9 lb

6 months

33.5–41.9 kg 73.9–92.4 lb

27.9–34.9 kg 61.5–76.9 lb

7 months

38.6–48.2 kg 85.1–106.3 lb

32.2–40.2 kg 71.0–88.6 lb

8 months

42.1–52.7 kg 92.8–116.2 lb

35.1–43.9 kg 77.4–96.8 lb

9 months

44.4–55.6 kg 97.9–122.6 lb

37.0–46.3 kg 81.6–102.1 lb

10 months

45.9–57.4 kg 101.2–126.5 lb

38.2–47.8 kg 84.2–105.4 lb

11 months

46.8–58.4 kg 103.2–128.7 lb

39.0–48.7 kg 86.0–107.4 lb

12 months

47.3–59.1 kg 104.3–130.3 lb

39.4–49.3 kg 86.9–108.7 lb

15 months

47.8–59.8 kg 105.4–131.8 lb

39.9–49.8 kg 88.0–109.8 lb

18 months

48.0–59.9 kg 105.8–132.1 lb

40–50 kg 88–110 lb

Lifespan

Summary

Detail

No vet study has measured how long Anatolian Shepherd Dogs live yet. The 11–13 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Anatolian Shepherd Dog is a Turkish flock guard that moved with its nomadic owners over the Central Anatolian Plateau, living outdoors year-round through scorching summers and bitter winters. The FCI's 2018 standard for Turkey's sheep-guarding shepherd dog is written for the Kangal Shepherd Dog, and Britain's Kennel Club, which once registered Kangals as Anatolians, now lists the two as separate breeds4,8,9.

The Anatolian Shepherd Dog became established in the West in the second half of the twentieth century, when dogs brought out of Turkey by archaeologists and servicemen formed the foundation of breeding in Britain and North America. Western breeders gathered dogs of several regional types under the single Anatolian name, and the breed's relationship with the Kangal has long been debated. Its work has always been to live among sheep and goats as a guardian rather than a herder, deciding for itself how to meet wolves and jackals.

Breed standard

Summary

Detail

The American standard asks for a heavier dog than the UK and international ones.

The Anatolian Shepherd Dog is judged against standard no. 331, in group 2, Pinscher and Schnauzer, Molossoid and Swiss Mountain Dogs4. The American standard asks for a heavier dog than the UK and FCI one; both types are set out under Two types.

FCI 331: dogs 48-60 kg, bitches 40-50 kg — an 8 kg lower ceiling for dogs than the AKC's type.

AKC breed standard: dogs from 29 in weighing 110-150 lb, bitches from 27 in weighing 80-120 lb. Its heights are one-sided minima, so only the weights are carried.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Anatolian Shepherd Dog figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a giant breed is most likely at the late end.