| Kars Shepherd | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Origin | Turkey | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Notes | registered with the Turkish Standards Institution in 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dog (domestic dog) | |||||||||||||||||||||
The Kars Shepherd, Turkish: Kars Çoban Köpeği, is a Turkish breed of livestock guardian dog. It is one of three breeds of flock guardian dog in Turkey, the others being the Akbash and the Kangal.[1]
It takes its name from the town of Kars in Kars Province, and is also found throughout the provinces of Ardahan, Artvin, Erzurum and Iğdır in eastern Turkey.[2][3][4]
History
[edit]The Kars Shepherd is a traditional breed of Eastern Anatolia, and is distributed widely in the provinces of Ağrı, Ardahan, Artvin, Erzurum, Iğdır, Kars and Van.[4]: 101 The first scientific description was that of David Nelson, presented at the International Symposium on Turkish Shepherd Dogs in Konya in 1996.[4]: 101 [5]
The Kars Shepherd was registered with the Turkish Standards Institution in 2002,[4]: 101 but by 2012 had not been registered with the former Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.[3] The Köpek Irkları ve Kinoloji Federasyonu lists it among the indigenous breeds that it has a duty to protect.[6]
Characteristics
[edit]In appearance, the Kars closely resembles the Caucasian Shepherd Dog which is native to the Caucasus countries over Turkey's north-eastern border.[2][3][4] It has a long, heavy double coat (short-coated examples are known) that can be found in a number of colours including black, white, grey, red, yellow and brown, they frequently have white markings on their chest, necks and forelegs; slightly smaller than livestock guardian breeds from central and western Turkey such as the Akbash and the Kangal, the Kars has a mean weight of 44.6 kilograms (98 lb) and mean height of 72.4 centimetres (28.5 in).[3]
Use
[edit]The Kars is used by local shepherds to protect their flocks from predation from various predators found in the region, anecdotes exist of several dogs repulsing and even killing bears.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ C. Tepeli, O. Cetin, A. Günlü, K. Kirikci (2005). The native dog breeds of Turkey. In: A. Georgoudis, A. Rosati, C. Mosconi (editors) (2005). Animal production and natural resources utilisation in the Mediterranean mountain areas. EAAP Scientific Series, Volume: 115. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers. ISBN 9789086865611, pages 425–431. doi:10.3920/9789086865611_078. (subscription required).
- ^ a b Morris, Desmond (2001). Dogs: the ultimate dictionary of over 1,000 dog breeds. North Pomfret, VT: Trafalgar Square Publishing. p. 396. ISBN 1-57076-219-8.
- ^ a b c d e Orhan Yilmaz, Mehmet Ertuğrul, Richard Trevor Wilson (2012). The domestic livestock resources of Turkey: breed descriptions and status of guard and hunting dogs. 63rd Annual Meeting of the EAAP. 63 (1): 69.
- ^ a b c d e Orhan Yilmaz, Mehmet Ertuğrul (2012). Türkiye Yerli Köpek Irk ve Tipleri = Native dogs breeds and types of Turkey (mainly in Turkish). Iğdır Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi = Igdir University Journal of the Institute of Science and Technology. 2 (1): 101.
- ^ D.D. Nelson (1996). A general classification of the native dogs of Turkey. International Symposium on Turkish Shepherd Dogs. 23: 19–97.
- ^ American Staffordshire Terrier Yasaklandı mı? (in Turkish). Istanbul: Köpek Irkları ve Kinoloji Federasyonu. Archived 6 December 2024.
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