FOUNDATION

In 1963 Mrs Charmian Biernoff (later Dr. Charmian Steele) journeyed to Turkey with her husband David, a Fulbright scholar.  During the two years of research and travel throughout Turkey, Charmian was able through her observations of the flock guarding dogs of Turkey to establish that they were not simply one big race of large shepherd’s dogs.  It became clear that there were in fact not only regional variations but also some specific Breeds of dogs, highly prized as Breeds and their breeding safeguarded.

She established that in fact people would travel great distances to obtain a good example of these Breeds.   Charmian had always taken a great interest in dogs, owning and showing a Fox Terrier in her youth and this involvement in the U.K. pedigree dog world taught her much about conformation, type, & temperament in dogs and how these are all part of the make up of a  pedigree dog Breed.  Later, during her archaeological studies, she developed a special interest in the early Mastiff like Breeds to be found throughout the Middle East including those to be seen on the Assyrian Bas reliefs etc, and because of this, during her time in Turkey she was especially interested in the large Breed kept by shepherds, which was always Cream to Fawn with Black Mask and Ears, whose colloquial name was Karabas.

                                                               A rock relief from an old book on Turkey.  Showing Turkish dogs.        

Whilst working in the Konya region Dr. Steele used to visit a village where there were some extremely good examples of this particular Breed.  The owner explained that whilst he was prepared to allow the male to be used by other shepherds on the working flock guard females to strengthen their lines (as in UK people use Hereford Bulls on Beef producing cows etc.) the female Karabas were kept safely confined when in season to ensure they were not “tainted” by “impure”dogs.  This of course was most interesting given an extract from the book Traveling in Turkey 1592 by Helmut Gruner published in 1600 A.D.  There was also mentioned in ‘A selected bibliography’ by the world renowned author Clifford ‘Doggie’ Hubbard “this is a classic case of yet another long established breed meticulously and jealously bred in it’s native land, suffering a bare modicum of published literature outside its native habitat.  Childs, Flak and Gruner are what I call background books, but weigh…. Indeed they are further endorsed by such authorities as Von Stephanitz in his monumental work with German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture 1923 and Richard and Alice Fiennes in their The Natural History of Dogs 1968”.

When Dr. Steele knew she was to leave this district she approached the man who was so careful with his breeding and asked to buy a male puppy that he had kept that was 3 months old. He said that the puppy was not for sale as he had been kept as the best in the litter from a large good male and a good female.  However after a whole day of talks the owner of the pup agreed that it could be presented to Dr. Steele on behalf of the village because of the honor she would bring to them but there could be no question of her purchasing the pup it must be a gift.  Dr. Steele subsequently left the area with the male pup.  At a later point in time she began to search for a good female from “pure” lines, this was extremely difficult to obtain and took a great deal of time and investigation but finally one was obtained along similar discussions which had secured the male.

This photo is of Gazi.  He was the first inport in 1965 by Charmian with female Sabahat of Hayiroglukoyu.  They produced the first litter.  Charmian was then married to Mr. Biernoff a Fulbright scholar.  Later she married John Steele and was Dr. Steele.  Now she is married to John Hussey and is Dr. Hussey author of Valley of Secrets ISBN 0-340-89349-4.  

Upon returning to England in 1965 Dr. Steele applied to the Kennel Club to register two Turkish Karabas.   Unfortunately, the KC, having recently suffered some embarrassment over the use of foreign names for dogs declined to use the word Karabas and after consulting the Oxford English/Turkish Dictionary (1952 edition) decided the Breed should be named by the direct translation.  Karabas-Anatolian Sheep Dog.  Dr. Steele agreed to accept this as an interim measure.  The KC agreed to investigate the matter via the Turkish Embassy and enquiries in the Country of Origin Turkey, which they did.  In 1968 after extensive enquires Charles Binney informed Dr. Steele at an interview that the Committee had decided that the Breed would be known from then on by the name Anatolian (Karabas) Dogs.  Anatolian - the geographical name for the part of Turkey from which they originated and Karabas as the name the were called.  Any imports of future dogs from Turkey of different breed would be known as Anatolian (name of breed) Dogs.  The Breed Club was formally recognized, foundation members included Dr. Steele, Mr. & Mrs. Broadhead, Dr. Withof-Keus and Irene Creigh.  A breed standard was drawn up by the breed club and published by the KC.

                                                                                                                 Charmian and her first litter of dogs - 1967.                     

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