IN CONCLUSION

Throughout this time members and Officers of the AKDC suffered constant written abuse about the Club, the people, their dogs, and breeding programs.  When the World Wide Web became more easily accessible, the vilification and lies increased.

When the Konya Symposium was planned, the AKDC was pleased to learn that ASD followers from UK & USA had been invited, hoping that finally there could be some rational discussions.  We were very disappointed to learn that representatives from ASD GB had refused to attend and that the ASD USA were asking in their newsletter for donations to fund Mr. Coppinger but they themselves also refused to attend.  Imagine our amazement when ASD followers claimed after the symposium was finished that it had no validity because they had not attended even going so far as to claim that they had not been invited!

When the Australian KC decided to recognize the Kangal Dog as separate from the ASD the lies & abuse on the web reached a frantic level until many people who had considered owning one of these magnificent dogs simply decided that such disgraceful behavior was more than they could tolerate.  So, they simply found a different breed.

Throughout this abuse the AKDC urged it’s members to show restraint although sometimes individual members did not.  Still today the AKDC and it’s members seek only to be left in peace to have their dogs on a separate register from the ASD followers dog and to have a Breed Standard that correctly identifies the Breed.

There have been people who have said that because the Club formed in England is still called the Anatolian Karabash Dog Club is does not honor the Kangal dog.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Breed Club has always looked to Turkey for the origins & information on the dogs and respected Turkish ideals. 

For me personally, it is the will of the Turkish people which must prevail.  My only concern is that if we do not acknowledge the history of the breed, and the references to the Karabas, then those people in the West who mix all large Turkish dogs together and deny these dogs their existence as a true and Ancient Breed will begin to claim that the Kangal dog has no connection with it’s ancestors and that the Kangal Dog is a modern day invention.

On the World Wide Web these people are claiming that no such Breed exists and that it is the invention of Westerners.  The Anatolian Karabash Dog Club Committee & it’s members have struggled long and hard to retain this Breed separate from mixed dogs and to hold strong links with Clubs which promote the Kangal Dog.

The Breeders in the Club breed together only Yellow dogs with Black masks and short dense coats whilst people from various Anatolian Shepherd Dog Clubs breed together dogs which look like St. Bernard dogs, Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, with some Karabas/Kangal dogs they have obtained from Turkey, claiming them all to be only one Breed.

We have suffered this for twenty years now, whilst all we ask is to be left in peace with our dogs on our own register, to continue breeding them the best we can.  Our aim has always been to breed good strong dogs, yellow with black masks and with a short dense coat that any Turk would be proud to acknowledge as a part of his homeland & heart.

Whenever I have met a Turkish person in the UK , man or woman, and they have seen my dogs, their eyes have filled with tears and they have said with great feeling “ah Karagash” or “ah Kangal” “it is from The Turkey , my motherland.”  The AKDC will always be loyal to the dogs just as they are loyal to us.

Sheila Reed

Championship Show Judge

Lecturer on Breeding & Bloodlines

May not copy or duplicate any information or photos from this web site for any reason without permission of Sheila Reed.