KENAI
Kangal Dog

The breeds · working

UKC Guardian · FCI standard 331

Kangal Dog.

Livestock guardian of sheep and goats, a flock guardian rather than a herder. FCI 331 utilization: shepherd dog used for guarding sheep; active, hard working, capable of enduring extremes of heat and cold; temperament steady and bold without aggression, naturally independent, very intelligent and tractable, wary of strangers when on duty. UKC: first and foremost a livestock guardian dog, alert, territorial and defensive of the stock or family it has bonded to; guarded flocks of sheep and goats from wolf, bear and jackal, close to villages and on the high summer pastures (yaylas) of the Anatolian plateau; prefers to intimidate predators but will take a physical stand and even attack if necessary; instinctively wary of strange dogs, not typically belligerent toward people; reserved with strangers unless the owner is present. UKC notes village-bred working dogs are declining as people leave rural Turkey, and the Kangal is a Turkish national symbol; FCI calls it Turkey's National Dog. Scientific Reports 2024 (Perfilyeva et al.): mtDNA analyses cited there show extremely low genetic differentiation among the Caucasian, Central Asian, Akbash and Kangal breeds.

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
88–145LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 106 to 145 lb; breed bitches 88.2 to 130 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 27.6 to 33 in · bitches 24.8 to 31 in

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Low and high span UKC (27 to 31) and the FCI figure with its 2 cm tolerance (63 to 75 cm). Center blank.

Weight

dogs 106 to 145 lb · bitches 88.2 to 130 lb

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Low and high span UKC and FCI. Center blank.

Coat

UKC: solid base colour cream to pale tan or fawn (can look gray with more dark sable hair), with a black or dark mask and dark ears; white only on feet, chest and chin. FCI 331: one colour, fawn to wolf sable, black mask required, ears dark, white on chest not over 10 cm, white tail tip accepted

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Shedding

UKC: in warm weather much of the undercoat is shed, leaving a short, flatter outer coat; in cold weather the coat is very dense. FCI 331: length variations in coat according to weather conditions

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · FCI 331: guard coat 3 to 7 cm, thick and harsh, dense undercoat; utilization line says capable of enduring extremes of heat and cold. UKC: undercoat is shed in warm weather, leaving a short flat outer coat

DerivedFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2018

Derived from the coat description (4 = short dense). Both registries describe a seasonal undercoat shed; FCI states the breed endures extremes of heat and cold.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Grooming

UKC: fairly short double coat; very dense in cold weather, and in warm weather much of the undercoat is shed, leaving a short flatter outer coat; harsh outer coat, soft dense cream or gray undercoat; feathering, long or shaggy coat are faults. FCI 331: guard coat 3 to 7 cm, thick and harsh, with dense undercoat, longer and thicker on neck, shoulders and thighs; length varies with weather

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

No grooming band from the Royal Kennel Club (breed not on its site) or AKC (no breed page), so grooming_load and exercise bands are left out.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Livestock guardian of sheep and goats, a flock guardian rather than a herder. FCI 331 utilization: shepherd dog used for guarding sheep; active, hard working, capable of enduring extremes of heat and cold; temperament steady and bold without aggression, naturally independent, very intelligent and tractable, wary of strangers when on duty. UKC: first and foremost a livestock guardian dog, alert, territorial and defensive of the stock or family it has bonded to; guarded flocks of sheep and goats from wolf, bear and jackal, close to villages and on the high summer pastures (yaylas) of the Anatolian plateau; prefers to intimidate predators but will take a physical stand and even attack if necessary; instinctively wary of strange dogs, not typically belligerent toward people; reserved with strangers unless the owner is present. UKC notes village-bred working dogs are declining as people leave rural Turkey, and the Kangal is a Turkish national symbol; FCI calls it Turkey's National Dog. Scientific Reports 2024 (Perfilyeva et al.): mtDNA analyses cited there show extremely low genetic differentiation among the Caucasian, Central Asian, Akbash and Kangal breeds

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

UKC history says the modern Kangal descends from Central Asian livestock guardian stock brought by Turkic migrants, but "the degree to which the modern breed descends from these dogs as opposed to the influence of working dogs already native to Anatolia remains an open question." FCI 331 says the same migration story is believed, with the breed's uniform type tied to the Akkaraman sheep and eastern Turkey. The relation to the Anatolian Shepherd is not asserted here: neither registry page read states it. Work in Namibia (Cheetah Conservation Fund) is not recorded: CCF's own pages could not be reached from this environment (see open_gaps).

Also used on

UKC: guardian of the human family to which it has bonded as well as stock; in Turkey also kept in government and academic breeding kennels with pedigrees maintained (UKC history), and Kangals and crosses are now common in towns. No hunting use is stated in either standard

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Single registry source; no hunting use stated, so none is shown.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Hip dysplasia

23.1% · 23.1% dysplastic of 147 OFA hip evaluations on record (current all-data, accessed Oct 9 2026); 76.9% normal; mild 10.2%, moderate 10.9%, severe 2.0%; breed rank 40 (OFA name: KANGAL DOG)

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

Voluntary registry: affected dogs are under-reported and evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock, so true prevalence is higher. Current all-data figure, undated. Small sample (147). Only the OFA KANGAL DOG row is used; the Anatolian Shepherd rows belong to a different breed.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 3 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Kangal, Kangal Dog, Kangal Coban Kopegi, Turkish Kangal

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