Comparative Anatolian Shepherd Dog Breed Stats

updated Feb 2006

Fig 1. LGD breeds compared to other breeds
Fig 2. LGD breeds trends
Fig 3. Bar chart of trends

Most recent AKC stats can be had from the AKC site in the Registrations Statistic area.
This is not a formal report but an ongoing curiousity thing for me. The figures below are files that are clipped from my QuattroPro notebook for some of the records I jot down.

NOTE that the numbers in the charts on this page represent an annual count - not the total number of registered dogs in that breed.
A typical ASD litter has 6  to 12 puppies.
The total number of of dogs in these various breeds alive at any one time might be estimated by factoring in expected lifespan of dogs in previous years, and then add on a percentage of that number and percentage of the current year's tally to represent unregistered pup plus a guess on how many are purebred stock from unregistered stock.  

Detail registrations
Fig 1. LGD breeds compared to other breeds
   (disregard the red numbers in the columns. They were part of another project I did)
Year of AKC recognition is green on the right. 1933, 1995, 1973 and 1937 for Pyr, ASD, Kuvasz, and Kommondor respectively.

Analysis

My interest is in trending in the breed. Due to some of the difficulties listed below, it is not possible to get accurate numbers of existing Anatolians registered and not.

If there are ASD club registrars that can provide registration stats to me, I'd really appreciate it!

AKC stats do not accurately reflect numbers of dogs registered but the numbers do provide a barometer of activity in the registered pure breeds. There really is no way to get an accurate accounting of the breed population in the USA.

  1. ASDCA maintains a separate registry where dogs and their litters that are not AKC and/or have been refused AKC registrations, are registered
  2. ASDW maintains its own registry and has no publically available stats.
  3. UKC registered dogs are often both AKC and ASDCA and even AKC registered, but not all. So registered numbers in various registries may overlap to some degree.
  4. Increasing numbers of Anatolians are not registered.
    1. As reflected on AKC stats, puppies per litter is calculated from the numbers of puppy registration slips requested by breeders when they report how many puppies have been born in their litters vs the numbers of registration slips that are actually returned to the AKC with the fees for registration. 
      1. A typical ASD litter has 6  to 12 puppies. So each litter typically has from one half to 1/3 of the puppies never registered.
      2. According to the year 2002 stats below, barely four pups per litter were registered.
      3. In UKC stats for 2001 (not shown), barely 5 pups per litter were registered.
      4. Farm bred, accidental litters and casually bred pets are occasionally unregistered and occasionally crossbred.
  5. There are litters that are born to unregistered parents or to registered parents, but whose breeders are not inclined to register, for whatever reasons. The numbers of dogs in this general category may be anyone's guess. It is possible that they may exceed the numbers of litters bred by breeders affiliated with any of the Anatolian registries.

Trends in LGD breeds
Comparative breed registrations
Fig 2. LGD breeds trends

 Numbers reflect individual registrations per year, not total numbers of dogs in the breed (I get asked that a lot!)

2003 stats reflect ASD numbers before AKC studbooks re-opened for the Anatolian. Total numbers of puppies registered per litter tend to be low. (FIG 1) pups/litter

2004 reflects the reopening of the studbook at midyear, thus combining offspring of existing registrations with new bloodlines being registered. Dogs born in previous years were part of the increase. From the Fig 1, the numbers of theoretical puppies per litter rose then dropped between 2003, 2004 and 2005.

After June 2004 more Anatolians began to be admitted into the AKC registry. These are individual dogs which had obtained clearance to be AKC registered. This partially explains the jump from 195 dogs to 357 registered dogs in one year (2003 to 2004) and the surge in the numbers of reported AKC Anatolian litters.

In general - Many buyers never send in their papers and payment to AKC for dogs that are qualified. Some breeders do not provide registration papers for some dogs. There are legitimate reasons in any case but it does make a head count that much more difficult. AKC numbers may actually reflect only about 50% of the breed activity for one year.

Sometimes pictures illustrate some ideas better.Annual AKC registrations per year
Fig 3. Bar chart of trends in registration numbers per year in AKC registered LGD breeds

 Recent changes in trends.

In the case of the open studbook, some adult ASDs are admitted whose littermates were not also entered into the registry, thus somewhat raising the number of pure registrations (of individuals both young, adult and possibly deceased) over the number of actual litters born in previous months. This creates a statistical artifact which would make the litters suddenly seem to have more pups registered per litter as previously mentioned and may not truly reflect population growth in current litters born in recent months -- see the red bars on the left.

Overall the numbers of purebred dogs being bred and registered with the AKC have been decreasing. The numbers of ASDs appear to be advancing rapidly but this may also be partially due to above (open studbook) registration stats artifact. If it isn't an artifact, are we ready for this much growth?

The other LGD breeds have dropped in "numbers per litter" that are registered overall in recent years, whereas the ASD numbers are a little distorted now with regards to litter registrations due to the numbers of individual dogs being registered.

Initial registration approval takes place via ASDCA, the AKC parent club for the Anatolian Shepherd Dog.* 

Current Problems

*Not everyone with a dog that qualifies is interested in AKC registration. However there are owners who have or did (at one time) recently desire AKC registration.

MANY purebred Anatolians are apparently being rejected full AKC recognition for a collection of bogus and arbitrary reasons that cannot be documented or substantiated by the ASDCA in the registration process. Full siblings of registered dogs have been refused registration due to poor recordkeeping and sloppy pedigree research.

IF this is the case for you, and your dogs are registered purebreds, please contact me with the details if ASDCA has not responded to you with clear documented evidence or if your dog is still being rejected. Siblings and other relatives of your dog MAY ALREADY be registered.

Registries such as the Saluki Club of America, Greyhound and Basenji dog clubs have in recent years, made necessary moves to help expand their genepool. Rare breeds cannot afford to be in the position of bottlenecking their breeds.