Orhan Yilmaz and Mehmet Ertugrul
Keywords: Native breed, phenotypic trait, live weight, body measurement, coat color.
Abstract: This present study was investigated the phenotypic traits of the Turkish Kars (Caucasian) Shepherd Dogs raised in Turkey comparing with some other native breeds of Turkey. To this end, a total of 52 (34 male and 18 female) dogs was analyzed using the Minitab 15 statistical software programs using ANOVA and Student’s t-Test. Descriptive statistics and comparison results for live weight 44.6±1.03 kg, and height at shoulders 72.4±0.73, height at rump 71.1±0.77, body length 87.3±1.02, heart girth circumference 84.7±0.85, chest width 31.3±0.36, and cannon circumference 12±0.14 cm respectively. In this study the frequencies of body coat color of the sampled Kars dogs, as percentages, for brown was 30.8%, pied 23.1%, black 21.2%, roan 13.5%, and white 11.5% respectively. The overall results of the study demonstrated that Turkish Kars Shepherd dogs had a very close resemblance to the Turkish Kangal (Karabash) and Akbash Shepherd dogs related with body sizes.
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