Kangal and Anatolian names: the FCI’s 2018 change

Key facts

FCI standard

331 [source]

Change effective

15 June 2018 [source]

New FCI name

Kangal Shepherd Dog [source]

A dated decision within the FCI system

A letter from the Turkish kennel organisation, published by the FCI in July 2018, states that Kangal Shepherd Dog replaced Anatolian Shepherd Dog under standard 331 from 15 June 2018. The current FCI nomenclature entry identifies Kangal Shepherd Dog and Turkey. This is an institutional nomenclature event with a date and scope. It is not evidence that the two names have always meant exactly the same population in every national registry, nor that owners elsewhere must relabel their dogs without reference to the issuing organisation.

Existing documents were addressed explicitly

The notice allowed national organisations to change existing documentation where the dog conformed to the new Kangal standard. For dogs that did not meet that description, the older Anatolian documentation could remain, with the consequences explained in the FCI notice. The condition matters: the instruction was not a blanket statement that every dog previously entered as Anatolian was automatically a Kangal. An accurate explanation therefore needs both the replacement of standard 331 and the qualification concerning conformity, rather than only the headline that one name changed.

Why present-day searches still find both names

Names persist in historical pedigrees, export records, older exhibition catalogues and systems governed by different national organisations. A search result using Anatolian Shepherd Dog may consequently refer to a historical FCI category or to another registry’s continuing category. Identify the organisation and year before comparing records. The FCI standard’s Kangal description supplies the relevant formal benchmark for its own system, while the 2018 letter explains the transition. Neither document is a general ancestry test or a livestock-guardian working assessment. They answer a narrower but important question: what standard and documentary treatment the FCI adopted at that particular administrative change.

Common questions

Sources & further reading

References for this guide. Rules and services can change; check the responsible organisation for current details.

• FCI: KIF letter on the 2018 change (opens in a new tab)
• FCI: Kangal Shepherd Dog nomenclature (opens in a new tab)

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