Comparison various body measurements of Aksaray Malakli and Kangal Dogs

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare and evaluate some body measurements of Kangal Dog and Aksaray Malakli Dog breeds. The study group consist of dogs with an age range from 2 to 5 years. Samples for Kangal dogs were obtained from Sivas and for Aksaray Malakli dogs from Aksaray province. Observations from ten dogs from both species (5 male and 5 female), in total 20 adult dogs were used for this study. Some of the morphological characteristics as black mask around the head, cream fur colour and holding spiral tail were found evident for Kangal dogs while in all Aksaray Malakli dogs the head and body size, thimbleful black mask around the head, and 6 th nail existence were determined as descriptive differences between the genotypes. While the effect of gender on muzzle length, body index and bone index was not found to be significant, it was found significant for other body measurements. The rump lengths in male Aksaray Malakli dogs were significantly larger than male Kangal dogs (P<0.001). However, this trait was not significant for female dogs. This can be associated with the significant interaction between breed and gender (P<0.01). Body index also showed the same trend. Also, withers height and head circumference traits were found significant (P<0.001) for male and female Aksaray Malakli dogs and for male and female Kangal dogs (P<0.01). This can be a reason for the significant interaction between breed and gender. As a conclusion, although there are some phenotypic similarities between Kangal and Aksaray Malakli dogs, obtained body measurements showed significant differences. Furthermore, Aksaray Malakli dogs tend to have bigger body structure than Kangal dogs.