A Complete Price Guide for the Anatolian Shepherd

Anatolian Shepherd

Livestock was very valuable in pre-modern times. As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that a wide range of peoples in a wide range in places put an enormous amount of effort into protecting them. One common method was the use of livestock guardians, which could stay with their charges on a constant basis.

Nowadays, livestock guardians are still around because they remain a very practical way to protect livestock under certain circumstances. However, it is interesting to note that some of these dog breeds have become better-known than others, with an excellent example being the Kangal. There is a town called Kangal that can be found in Turkey’s Sivas province.

Thanks to that, it should come as no surprise to learn that would be the approximate region where the Kangal came into existence in pre-modern times. These animals are formidable creatures, which makes sense because they were meant to protect their charges from bears and wolves. For that matter, it should be mentioned that the fame of the Kangal has resulted in it being brought to other parts of the world, with the result that they have proven themselves against other predators such as lions and cheetahs.

Besides this, Kangals also have a reputation for being smart, independent, and self-controlled. Those characteristics make them a poor choice for inexperienced dog owners. However, more experienced individuals can do just fine with these dogs, particularly since these dogs can get along quite well with their human family members.

Not quite a Kangal

The Anatolian Shepherd isn’t quite the Kangal. For those who are curious, this dog breed can trace its existence to the late 1960s, which was when a U.S. Navy Lieutenant brought a couple of Turkish livestock guardians home with him to the United States. Those two went on to have puppies, who became the foundation of the Anatolian Shepherd. However, they weren’t alone because other interested individuals imported other Turkish livestock guardians.

The issue is that they apparently did so without much regard for the differences that could be found between the different livestock guardians that could be find in different Turkish regions. As a result, the Anatolian Shepherd isn’t quite the Kangal so much as a blend of the Kangal, the Akbash, and other livestock guardians. In more recent decades, U.S. enthusiasts have imported more and more Kangals, with the result that the two dog breeds have become more and more similar to one another.

Even so, there remains something of a gulf between the American side of things and the Turkish side of things. Regardless, Anatolian Shepherds do have a lot of similarities with the Kangal, meaning that they are very much capable of becoming loyal and loving protectors. As such, there are plenty of people out there who might be interested in seeing how much one of these dogs costs.

What Can You Expect to Pay for an Anatolian Shepherd?

As always, the cost of getting a dog can depend a great deal on the method that is used. There are ways that interested individuals might be able to get an Anatolian Shepherd for either no or next-to-no price. However, while those ways offer the best price, they come with some serious downsides as well. Thanks to that, interested individuals might prefer to buy an Anatolian Shepherd from a reliable and reputable dog breeder, which will be expensive but will come with other positives that can more than make up for that.

For starters, people can check to see if there is anyone giving away Anatolian Shepherd puppies. The upside to this course of action would be either no or next-to-no cost. However, that upside comes with a couple of major downsides. One, if someone is giving away puppies, chances are good that they won’t be spending a lot of money on the puppies’ training and healthcare. That means that these dogs might come with unpleasant surprises. However, running that risk might be worthwhile for people anyways. Two, there is no guarantee that someone will be giving Anatolian Shepherd puppies when interested individuals go looking. After all, this isn’t exactly the most common dog breed out there, meaning that their availability is far from being guaranteed.

Moving on, there are the options of either adopting or rescuing an Anatolian Shepherd, which come with some of the same upsides and downsides as looking for a giveaway. Generally speaking, adopting or rescuing a dog won’t cost too much. It is possible for the costs to hit the low hundreds. However, that tends to include the cost of various healthcare procedures, which people will have to pay for anyways. Besides this, there are other major upsides as well, with an excellent example being the chance to get to know the dog better before taking it home. As mentioned earlier, Anatolian Shepherds are not well-suited for everyone.

Due to that, it is definitely a good idea for people to see how well they get along with a particular dog before taking it home because they don’t want to find out that they are a poor match for one another when they have already brought it home with them. This is something that a lot of animal shelters and animal rescues are willing to help out with, which can be a huge advantage for this approach.

As for the downsides, availability remains a serious issue, particularly since there is no guarantee that interested individuals will be able to choose a puppy rather than a full-grown Anatolian Shepherd. Furthermore, dogs that have been sent to animal shelters and animal rescues may or may not have something wrong with them, which adds an extra complication to the process of taking care of them. Still, this is balanced out to some extent because chances are good that interested individuals will be told about said issue or issues beforehand, thus enabling them to prepare well beforehand.

Buying a strangely low-priced Anatolian Shepherd puppy can be the worst of these approaches. If dog breeders want to make a profit, they are going to need to set a price that can cover the costs that have gone into the dog. Otherwise, they will take a loss with every single sale, which is not a good idea for normal businesses under normal circumstances. If a dog breeder is selling Anatolian Shepherd puppies at strangely low prices, that suggests that they have engaged in a lot of cost-cutting. Something that can have serious consequences for the quality of a product. When a product happens to be a living being, well, suffice to say that there is a reason for the widespread belief that puppy mills turn out puppies with either health issues, behavioral issues, or both. Speaking bluntly, interested individuals should do their best to get a happy, healthy Anatolian Shepherd puppy because both health issues and behavioral issues can be very expensive. The latter is particularly concerning for these dogs because they are big, powerful animals.

As for the last option, that would be buying an Anatolian Shepherd puppy from a reliable and reputable dog breeder. Unsurprisingly, this is expensive. As in, interested individuals can expect to pay $500 to $2,000 for one of these dogs, with chances being good that they are going to pay something closer to $1,000 than not. Be warned that they shouldn’t assume that a dog breeder is doing things the right way just because they are charging a high price. Instead, there are very good reasons why interested individuals are recommended to look into their operations, their documentation, and their interactions with previous clients. Don’t just believe dog breeders when they say that their dogs have received this kind of training or that kind of healthcare. Always make sure that there is supporting evidence because anyone can make claims.

What Do You Want From Your Anatolian Shepherd?

There is a whole host of factors that can either increase or decrease a dog’s price. Due to this, interested individuals should give some thought to exactly what they do and don’t care about their Anatolian Shepherd. Once they have a solid idea of what they want, they might be able to play with these factors to get the dog that they want at a lower price than otherwise possible. For starters, a dog breeder’s prices are influenced a great deal by their surroundings.

To name an example, it is no coincidence that small dogs sell for higher prices when situated closer to cities and lower prices when situated closer to the countryside. Similarly, big dogs such as the Anatolian Shepherd see the reverse when it comes to the cities and the countryside. If interested individuals are willing to do so, they might be able to get a better price by looking for puppies from dog breeders that are situated elsewhere. This will make it more difficult for them to verify those dog breeders’ claims. Still, that can help them get a better price.

Moving on, purebred dogs sell for higher prices because they are more prestigious dogs. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that purebred dogs make for better dogs. If people are willing to spend more time looking, they might be able to benefit by looking for mixed-breed dogs that have a lot of ancestry from Anatolian Shepherds without actually qualifying as members of the dog breed. Moreover, they might want to look into Anatolian Shepherd puppies that don’t quite fit the standards for the dog breed but don’t have any issues with their health.

For example, these dogs aren’t supposed to have erect ears, meaning that they can be disqualified for this characteristic. However, interested individuals should ask themselves if they actually care about such things or not. Of course, if they do, they should also look into whether disqualifying characteristics are connected with potential health problems or not. Genetics are complicated. Thanks to that, there is no guarantee that a single characteristic will be determined by the expression of a single gene. Of course, if people decide to go in the opposite direction, they should expect to take a bigger hit to their wallet. Simply put, Anatolian Shepherds from more prestigious parents will sell for higher prices, meaning that they can go for much higher numbers than those that have been mentioned to be the normal range for such things.

What Other Costs of Ownership Do You Need to Consider for an Anatolian Shepherd?

Anatolian Shepherds are big dogs. As a result, people should expect them to cost more than their smaller counterparts. In the first year, these dogs can incur about $495 in start-up costs, which can go as low as about $245 to as high as about $925. Fortunately, the cost of supplies will fall to about $225 in subsequent years, though the low would be about $105 and the high would be about $410. Healthcare costs will be more expensive than that. Just the first year can cost about $650, which isn’t including the cost of either spaying or neutering.

After which, healthcare costs should hit about $750. A figure that is based on a visit to the veterinarian, flea prevention, heartworm prevention, vaccines, and other miscellaneous costs. If an Anatolian Shepherd develop a serious medical problem, interested individuals can expect the numbers to skyrocket because even the less expensive ones can cost hundreds of dollars to treat. These dogs aren’t particularly fragile dogs, but in the end, every dog will experience an increase in their chances of getting serious medical problems as they age. Due to this, pet healthcare insurance can be useful, though interested individuals should be warned that this can cost about $565 on an annual basis.

There are ways to reduce the premium by reducing the risk presented by the dog as well as reducing the amount of coverage that is actually provided. Please note that the latter is very much capable of leaving pet healthcare insurance less useful if it is done too much. As for training, if people aren’t 100 percent confident in their ability to handle an Anatolian Shepherd, they should definitely look into this. Unfortunately, this won’t be cheap because the cost of lessons can easily hit the high hundreds.

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