SOME MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND GROWTH OF KANGAL TURKISH SHEPHERD PUPPIES UNTIL THE WEANING AGE

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine growth and survival characteristics of Kangal Turkish shepherd puppies during suckling period. Body weight, survival ratio and some body measurements of the Kangal Turkish shepherd puppies during this period were examined. In addition, effects of mother’s age, litter size and sex of the puppy on these body measurements were investigated. The study was conducted on 38 puppies (12 female, 26 male) born from six Kangal Turkish Shepherd bitches.
The average live weights of the puppies were measured to be 1008 g at the end of the first week and 3871 g at the end of the eighth week. The survival ratio was 100 % at the end of the 8th week. Some body measures of the puppies such as head length, head girth, ear length, chest girth, tail length, body length, shoulder height, rump height, front wrist girth, and back wrist girth were 15.07 cm, 24.61 cm, 7.22 cm, 35.36 cm, 16.27 cm, 27.77 cm, 27.32 cm, 26.31 cm, 7.38 cm and 6.73 cm at the age of weaning (52nd day), respectively.
Chest girth, tail length and shoulder height of the puppies born from 8 years old mothers were found to be higher compared to the puppies born from 1 and 3 years old mothers (P < 0.001). The effect of birth type on the body measures at the 38th day was determined to be significant (P < 0.001). The highest values were obtained from the mothers with five puppies and the lowest values from the mothers with seven puppies. When the comparison is made in terms of sex, even though the male puppies were larger than the female puppies, the difference was not statistically significant.