The coat colour varies from pale fawn to wolf grey, always with a black mask.

[3] The Kangal was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1989; the most recent breed standard was published in 2018.

[9] In 1967 a US Navy Lieutenant who was stationed in Turkey, Robert Ballard, acquired two working livestock guardians Zorba and Peki, from breeders in the Ankara region, Zorba was a long-coated pinto-colored dog and Peki a short-coated buff-colored bitch.

[9] This was further exacerbated by most of these dogs being sourced in the intermediate zone between the main breeding centers of the Akbash and the Kangal, where examples of both types can be found.

[9] Insults and counter-insults were exchanged with American breeders accusing the Turks of marketing dogs of dubious ancestry as independent breeds and the Turks stating the Americans were breeding crossbred dogs.

[9][11] Since the 1980s Americans have almost exclusively imported Kangals and the Anatolian has increasingly conformed to that breed type.

[citation needed] The under-layer provides insulation against both severe Anatolian winters and the fierce summer sun, while the outer-layer repels water and snow.