It’s been long observed that many Livestock Guardian Dogs are white, the supposition being that the white dogs blend in better with sheep, but are also easier to pick out from predators. In their book, “Livestock Protection Dogs” by Orysia Dawydiak and David Sims, the authors mention the theory of Great Pyrenees breeder, Catherine de la Cruz, that dogs were selected to be the color of the animals they protect. Tibetan Mastiffs, for example, range in color from black to reddish to brown, and so do the yaks, sheep, and goats they traditionally protected. De la Cruz, however, also believes that having access to water and clothing dyes are what determined the desired color of wool. Where water was plentiful and available, cloth could be dyed, and thus in Turkey and Europe, white wool was preferred since it could be dyed to any color, and interestingly,  Turkey and Europe were home to a number of white LGDS, such as the Akbash Dog.

This is a bigger topic than what can be written here, but if your interest is piqued by this teaser, you may want to read more of de la Cruz’s thoughts on the subject here.

Image of working Akbash Dog by Jerry Kirkhart from Los Osos, Calif. – Akbash dogs Blend in, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9716939