First off, the necessary apologies if this topic has been covered. I DID "search" function "white shepherds" and didnt see this specific question.

I know that prevailing wisdom is that white shepherd's are considered inferior to a GSD purist (of which there are many on the board) and I guess my question is why that is so? In what way are they lacking compared to their black and tan, sable, black and bi-colored cousins?

I have read that the white coat makes them blend in with any sheep they might heard, making them harder for humans to see; conversely the white coat makes them easier for predators to see against most natural backdrops.

Is there any genetic difference beyond the coat? Are the whites in any capacity more difficult to train?

Thanks in advance for your input?

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First off, the necessary apologies if this topic has been covered. I DID "search" function "white shepherds" and didnt see this specific question.....I know that prevailing wisdom is that white shepherd's are considered inferior to a GSD purist (of which there are many on the board) and I guess my question is why that is so? In what way are they lacking compared to their black and tan, sable, black and bi-colored cousins?.....

Caveat: I have zero firsthand knowledge of this, so I hope experts will respond.

The reason I'm replying to a question with which I have no personal experience is: I had just started on Saturday to research this very question for a GSD forum, and I came across a few interesting web sites that address this issue.

http://www.justshepherds.com/wgsd.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanwhiteshepherd.htm

http://www.wgsdca.org/thebreed/gsdvswgsd.asp

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/whiteshepherds.html

as an owner of a white shepherd I feel almost qualified to answer.
1. I believe the good Baron thought that a single color dog was boring and there was a risk of people starting to breed for coat color and not working ability and temperment. Unfortunatley that is what has happened here in the States. They are not nerve bags or difficult to train because they are white, it is the uncontrolled back yard breeding that allows dogs of poor temperment to thrive. The Baron said they are out of standard as well as other coat faults ie liver/blues/bibalds etc he has mentioned. I supposed if one could control the breeding of WGSDs for thirty plus years to exclude the weak undesirable traits they would by just as good.

2. Tacticaly speaking, do you think as a soldier/police officer trying to be stealthy, a big white dog would be a good idea?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Here's how they differ.


The white color has not been a desireable color in the GSD at anytime in it's history. So, the other thing is that the white color is a recessive gene.

This means that people who have been breeding white GSDs have been selecting and breeding white dogs in order to get white dogs. Not breeding good GSDs and getting an accidental white dog from good bloodlines.

If you are breeding away from the general working European GSD population, and you are first breeding for color. . .you are not breeding dogs with the best working temperaments.

This has continued to the extreme. The white GSDs are so far removed from the European GSD population that they are very different animals. . .and they have not been subject to the strict breeding requirements of the SV or other European countries that continue the working GSD bloodlines.


Going back to about 1930, the GSD population as a whole no longer carried the white gene. So breeders are continuing with dogs that have been removed from the gene pool and interbreeding only those dogs for 70+ years.


That's why they are generally garbage. Much the same as the American bred AKC GSDs are garbage. Without continuing to select the best working animals and living up to the SV's ideal of the breed, those traits are quickly lost in the breed.


So it's bad breeders that have made the white GSD crap. . .not the white gene.

Mr. VC, have you seen the "panda shepherds"? I'm not kidding. Someone is really calling this a breed. It's a white base with big patches of red/black. Kind of looks like a calico cat.

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....This means that people who have been breeding white GSDs have been selecting and breeding white dogs in order to get white dogs. Not breeding good GSDs and getting an accidental white dog from good bloodlines......

Aha! This makes total sense (duh) and also explains all the defensiveness I found on the WGSDA site.

Mr.'s Van Camp and Jones-- Much obliged for your answers. Well articulated.

Ms. Sutherland, have yet to pursue those links but will do so shortly, thanks for them.

Mr. Van Camp- I am correct in reading your post to conclude that it's possible, albeit rare, to get a white puppy from two non-whitecoated parents, in which case the hypothetical dog is more likely to be a successful working-dog prospect than a white dog from two white parents (given the prevailing poor breeding practices of "white GSDS"?

Thanks again, very informative.

I think there's an old thread or two on 'Panda Shepherds', if I remember correctly. REALLY screwed up looking dogs...

Dear Mr Jones:

Thanks for your input. I was hoping you could elaborate on your experience with your white shepherd? How have you enjoyed him/her? How does he compare to other dogs you've owned?

I ask because I hope to rescue 2-3 GSD's when I relocate to suburbia, and while I dont have any training ambitions beyond basic obediance and MAYBE personal protection training, I would like to know if my expectations for a white shepherd being up to those training parameters is realistic.

Thanks in advance.

Brock Wilson

I honestly don't think that the European bloodlines carry the white gene any longer, but it is possible that if you bred two dogs who both carried the gene you could get a white dog in an otherwise normal well bred litter.

I honestly don't know of a single white dog bred from European working or show bloodlines in the last 70 years.