I just wanted to open a debate about the value/ or lack of value of coloured GSD's.
I was recently offered a blue gsd, who was a very pretty dog. On Eds advice I declined as he belives that they are no good and geneticly defective (I hope I havn't misquoted him). I have a friend with a white gsd who works well. I'm sitting on the fence here. Convince me either way! There must be somone who thinks coloured dogs have a value.

Darren,
Did the blue just crop up in an otherwise sound breeding or is the breeder intentionally breeding rejects??? Some unscrupulous folks will do this and sell as *rare* colors. Were the parents titled, xrayed, etc?
The problem, other than you are taking on a dog who has a major fault, is that the gene pool is very small when you get into the off standard colors. A small gene pool is a guarantee of problems. Went thru this w/a cl who, totally against my advising, begging and pleading just *had* to have a blue Greater Swiss Mountain dog. What a fiasco. The dog has got congential health problems I've never even heard of before, in addition to the expected horrible hips, she's got heart trouble, a major uti defect that is not correctable, so she'll be inconinent forever, and on it goes. But, hey. They got their blue color they wanted.
Any breeder who breeds for a particular coat color is irresponsible. As for *white GSD* there ain't no such animal. They aren't GSDs, they are white dogs. The health/temperament problems are legendary, again, irresponsible breeding, small gene pool, do the math. I forget whether it's ACK or some other registry that has started refusing to register the whites as gsds?
Sorry, I have zero tolerance for bybs who decide they know way better than Max what's good for the breed.

The blue puppie was a one off, the breeder was offered a lot more money for the "defect" puppy than the regular ones, so I can see why some breeders would try to breed rare colours. Some people have no care that they are damaging the breed as a whole by introducing bad genes. The breeder whom I know personaly sold the blue puppy but restricted its prodgeny from being registered with the kennel club. I am supprised there is no one willing to try to speak up for these dogs, or is it they know they will get hammered by the wealth of knowlage that circulates on these pages.

 Quote:

Originally posted by Darren Miller:
The breeder whom I know personaly sold the blue puppy but restricted its prodgeny from being registered with the kennel club.

So basically they prevented the dog's progeny from being in breed competition at AKC-licensed events, but the progeny may compete in other licensed events such as Herding Trials and Obedience Tests.

Ack - no thought to spay or neuter the puppy? Guess they can happily breed away with the "rare" "special" blue dogs and sell them to the uneducated public as very rare dogs at exhorbitant prices. One of my pet peeves (no pun intended).

I believe that the off-color GSDs should be mercilessly culled at birth and not sold -- even as pets. And then any dogs that produce such puppies should be fixed so they cannot be bred again.

Originally posted by Kelly George - Norstar1:
I believe that the off-color GSDs should be mercilessly culled at birth and not sold --

:rolleyes:

I can't disagree with you. Except to say that here in the UK a dog that is not registered with the kennel club has no value its puppies have no value. Isn't it interesting though that there are people who breed blue/white GSD's with intent (not accidents) but not one has posted a defence.
Mercilessly is a bit harsh though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I am not saying kill them the way Max von Stephanitz did as there are more humane ways to put a weak or defective puppy to sleep now. But the off-color GSDs ARE defective and I stand by my previous post.

The United Kennel Club is the registry that is registering the White Shepherd as a different breed from the GSD. You can look at http://www.ukcdogs.com/HerdingDogs/HerdingDogs.html too see the breed list where it list them as seperate.

My guess would be the reason we haven't heard from huge #'s of irate breeders of *rare colors*, ie genetic defects, is b/c they don't spend alot of time on this Board. It should be obvious that this forum is dominated by serious working dog folks not byb's. There is a GSD board that would welcome them w/open arms. Here, they'd get an earful.