Its a similar trio of colors but if you look at a pic of a bernese next to a pic of the panda, you can see a big difference. In the bernese, the black and brown lay over the white. In the panda, the white lays over the black and tan. In the bernese, the colors are balanced and uniform. In the panda, its haphazard and random. I don't know if theres a term for it, but every dog I've seen that on seems to be off. I've seen that color effect in deer too. I forget what they call it.

I agree about the breeding for color generally causing problems. The rest of it is just my random observations.

I remembered! The word I was grasping for was piebald! I know it goes hand in hand with a plethora of neurological issues. The color of those dogs made me think of the piebald deer I've read about. Just wondered if its a similar thing.

Forget the color and look at the pattern. It's hardly random. White feet, white chest and belly, blaze, white tail tip. It's a characteristic pattern shared in common with the swiss breeds.Just add a white collar and you've got markings in common with many other spotted herding breeds like collies.

Piebald in dogs is usually a solid head or white with a spotted body. You usually see it in hounds and pits and to my knowledge it is unassociated with any medical problems.

When you start talking about dalmation spotting or double merle then we can start talking about spotting to medical conditions.

At the time Frankie (the first Panda) was born; I was involved in collecting samples for UC Davis for genetic testing for the MDR1(Ivermectin sensitivity) gene in White Shepherds as part of the White Shepherd genetics project.

One of the UC Davis Dr's involved in this program also did the DNA testing on Frankie; Dr. Mark Neff, Ph.D. He is highly qualified so I don't doubt his findings. The breeder is also a responsible woman who had bred a black shepherd with a black and tan and they produced Frankie the only one in the litter with the Panda coloration.

She had to go to great lengths to find out how this one puppy was produced from stock she had used in her breeding program and clear her name as a breeder for producing non pure bred GSDs.

http://www.pandashepherds.com/genetic_panda_info

This link explains the outcome of her exploration. Also the spontaneous appearance of this coloring is a great opportunity to study canine genetics and track a mutation. The only way to do this is by breeding the dogs which are so far healthy and not afflicted with any unusual diseases or handicaps. This could actually be a very good thing for the future health of dogs.

By the way not all genetic mutations are bad. Evolutionists theorize that some increase survival, for instance all those antibacterial resistant bacteria are probably happy with their mutation. And the Panda Bear's "thumb" is actually an elongated wrist bone which makes it possible to handle bamboo its main source of food and it is also a genetic mutation.

I don't know the breeder personally but when this happened with her litter; she was the brunt of some really damaging comments. I'm not a breeder but I think in working with the UC Davis and the potential knowledge which could be gained from this breeding that I would have bred Frankie, a stable healthy dog to see what could be determined about this mutation especially where it affected my dogs. Is that wrong?

I'm glad she went through all that testing. Not a lot of breeders would do that. They'd be more likely to stud the dog left and right, slap a fancy name on it, and cash in. I'm sure having a geneticist check into it is not cheap. I just hope other people out there don't attempt to breed this trait on their own taking shortcuts. Wouldn't do either colors any good.

Frankie. What a cute name!

Really an interesting story and artical Sheila. Thanks

One thing I'd like to point out though. Pandas aren't ursine they're marsupials, that's where those 'thumbs' come from and not as a mutation of the ursine.

I applaud the eforts of the Panda Shepherd breed in her efforts in DNA testing, however she is still marketing them as something new and special.
I'll bet they go for a pretty penny.

The only marsupials outside of Australia are possums, both in North and south America.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandasForKids/classification/classification.htm

I thought panda bears are related to racoons. I could be wrong on that.


Eta: read the link again. guess im still in the last century on panda classification.

How about that, DNA huh.
And here I thought Panda's were closer to the Koala than the bear.
Humph, ya learn something new everyday.

My bad Sheila, I'm sorry.

I stand corrected.

 Quote:

I don't know the breeder personally but when this happened with her litter; she was the brunt of some really damaging comments. I'm not a breeder but I think in working with the UC Davis and the potential knowledge which could be gained from this breeding that I would have bred Frankie, a stable healthy dog to see what could be determined about this mutation especially where it affected my dogs. Is that wrong?

Well that just makes it official, I am now older then dirt. I remember some of the conversations/posts when this happened like it was yesterday.

And they did get nasty..............