Shan,
I assume that you are a dog lover who may be "lost" and have good intentions. You've come to the right place to learn how to breed GSD and excel in the breed. I hope that you will try in the future to breed quality, healthy, proven dogs to create and better dog for the breed. Good luck!
Alison

can someone say MR CONTRADICTION? hahahaha

I come to this topic from a non-GSD perspective. My breed, Australian Cattle Dogs, have two distinct colors - red and blue - with some variances within each color (mottled, speckled etc). Should a kennel's goal to breed for a specific color? No, in my opinion it shows shortsighteness to do so. A breed is more than color. To steal a horse term, a good dog is never a bad color.

However, there are reasons to breed for color within a specific breeding. Back to my breed, red is the dominant color but due to many factors, blues are more prominent. Because of this and other factors, the quality of color in many reds is lacking. There is blue in their red coats, washed out reds, and deep reds that lack sufficient white hairs interspersed. My young male has blue in his coat and is a deep red. He is 3rd generation (top AND bottom) blue to red crosses. Based on this, I personally will choose a red bitch to breed him to in order to help to clear out his coloring.

Obviously, I am not going to sacrifice temperament and drive to get color, just that I am taking the long road and searching for the right bitch. Color is one of the things that I initially look at in a bitch. If she has good coloring than we go on to temperament, drive, and some conformation issues that don't need doubling up with Sinjin. If she lacks these things, than we do not pass "go".

So I can see where color can be a focus in a breeding. However, it should never be the overall goal of a breeding program (in my opinion). There are people who have bred for color and have beautifully colored dogs that I am constantly referred to in my search for a red bitch. Unfortunately, in their quest for clear coloring, they have neglected to ensure their dogs retain the temperament and intelligence that I demand in my dogs. This year at our Nationals, my young male was placed 4th in his class. The judge, an Australian, informed my handler that he was by far the best dog in the ring but she could not put up his "smutty" coloring. It was frustrating to hear that but at the end of the day I will take his smutty coloring any day with his temperament.

A good dog might never be a bad color but, in my mind, a stupid dog is never a good color

Well it's alot like the sable color, I have seen some with a washed out sable coat , not much of a rich coat color, I believe you can be specific with colors when you are looking for breeding,as long as you are looking for everything else that makes a "good match and breeding".If you do your research when you are looking to breed, you can find a great working stud with rich colors ,rather it's black, sable ect.. with great working abilitites.But you have to do your homework and ask yourself why you are doing that specific breeding..For the ones that say don't look for color specific , you are limiting yourself because you can have both, and if you can't then yes go with the working abilities of the dog and don't focus on the color but really , I believe if you search hard enough you can have both.My opinion

There is nothing wrong with having color to be a consideration when breeding as long as that isn't your first motivation. If breeding for color IS your only priority then you're going down a road that is filled with backyard breeders. I think many BYBs love their dogs-they're not all evil monsters or witches over a cauldren. The point is that they're doing disservice to the breed.

Yes, there are good, even great black shepherds out there. If you want to focus on blacks, then I would like to see proof that they're blacks that are worth anything. Be it titles, health, hip certs...whatever. Or at least have a pedigree that can attest to the quality of the lineage. But to breed for only black, with dogs that have *no* proof that they are anything other than black (oh, and "loyal, noble, sensitive and dignified") and place tons of internet ads advertising BIG RARE BLACK GERMAN SHEPHERDS is not something I support.

NOW I'm done raging, I swear.

Hey Sarah, I'm with you ,I am simply pointing out that if you search hard enough you can find the color you are looking for AND abilities of the dog all in one package.No one is saying go color only,that is left to the showline breeders

Why are you (Shan) even breeding a bitch who (you state so many times) needs improvement in so many areas? Start with a stronger bitch in the first place...you can't expect a stud to "fix" what's wrong w/your bitch...even if he's B*L*A*C*K! Black dogs are ugly anyway;-)

Ya I can see yours is so ugly Jen...

Isn't he Angelique? Why, I can hardly stand to look at him sometimes.

Neither of his parents were black. People act like he's some great rarity; he's just a German Shepherd who just so happened to be born black;-) I think this is the attitude in which color should be approached. Find a litter you like, find a pup you like, and then like the color that pups turns out to be. JMO. I can say I would have run far and fast from a litter like what Shan's describing-no hip certs, nothing more than a few dogs being thrown together with seemingly no regard for the welfare of the breed; we have plenty of pets in the shelters. We need no more.

Well I agree, I did not see her web it would not come up, much like when I looked at it no signature photos of any members were vcoming up, so to say the least I did not get to see the web site.I agree with the Hip certification 100%.I simply put my opinion on color if it is something you really want , I alwasy look at the color last if anything, but IF the color is important ,you can find the whole package.The stud I picked for my female has a washed out sable color but man he is a great high titled working dog,great temperament,healthy,and that was my main focus.But hey your "black" shepherd is pretty stunning