White German Shepherd

Alot of people have been telling me that the "white gsd" is a poor quality of the Gsd world. Is this true ? Im not going to look at my dog any different , but i just thought it would have the intelligence as a normal one may.

I don't really know that much about the "GSD world" but growing up we always had White GSDs....they all were all SAR dogs...they were all very brave and very very intelligent

Beautiful ! thank you . She is only 12 weeks old , and she is well house trained already , wakes me to go out . When she's done outside, comes to the door . (even though im out there with her )

She's so beautiful! I had to laugh when you said she goes to the door to come back in and you're still outside.

Haha ! ya , you'd have to see it . Pretty histarical sometimes. Shes a sweetie

the thing with the white gsd is that the color is not acceptable in the breed standard, through the AKC.
the idea of the AKC is to "judge" a dog based on the standard to be "ideal" for breeding purposes...
since white GSD's cant be shown anyone advertising AKC white german shepards (especially if they dont do health testing or any kinf of work with their dogs) is simply a back yard breeder.

UKC however accepts the white shepard in the show ring.

the key is to look at the breeder...were the parents properly health tested, did they do anything with their dogs (gsds are after all a working breed so if they dont do confirmation, do they at least do obedience or agility even CGC and therapy work...something to prove the parents worth...
do the parents look like they should (theres a big difference in a working bred gsd and a show bred gsd in AKC rings, seems to be a little less in the UKC however.

bad breeding will not make a dog DUMBER nessicarily (though lots of inbreding can) it can however effect health and temperment.


personally i see no problem in a white gsd (which can occur from 2 normally colored parents if they carry for white) IF the breeder is a good breeder...
i also dont nessicarily belive a breeder has to be involved in cofirmation to be a good breeder (though having someone outside and familiar with the breed take a look at the confirmation of the dog is a good idea as they shoudl still look like the breed should...)

hope this helps.
you got a very cute and sounds like smart little puppy there

The White GSD is not a "lesser quality" GSD. At least, not like it used to be.

There are many White fanciers that are breeding and exhibiting beautiful white dogs in many venues, and doing all of the proper health testing that goes along with breeding.

BTW, inbreeding has little to do with dogs being "dumber" (sorry, I could not allow a false statement to stand).

Inbreeding (and linebreeding) are useful and important to use (when you know what you're doing!).

Hey Foxy,
Why would you say they are a BYB if they advertise AKC white GSD's?

If they have S&R dogs and use the AKC as a registry, that would be OK, wouldn't it?

Or will the AKC not register white dogs at all?

Personally, I am not into GSD's that aren't from working lines, whether they be white or sable... however that has nothing to do with the color white itself, but just the people who tend to breed them... I have a picture somewhere of a white dog doing bitework, I saved it because I'd never seen that before LOL

They are beautiful. Someday I'd like to get a white dog from working lines, even though I bet that will be a quite a challenge.

I actually don't think you'll be able to find one that isn't a cross line to be honest. White is basically extinct in those lines, or if they show up...nobody mentions it (the puppies are usually euth'd over in Europe). If you find one, do tell!

And I do disagree with Foxy that ANY White GSD breeder is a BYB. There are a couple of REALLY nice breeders of whites and if they didn't breed whites I'd buy from them. I don't have an issue with them breeding the color since they are breeding responsibly, I just find solid white a bit plain

White GSDs are fully AKC registerable. They are still purebred even if they are of a disqualified color. AKC overall registers the breed of the dog, not the color (if you know what I mean)

Yeah that's what I heard. The gene is recessive though, so anything's possible! My plan is/was to send out a message to the local breed clubs/breed wardens that a crazy Canadian is looking for a white working pup LOL see where that goes. Maybe someone keeps them around, or maybe they would do me a favor and spare one... which could get complicated. It's a dream, lol.


That's what I remembered... I'm pretty sure Foxy doesn't think all breeders of white GSD's are BYB's, I was just curious why registering with the AKC made a difference.

Yeah. I personally have no problem with the white color and think that if it is to be accepted, they should be accepted as a color variety or just go in with the others. I don't think they should be a separate breed.

But that's another thread xD

The white breeders want them to be a separate breed because they can't show since the color is considered a fault. They are calling them something like a Swiss Shepherd, I can't remember the exact name. As far as registry, AKC will register anything- look at all the horribly bred puppy mill pups who are "AKC".

There was someone around here a while back who had some whites that they were working.

We had a white at a club I belonged to, he was a fear biter. You had to practically feed the dog the sleeve to get him to bite. They finally told the guy they wouldn't work his dog anymore- he wanted to use it for security work and stuff, and the club directors didn't want their name attached to the dog. The guy kept insisting that he'd bite so the club director told him that he was so confident the dog wouldn't bite, he'd let him send the dog on him without any suit or sleeve. The dog never got closer than 20' to him, just stayed that distance away and barked. The guy still thinks the dog is able to work.

in my opinion, the white gsd is only poor quality IF you get a dog from poor quality. There are just as many poor quality gsd's of ANY color out there.

There are alot of white gsd's that are just as nice as any other 'color' of gsd, you see a few in obedience/agility, anything but the conformation ring.

Intelligence comes from the dog not the specific color)

Let's just put it out there, Capt. Max Von Stephanitz said it perfectly "No GOOD dog is a BAD color".

One half of Lacey's pedigree comes from white dogs. Obviously none of them shown in AKC, but shown under the WGSDCA (I think that's the acronym anyway) just like livers and blues they can be registered just not shown in conformation. But if conformation showing doesn't matter to you (like it doesn't to me) then it's all gravy.

i never said ALL white gsd breeders are byb's i said those breeding AKC GSDS with no working background are BYB's

the akc is good for a few things Confirmation
agility and obedience...

now lets take AKC GSD breeder #1 she has white gsds which she breeds also and ONLY competes in cofirmation with her dogs...
im MY opinion this person WOULD be a byb, because she doesnt PROVE her white dogs in any way, they cant be shown in the ring and this is all this retorical breeder copetes in so what has she doen to PROVE her dogs worthy...he white dogs may or may not confirm to the breed standard other than color...but what have they done to "PROVE themselves worthy of continuing the line

now ACK gsd breeder #2: breeds normal and white shepards, this breeder does confirmation, agility and obedience...of course the white gsds arent shown in confirmation but her white gsds do hold titles in agility and obedience...this WOULDNT be a BYB as shes PROVEN her white dogs just as Worthy of adding to the breeds gene pool.

both of these are assuming health testing.

so i see an add for "AKC white gsd puppies" and i look into it i find out the breeder does basic health tests...but otherwise her marvelous white dogs dont hold ANY titles...not even CGC...WHY whould anyone buy a dog from that person...
these folks use AKC as a selling point NOT as a way of proving the dog.

if i was buying a WORKING breed (the gsd is a working breed) it needs to at least prove itself basically capable of still doing that job...
this is also why i have very little respect for the "pretty" show ring dogs, an AKC show rings gsd's back is so badly roached that dog could NOT do a full days work.

and again in the UKC whites are accepted in the ring. i hope that makes more sense...

as a side note theres a huge difference in line breeding to fix a traint and flat out multi gen inbreeding...and the later can cause mentall defects, including "dumb dog syndrome" as i heard it called in the uk.
when done properly, occasionally it fixes a trait but as i said "LOTS" will cause defects.

i think white gsds are gorgeous...but i would never buy an AKC white gsd unless its got multi titles in agility and obedicence and is preferably UKC cross registered...

foxy what you are missing is you can't do conformation with a white GSD, as they are a color fault which is a disqualification. The problem is the same as any GSD breeder who is breeding for color or size "Old School GSDs!! Huge big boned dogs!". You breed for those things and you leave out the important ones, like temperament and working ability.

UKC white CAN show confirmations

and i know you cant akc confirmation show white, thats why i personally feel an akc breeder breeding for color only and not doing OB or agiltiy (which white can do in akc) or other form of Work is a BYB, AKC or not, breeding only for color is bad enough, breeding only for color in a color that cant be shown in confirmation then adding AKC to the title to make it look "special" is even worse.
but aparently im not getting me thoughts into words correctly.

ive seen good white shepard breeders (especaillu UKC) who not only do confirmation wiht their whites (again UKC acceptable color) but also do agitlity, obedience and other work...these are GOOD breeders despite breeding for a color specifically...

i do agree with you on the point that anyone breeding for something as specific as color or size and NOT PROVING their dogs somewhere other than "oh hes huge" is a BYB no matter what the registry.

the way I see it, there are ALOT of breeders that show "only" in conformation, for reasons of their own, that is their "thing", they don't have the time to do other sports, they don't want to do other sports, just because a dog is shown in conformation only does NOT in my opinion, make them a BYB. (tho I'm not saying they aren't either)

CGC is NOT a title, agility in my opinion is not 'working' , (tho if I'm persuing agility I'm going to a breeder who does agility and does it good with their dog),,that is not to demean agility, but to me it's a "sport", Herding is working, Schutzund shows the working ability of the dog, Obedience tells me they have one smart dog and put alot of time in it.

I would not dismiss someone who showed in conformation only if it was a dog I was interested in, tho that is not my 'thing' .

There are alot of dogs out there, that have titles all over the place that I wouldn't consider, and then again there are dogs out there that have no titles that I would consider as well..

It's all about "the dog",,

A little off topic, but curious ... has anyone ever seen an 'extreme' white GSD (i.e. like some of the overdone conformation dogs)? Because I have not, and I've seen quite a few White Shepherds in UKC and a few more over the years in OB and AG.

I have to agree. Most of the white shepherds I have seen (UKC) seem to be a lot more stable in the rear than the AKC shepherds, regardless of color. And no roach backs either.