"Geneticists are frequently asked by even long-term breeders of the German Shepherd Dog just what the basis is genetically for the prohibition in our Standard against the white animal, and are also told, frequently, quite vituperatively, by owners of white dogs that our disqualification of the white animal is merely another example of the senseless prejudices they find in show people. While it is not possible to speak directly for the originators of the Standard, it is possible to guess some of the serious reasons that dictated the disqualification of the white dog while other undesirable faults, as for example, long coat, are only considered serious faults."

"Let us now consider what problems arise through the use of such white German Shepherd Dogs in breeding programs. The difficulty one hears mentioned most frequently is the association or linkage of solid white with hearing loss or other developmental abnormalities. The best evidence of deafness in association with white color is from studies of the blue merle series of alleles in Collies and Shelties in which the animal who is homozygous recessive for the blue merle genes will be solid white and may be deaf, etc."

"In the first place, since the majority of "White German Shepherd Dogs" are in reality extreme cream dilutes, the introduction of cream dilutes alleles into a colored line will certainly begin immediately to dilute the color of the line. An example of the extremes to which color dilution problems can go is seen in Great Britain where the severe quarantine tends to limit the importation of new genes into the pool and the struggle against fading pigment is unending. One might expect that an animal who was heterozygous for a color dilution gene, i.e., one who only carried a single recessive for dilute color, would show no effect. This, unfortunately, does not seem to be true since a color dilution gene will tend to diminish color even when present in the heterozygous state, and thus we worry about such manifestations as light toenails and vanishing saddles in animals which otherwise seem to be brilliantly pigmented, and we are well advised to breed such animals with care."

"I have considered in this article the chief reasons that the whites or cream dilutes would be deleterious to the German Shepherd Dog genetically; it does not take too much imagination to see that they would present some rather severe problems functionally as well. A German Shepherd Dog herding stock in a snow-covered field or herding white sheep in any weather would be somewhat less than optimally visible if he were also white; we see, in fact, that the majority of the herding breeds are brilliantly pigmented. It is of course true that German Shepherd Dogs are rarely used at the present time for herding either cattle or sheep. On the other hand, the German Shepherd Dog is used extensively for guard and sentry duty, much of which seems to be done at night, and, in this case, the white color makes for maximum visibility which would certainly be a disadvantage. Finally, the problems we face in keeping our pigmented German Shepherd Dogs presentable are magnified many times with the white dog; the White German Shepherd Dogs I know spend a lot of time in the bathtub."

For inquiries about club matters please see the club contact list.  
For problems, additions or corrections to the website email webmaster at [email protected]
Copyright � 2000 American White Shepherd Association. Last modified: 11/10/00