The following rebuttal was sent to the GSDCA Review but was not published. It appeared in
"The Shepherd's Din", Jan-Feb-March 1973.

Why We Do Like the White German Shepherd

By Peter Lorenz Neufeld, Ph. D.

This morning (March 19, 1973) an American friend of mine sent me a copy of an article called "Why Don't We Like the White German Shepherd Dog?" by Dr. Ellen Mattingly which your magazine carried October, 1972. As one who was deeply involved in researching this variety from 1961-70 and the author of the book THE INVINCIBLE WHITE SHEPHERD I feel I can't allow this particular nonsense to go unchallenged, even though it's a belated challenge.

The impression I get from reading the article is that Dr. Mattingly has simply transposed the present knowledge of mice color genetics to German Shepherds. The question that I, and I'm sure many readers, would like answered is: Exactly how much research on color genetics involving GERMAN SHEPHERDS has actually been carried on by the Zoology Department at University of Georgia? Or is the fact Dr. Mattingly's employed there supposed to impress dark shepherd breeders and scare the daylights out of white shepherd breeders?

With many thousands of white shepherd dogs in the world, and the fact they were common from the very beginning, there's no greater problem finding a good white sire than a dark one. Dr. Mattingly would like us to believe white shepherds are supposedly rare and recent phenomena. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that somewhat recent (less than 40 years old) is PREJUDICE involving white shepherds. With a little digging she'll find it originated in Germany during the Hitler era and spread to North America from there.

Many early German Shepherds were white and highly prized. Austrian-German-Prussian royalty (the Hapsburgs) prized this variety as highly as they did their white Lippizana horses which drew the royal carriages. As regards sheepherding, many early herdsmen preferred white dogs because they were easier to distinguish from the darker European wolves at night; this despite the lesser problem of distinguishing them from sheep. The earliest breeder of white German Shepherds on this continent was Anne (Tracy) Eristoff of New York. A popular judge of German Shepherds she was the main founder of the German Shepherd Club of America, her first litter in 1913 being line-bred on Luchs - the first U.S. German Shepherd Champion. Another American, Lloyld Brackett - prominent in the recent movement to bar white shepherds from dog shows in the U.S. - whose famous Longworth Kennel of Allegan, Michigan is prized as foundation stock in most dark North American German Shepherd lines, probably distributed more white German Shepherd genes on this continent than any other breeder.

If Dr. Mattingly really has done unbiased research with white German Shepherds and isn't simply venting her own personal prejudices then she must have learned there are actually TWO distinct types of white genes - one which produces white hairs and dark skin (commonly called dark-point white) and one which produces white - usually murky - hairs and pink skin (commonly called albino or partial albino). Both are more recessive than dark genes. The latter, however, when bred to a dark shepherd, will usually result in offspring with coats not as dark as that of the dark parent (this gene started the "fading color" theory); not so the former. Also, except in regions with very warm winters and long hours of sunshine it's quite easy to recognize those white shepherds who carry one albino gene (have only one dark-point white gene) because during winter the dark pigment - nose, etc., - fades. It's much more difficult to detect a carrier of albino genes in dark shepherd dogs. It's quite conceivable that a greater percentage of dark shepherds are currently carrying albino genes recessively than are dark-point white shepherds. The murky "saddle" to which Dr. Mattingly refers to, is sometimes present in albino shepherds but never in pure dark-point white ones. Pure dark-point white shepherds always breed true.

It is true, as Dr. Mattingly points out, the color white in sentry dogs is considered a disadvantage by some at night. The U.S.A.F. and several police forces, for example, have discontinued using white shepherds for this reason. But no one is claiming white shepherds are superior to dark shepherds in every instance; in some yes, in others not. However, many persons love the white variety which has been an integral and important part of the German Shepherd breed from the beginning (unlike solid black, for example, which is more recent). I personally like both white shepherds AND dark shepherds, have owned both varieties for many years. By all means let's eliminate albino genes. Few dark-point white shepherd breeders would argue this point; and would have much less difficulty than would dark shepherd breeders.