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Nothing personal but the 60's generation was a low point in the history of the world. Not our fault we were born and raised during this time. just my opinion

RanchingLady: Yep, I was wearing bell bottoms and a buckskin shirt with fringes hanging off of the arms. I had wavy hair down to my shoulders (wish I had some of that hair now:) I looked like a cross between John Trovolta and Daniel Boone :) Peace. DesertRangers: I agree with you. The 60's were a terrible time for this country. The fifties were kinda nice. The 60's did bring us the Beatles, Elvis and several other good things, however, it also brought us a boat load of drug usage, drop outs, Viet Nam and the terrible way the troops were treated when they came back, Richard Nixon and that mess and last but not least, terrible riots at the colleges and in the inner cities. Of course there have been a couple of terrible Presidents since then: Jimmy Carter, Billy Clinton, Hillary ? (OMG, say it ain't so, please, PLEASE!), drug problems, riots (LA), and wars since then, so I guess the old saying is true. "World goes round in circles". To quote a famous person whom I admire (NOT), "Can't we all just get along"?

Blitzen: I am not argueing with you, but could you explain how the color white would have destroyed the GSD? There are many solid white herding dogs that have been around a lot longer than the GSD and they have survived quite well. Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating white shepherds. I am just having a discussion. Now, if your point is that a white shepherd would not have worked well in the wars for military purposes, I will go along with that, but for herding (which I have never done), how would it have caused them to cease to exist?

white shpeherds -- there are reasons why they are faulted -- if you are professional and versed then you need not wonder why .. and if you are .. without being indignant in reagards to canines .. then just hang it up and never even think about breding . for those not versed -- to keep the white [ not an issue about the color ] there lies a very very very close and limitted gene pool therefore decresing the genetic variation amoung the specific breed. As bad as to intense linebreeding .. almost to a point , not exactly BUT APPROACHING INBREEDING LIMITS. As a reuslt of this , and i will tell you with fact[ others will argue but i will say to them .. learn your genetics ] the behavioral traits have become polluted and corrupted . Many white GSDs have faulty temperamnets ." Sharpnes " is one flaw that runs rampant within that strain ! Oh .i have a number of aquaintances that have had a nice white shephers, stable .. but as a generatlity -- not what a shepherd should be or what it is intended to be - My intentions to you all is not to critsize or to belittle those that own .. But to only present FACTs and to be honest from the heart .

There are no white sheepherding breeds. White dogs like Pyrenees guard, they don't tend. Their color is an advantage in that they can mingle within the flock not seen by the predators they are looking to kill. GSD's tend/herd. They need to be seen by the shepherd and the predator. The shepherd needs to see his dog/s for obvious reasons. Predators are deterred by the presence of dogs. White dogs could have survived physically during the winter, but they would not have been used for breeding. The original GSD was utilitarian in nature and it was all about function. A dog that could not function as intended 24/7 would not have been used for breeding. No pets in those days, every dog had to earn it's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness canine style.

Hi there, as i mentioned before, some of you might have read it, i was a driver trainer with a trucking company. Once i had a trainee with me, a black guy. Now imagine, me being white and on top of that being german. Well to make a long story short, the guy was a haszard in a truck, i explained it to him, layed down all my concerns, my company shared my opinion, which were based on reports, that i had to submit and he signed them, when he was fired he insisted that i was a racist ! You know what, my experience tells me, tread me right, i will treat you right, i could not care less about your heritage or the colour of your skin. But to get back to the dogs, a dog in generell does not care about the skin coulor, their might be a smell factor...... A good friend of mine, a police K9 handler, tought his dog to attack on the command "Student", the dog definetly did not care, if the student was white or of any other coulor ! Ulli Dresbach

Okay Blitzen, I'll take your word for that. I guess I just do not understand the "tending" thing. I did not know a Great Pyrenees' job was to kill the wolves. I thought their job was to deter or scare off the wolves and make them go hunt somewhere else. Since the GSD is approximately 100 years old and there are many, many breeds that have been been used as "pets" for centuries, I would disagree on that point. But it is a minor point and not worth pursuing. ALPHAPUP: My original point was not whether or not GSD's should be bred as they are. My point was why were they excluded from breeding with the "other" shepherds in the first place, if they performed as well in herding or other jobs. That would of course have resulted in the present day GSD being of various colors, including black and white, etc., (and I am glad that is not the case) and would have solved that genetic problem you stated. In other words, the GSD created by Max Stephanitz was created to be "dark", but why, if it functioned as well otherwise. Does the color white (or lack of color depending on how technical we want to get) hamper in any way, the working abilities of a PRESENT DAY GSD?

Bull Conner preferred GSD's.

I have said this and have nothing against White GSd's personaly but I have seen a White that impressed o rthat I would want. May be some be the ones I have seen thru the years are in my opinion inferior. Again, just my opinion..I am not the GSD god.

DoRigth, as I understand it, tending is the type/style of herding seen in the HGH where the dogs are trained to keep the flock contained in a specific area. If you're interested in reading about the different styles of herding here is a good site: http://www.herdingontheweb.com/workingstyles.htm Pyrenees, etc will kill the predators when they can. They would not be able to catch a healthy, mature wolf on the run unless it wandered close enough to be taken down without a chase.