Info/help Wanted - Page 3

Wonder how hard it is to breed pure white's and not have other colors show up?

Not hard at all if you breed white x white; all puppies will be white. If you don't breed a white to another white or to another dog that carries the white masking gene recessively, there will be no whites. In theory you can start with a white and if you don't bring another white into the mix or introduce another dog that carries the white masker recessively, then in the 5th generation the odds drop to less than 4% of ever getting anymore whites. It's the same mode of inheritance as the longcoat, a simple recessive.

If people are going to breed whites it would be nice if they could improve the quality of them,,it would seem.,,,

Maybe if whites weren't "outcasts" in the GSD world there would be more attention given to improving conformation, temperament, etc.

Whatever the reason does not matter except making improvements. (To me anyway)

I haven't seen enough deliberatly bred white GSD's to make any sort of comment on their overall quality. The ones I've seen have been mostly the results of BYB's. 2 people I know are AKC judges and they are often invited to judge the white GSD shows here in the US. Both have told me that most of the dogs they see at these shows are very sound with nice temperaments. Breeding a white is like breeding a dog with any other fault, a longcoat for example. Some will never do it, some will.

It would be my thought that anytime you breed for one trait you will end up with a less than average overall quality.

Just as a side note to breeding the whites - The Swiss do it, and they do it well. They probably test the BBS (Berger Blanc Suisse = White Swiss Shepherd) genetically more than any other dog in the world. The breeding herd is meticulously maintained...It's pretty amazing too see what they do with them. If you want to breed in the Swiss BBS club your dog must have all these genetic tests done at Berne of Zurich. I myself am waiting on news of a puppy that I am bringing over from the Netherlands...the parents are almost complete outcrosses, they share one ancestor five generations back but that is it. Genetically the dogs are very sound, and temperment wise they are wonderful as well. I'll see what they produce when I fly to amsterdam to pick my puppy up, but I am hopeful, the parents are both stunning, well bred and very nice.