She is a WHAT?! Panda Shepherd!? - Page 1

This is my dog Abbie.  She is now 12.  My sister called today from her vet clinic "FREAKING OUT" because someone brought in a dog that looked like my Abbie.  The women called it a "Panda Shepherd."  I had to jump on and see what this Panda Shepherd thing was all about. When I got Abbie in WV a decade ago the guy was giving her away because he thought she was "deformed" or had birth defects due to her color and no one would buy her.  I never saw her litter mates.   I thought she was just that, a little freak of nature or her parents were mixed and she was a one of a kind.  Glad to know she is not alone in her kind  however it came about.  She is the BEST dog I have ever had and the smartest dog I have ever known.  Sadly she has cancer and will most likely not make it till Christmas.  I am over joyed to know that it is possible to get another dog like her.  Not like she can be replaced ever.  But, knowing there are others out there with her traits, smarts, and temperment brings some hope.

Do a search on this messageboard and you will find  a lot of info  on the Panda Shepherds, as well as photos. I have to go someplace right now or I'd look for the info for you. Your Abbie is a beautiful girl and she sure does have a very intelligent expression!  I'm sorry to hear she has cancer.
The best,
Char

She's one of the first pandas I've seen, where if you took some coloured pencils, and coloured her muzzle the usual GSD colours, you'd have a very normal looking GSD.

No, I'm not saying the other pandas aren't true GSD's, just that this one looks more like a GSD. Maybe it's because the Panda colour hasn't affected the area around her eye.

I pray that she'll have an easy passing, Rook. Sounds like she's had a really good life with you!

Twelve is a good  long life for a shepherd, but no matter the age of passing it is never long enough. Enjoy each other as long as you can. And your Abbie looks and sounds very GSD to me in form and temperament. If you don't find a panda for your next dog, do not discount the standard for the GSD. I hope that time will be a long time a way. Hugs for Abbie!

Ok from all the reading I have done and the helpful panda breeders I have talked to I have learned she is most likely not a "Panda."  She is some other kinda a mutation.  Still, the personality / behavior is striking.  I appreciate all your comments and good wishes.  I will keep you posted on her health.  Thank You again.

The white toes and small amount of white on the chest is likely not to be an inherited factor, but a result of how the pup is formed in the womb:

Because melanocytes migrate down from the spinal column during embryogenesis, not all animals complete this process by birth or thereafter. In dogs, it is therefore not uncommon to see white toes on an otherwise black or red dog. This is probably more a random event than the result of a specific allele. Another common "white spot" on dogs occurs on the chest. This must again be a site where melanocytoe migration occurs very late in fetal development and a cold or other developmental delay prevents the completion of melanocyte migration. It may be that the rate of melanocyte migration is itself inherited.

This is from a good page with information on the genetics of white spotting in dogs:

homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/dogspots.html

This page also talks about the typical "Irish spotting pattern" found in breeds such as the Border Collie. In those breeds, the pattern seeks to be a recessive trait. In the breed now called the "Panda Shepherd," this white pattern is a mutation that seems to be a dominant color pattern. This would help support the claim that the Panda pattern is the result of a mutation and not from cross breeding.

Although I don't want to see GSDs bred for this color pattern (or for any other non-Standard feature), I don't think it necessarily means that these dogs are not from purebred GSD parents. It's important for people interested in breeding the GSD to understand the genetic principles at work here.

Best wishes to your old girl, Rook. May she have a comfortable old age for as long as possible.

Here are 2 pictures to show her coat.  Her colors where much more seperated when she was young.  They have blended with age.   I have no idea how she got that crazy coat but I love her and think she is pretty...

She is quite a love, and as long a your not breeding, then just enjoy her,as there is nothing like a gsd for love and devotion,she looks like a white blended with a blk/tan,but very sweet. Crazy is a good thing

She is 12 so no breeding here.  LOL  I had her fixed right after her first cycle.   We were travelling girls at the time I got her so puppies were not an option.  Today I have 2 kids and she helps keep them in line and safe.   Sadly we do not have too much time left together de to the cancer.  She has had a good adventurous life full of love.  I take peace in that.