... gray GSD? - Page 1

My female german shepherd is a little more than a year old.  She is a purebred, was acquired from a breeder, and we met both her parents. Her father is a long-haired gsd, and her mother is a short-haired gsd.

As a puppy, she had blue eyes, which we thought was odd, but didn't think much of it and thought she would grow out of it, which she did. 



But now she has hazel eyes and a greyish kind of coat, with an overwhelmingly large amount of white down the center of her back:




The vet has never said anything about her coat color, so we thought we were just being paranoid.  We keep having people ask us what kind of dog she is, then follows up with "oh, is she a gsd mix?" She's not.

Finally a couple of days ago, a 7 month old puppy started coming to the park, and that's when we really saw the difference between the two.  The other puppy is black.  Ours is grey.

My dog is 64 pounds, eating every day, pooping twice a day, and has a lot of energy. She's always running around and in an active mood, so we don't believe she's sick.  Is there an explanation for this?

The stripe down the back is most often refereed to as a "bitch stripe" and is very common (just varying degrees) on female GSD. Your dog's stripe is just larger than a lot that you will see.

To me, it looks like your dog just didn't pull very deep color from her genetic background.

Rik

The bitch seems perfectly "normal." The "bitch stripe" is often seen in show line bitches. Rik is correct, hers is just wider than what is usually seen. It sounds like she simply has light eyes--also frequently seen and not a problem. Some gsds just have deeper, richer colors than others. :-) Enjoy your bitch--she's the only unconditional love and loyalty you can buy. :-)

Well, of course the puppy is black, look at your girl, she was too as a pup.

"People" are not educated on the GSD. I have been asked if my dogs are purebred, also because of their bitch stripe, because they are red, or because they are "too small" (my oldest is 75 lbs!).   Your girl does not have great pigment, so what. Otherwise she looks like a perfectly nice, sound pet, and she is certainly a purebred GSD.

ya, when I walk my sable bitch you can hear people saying "look he's got one of those wolf dogs"

Thanks for the info.  I was worried that she might have a vitamin deficiency or something.

Normal stripe although she looks a little blue to me.  I have a Solid Black and always get the same question;

I didn't know a Lab's ears stood up!!!

She is a lab right?

I've never seen a Black Shepherds she must be mixed with something.

It gets old but each dog is different coloring, markings, and personality. 

Leah