Is it true? - Page 1

Years ago if a litter of pups had a white one in it the litter would be terminated and breeding of the sire and dam would never be repeated? I may be wrong but I heard that a white GSD was a disgrace to the breed Don't mean to stir up anything and I can understand if it was or is still true

Your not sure of what you heard?

They sell well so who cares what anyone else thinks.

Is it true?

Answer: Not any more, by thinking people. There is now a whole recognized breed for white German shepherds. As for repeat breedings stopped that have bred them unawares, well, that depends on the goals of the breeder. Those looking for the best of all progeny making the standard would have to make that call.

"There is now a recognised breed for white German shepherds" (Beetree)
Correction; there is now a whole separate Breed of 'White Swiss Shepherds',
FCI recognised (but not by some nations' Kennel Clubs).

While it is said to be true that because white was styled a Fault by the SV
in the country of origin, odd white pups cropping up in litters were often
culled, I am personally unaware of anybody making a point of never
again breeding with the dog or bitch involved. I can understand breeders
not using that particular pair in combination more than once (since both
must be 'carrying' white, even if they were not white themselves), but
wiping them out of a breeding programme altogether ? Meh! Certainly
not every time. Nor culling the coloured siblings of the white one(s).

Whites were certainly were not ALL culled, else there would not have been
so many White GSDs around in the UK pet population when I was a gel
in the 1960s. As VK4 points out ^^^ novelty sells. Which is why some
less scrupulous breeders went on to deliberately breed MORE whites.

Iv never breed one never owned one but am training one at the moment nice bitch aggression the same as sable or black not for me but everyone to their own

I can be buy a vet checked, vaccinated, papered, no questions ask replacement guaranteed drago V patriot pup out of a classy ipoIII medically clear female with ipo titles in every known generation of ancestors  from a breeder who personally spends his existence putting  titles on and working his breeding stock and at least one pup per litter for $1500 or an unpapered, no contract, no medicals, oversized white GSD with no pedigree history or any known titles in either line from a breeder who has never trained a dog with 8 bitches locked in cells 24/7 in the back yard for $2500.

Every standard breeder that culls a white the novelty back yard breeders can put their price up.

 

Blues and pandas sell for much more.

Not to mention "chocolates" (liver) !!! Absolutely.

Hey Yogi, nice set of teeth on her, in any case. LOL

Very good point vk

In the early stages of the breed the whites were treated no differently than other colored GSD's. Per articles written by Fred Lanting the white dogs fell out of favor beginning in the 1920's because they were considered atypical and possibly carried unwanted deficiencies. (this was based on prejudice, not science) The SV in German stopped registering white GSD's in 1933.

Yes, the whites were killed. Once breeders began to understand how the white pups were produced they would avoid mating two dogs that both carried for the recessive white gene but that didn't happen overnight because they didn't necessarily understand how whites were showing up in their litters. I would guess that breeders just hid the fact that a litter of 8 actually had 2 white pups...they called it a litter of 6 after quietly disposing of the 2 whites.

The whites were killed in the US and Canada too but NOT to the extent of what happened in Germany. The whites in the US/Canada were looked at move favorably than they had been in Germany by a segment of the North American GSD community (no doubt about it, some breeders hated them) but were first eliminated from the AKC show ring in 1958 when the standard was changed disqualifying dogs that were 50% white. The breed standard wasn't changed in Canada disqualifying the whites until 1998.

Are white GSD's a disgrace to the breed today? They still carry a disqualifying fault in the AKC/CKC because of their coat color. I don't know if that means they're a disgrace to the breed, I suppose to some yes. They are recognized by other major registries as either White Shepherds (UKC) or Berger Blanc Suisse (FCI). In the UKC a white GSD can be shown in the GSD conformation ring. People who want to show their whites in conformation have options, the AKC isn't the only game in town.

Curt, I don´t know what you call "years ago" ?

I was deeply involved in German Shepherd dogs for decades ( 30+ years ), but I haven´t seen one single white pup popping up in a regular litter.

The German Shepherd dog is, compared to other breeds, a very young breed. The founder started with all colors, but he didn´t prefer white. He used these dogs, because in the beginning he didn´t have a lot of "foundation" dogs, but white offspring was never promoted, not even in the early stages of the breed, black and tan always was the main goal for color.
In the thirties white became an "off color" = not allowed for breeding any more, similar to "rough coat", or "floppy ears".

It was never forbidden for any breeder to use a male or female again in case he/she produced a "white" - the breeders simply used another sire or dam.

"Culling" sounds barbaric, but for decades a female was only allowed to raise 6 puppies at once, it was normal to kill the others - that said whites were "first choice".

Different times, different practices, both our minds and our feelings changed a lot.