[ SHOWGSD-L ] NOW & THEN WHITES
- From: Gsdbroon@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 19:46:30 EDT
In 1913 the standard of the German Sheep Dog, as AKC then called it,
though the parent club was The German Shepherd Dog Club of America, had this
to
say about color.
COLOR
Black, Iron-gray, ash-gray, Reddish-tan, Reddish-brown, either entirely of
one color or with regular markings of reddish-brown and whitish gray, pure
white, white with dark spots (Harlequin) or black clouding on gray, tan or
light brown with so-called wolf markings on breast and legs.â??
From 1930 to 1943 the standard said this about color.
â??COLOR--All colors are permissible from solid black to solid white,
including many variations of brown, grays and mixed wolf colorings, also
brindles. White markings on chest and legs are allowed. The undercoat,
except in
black dogs is always light in color. The color of a pup can only be
ascertained after his outer coat comes in.
NOTE--While the permissible range of color is extremely wide, the white
and very pale or washed-out colors are not deemed so desirable, while
albinos, white with red eyes, are to be discarded. The skin of the nose in
all
cases should be black.â??
Revised in 1943 this language persisted until 1968.
â??The German Shepherd Dog differs widely in color and all colors are
permissible. Generally speaking, strong rich colors are to the preferred,
with
definite pigmentation and without the appearance of a washed-out color.
White dogs are not desirable, and are to be disqualified if showing albino
characteristics.â??
It will be remembered that in 1913 the organized breed was still
relatively new even in Germany and that a variety of herding dogs from various
parts
of the country were used in the breedâ??s development. From that point on,
the evolution of the breed proceeded in a tightening process from the very
loose description of color in 1913 when color was not regarded as important
to 1930 when white was â??not deemed so desirableâ??.
I suspect that sometime in the 1920s or maybe earlier, Captain Max decided
that in fixing the type of the breed, having whites along with the other
colors was not consistent. Many rationales were given as to why white was
undesirable or desirable, but the rationale did not matter because what Max
decided ended the argument.
Iâ??ve read claims by the whitists to the effect that whites were accepted
until 1968. I dispute that. From the very beginning of our attendance at
dog shows 60 years ago we knew that white was a no-no. I can only recall
one instance of a white actually entering the show ring and of course it did
not place. This was before the disqualification was made part of the
standard.
In the February 1930 issue of â??The Shepherd Dogâ??, the official magazine
of the parent club Dr. J.W. Sherer who was prominent in the Parent Club
wrote an article. The article was titled â??The Case Against the White
Shepherd
Dogâ??. It included the following: â??I will destroy or have destroyed
humanely and quickly all whelps that appear to be weaklings, those showing
deformities, white or extremely light ones and those born with heavy dew
clawsâ??
. This was an attempt to insure that undesirable qualities would not be
continually reproduced.
In 1958 a standard was written that disqualified dogs that were
predominately white, but this was apparently not accepted by AKC, possibly
because of
the problem of determining what constituted predominately white..
When in 1968 the revision of the standard was being considered, one thing
was clear: whites would be disqualified. Bob Reuter was club president
living in San Diego and those of us around at the time had many discussions
with him. He attended local meetings and shows. He was receiving a lot of
heat from the fancy about the whites. Dog World was the main dog
publication, which was read by the public, and it carried many ads for â??Rare
White
German Shepherd Dogsâ??. This infuriated mast breeders as it misled the
public
into believing that whites would be welcomed because they were rare. An
appeal was made to Dog World to stop the ads and the reply was that as long
as white was not a disqualification under our standard they would continue
to accept the ads.
Once the new standard was adopted Dog World agreed to and did put a
cautionary notice at the head of the German Shepherd classified ads to the
effect
that white was a disqualification under the AKC standard.
What I wonder is, why have we not heard from the breeders of Harlequin
German Shepherds?
I have been steadfastly opposed to the effort to approve whites as a
separate breed of German Shepherd because they were by definition a GSD
defined
by a specific fault, viz. color of white. I felt that if they were to be
recognized as a separate breed it should not contain in its title anything
identifying it as a German Shepherd Dog.
Some recent observations cause me to rethink my attitude.
In the Dalmatian breed the dogs have almost universally developed
excessively high uric levels which threatens their health. This may be an
outcome
of the fanciers repeatedly breeding to the major winners ultimately
resulting in a shrinking of the gene pool. A few years ago there was much
discussion among Shepherd fanciers about the difficulty of finding a pedigree
with
no Lance in it and the need to broaden the gene pool.
In the case of the Dalmatians, some ten years or so one or more Dalmatians
were outcrossed to pointers producing animals free of the uric acid
problem and these were bred back into Dalmatians so that the descendants seem
Dalmatian in every apparent way. The question now being considered is whether
these Dals with pointers in their background should now be admitted to the
AKC stud book as Dalmatians.
I've heard, but not with a certainty, that the white shepherds now being
bred seem free from some of the hereditary maladies that afflict our non
white dogs. If such be the case they may provide a healthy gene source in the
future should any problems begin to decimate our breed. At least we would
be going to a source that shares the same breed beginnings as our dogs.
Tom Brown
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