[ SHOWGSD-L ] NOW & THEN WHITES
- From: Stormy Hope <Stormy435@xxxxxxx>
- To: Showgsd-l list <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 18:39:45 -0700
IT's worth a repeat, Norma... so here you go
Storm
On Aug 9, 2011, at 4:46 PM, Gsdbroon@xxxxxxx wrote:
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.?
From 1930 to 1943 the standard said this about color.
?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.?
Revised in 1943 this language persisted until 1968.
?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.?
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 breed?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 ?not deemed so desirable?.
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.
I?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 ?The Shepherd Dog?, 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 ?The Case Against the White
Shepherd
Dog?. It included the following: ?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 claws?
. 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 ?Rare White
German Shepherd Dogs?. 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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