Super post Evan AND objective too. My take has always been: When I look at any colored shepherd, whether it be black, white, sable, black & tan, etc, I see a German Shepherd Dog. I feel that I am objective. Like Evan, I haven't seen one VALID argument for keeping white GSDs out of the conformation ring. Perhaps this is because of the prejudice against solid black GSDs that I witnessed in the breed ring of the 80s. There were many quality black dogs that were rarely put up (in the East anyway) and did not finish their championships. My point is that there were and probably ARE prejudices. Whites are not inferior, they are not superior, they are German Shepherd Dogs. Penny in NC The Farm Dog Forever In a message dated 11/2/13 8:50:02 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, terrycochran97756@xxxxxxxxx writes: Anne Tracy, Margaret C. Throop, Edith May Schley, Vemon Castle, John Volkman, Paul Huhn, & B.R. Ruggles These were the founders of the GSDCA. I wonder what they each thought about Whites. I know there have been many posts to stop the AKC from allowing the membership to vote on getting rid of the DQ of Whites. I am missing the point, it seems to me we should welcome the vote to see what the majority of the GSDCA members want to do about it. But, what is missing is why we should keep the Whites out of our ring. It is no longer thought that it is a sign of weakness. It seems to be untrue that they die at age five or six. We no longer believe, (or at least for me), that they carry some genes that do harm to the breed. We now know the white shepherds are being bred to the black and tans, and producing both black and tans that can finish, and whites that go on to serve all functions in our society that the black and tans do. We know they are as healthy and as long lived as the rest of the breed. So, then what is the problem? Maybe it is time to stop talking about what they were considered in the 50s, and decide what they are today. If you believe the white shepherd is inferior in health, temperament, structure, or life span, then they should be eliminated from the gene pool. If you believe they are just the same as all the other colors, have no genetic problems that they will pass on to the breed, then they should be accepted as a German shepherd with a masking gene. It is up to each of us to decide. While I have seen a number of posts saying to allow the Whites into the gene pool will do great harm to the future of the breed, so far, I have seen nothing that makes me know why that would happen. I have spoken to the White breeders and judged their National. On an average they do more health tests than the average breeder does. They are more selective of breeding than others, and have for years stayed true to a dream while being castigated on a constant basis. I can see my opinion being formed, and if I ever get a chance to vote on the issue, I guess I have figured out where I will go. But, I am still open to other opinions and reason. Blind arguments about disqualifying Whites because they are white, doesn't do much for me. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Evan L. Ginsburg gsyrfund.com Asgard German Shepherds _http://www.asgardgsd.com_ (http://www.asgardgsd.com/) Where Type Movement and Temperament come together ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================