White GSD's

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chaps89

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This posts is one for CaveCanem no doubt!
The guy we used to do ringcraft training with had several GSD's, but he also had a white one. (I'm trying not to sound totally ignorant here so please bear with me!) At least I assume she was a white GSD as she looked like the same build, size etc.
Are they recognised as part of the breed, can they be shown against the sable GSDs, do they have different temperament traits? Anything else interesting or different about them, other than their coat colour?

Only asking out of curiosity, have Googled but wondering on first hand experiences
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Just a quick answer as on my way to work. Yes you cana get white GSDs it was (and I think still is) a disqualifying fault in the breed standard but the odd one used to crop up, and sadly in many cases was pts. Nowadays they are very popular, my only concern about them is that they can come from a fairly limited gene pool, and unscrupulous breeders charge ridicululous amounts for them because they are "rare". They are only rare because they are a serious fault within the breed.
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I'm sure CC will be on soon with more detail.
 
They are rare because the gene responsible is recessive, I don't think there is a 'fault' as such (for years there was a theory that the colour was related to albinism, but that has been discredited).

They are recognised as a separate breed in the US, but not sure about the UK.
 
I see white GSDs in my shop -- or used to before I stopped grooming big dogs. I must have had five or six on the books. I've only ever had long haired ones though. I'm not an expert on GSDs but as far as I know, they can't be shown...and possibly not registerable with KC?
 
They cannot be shown, it is a disqualifying fault and it is a serious colour fault, along with blues and livers (although a breed club in their wisdom recently held 'fun' classes for non-standard colours and coat types, ho hum...)

I do not agree with them being bred from, as MM says there is a small gene pool and as far as I am aware, historically they have suffered from eye and ear problems, which is much more of an issue for me than colour, so breeding white to white will only make the problem worse and breeding to a standard colour will make the problems more widespread.

A couple near me have a pair and they breed every time the bitch is open and sell the pups for at least £500 a go. It makes me bloody sick.

To me, after all the hard work that has been done to help eradicate hip and elbow dysplasia, epilepsy and haemophilia, which occured because of irresponsible breeding in the first place, for people to breed indiscriminately because of a pretty colour is a real slap in the face.

I may be shot down in flames here and I do not mean to offend anyone who owns one, but every one I have met, I did not think their temperament/character was 100% sound, as opposed to a handful of black/gold GSDs and hardly any sables.
I have also never seen one which had the capability to work.

Like normal GSDs, they can have long and short coats.
 
Know nowt of the breeding pool, but they are/can indeedy very temperamental(esp long coats) compared to their coloured friends
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we have had a good few through our rescue, we actually have a bitch in now she is very timid as was the last dog we had in.
Always have to have my ore in..don't I
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I have to agree, all the ones I've met have been quite unattractive dogs with not very desirable temperaments
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i have a white gsd and a black gsd and i find there is nothing different between the two if anything the white( male) gsd is more playfull then the black (bitch) in kc world years ago white gsd dogs where put down as there not show dogs. a pic of my white gsd.
max at 6 weeks old.

sadie and max he was about 6 months old

also like to point out u have to meet max to see not all white gsd are bad he is a soft bear would not hurt a fly...rolls on his back for a good rub....lol
click on pics to make them bigger.
 
No they are def not bad...I jsut personally find them a little more tempramental, on the contrary the last few males we have had in have been whimps but temperamental and needed a little gentler handling.
 
like with all dogs its how u bring them up . i can get my max to sit , roll over , both paws . yes he is a whimp when it comes to new things , but traing and showing him its nothing to be a whimp about helps . yes he has a bad temperment when is comes to other dogs , but that was down to other peoples dogs having ago at him when he was a pup. i asked them can he say hello to your dog. then there dogs would just go for him. its a case of ppl buying them just for there colour and knowing nothing about gsd in my opinion. they need to know who is boss from the off and training from day one.
 
now that i do agree with yes my max is sort, where as my sadie is not she is on guard as soon as you walk in gate. but i do find that with male dogs soft. females on guard. i have had many gsd and find the females the better guard dogs. I am not saying anyones having a dig just trying to help in how u see them and i see them.
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lol well you would say that you own one . now i would say my two are
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I had a sable and she was just like my black gsd and thats one in million to find a dog thats alot like your last.
 
40 years ago a local police dog handler had one, which could and did, do an honest days work and was a super family dog. It is the dog that made me choose shepherds as a breed.

I have never wanted a white one and the ones that I saw come to my local BAGSD training group were not dogs that inspired. One breeder was churning them out and at least one young dog that came for training had NO hip sockets. It moved most peculiar but had to wait until full grown before it could be opperated on. By then it had adapted so well the owners did not want to put it through the op. They also did not see the point in castrating it!
 
I was with York BAGSD but have to admit abandoning shepherds when my last one was pts exactly a year ago. Age had caught up with her and keeping her alive would have been selfish as not in her best intrest. A lack of time to bring on another dog meant that I changed breeds and joined the ex racing greyhound gang. They are dogs that my elderly and frail relatives can cope having around. Only when I got a grey did my mum admit that she had never really trusted any of the shepherds (or my sisters labradors, and my border collies before I got into GSD's) despite knowing that they were all well trained.
 
I love white GSD! I've never met a nasty one... But then i have had some horrible experiences with the coloured ones...
We had one a regular at the boarding kennels i used to help at and he was so lovely... i wanted to take him home. He would run up to anyone and give them kisses
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He was one of the most fab dogs
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[ QUOTE ]
I was with York BAGSD but have to admit abandoning shepherds when my last one was pts exactly a year ago. Age had caught up with her and keeping her alive would have been selfish as not in her best intrest. A lack of time to bring on another dog meant that I changed breeds and joined the ex racing greyhound gang. They are dogs that my elderly and frail relatives can cope having around. Only when I got a grey did my mum admit that she had never really trusted any of the shepherds (or my sisters labradors, and my border collies before I got into GSD's) despite knowing that they were all well trained.

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OK, I *think* I can forgive you for switching breeds
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We had some Leaguers over last week for our trial, the BAGSD people were still recovering from the British Nationals!
 
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