There is such an irritating piece in today's Telegraph, by journalist Val Elliott who has bought hook, line and sinker a Kennel Club-fed story that some unscrupulous breeders are trying to pass-off white German Shepherds puppies as more rare (= more expensive) Swiss White Shepherd pups.
For a start, there is zero evidence of this happening on anything more than a one-off scale. The Telegraph story refers to a single case in south Wales. A trawl through the UK's internet puppy sales sites reveals a few ads for white German Shepherds at the market price, but not a single ad for a White Swiss Shepherd other than for a single adult female that is KC-registered.
Frankly, the whole selling of the White Swiss Shepherd as something more precious than a white German Shepherd stinks worse than a month-old corpse in a Victorian sewer.
Here's the real story:
The White Swiss Shepherd was formalised as a breed in the 1990s by breeders who objected - I mean not unreasonably - to the fact that Kennel Club breeders used to kill German Shepherds that were born white.
Why? Because white is now a disqualifying fault in German Shepherds, despite the colour having been in the breed from the start.
The breed's (canine) founder's had a white grandfather called Greif. The breed's human founder (Max von Stefanitz) was always at pains to point out that there was no "wrong" colour for a good working dog. And white was considered a perfectly acceptable colour until 1933 when the Nazi party took over the breed club in Germany and banned the colour, believing (erroneously) that the colour was linked to health issues.
It led to the wholesale slaughter of German Shepherd puppies born with white coats.
The UK and US kennel clubs later blindly followed the German breed standard in effectively barring white German Shepherds from the conformation show-ring.
The result was that white puppies much further afield than Germany ended up being "bucketed" - (drowned in a bucket of water at birth) or otherwise disposed of.
There is, thank goodness, now more of a market for white German Shepherds although this site maintains that some breeders still cull white puppies.
Bottom line, it's all so stupidly arbitrary. The colour should never have been banned in the first place. There is a cost to genetic diversity caused by splitting any breed based on colour alone. And how ironic that a breeder of White Swiss Shepherds, who must surely know the history, is now suggesting that white German Shepherds are a second-class cousin? (Although thankfully the White Swiss Shepherd breeders have, so far, eschewed the broken toplines and wobbly back-ends of the German Shepherds that you'll see trotting round the ring at Crufts this coming week.)
My advice? If you want a White Swiss Shepherd puppy but can't source one because of the long waiting lists, why not go for a well-bred white German Shepherd puppy instead? Choose wisely and it's pretty much the same dog. And hey, it may even ensure that a puppy isn't killed based on its colour.
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| Puppy Sophie... Swiss White Shepherd? Or white GSD? |
what?/ what?/ I can't hear you ..all white piebald and merle dogs should be BAER tested before purchase..a test that was not available in the past . a deaf service dog or certainly a deaf herding dog or police dogs or any working breed is not feasible and certainly there are many studies to back up the link to color and deafness.. I like my retrievers yellow not my journalisn
ReplyDeleteLuckily, there are more than one type of white coloration. The extreme piebaldness, that leads to deafness, is easily identified visually: extremely piebald dogs, who have no spots of colored hair, have depigmented (pink) skin spots - on the nose, on the lips, around eyes (google bull terrier pictures, for instance).
DeleteSwiss Shepherds, as well as samoyeds and poodles, have safe white pigmentation, that is not linked to deafness, because, their skin is well pigmented - google their pictures and you will see they all have black noses, lips and eyelids.
Uhhhh. . . The white gene in White German Shephards and White Swiss Shepherds is optically white, but does not interfere with the production of melanin. . . There is no deafness associated with the gene. There is a very minimal risk that this white gene could mask the other, more detrimental white genes, but it's highly unlikely that purebred German shepherd stock carries these genes. (There is one known line of German shepherds that carry the piebald gene). Another indicator of these detrimental genes is blue eyes. This is also extremely rare in German Shepherds.
DeleteIncorrect. White GSDs are genetically very pale e/e yellow (aka recessive red) like those retrievers you like, not piebald. They are no more prone to deafness than your typical A-series phenotype GSDs (black, b/t, sable...).
DeleteExcept 'white' shepherds aren't genetically white they are red. Same as westies, samoyeds etc. As are golden retrievers, yellow labradors, Irish setters etc etc. All technically shades of the same colour.
DeleteMost GSDs are pets, so while testing a dog's hearing is a wise idea before entering it into service dog training, there's no reason to freak out over occasional white puppies in a litter of GSDs and having them euthanized. Besides, deafness is far less debilitating than the ataxic gaits seen in show GSDs.
DeleteMs Harrison, the journalist who wrote this article certainly hasn’t quoted me. ‘cheaper German cousin’ my eye! and ‘only an expert can tell the difference’ She was told quite clearly the history of the WSSD and how it had evolved over quarter of a century from 9 pedigree lines of the White Shepherd, she was also told how some KC’s around the world do not register white GSD puppies and that some breeders used to cull them. It was true enthusiasts of the whites that have protected them over the years. Was she interested in this? Obviously No! She was told that the two breeds were genetically the same and no other breed had been introduced, that they were OVER 100 of them in the U.K. and they were NOT RARE and that they may appear similar to some white GSD’s particularly when they had been crossbred but we did not crossbreed the two, she asked (more than once) did I know of any that had been crossed, I told her it probably would happen in the future just like other breeds and we will watch out for this online using FB, advertising sites etc. as we (our Breed Club) monitor new lines coming into the country, but we are hopeful the new breeding regulations recently published may put some people off. I told her quite clearly we only knew of ONE person in Wales that had crossbred offering no registration papers but more concerning for us was that both the parents had not even been health tested. For a journalist who’s opening lines of conversation to me were referring to our breed’s exposure last year when there was a TV Advert with the WSS she needs to go do some research and watch it for herself as there were FIVE of the breed that ‘starred’ in it not only ONE! I told her I have had the Breed since 2008 but brought them into the U.K. in 2011 facts which are obviously wrong within her article. It appears all you Journalists like to do is sensationalise the parts you want to hear! Let’s hope the article does some good if it alerts the general public to be aware that they need to do some research and find a responsible breeder before purchasing a WSS puppy.
ReplyDelete"White" GSDs are not the kind of white which is affected by deafness related to the colour. They are not piebald like Dalmatians or Bull terriers, but a very pale expression of ee recessive red, the same as Westies, Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters, etc. BAER testing is not indicated in ee dogs.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, sorry, but I need to ask...
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else noticed the prevalence of artificial looking, arched over back, tails on so many dogs at Crufts this year?
Terrier types of all sizes seem to be most affected. To me it looks like breeders have taped pup tails to their backs at birth. If so, surely this is a mutilation and should not be allowed? Many of these dogs have tails that uselessly flop over their backs, so cannot be used for balance or communication.
Some of these tails also look to be docked.
What on earth is to be celebrated by displaying mutilated dogs?
I've heard that ligaments can be cut to make the tail stand differently :/
DeleteCosmetic tail surgery on show terriers is done. Had a friend who owned such a cosmetically modified dog. Braces on teeth are also used.
DeleteLuckily, there are more than one type of white coloration. The extreme piebaldness, that leads to deafness, is easily identified visually: extremely piebald dogs, who have no spots of colored hair, have depigmented (pink) skin spots - on the nose, on the lips, around eyes (google bull terrier pictures, for instance).
ReplyDeleteSwiss Shepherds, as well as samoyeds and poodles, have safe white pigmentation, that is not linked to deafness, because, their skin is well pigmented - google their pictures and you will see they all have black noses, lips and eyelids.petslok