BREED HISTORY ABROAD

Where did the breed come from?

The first white shepherd, almost as we know it today, was shown at an exhibition in Hanover as early as 1882. Of course he was in a group with a German shepherd, because it was simply a German shepherd. The most famous of these was a dog born in 1879 and his name was Greif. Due to its qualities, including erect ears, which was certainly not a matter of course at the time, it was used extensively in breeding. In 1888, the first white German Shepherd bitch named Greif was shown at a show in Hamburg. The owner of both white shepherds and the equally well-known dog Greif II. was Baron von Knigge.

In 1899, Arthur Meyer saw an interesting dog named Hektor Linksrhein at the show and pointed it out to his friend Max von Stephanitz. When Stephanitz went to look at this dog, he was literally kidnapped by it and bought it without hesitation. At that time, it was common to rename dogs, including the names of the original kennels, and so Hektor Linksrhein literally became Horand von Grafrath overnight. Horand was dark wolf-gray, as was his mother, Lene. But Lene was the daughter of white Greif. So Horand's grandfather was Greif. Horand, born on January 1, 1895, therefore had a gene for white in his inherited base. The hereditary talent for white coloring was very widespread at the beginning of breeding. Although the ratio of white shepherds to other colors was reportedly 3: 2 in favor of white shepherds, Berno von der Seewiese, who was born in 1913, was the first white individual to be entered in the breeding book.

How Europe decided to forget him.

The creator of the German Shepherd, cavalry officer Max von Stephanitz, initially had nothing against the colored German Shepherds, but under pressure from many large breeders of this breed, he gradually changed his mind. Fortunately, the Habsburgs and the imperial family of the Hohenzollermans found love in the white German shepherds. So the white shepherds had a small stop, at least for a while, and due to the following circumstances, they could not be destroyed as quickly and to the base as some German shepherd breeders wanted at the time.

The white German shepherds disappeared inconspicuously and were particularly harmed, among other things, by the war. Due to their strong color, they were not used at all in the war, and eventually ideas began to spread about them. The despisation of white German shepherds by large and distinctive breeders has gone so far that after World War II they began to blame for the cause of various diseases and "bad" natures. Because white individuals with faded nasal sponges and light claws occasionally appeared as they do today, all white German shepherds were wrongly considered albino. These are generally associated with the source of an infinite number of ailments. However, the white German Shepherd, ie the white Swiss Shepherd, is not an albino! He has only white fur, like many other breeds. White individuals have existed "always" and white shepherds were sought after dogs, especially to flocks of sheep. Due to their color, they were unmistakable with wolves and the herders were very satisfied with them. They could not afford to endure sick or weak individuals.

The resentment and slander of some German Shepherd breeders against white individuals of this breed went so far that the breeders began to be ashamed of the white German Shepherds and usually secretly spent all the white puppies immediately after birth. Even though not everyone behaved like that, their offspring were unlucky anyway. Those who were not spent were eventually disqualified at the shows, as in 1968 the white coat color was deleted from the permissible colors listed in the German Shepherd's standard. And so, in a very short time, the white Shepherds literally disappeared from the public eye.

Migration Europe - America and back

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Anne Tracy brought several differently colored individuals, including white German Shepherds, to America from a visit to the Habsburgs, and, excited about their nature, decided to breed them. A film called The White Shadow, whose main character was a white German Shepherd, contributed to the popularity of white German shepherds in America.

Even in America, a pointless mania got to exclude white-colored German Shepherds from breeding. Fortunately, they found a better solution here. Furthermore, they bred all color varieties of the German Shepherd, with the fact that the white-colored individuals were bred separately from the colors of the others. It was in America and Canada that the white-colored German Shepherds found great support and many supporters.

Not only the Canadian Kennel Club has joined the despised white German shepherds. In 1964, the first club for the white German Shepherd was established in Sacramento, California. Since 1968, none of the club and union, except for the aforementioned Kennel Club, has registered white German Shepherds in herd books. White German Shepherds have not been talked about for a long time in Europe, and it has been thought that after the uncompromising elimination of all white shepherds, they are lost in the river of time.

They finally "returned" to Europe in 1970. A dog named Lobo White Burch, born