Note: This article was written by Donna Beadle of Eclipse Kennels and is posted here with her permission.

Breeding a Better Structured
White German Shepherd Dog

A Study of Structure
By Donna Beadle

One of the things we hear so often is the inconsistency in the German Shepherd Dog’s (GSD) breed type. There are American show dogs, German show dogs, working lines and so on; along with two separate factions of white German Shepherd Dogs (WGSD vs. WS). Everyone has a different idea or opinion as to what the dog should look like. Although standards slightly differ from club to club, it is important that we work as a united front to enhance the structure of our dogs.

In order to bring consistency to the WGSD, it is important for us to use the standard as a guideline and chose dogs that complement each other to achieve puppies as close to the standard as possible. It is important that we are critical of the puppies that we breed and are honest with one another about our dogs’ structural strong and weak points. Showing in conformation and attaining championships is a great way to receive outside opinions of breeding stock. It is always a good idea to get personal critiques, if possible, from judges to understand their perception of a dog’s good and bad traits. Combining judges, breeders and your own perception of your dog’s traits can help you get a full picture of its structure without bias. It is important to remember that no dog is perfect and one must prioritize the features he or she would like to enhance in the line. Strengthening our dogs’ weaknesses while keeping their strengths takes careful planning and a lot of patience. It will not happen overnight.

The comment I hear so often is how the WGSD looks like the American show dogs of the 1960s and 1970s where the top lines were not as extreme. Unfortunately, many WGSD breeders generalize the American show German Shepherd Dog of today as being extreme and unable to work. While there are those show dogs that are extreme, there are also many others who are balanced, can work and carry some top line. These are the dogs that can be of benefit to the rather small WGSD gene pool and help us improve structure and gait.

Using non-white GSDs can enhance the WGSD bloodlines in order to help create more diverse lines and to help the WGSD with breed type. Non-white GSDs can be a huge asset to our breeding programs as long as the dogs chosen are balanced, well tempered and healthy. Although using non-white GSD out-crosses in a breeding program means waiting a generation to produce white, the benefit of using these dogs outweighs the time spent. As the old adage states, “Patience is virtue.”

The features that the American show lines can provide our WGSD lines is adding some top line, correcting our short and steep croups, correcting our high tail sets and gay tail, enhancing our turn of stifle and improving our movement.

 Method

When I decided to write this article, I thought it was important to show the differences of each of the dogs not only in rhetoric but also in imagery. I decided to put Adobe Photoshop to the test to create silhouettes of the dogs I intended on using as case subjects. I felt it would help explain the points if people could see the difference in the dogs’ structure and movement on the same page. It was a learning experience for me and I hope that it is helpful to others.

The dogs used for the silhouettes are real dogs that I felt were a fair representation of each category. The dogs have shown in conformation and have received points in their respective show rings. The dogs used were close to the same age with varying pedigrees. The standard that I make reference to in this article is that of the White German Shepherd Dog Club of America.

 Structure

The GSD standard as well as the WGSD standard calls for an outline of “smooth curves rather than angles”. This is a very important part of the standard and an area that WGSD breeders must pay close attention when picking the dogs they would like to use to improve their lines. One would find the WGSD that had non-white GSD outcrosses to be curvier than the WGSD that has no recent outcross.

When studying the silhouettes one should keep in mind that the top line and croup of the WGSD should be one continuous line. According to the standard, “The croup should be rather long and provide a smooth transition into the tail.” Many times there is a distinction of where the back meets a short, steep croup and where the croup meets the tail. Very regularly in the whites, the dog’s tail set and carriage is high. The dogs on the charts all have good tail sets but there is some discrepancy in the length of croup. The WGSD with out-crosses has a much longer croup, while the WGSD with no out-cross tends to be shorter.

The biggest distinction seen in the chart is the difference in the assembly of the hind legs. This is another area where the WGSD can look to the non-white GSD for improvement. Many whites are lacking sufficient turn of stifle and have an angle of the Tibia (lower thigh bone) that is greater than 90 degrees. This inadequacy hinders the rear drive of the dog at the trot that can be seen on the movement chart and will be explained further in the movement section of this article.

A common problem with all GSDs, regardless of color, is the tendency for a longer hock. The GSD’s hocks should be rather short and straight. It is in the breeders’ best interest to choose dogs with a shorter hock for their breeding programs.

 Movement

According to the standard, “The White German Shepherd Dog is a trotting dog with a gait that is outreaching, elastic, seemingly without effort, smooth and rhythmic, covering the maximum ground with the minimum number of steps.” In order for a dog to move correctly, it must have correct conformation. To show the differences in gait, I took the same three dogs in motion and created silhouettes.

Three areas of consideration are the reach, crossover, follow through and drive. In order to accomplish correct movement, the dog must have correct shoulder and hindquarter angles. Dogs lacking correct angles will not be able to cover the maximum amount of ground since they have less drive, lift and thrust, making their strides shorter.

From the silhouettes, one can see the adequate reach and crossover of the American-lined GSD. The out-crossed WGSD also exhibits a lot of reach and crossover. The WGSD with no outcrosses also shows excellent reach and crossover. A main note would be the difference in drive. The WGSD with outcrosses shows the most balance and even gait where it’s front and back are working in tandem. According to the standard, “The upper thigh bone parallels the shoulder blade while the lower thigh bone parallels the upper arm.” When this is accomplished, movement will be balanced as expressed by the WGSD with out-crosses. The WGSD with no outcross shows a front that is out-reaching its rear. The front angle on this dog is correct but it is not matching the back angle. This can be attributed to the less turn of stifle/lack of adequate angle. In order to have correct movement that covers the greatest amount of ground, the dog’s shoulder angle and stifle angle should be 90-degree angles. In a case where the front is out-reaching the rear, the hind angle is greater than 90-degrees. This also contributes to the high rear.

The WGSD with no outcross also exhibits a tail that breaks the horizontal plane. As stated in the standard, “When the dog is excited or in motion, the curve maybe accentuated and the tail raised, but it should never curl forward beyond the vertical line.” High tails and tail sets plague WGSDs and should be considered an area of improvement.

 Other Areas of Consideration

There are other areas that crossing to non-white GSDs can help the WGSD. A major area of consideration is pigment. Many of our whites exhibit a paling of nose, eye rim, lips and paw pad coloring. By bringing in richly pigmented GSDs, we can help correct the problem.

Another area for improvement is eye-shape. WGSDs tend to have rounder, protruding eyes. According to the standard eyes should be, “Dark as possible, medium sized, almond-shaped, set a little obliquely and not protruding.” Most of the non-white, show ring GSDs exhibit the correct shape and size of eye.

Adding more dogs to the gene pool that have plusher coats would also be of benefit. Many WGSDs exhibit incorrect coat length that tends to be on the shorter side all over their body. They tend to be missing the longer hair generally found on the neck and rear of the forelegs and hind legs. Many of the GSDs shown in the show ring exhibit a plusher coat. Breeding to these dogs can help us correct our coat length.

Non-white show GSDs tend to have longer tails which can help add to the rather short tails many of our WGSDs express. The standard calls for a tail that has “the last vertebrae extended at least to the hock joint.” Many of our WGSD’s tails just make it to the hock joint. Although not a major concern, out-crossing can help bring length to the WGSDs tail.

 Areas of Concern

Non-white GSDs can help our lines but we also must understand the areas of weakness many of the show lines have as to not introduce undesirable traits into our gene pool. Of course each dog has its fault, it is a matter of if the mate can help correct that fault.

Many of the show line GSDs tend to have weaker pasterns, splayed feet or hare feet. These traits seem to be less common in the WGSD and it would definitely be the type of trait we would like to keep uncommon in our breed. It makes sense to only introduce non-white GSDs into the gene pool that display correct pasterns and feet.

Some of the show line GSDs have top lines that are way too extreme. It is not necessarily bad to bring some top line in but it is important that the dog is not hindered by having too much stifle and angle. After all, the goal is to produce balanced dogs that can work.

Movement faults must also be an area of consideration. Some show line dogs have incorrect structure and movement in the hind end such as cow hocks and locked hocks. It is very important that dogs used to enhance our whites are clean both in the rear and front. It definitely seems in the show lines more dogs are not clean in the rear than in the front end.

Temperament is also a major concern. It is apparent that weak temperaments are common in both the GSD and WGSD. In order to continue to strengthen temperament, it is necessary for us to be careful when evaluating our puppies for breeding purposes. Some show line GSDs have very nervous, timid temperaments. Dogs of this temperament should not be a high consideration for bringing into the gene pool.

 German Dogs and Working Lines

Although this article puts emphasis on using show line, non-white GSDs, it is also important to remember the other types of non-white GSDs that can also help us improve our lines. German Dogs and working lines have many qualities such as stronger heads, solid structure, richer pigment, better health, higher drive and stable temperaments that when combined with our WGSDs can be complementary. There is a growing trend in the show GSD world where breeders are combining the American and German lines in order to accomplish more balanced and stronger tempered offspring. Many of the resulting puppies have been beautiful in structure and temperament. There have also been some WGSD breeders that have out-crossed using German lines that have had the same type of result.

 Conclusion

In order to improve our dogs, it is crucial that we understand the structure of our own breeding stock so we can choose complimentary mates. It is very possible to find good quality German Shepherd Dogs to help us correct the areas in which our dogs need improvement. We must be very conscious of the decisions we make when choosing a non-white mate to improve our dogs. First and foremost, we cannot sacrifice health and temperament as the objective is to breed the total package. It is important to learn as much as possible about the dogs being brought into our gene pool as we know the GSD breed is plagued with very serious inheritable traits and diseases.

In closing, our dogs have come a long way due to the strict guidelines many breeders have set to produce dogs as close to the standard as possible. With a little more work and patience our dogs will keep on improving and become more consistent in type. The key is to continue to educate each other on the strengths and weaknesses of our dogs. Together we can accomplish great things!