Early birdFollow

I think we can dispense with "technically".

And since two people mentioned the same silly point: Breed and species are not the same thing. Breed might be more analogous to "ethnicity", but even that isn't correct since we don't specifically breed humans for ethnic traits. Albinism is a completely different thing.

The odds of that happening without previous generations being bred for that specific recessive trait are pretty darn unlikely. Incredibly unlikely, in fact. In 50 years of my mom breeding German Shepherds, not one pup has *ever* been even mostly white, or even partially white, much less "pure white". While it's technically possible, given enough random births among otherwise standard German Shepherds for this to happen (genetics works that way afterall), it's got to be incredibly incredibly rare.

I also doubt seriously that it's just a single gene. Hair color is usually influenced by multiple genes, doubly so with Shepherds given they have two different types of hair. If it was just one recessive gene, even with multiple possible replacements, you'd still expect a statistically significant number of all white dogs to result randomly. And that just doesn't happen.

I did a lot of reading, and in fact, the first (or second) "German Shepherd" was actually sired by a white shepherd. I can't be bothered at the moment to find the site, but I also remember reading that many famous dogs like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie sired white pups in their line. So gbaji stfu.

Also, just for a matter of fact, the breed hasn't even existed for 2 centuries, and, if you can imagine, a lot of the stigma against "white german shepherds" and "unpure genetics" was propaganda by the **** party. Regardless, gbaji, I know you will never go against what any standardized rulebook says, so I have no way of convincing you that white coated GSD's aren't "non-bred or "full-bred" or whatever that means" (sic).

Edited, Aug 11th 2010 11:10pm by Guenny

Sometimes even the tightest bloodlines throw litters with white puppies, or coated puppies, or sable puppies or bi-color or black and tans. It's a lottery. I imagine gbaji's mom just avoids talking to him, assuming the old cUnt has any sense left after spending the last four decades with him in her basement, and thus he's only caught snippets of her wisdom.

I mean, I wouldn't suggest she's just wrong or explained it to her dimwit son inadequately or anything. The woman must be a saint.

Probably had plastic surgery and a good makeup artist.

If there was anything that BT would know about, it's mutts.

When are you guys going to squirt out some puppies of your own?

Too late, I believe the Antichrist is sitting in my lap. With German and Italian ancestry, violent tendencies and a devilish grin, this kid is gonna rock the world.

It's pretty common to just talk about a genetic trait in terms of a "gene" for said trait, even when there's often really a combination of several gene strands involved.



Yeah. People who think that shorts should be acceptable dinner attire are equally passionate about their position. At the end of the day, a whole lot of distinctions in the world are seemingly arbitrary, but that's what makes them the "thing" we label them. For whatever reason, the breed standards for German Shepherds specifies a set of color markings which exclude an all white dog. It's not like coat color distinctions only exist in this one breed. Try insisting that an all white Golden Retriever is a Golden Retriever, and you'll get similar arguments.

At the end of the day, the standards are what define the breed. Without them, it's just a "dog". Some might argue that's peachy, but people buy different breeds for the traits. If someone wants to buy a white german shepherd, they're free to. It's not like there's a law making it illegal for them to call their dog whatever they want. But they're not going to be able to show it, and no one outside a relatively small circle of white shepherd enthusiasts will breed their dogs with yours. Most people don't care about that, so it's a non issue. But for those who do, it's kinda important...



Sure. I see her every week. I'll bring it up. Did I mention she has a degree in biology?

So does my brother, but I know as much as he does about genetics.

But wait. I thought they didn't exist. How can you buy imagination?

You're a fUcking idiot and your mom should have had her cUnt chewed off by German Shepherds before she found the stud sired you.

Are Shepherds with down pasterns no longer Shepherds? How about if my dog loses an ear? I mean, they'd be excused from the ring for failing to meet the standard. Good luck showing your coated Shepherd, or your dog with one ********. What is a Shepherd with one nut called? Is that a collie?

Actually, I thought she was saying that having a degree in biology doesn't automatically mean you know more about genetics than the average person who maybe learned about it in a class or two along the way. But maybe I misunderstood...



Breed is specifically about traits which are bred into the animal in question. Pedigrees are used by breeders to determine which animals are present in the last X generations, allowing for them to examine which traits are present and/or prominent. Showing dogs is important to this process, because the judges are experts at looking at the traits being bred for. A pedigree with more champions in the lineage will mean dogs which are more likely to carry the traits that the breed is supposed to have. Obviously, you're also looking at dogs with health problems which you want to avoid as well.

For most people, a pedigree just means that the dog is certified to be a "pure bred" animal of the breed in question. An annoying trend in pedigrees is handing them out like they're just certificates (which I suppose is all they are to most customers), with just a verification that the dog is pure bred, and maybe with the names of the ***** and stud written down somewhere. Serious breeders will generate pedigrees going back 5 or 7 generations, and maintain large collections of breed books listing all of the registered dogs for that breed. I think my mom has AKC books for Shepherds going back to the 1960s (it's a *huge* collection, and likely worth a hell of a lot). Every single german shepherd registered with the AKC anywhere will appear in those books.

The AKC semi recently began putting their information online (at a pretty serious cost), so times are changing even in the dog world... ;)

FUcking naive. Champions are dogs whose owners hired the most popular handler, or the one with the biggest tits.

Speaking of, if your mom is a breeder in California, chances are we know a lot of the same people. Ask her how Jerry's doing. Art, too.

Edited, Aug 12th 2010 9:25pm by Barkingturtle