Western NC Blue Ridge Mtns
Blue GSD info
As always color is the icing on the GSD cake
The first blue GSD I saw was a puppy. It was so obvious that this puppy was blue and it was the only one in the litter. It was already sold and so was I. I then met Dawn Malcolm as I was looking for a traditional colored show type stud male. Dawn shared with me that she has a solid blue male and had a strong love for the livers and blues too. We became best friends, and Dawn found the blue / liver yahoo (before FB was around) chat list and suggested I join. That was 12 years ago and our friendship is still very strong.
I am glad we joined the Yahoo email group as I met some great people who were as interested in sharing in the goals I have set forth (expanding the blue gene pool). With the help of many friends I incorporated various GSD with the blue gene to start my own lines. Over the years all have proven to be a valuable asset not only because of their color but because of their various personalities, health and structure. Some needed physical traits improved, others needed tweaking in the personality department to be what I feel is an ideal companion bred GSD (which is what most average families need). Here is a list of the blues I have owned over the years:
- Navy - Solid blue male, carries long coat - retired
- Chicory - Blue / tan female, carries white - retired
- CorDawn Blue sable female, carries white - retired
- Iris - Blue / tan long coat, imported from the UK -retired
- Fraiser - Blue / red sable, unrelated. - retired
- Pand-Z - Blue / tan panda, rehomed to another kennel
- Solomon Blue/silver/creme long coat; rehomed with another kennel
- Jasper Blue/red long coat male unrelated to everyone; back with his breeder
- Faline Blue/Fawn female, carries white daughter of Glenda and Navy, rehomed to another kennel
- Blue Belle - Blue/tan with white spotting gene born here daughter of CorDawn Blue & Fraiser, rehomed to another kennel
- Charlie - Blue sable, brindle panda male - son of Pandamonium & Helga; one of our studs rehomed to another kennel
- Tanzie - is currently the only blue I have in my program. She is a blue brindle born here. Many of my others carry the blue gene.
- Tanzietu - is Tanzies blue fawn daughter, her father is Miner so she carries long coat and can carry liver from her father. She is a puppy and will be included in the program as she matures.
How did blue get into the GSD gene pool?
Blue GSD are a naturally occurring color within the GSD gene pool. The color has been apart of the original gene pool from the start. The color is listed on the registration certificate as the GSD club within AKC recognize that this is a color that is carried by many GSD and should be acknowledged as it’s genetic coloration. The puppies born of a blue GSD that are expressing the color blue themselves are born a very striking shade of blue.
Shades of blue
Blue is a dilution of black. It is lighter than black, and in some cases, it is very apparent that they are still blue as adults. The puppies are born a very pretty shade of blue and many of them turn to almost like a steel gray black as adults. Others are a lighter shade of blue. None the less the gene responsible for blue in the GSD is the D gene. D = dilution. Again, blue is a dilution of black.
Therefore blue GSD are unable to produce any black on the dog. Every where traditionally seen black is, is blue with the dog has the D gene. Including the nose leather, eye rims, lips, and paw pads (will all be a dark shade of blue and not black). When puppies are young their eyes appear to be very brilliant blue (as all puppies are born with blue eyes) but they do change over to a light yellow wolf eye or even to an amber orange eye as they mature.
Is your GSD blue or carry blue?
Feel free to send me a picture of your puppy or dog you feel may be blue. Keep in mind blue is the color, the patterns can be solid, sable, saddle, with and without other patterns (panda, brindle, white spotting ect...). Do you want to know for sure if your GSD is blue or carries blue? There are several color testing companies out there and we have used a few different companies our selves. The most recent company we have used is Embark. Not only does it test for all colors, it screens for several genetic diseases all in one test. We will be using this on many of our dogs in the next year. Thank you Embark for creating such a valuable tool for breeding.