Western NC Blue Ridge Mtns
50 shades of GSD... not quite but close
~~ Taste the rainbow ~~
The German Shepherd Dog breed is man made. By crossing the areas best sheep dogs to create an agile, versatile, intelligent, easily trained, with loyalty, protection, and dedication canine to help the farmers and their families. What does that have to do with color and patterns?
Everything... since the area sheepdogs came in many colors, and coat types, Max the Breed founder cited 'No good dog is a bad color', there for no matter what color or pattern the dog was if it was sound, mentally and physically, with the inherent traits he was looking for to make the ultimate farm dog it was used.
Colors patterns that can occur in the GSD
Solid - can either be the recessive solid located on the A locus or dominant solid located on the K locus can be either black, blue, isabella, liver, red, creme
2 tone/bi-color - saddle/blanket/bi are the pattern - can come in black, blue, isabella, liver, red, creme
Sable - can come in black, blue, isabella, liver, red, creme, silver
Recessive white spotting - come in both pattern and colors listed above, it is a secondary pattern.
Fawn - can come in black, blue, isabella, liver, red, creme
Panda - dominant white spotting gene can come in all patterns and colors above (except recessive white spotting) as it is a secondary pattern gene.
Brindle - a secondary pattern, as it will also be either saddle, sable, fawn in addition to having the brindle pattern. It can come in black, blue, isabella, liver and can also have a 3rd pattern of white spotting or panda.
Seal - a pattern that is the combination of the dominant solid at the K locus and the dominant Aw Sable locus. Can be any of the above colors.
Hobo - Also known as Grizzle or Domino in other breeds. If you google Littlest Hobo you will see the pattern (wolf like) that this is named after and is very historical. The name Hobo is not official just what has been coined after the famous TV show. The photo to the top right is Diva, she is a long coat with the Hobo pattern.
Unknown white spotting gene- Spring of 2015 I was gifted a male gsd puppy from my bestie in MI, We own named Sabastian (pictured in the top photo and the photo below).
When he was gifted to me by my best friend Dawn, we assumed he had the recessive white spotting gene. However, when he sired his first litter more like him were born. I submitted his DNA to UCDavis to test for both the Recessive white spotting gene and the Panda gene. The results were negative for both, I called, and they ran the test again citing the same results of being negative for both.
With those results and continuing to see more puppies that he sires have the same pattern I have reached out to Embark to see if they can help identify the unknown white spotting gene. In his litters he has produced a puppy with one blue eye, one brown eye. In another litter he has produced a puppy with 2 blue eyes and one with partial blue/brown eyes. This is the same thing that can happen with the original dominant Panda gene. (Franka was born in the fall of 2000).
With so many similarities to the original Panda gene, we are calling it Panda Type 2. Reiterating, the is NOT the same gene as the original Panda type 1.
Since this is a new unidentified pattern, I am looking for other likeminded people that want to explore be included in on working with this new mutation. Meaning you want to have a litter of GSD puppies under a co-ownership (and understand the none of the panda pattern puppies are to be sold with full registration unless to one of the other group members. Please feel free to send me a message and we can talk more. Melisa
No matter what color you choose from us, they are all AKC registered GSD
Open minded, friendly, conservative, and always ready to help, you will not find anyone else out there that will not judge based on color or pattern that can share with you photo's, or educational links on those colors/patterns than myself.
Feel free to send me a message, send a photo or just to say hi. Melisa Smith
*(pictured to the left, solid liver long coat female 'Phoenix'