White Swiss Shepherds (Berger Blanc
Suisse)
People
call their white shepherds by many names the common
ones are White German Shepherd, White Shepherd or
White Swiss Shepherd.
But for the purpose of writing the
history to me there is no correct or incorrect name.
It is a much debatable politiclal issue amongst owners
but we will not get into that here.!
Other known Names:
White Shepherd
Dog
White Swiss Shepherd Dog
White German Shepherd
White German Shepherd Dog
Weiße Schäferhunde
Weisser Schweizer Schäferhund
The Start of the Breed
The
Rome man of letters and chronicler Marcus Terentius
Varro (100 B.C.) described in his chronicles the advantage
of white shepherds that are thanks to their colour
easily recognizable from wild animals.
Later even old Roman farmer and writer Columella (around
40 A.D.) required the shepherds to be white because
they were more visible to shepherds at dusk so they
could not confuse dogs and wolves.
The first recognized and exhibited
German shepherd of white colour was a dog named Greif
von Sparwasser who was born in 1879 and first seen
at the Hanover Show in 1882 and again at the same
show in 1887.
Twelve months later at the 1888 Hamburg Show Greifa,
another white was exhibited, and at the Cassel Show
in 1889 yet another white named Greif2 was exhibited.
All three exhibited white shepherds had one owner;
the baron von Knigge.
Von Knigge gained Greif from Frankfurt breeder Friedrich
Sparwasser's kennel, hence the name Greif von Sparwasser.
Greif was later to be mated with a female dog --Lotta
von Sparwasser - -who then whelped a litter that included
a wolf-grey colored female named Lene von Sparwasser.
Both Greif and Lotta had the distinctive up-right
ears that we see in the modern German Shepherd Dog
breed, but which was uncommon in shepherding dogs
of that time.
Later, the wolf-grey female dog Lene --who retained
the genetics for up-right ears and the white coat
colour --was coupled with a dog named Kastor. From
this copulation came Hektor von Linksrhein.
Progeny of Greif von Sparwasser
from 1906 clipping
Enter Max von Stephanitz
Max von Stephanitz was a career cavalry
officer and spent some time serving at the Veterinary
College in Berlin. Here he gained valuable knowledge
about biology, anatomy, and the science of movement
all of which he later applied to the breeding of dogs.
He was promoted to Captain in 1898 and shortly after
took his release.
Rittmeister Max von Stephanitz purchased
property near Grafrath in the 1890s where he began
experimenting with dog breeding. He used many of the
techniques utilised by English dog breeders of the
period. He was primarily interested in improving the
German shepherding dogs because they were local and
were the working dogs of his time. Stephanitz enjoyed
attending dog shows and observed that there were many
different types of shepherding dogs in use in Germany
but there was no breed standardization. He greatly
admired those dogs with a wolf-ish appearance and
prick ears who also were intelligent, had sharp senses
and willingness to work and believed that he could
create a better working dog that could then be used
throughout Germany.
He purchased his first dog Hektor
Linkrshein in 1899 and changed his name to Horand
von Grafrath. Horand was used as "the" primary
breeding stud by Stephanitz, and is the foundation
of the German Shepherd breed as we know it.
On the 22nd of April, 1899 Stephanitz
founded the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde
(German Shepherd Dog Club) later shortened to just
S.V with his friend Artur Meyer. Three sheep masters,
two factory owners, one architect, one mayor, one
innkeeper and one magistrate joined them as co-founders..
Along with establishing a breed standard the S.V also
developed a Zuchtbuch (Breed Register). Twenty years
later they published the Körbuch (Breed Survey
Book), which determines a dog's suitable for breeding
based on their physical and mental characteristics,
and not based solely on show wins. Under Stephanitz's
guidance the S.V became the single largest breed club
in the world and it was his idea to introduce the
breed to other types of work such as delivering messages,
rescue work, sentry duties, and as personal guard
dogs. The German Shepherd made his world debut in
these roles during the First World War.
Ironically although the predecessors
of the founder of the widest spread breed were white,
the standard of a modern German shepherd doesn’t
allow white fell.
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Horand von Grafrath
(aka Hektor Linkrshein)
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At the end of 19th century
high positioned Habsburks took fancy to white shepherds.
They went well with white horses. By their opinion
they raised interest in white colour at other powerful
families e.g. at the German Hohenzollerns.
The fact that the predecessors of German shepherd
were white was confirmed just in first litters. In
the first 15 years of pedigreed breed of German shepherd
had more than half of 30 chosen dogs white sprigs.
Heritable genes were carried over. Many of Horand’s
grandsons kept up including Bern von der Seewies that
was born in 1913 and was the first white German shepherd
registered in the bred book.
In the same year in USA Anne Tracy Skofield founded
with dogs imported to USA already in 1912 "German
Shepherd Dog Club of America"
Her affection to white dogs is not
accidental. This lady was a niece of Bigelow, a friend
of William II. She made visits with her uncle and
got to know shepherds of Hohenzollerns. She decided
to dedicate to their breed in overseas. Her first
dog registered in the bred book was snow-white Stonyhurst
Edmund.
snow-white Stonyhurst Edmund
Max von Stephanitz was interested
mainly in the character and diligence of a dog. He
didn’t find the colour important. He had nothing
against the idea of excluding the white dogs from
breed, which was enforced in 1933. From then there
were no interest in white shepherd in Europe for many
years. Fortunately, they were imported to America
in time. The Rockefeller family imported several chosen
German shepherds and bred black and white line in
their luxurious kennels.
American breeder’s society also
excluded white colour from the standard in 1968. As
the white type had a lot of fans in America, they
decided to carry on with its breeding.
One year later A Club of white German
shepherd was founded in Sacramento. Special exhibitions
of white shepherds took place even in Canada, which
didn’t exclude the white colour from the standard
but indicated it as undesirable.
Disputes still had carried on and
clubs kept changing their names. At the end "White
German Shepherd Club International" was founded
in USA and in Canada (in 1973 they separated from
USA) was founded "The White Shepherd Club of
Canada".
White shepherds returned to Europe
in 1970. Mrs. Agathe Burch brought a 4-year-old dog
Lobo White Burch (*5.9.1966). Mrs. Agathe Burch proved
by passing many exams (including SchH3, LwH3) that
white shepherd is also a working breed.
Lobo White Burch
On 19.4.1973 was born
three dogs and one female dog to a dog Lobo and imported
female dog from England. A female dog Shangrila´s
Sweety Girl later became a mother of Champion von
Kron (*3.4.1980). However, registration to the bred
book was not allowed, puppies were registered in an
additional register (Swiss bred book – SHSB).
Later on Mrs. Agathe Burch imported a female dog White
Beauty from California.
Shangrila´s Sweety Girl
After breeding two litters, Mrs. Agathe
Burch returned to America. The new owner of Lobo became
Swiss Kurt Kron.
Mrs Agathe Burch
Champion von Kron
It took another 10 years before shepherds
found their way to the country of their predecessors
thanks to Martin Faustmann. He soon spread around
whole Europe. In 1993 the first white shepherd was
registered in the Czech republic as American-Canadian
white shepherd.
The International cynology organization
– FCI seated in Brussels from 1.1.2003 acknowledged
white shepherds. FCI group 1, no. 347 (347/18.12.2002)
under the official name Berger Blanc Suisse.
The breed was accepted on a temporary
base. On exhibitions he/she can get FCI titles such
as CACIB, World Exhibition Champion or Sectional Exhibition
Champion.
Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berger_Blanc_Suisse
