Stop Buying Off-Standard German Shepherds

The German Shepherd Dog is a regal-looking, well-loved dog. They have a running gait that covers massive amounts of land in very few strides. Their bite force is something to flinch at. Their beautiful structure makes everyone who sees them drool. And the puppies!

But the love we have for GSDs has led to greedy, irresponsible, so-called “backyard breeders” (or BYBs for short) to breed GSD puppies for profit. This means overbreeding of females, no health testing of parents before pairing them for mating, and the parents as well as the puppies are lucky if they ever see a veterinarian. These are also the types of breeders whose puppies end up in shelters, because BYBs rarely, if ever, take back sold puppies who can no longer be kept by the people who bought them.

The trend of BYB shepherd has also led to off-standard coat color genetics popping up. Have you ever seen a GSD with liver (brown) coloring? Or a dog who appears almost black-and-white due to excessive dilution of their red gene, making the usually red or tan part a very pale color called “silver”? Or perhaps you’ve been taken in by how cute a “panda” German Shepherd looks, or the pure, sparkling look of a fully-white GSD?

All of those listed colorings are considered “faults” on the GSD breed standard, and are not naturally-occurring in the breed. BYBs dub them as simply being “rare” colorings or markings, when actually they’re off-standard and a sign of bad breeding.

Why is this bad? Why does the breed standard matter? Well, because the breed standard USUALLY (we’re ignoring pugs, pekingese, English bulldogs, and other severely brachycephalic breeds for argument’s sake) exists to keep the breed healthy and to also define what the goal of a breeding program should be. The breed standard may not always be met to exactitude with live dogs (some will vary in phenotypes, some will have an off-standard temperament, some may be the wrong height or weight), but it is the goal which should be aimed for by all breeders. If a breeder is purposely creating off-standard colors in their breed, and marketing these colors as “rare” instead of removing dogs carrying those color genes from their breeding stock, this is always BYB activity. They could have the puppies well vaccinated and everything, but by breeding colors that are not supposed to happen within the breed, they are breeding irresponsibly.

What many people do not realize is that off-standard colorings and markings come with health problems. Blindness, deafness, organ and heart deformities, other birth defects, and even neurological disorders have all been associated with off-standard colorings in various breeds of dogs, including GSDs. If certain color genes didn’t carry dangerous health implications for that breed, then color wouldn’t be a part of breed standards in general (again, ignoring the breed standards which are over-the-top or excessively picky).

The next time you see an off-standard color on a dog, write a mental note never to buy from that dog’s breeder. Supporting BYBs contributes to dogs who have devastating health problems, behavioral issues, and “purebred” dogs who fill up spaces at animal shelters. You vote with your dollars. If you want to “rescue” BYB dogs, go to a rescue group. All of the dogs there will be backyard bred, as reputable, responsible breeders make you sign a contract when you buy a puppy from them that the pup MUST be returned to them and not rehomed to a third party or surrendered to a shelter if you can no longer care for the puppy at any age for any reason. And even if that contract is broken by the buyer, the dogs are microchipped with the breeder’s address as a backup contact in the event the dog is lost or surrendered, and the breeder will take the dog into their custody and either keep them as a pet or try to rehome the dog themself. This makes sure their dogs only go to the type of home they want their dogs in, to reduce risk of the dog becoming neglected, bred inappropriately, abused, etc.

(Pictured is a “black-and-silver” GSD)