White American Shepherd Dog

The White Shepherd as we know it today can be considered a dog of international origin and development, with several countries
having a marked influence upon the formulation of the breed. The history of this noble dog has been mired and to an extent fostered
by the political environments from which it emerged from a white coated GSD to a White Shepherd. Being somewhat of a paradox,
those very factors which had the greatest potential to extinguish the existence of the white coated German Shepherd Dog ended up
providing the very avenue in which the White Shepherd breed was able to be developed and grow as a separate and unique breed of
dog.

Throughout the 1970’s and into the 1990’s, parallel efforts to preserve and promote the white coated dog took place. In Europe,
where the white coated GSD was no longer acceptable and almost eliminated, the White Shepherd was re-introduced by the
importation of what was referred to as the ”American-Canadian White Shepherd”. A dog benefitting from these early preservation
efforts, AKC registered GSD, Lobo White Burch, whelped in 1967, was to be exported to Switzerland and later to be considered as the
progenitor of the White Swiss Shepherd Breed in Switzerland. He along with other imported dogs mostly from the United States and
Canada, but also England were used as the foundation dogs to establish the new breed there. The identity for the new breed and the
ability to establish the dogs as their own breed was facilitated in Europe because these dogs were no longer permitted to be
registered as German Shepherd Dogs there. Since 1991, the Berger Blanc Suisse or White Swiss Shepherd has been registered as a
new breed in appendix of the Swiss Stud Book (LOS).

Conversely, in the United States and Canada, what started out as an effort to preserve the white coated German Shepherd Dog within
the GSD breed after the color white became a disqualifying fault, evolved into the establishment of a separate and unique breed
outside of the GSD breed now known as the White Shepherd. In 1995, some members of the original White German Shepherd Dog
clubs formed the American White Shepherd Association (AWSA) to promote worldwide recognition and acceptance of the White
Shepherd as a separate and distinct breed of working and herding dog. AWSA along with the White Shepherd Club of Canada
(WSCC), originally established in 1971, have been diligently working to establish the White Shepherd as a distinct breed in the