White German Shepherd health or temperament issues? Health

Can I just but in here and ask you please Dyanne about this dwarfism? Would you KNOW if you had a gsd that was a dwarf then? At what age would you know it? Would you know it because the dog had not developed in the right way and looked like a "dwaf" gsd?? I'm only interested! Would you recognise it in say, a puppy you were purchasing, or would you not realise it until that puppy was say 6 months old or something? I'm very interested in this coz I never heard of it before in the gsd, so thanks!

Dwarf GSDs are obvious to an experienced GSD owner or breeder. They are very very small when born & never catch up with the other puppy(ies). They usually have very "foxy"heads & by the time they are 6 months old they can have lost all their body coat, leaving them looking like "Chinese Crested" i must say I have never seen either in the flesh or in photographs of a correct coated dwarf GSD.

A novice buyer could be"fooled"into thinking that the puppy was just small, but when I saw my friends Dwarf puppy at 6 weeks it was already obvious to me. I didn't say anything at the time to her & in fact she was waiting for the results of the then test to confirm the puppy was a Dwarf. This was less than 2 years ago before the DNA test became available. She was heart broken, because the mother was her only breeding bitch, her other two being Mother & G Mother to to her. My friend has kept her puppy & another friend has the puppy's only brother, who has been castrated, he is just the opposite to the bitch, he's oversized !

Can't wait to see piccies of this white puppy, I know it will just make me very broody lol

i'm happy i'm not the only one that hadn't heard! and a bit dissapointed that i started to feel a bit worried, TBH i'm just gonna enjoy the experience, i'm not buying from a BYB or someone that doesn't know what they are talking about and i really dont want to make this fantastic experience a bad one! i have researched the pedigree have contact numbers from owners of previous litters and feel i have done all i can! i cant wait to get my pup and will show you all pics, when i first started the thread i wanted to see if whites had any behaviour traits really any different and the skin condition was useful thank you!

... and you must NOT let it ruin your experience either!!!!! You have done everything right, you know what you're doing, you know what you want, so just go ahead and do it. Sometimes this forum can worry you with all the information that gets thrown at you, but everybody means well, just that a lot of peops on here are so very experienced and just want you to know about the pitfalls, which of course, sometimes is very helpful, but you can't help but worry sometimes when you get too much information I know the feeling, bit like when you start Googling isn't it! I remember my vet telling me once that he's gonna come round my house and break my keyboard in half!!!! Lol!

You just carry on as you are, I'm sure we've convinced you with your original question that there are no adverse problems with the colour white in a gsd, and as I said before, I can vouch for it 100% with my gorgeous soppy bear. I can't wait to see pics coz of course, I didn't have mine from a puppy, but if I had, he would have melted my heart even faster I'm sure of that! Carry on getting all excited as you should be, I know I would!

thank you helena, i will def enjoy it and i promise to over load this site with pics! xxx

There is an article in 2009 Seiger suppliment (that came with Our dogs) about dwarfism in the gsd. i was told that they are sometimes referred to as 'blue pups'