Panda German Shepherds are
German Shepherd
The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899.
It was originally bred as a herding dog, for ...
dogs that exhibit a rare genetic mutation that causes white spotting in the traditionally non-white marked breed.
Genetics
The first ever recorded Panda mutation occurred spontaneously in a female dog, Lewcinka's Franka von Phenom, in 2000.
A study published by UCDavis in 2016 found that the Panda marking is the result of dominant mutation of the KIT gene, or the CD117 gene. DNA tested conducted by the American Kennel Club proved her lineage to be, for a fact, a pure German Shepherd Dog.
Panda is a
dominant gene
In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and t ...
. In its homozygous state, the mutation is considered embryonic lethal as no live dog has been observed with it.
Controversy
Due to fact that any white markings is considered a fault for showing,
many German Shepherd fanciers assume that this color as a result of crossbreeding to
Collie
Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
s or similar breeds. Many traditional breeders also believe that this color is from inferior stock, and that many breeders of this coloration are going against th
GSDCA Code of Ethics.
References
-
Panda German Shepherd History
{{German dogs
German shepherds