The Panda Shepherd is in fact a piebald German Shepherd which has occurred in single GSD line. This unique dog is 35% white and rest is black and tan in colour. It is a spontaneous mutation and has no White German Shepherds in its ancestry. This unique dog came into existence through a natural genetic mutation. On October 4, 2000, a liter of German Shepherd puppies were whelped. The father was a traditional black and tan saddle patterned dog, and the mother was solid black. In this litter, there was a "Panda Shepherd" with black/tan/white colouring. The breeder, Cindy McCann, was shocked at what she saw with one of the puppies- it was unlike any other German Shepherd she had ever seen. DNA testing proved that the newly born unique puppy, named Franky, was all in all a GSD without any other bloodlines from White GSD or any other breed. The same dogs, that gave birth to Franky, were matted three more times but all resulting litter were traditionl black and tan puppies. Upon maturity, Franky, the female Panda Shepherd, was crossed with traditional black and tan GSD. Out of four resulting puppies, three had the unique black/tan/white colouring but lacked blue eyes of Franky. The piebald GSDs were given the name Panda Shepherds.
These dogs stand between 24-26 inches and weigh 75-95 lbs. They come with a proportionate wedge-shaped head, strong skull and moderate length muzzle that broadens towards tip. Medium size almond shaped eyes with ice blue to brown colour hold keen and intelligent expression. Moderate size ears are pointed and erect. This dog breed has a square body with relatively short but strongly built straight back, strong and broad loin and deep chest with well sprung ribs. Bushy and long tail hangs straight down or slightly curves when the dog is at rest. The Panda Shepherd has medium length, harsh and close-fitting outer coat with fine and dense undercoat. Colouring should be no more than 40% white and rest should be red/tan/silver or sable.
This breed is NOT recognized by AKC or any other major kennel club.
