Introduction

Meet Remy, the White Shepherd

Meet Remy, the bundle of joy that has proved to be a medical basket case.

Some background on this breed:
Remy is a White Shepherd/White German Shepherd.  I often get asked if he is albino, or if he is pure bred.  The white color is not due to the albinism gene, it is a masking gene.  This means that when two white German Shepherds have puppies, all of their dogs will be white.  The white color actually covers up the "true" color, so for all we know, Remy could be a sable in color, or a black and tan.  No matter the color, he is still a German Shepherd, he just happens to be a color that is more rare than most.

The white color was introduced into this breed when the creator, Max von Stephanitz was choosing his stock for breeding around 1899.  Max was on a mission to create a great dog, and didn't care about color, so one of the foundation dogs for the German Shepherd was white.  This is how the color was introduced into the gene pool.  Later, around 1930s, the color white was considered a disqualification, and has been the case since.  This is the reason a white German Shepherd is less common.

Remy:
We brought Remy home in May 2010, he was a bit over 10 weeks old.  We were so happy to have him, but little did we know that we would be in store for a medical roller coaster.  We recently found out that he has Addison's disease, which is a hereditary ailment that afflicts the adrenal gland.  This is a manageable disease, and prognosis is good, and here's to hoping he is on the road to recovery.

This Blog:
This blog will be a place to look at cute puppy photos, and watch Remy grow.  I will also share funny, sad, baffling, and any other story I can think of that has happened in his life up to this point and into the future.