NEIGEPEARL Shepherds

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About Neigepearl Neigepearl breeder, Brooke Taylor, was founder and President (2000-2006) of the first White Shepherd Club in Australia, and is now involved in the White German Shepherd Dog Club of Victoria (WGSDAV). As well as dedicating over 12 years to constructing a serious breeding program, Brooke has also been involved with her dogs in obedience, agility, sheep herding, tracking and dogsport/schutzhund. Brooke also assists many other owners and WGSDAV club members with training and behaviour, which are also some of Brooke’s strong interests. What do I breed? Political concerns... I abide by the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) recommendation whereby I refer and advertise my dogs as “White German Shepherd Dogs” and NOT “White Swiss Shepherd Dogs”. No Australian-bred dogs are registered as “White Swiss Shepherd Dogs” by the ANKC at this point in time. To be able to refer to your dogs as “White Swiss Shepherd Dogs”, you must have an official ANKC pedigree. There are 33 advertised breeders of “White Swiss Shepherds” in Australia. ONLY 12 of these breeders have legitimate White Swiss Shepherd Dogs with an ANKC pedigree. If you want a purebred dog, beware of breeders false advertising what their dog really is. I have exported several dogs to Europe who have been re-registered there as FCI White Swiss Shepherd Dogs. These dogs of mine and their offspring are used in the FCI breeding program and are now spread throughout Europe. Strangely enough, the kennel club in our own country (ANKC) does not officially recognise and register our dogs, though many conform to the FCI White Swiss Shepherd Breed Standard. The ANKC has not yet given permission for our dogs to be registered as White Swiss Shepherds due to many political reasons. I will continue to uphold the very best breeding ethics and produce excellent dogs, using our original foundation blood lines and excellent imported lines, since we have the flexibility to build our breeding program to a great genetic diversity. I belong to a breed club (WGSDAV) who uphold the tightest breeding controls, has the best health statistics and cleanest studbook of any Australian club supporting the breed. For now, we can only do our best with our dogs in training and working and wait for a time where our dogs will be officially recognised like the rest of the world. Brookes journey into the breed, first started in 2000, when she learnt of the controversy of the white German Shepherd and that they were commonly (and cruelly) culled at birth. Brooke passionately pursued the media about this horrible practice and promoted the dogs as equals, despite their unacceptable coat colour. In 2002, due to national television and media awareness Brooke created, the German Shepherd Dog Clubs of Australia and their state clubs removed the culling clauses from their breeding practices documentation. Brooke’s enthusiasm, straight-forward personality, conduction of facts, confidence and honesty to prove points without ego, personal gain and politics getting in the way, set her apart. Brooke worked very hard at developing and improving the Australian bloodlines as well as breed promotion and recognition. Culling a perfectly healthy working dog, based on colour/coat alone, is a mind-set not uncommon throughout the dog breeding communities. Brooke’s education against these practices has made several of these breeders stop and think and hopefully, progress with the times. Brooke was President of the White Shepherd Association of Australia (now called White Swiss Shepherd Dog Club of Australia) from 2000 until the time she resigned in 2006. In the beginning, records were required to be kept in order for the pedigrees to continue, so Brooke started the first independent Stud Book for whites (and white gene carriers) in Australia. Brooke tracked down several old ANKC lines and pedigrees through historical records in the advertisement archives in the National Library. She then started a website for the club inviting White German Shepherd owners to come together with their dogs. She registered the club officially as an Association and formed the Club’s committee and it all went forward from there. Brooke’s male, Whitepearl Karo was one of the first stud dogs and held the record for best hip and elbow score for several years and produced some excellent quality offspring for the club and breed in its early stages. Brooke now runs a club for Victorian owners, the White German Shepherd Dog Alliance of Victoria, where she advocates a breeding program focused on serious breed improvement, using certified purebred pedigrees and strictly better (lower) hip and elbow scores. It was important to create a community for the ordinary dog lover, with fun social events and education, as well as better and stricter breeding practices for the ultimate goal of breed improvement. Brooke vigorously promotes responsible pet ownership, stressing the importance of proper training and socialisation, creating responsible, sociable, stable companions in temperament. Neigepearl dogs and their offspring do very well at club conformation shows and have produced several pups that have gone on to compete in obedience, agility and herding. Above all though, they are well-loved family pets. To learn more about the Neigepearl Breeding Program over the years, click here. Currently, Neigepearl only have their original White German Shepherd, Whitepearl Karo, who is going strong at 12 years old. The dogs in the Neigepearl breeding program are co-owned (and spoilt!) by well-trusted friends/co-owners. All stud work and litters are managed by Neigepearl, only after passing stringent health and temperament testing and proving themselves worthy of producing another generation worthy of the Neigepearl name. Neigepearl continues to provide the same guarantees in their exclusive breeding program, ensuring that the dogs don’t end up in puppy mills or with backyard breeders or Neigepearl lines being mixed with unscrupulous bloodlines and breeders. Neigepearl Kennels proudly preserves the magnificent heritage of whites as German Shepherd Dogs, a working breed. Many of the Neigepearl lines go right back to the first ever registered German Shepherd Dog in Germany 100 years ago. The lines we use are 100% purebred and we use a combination of fully registered American, English, German and Australian pedigrees with many working titles. There are not many other Australian blood lines who can boast such legitimacy and titles! Brooke has been heavily involved in all aspects of the breed in Australia and is involved with breed improvement on a worldwide scale. She is also a certified DNA collector with Genetic Technologies and advocates disease testing in Australia and New Zealand. In 2006, she was invited to be a member by the committee of the Master Dog Breeders Association (MDBA), a first for any breeder in Australia to get an invite to. The MDBA is an Australian organization promoting elite and ethical dog breeding and educational courses for breeders who go above and beyond normal breeding responsibilities. For Neigepearl, breeding is an art form and also obsession to take the breed to levels of quality unseen of in Australia. We are extremely proud of our breeding program and thus look forward to a very exciting future! Neigepearl dogs have appeared in the Australian media i.e. television and also major magazines/newspapers educating the public about the breed. 2002: Herald Sun newspaper article on culling 2002: Burkes Backyard Roadtest on TV 2002: Totally Wild segment on TV 2003: Herald Sun newspaper article 2006: Adore a New Breed magazine 2005/2006: National Dog magazine & Dogs Life magazine 2008: Herald Sun newspaper feature article for Damien & Jenna A.I. pups 2009: Herald Sun newspaper feature article for Super and Indy A.I. pups 2010: Local rural newspaper – Neigepearl Superb Vitality winner photo competition 2011: National Dog magazine article/s Photos from Totally Wild filming with White Buffalo Cheyenne

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