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Neigepearl breeder, Brooke Taylor, was founder and President
(2000-2006) of the first official club in Australia (now called the White
Swiss Shepherd Association of Australia – WSSDCA), and is now involved in the
White German Shepherd Dog Club of Victoria
(WGSDAV). As well as dedicating over 13 years to planning, developing and
constructing a serious breeding program, Brooke has also been involved with
training her dogs in several disciplines, such as obedience, agility, sheep
herding and tracking. Brooke’s other
strong interests are assisting others with training and behaviour advice and
referrals, ethical breeding education around health and genetics.
Brooke’s enthusiasm, openness, honesty and down-to-earth
attitude, set her apart from many others involved in dogs. Without standing
up for what is right, a community of people can quickly ruin a breed. Over the years, Brooke has worked
selflessly at developing, promoting and improving the Australian bloodlines,
as well as working towards their recognition. Brooke’s 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. The official canine bodies in Australia ceased issuing papers
for White German Shepherd litters in 1995, due to an unofficial change in
litter registration procedures. Although the white coat colour was a
‘disqualifying fault’ in the German Shepherd Breed Standard and show rings,
there was no official rule in place that should have stopped their
registration in 1995. Only 10 years later, rules surrounding litter
registration and allowable colours were put in place. As a result, many
pedigrees of white litters were not kept since 1995, leaving several lines
untraceable. Brooke started the first independent Stud Book for whites (and
white gene carriers) in Australia in 2000 with the help of her friend Jo who
had a hobby club called the Friends of the White Shepherd Club in South
Australia. Brooke set off on a mission to locate and track pedigrees and
whites around Australia. She investigated and located many dogs and their
pedigrees going through historical records in the newspaper classifieds in
Melbourne’s National Library. To unite owners and create a community of
enthusiasts, Brooke created an internet website for a new club, producing
regular newsletters and organising social meeting days.
Brooke’s stud male born in June 2000, Whitepearl Karo was one of the club’s first stud
dogs and held the title of best hip and elbow score for several years. His
pedigree consisted of many ANKC German Shepherds, including ANKC whites, from
when the whites were allowed to be bred from and registered. The gene pool was incredibly low at the
creation of the official breeding program and owners needed a place to come
together and exchange bloodlines. The club provided that avenue for the
breed. Brooke heavily engaged the media regarding the GSD Club’s
recommended breeding practices surrounding the culling of white puppies,
gaining support from animal welfare authorities, international breeders,
providing evidence that there was nothing wrong with white coated GSDs that
required them being destroyed at birth. This media attention subsequently
brought the plight of the White German Shepherd into the spotlight. In 2002, a national television show
‘Burke’s Backyard’ approached Brooke wanting to produce a segment on the
White Shepherd breed. The German
Shepherd Dog Clubs of Australia (and their state clubs) removed the culling
clauses from their breeding practices documentation before the filming
started, in an effort to avoid a public backlash. This was a huge step
forward for the whites. Whilst in the role of President of the WSSDCA (2000-2006),
Brooke worked very hard organising and conducting committee meetings, fun
days and shows, and promoted the breed in magazines, newspapers and on
television. She conducted the development of the Australian breeding program
and corresponded with the kennel clubs in regard to recognition of the
Australian dogs. Brooke felt that in order to produce healthy, quality dogs,
a breed club needed to work together and provide guidelines that reflected
such goals. In the end, Brooke chose to leave the club and resign as
President, as she no longer felt that the club was functioning in a way that
put the health and welfare of the dogs as its first priority. It is hoped that
despite past personal grievances and politics, Australian breeders of both
clubs can assess their motivation and goals in breeding, so they can focus on
what’s best for the breed and move towards the future. Brooke began another club in 2006 for Victorian owners, and
founded the White German
Shepherd Dog Alliance of Victoria, where she advocated a breeding program focused on breeding
healthy, purebred bloodlines. As well as believing firmly in responsible
breeding, the club helps members be responsible canine gurardians
by way of education, training and management. 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 DNA
disease testing. In 2006, Brooke 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 their normal breeding responsibilities.
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 practices within the German Shepherd
clubs 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 For Neigepearl, breeding is an art
form and also obsession to take the breed to levels of quality unseen of in Australia and hopefully
world-wide. Neigepearl are very proud of their breeding program and thus look
forward to a very exciting future! |
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