Despite the fact that the White Shepherd is still fairly unknown in Holland, the history of this breed goes back a long time. Already in 116 BC Marcus Terrentius Varro, a roman historian, described the Whtie Shepherds. They guarded the hurd against wolves. The herders preferred white dogs because they could be clearly distinguished from the wolves, who mostly attacked at sundown.

North German white shepherd,

The White shepherd is a direct descendant from the German shepherd. The first White shepherd that revealed at a show was the dog Greif, born in 1879. He was shown in 1882 and 1887 in Hannover.  Two White shepherds who appeared on a show at the same time were the bitch Greifa in 1888 in Hamburg and the dog Greif II in Kassel. Breeder of  those three dogs was baron von Knigge. The breeder Friedrich Sparwasser had a  wolfcoloured bitch, named Lotte. Out of the relationship of Lotte and Greif came the bitch Lene. There is nothing mentioned about the colour of her fur. Lene was paired with Kastor and the famous dog Hektor Linksrhein was born. Hektor has been noticed by the German shepherd fanatics Arthur Meyer and troop captain Max E. von Stehpanitz during a show in Karlsruhe and they were lost.  Von Stephanitz bought Hektor and gave him the name Horand von Grafrath. Horand was the first dog entered in het new pedigree of the Verein  für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) which had been founded in april 1899.  He is the ancestor of  the German shepherds. Horands grandfather was the white Greif. Also Horands brother, named Luchs, has contributed a lot on the structure of this breed and passed  the colour white on to many of his descendants. Horands son, the famous Champion von Schwaben continued the white line and one of his descendants, Berno v.d. Seewiese, born in 1913 was the first white German shepherd entered in the SV-book.

In 1912 Ann Tracey from New York imported a German shepherd from one of the most important kennels. Immediatly she became white puppies in her kennel. In 1917 the American Kennel Club registered the first white puppies from Tracey's kennel. Because of the increasing popularity of white shepherds there arised difficulties between the breeders of the white shepherds en those of the standard German shepherds. Genetical problems in the bloodlines of the German shepherds were blamed on the white shepherd. They thought that the white shepherds were responsable for the fading of the fur. This mistakenly, because the White shepherd has an excellent pigment. Around this time also in Germany began a campagne to banisch the white shepherd and in 1968 the American Kennel Club, in cooperation with the German Shepherd Club, disqualified the white shepherd during a show. The white shepherd nevertheless was still registered at the American Kennel Club. In 1970 white shepherd lovers from all over the US founded the White German Shheperd Club. After the USA the breed also preaded in Canaca and Mexico.

In the beginning of the eighties the breed returned to Europe and the restructure in Germany can begin again. At this time dogs from Germany and Canada were imported in Holland. In Holland the breed is named American-Canadian White Shepherd. However, in connection with the recognition by/from the Raad van Beheer there has been risen a problem. To be able to be recognized only one country of origin can be accepted. An other condition is that the breed has been recognized by the land of origin. Nor the US nor Canada recognizes this breed (yet). In July of 1992 the Raad van Beheer, begun to register in a temporary Register. As of May 1999 the A.C. white shepherd is national recognized as white shepherd. This is also the case in Switzerland, Danmark and Austria.

Thus far the history which runs parallel to the history of the German shepherd. As to the charakter, there is a difference between the white and the german shepherd. The white shepherd is more gentle but if necessary will defend his boss. Some white shepherd are somewhat distant to strangers. Because of this many people think that a Saarloos Wolfshond or Canadian wolf are breeded in. This however, is not the case. A distant nature may never lead to shy behaviour. We hope that this breed has a long and healthy life.