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Date Posted: 15:44:36 12/24/02 Tue
Author: No name
Subject: Health & Longevity

When we got our white male, I heard & read all the bad stuff about 'albino' Dobermans. Of course mine wasn't albino, but the people doing all the talking were referring to him as one. They said that whites ('albinos') don't live past 4 years of age, most are deaf & blind, yada yada....this was in the young years, and as the years passed, they changed their tune and began saying that, 'no, they aren't deaf or blind, they are 'partial albinos', but they all have bad temperaments, terrible conformation, less than stellar health, and they don't live past 7 or 8 years of age.' We found this to also be untrue.
Our male passed all his health testing-
OFA hips excellent, thyroid normal, his eyes and heart checked out okay, and he's vWD carrier. He will be 9 years old in February 2003. He is healthy and happy. His conformation is good; his angles are slightly open in front, but many of the Dobes have less than perfect fronts. His brisket is a bit shallow also, he would never get a championship even if he was a colored Dobe, but his conformation is NOT shabby. He doesn't have an inordinate amount of faults or deviations in comparison to well bred colored Dobes. His temperament is true to the Doberman breed.
I believe that with a little care, the white Doberman conformation can be the same in quality as their colored showring counterparts. As for health issues, I don't feel that there is a separate white Doberman health issue- other than the normal health issues that all Dobermans face; hips, heart, CVI, cancer, etc. These health problems don't have color barriers; they are inherent to the Doberman breed as a whole. With today's technology, there's no reason that we can't improve Doberman health across the board. The same with conformation- poor conformation is not based on color. With selective breeding, the whites can be put together as good as the dogs in the showring.
Partial albino is like being partially pregnant. You either have pigment or you don't.
Our white Dobes have light creme bodies, white markings, blue irises, and BLACK pupils. They may be pigmentally challenged, but they are NOT colorless; which is what the word Albino means- 'no color'. How can a dog be partially colorless? You have color, or you don't. So the word albino is not an accurate word to use when describing a white Doberman, even if the 'haters' say, 'partial'. The truly educated ones agree that the white Doberman is more accurately described as a cremello (creme is a color, blue is a color).
We have been told more lies by those who profess to be 'educated', those people who use 'facts' about 'albinos' to describe a dog that is NOT albino- not colorless. Their facts are being twisted to fit their agenda IMO. I listened to all the 'facts' from the time we brought home our white Doberman. We were for a 'FACT' lied to by the haters. The few parts that we found to be true were:
1.) photosensetivity (From networking and comparisson of notes from other owners and breeders, we have found that photosensitivity does not occur in all white Dobermans- only about 50% squint in bright sunlight)
2.) fair skin which needs protection from inordinate exposure to sun (ordinary exposure such as living the life of a dog has NOT proved to be a problem, nor has it required special care such as sun screen. By inordinate exposure, I am talking about being at the beach all day, or at a dogshow with no shade all day- This is inordinate exposure, and requires the use of sunscreen especially on the dog's nose.)
I don't consider these two items to be health issues, but some people do. And that is the TRUTH from what I have observed and learned over the years.

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