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ARE WE COLOR BLIND? by Joy Thoms Why not white? The Pekingese Standard was revised in 1995, andthe statement regarding color now reads, “All coat colors and markings, including parti-colors, are allowable and of equal merit”.Obviously, this includes whites, creams, and blacks as well as the parti-colors.In the past, whites and creams have been thought to be inferior to the other colors.Most of us have seen “white pet store Pekingese” that leave a lot to be desired and this has negitively influenced our appreciation of this color.Is it possible to breed a white that is on an even par with the other colors?I think it is. As a breeder of more than 35 years which has included over 100 Champions, I have decided to make it my life work to breed good whites.What does this entail?First of all you must realize that the gene pool for whites (or blacks or partis) is much smaller than that of the "normal” colors.Because of this, we will probably have to be more careful about how we breed.Where do you go to find the beginning of this venture?Since I had several nice creamy white bitches in my kennel, thanks to a strong white gene that one of my best males carried, I proceeded to search for the best whitemale I could find to mate them to.I decided that I was not going to find that is this country and asked for assistance from a very good breeder/friend who was going to England. Thanks to her help I was allowed to buy Singlewell Tonic, an ice white from Pam Edmond’s kennel in England. This is the key that I needed to seriously get started on this project.I might add that I have dabbled in this project at least twice prior to this, but never had the right key!With this as a starting point, I have successfully bred several litters which contain show quality puppies. However, one generation does not produce a line!The task remains to successfully breed the next several generations of quality Pekingese.How is this going to be accomplished?First of all, we must realize that a white Pekingese with anything other than jet black eyes, eye rims, mouth, nostrils, and pads of the feet is not a perfect speciman.If we continue to breed ice white to ice white, the chance is that we will lose pigment.The first place you will see this is on the pads of the feet.Therefore, we must consider the different shades of white. Should we consider only “ice white” as the true white color?I don’t think so.We need the other shades to keep that wonderful pigment.Also, getting back to the small gene pool, it is going to be necessary to bring in quality from the very best of the other colors.To breed only for color is a mistake.Doing it this way is going to take a little longer, but the outcome will be much more pleasing. What is it going to take to get the Judges to acknowledge that a white can be comparable to the other colors?That’s easy.We must show only quality whites.It is necessary to be able to stand back and objectively say, “Is this a dog that I would show if it were any other color?”If the answer is “yes”, then go for it!I don’t ever want to hear the statement again:“Its pretty good--for a white”. I would like to ask all the people who judge Pekingese to keep an open mind and not discount any dog just because of its color.Judge the dog on the day, and sooner or later, the whites will take their place along with the other colors as quality exhibits.