This article is all about EXCLUSIVITY. I am guessing most of the readers will be ultimate German shepherd or wolfdog fans. You are in the right place as we explore this magnificent dog breed.
There is a catch though. You will find out what it is soon enough. Let me just tell you that you will NOT be seeing a lot of people walking a Blue Bay shepherd around the neighborhood.
To satisfy your curiosity I will tell you the entire story of a woman’s determination and vision to create the ideal GSD breed. Shall we?
Blue Bay Shepherd Puppies For Sale
The phrase “Blue Bay shepherd breeders” is grammatically incorrect. Want to know why? Because there is only ONE breeder. Oh yes, I am loving this too. You cannot get a dog more unique than the Blue Bay shepherd unique on the entire planet.
Stories like this make you realize that, no matter what, you should push to achieve what you envisioned. The process involved in producing the Blue Bay shepherd was a lengthy game of careful selection and daunting problems lying in wait.
The breeder’s story is alluring, so this should not be too dull of a read. I cannot wait to tell you all about these imposing animals. Oh, and the pictures…
Read Also: 9 Best Wolfdog Breeders In The U.S.
Southern Breeze Ranch
Photo from: @1st508th_airborne
The Blue Bay shepherd is a dog breed that only exists thanks to Vicki Spencer. The owner of Southern Breeze Ranch, and the only Blue Bay shepherd breeder in the world decided that a new breed of German shepherd was missing, and she acted on it.
The Florida native is a breeding pioneer who embarked on a journey to create the American Blue Bay shepherd. We can call it American because the breed, currently, exist only in the United States.
While the Blue German shepherd breed is still in the beta phase of development, the results are very avant-garde. Combining her home city name of Palm Bay in Florida and the fresh and rare blue coat color, Vicki made quite an impact by naming the breed Blue Bay shepherd.
This allowed her, not only to stand out as a progressive breeder, but to establish herself as a very successful player in the breeding game.
I believe it is time to unveil the breed details and see what her dogs are made of. Let us start off with the bloodline mixture and genetic make-up.
Is A Blue Bay Shepherd A Wolf Dog?
One look at Vicki’s kennel will tell you that a Blue Bay shepherd has wolf DNA in its genetic pool. A five generations old lupine bloodline combined with the German shepherd’s long standing lineage gave birth to one of the most amazing dogs the world has seen.
German shepherds have been famous as service and working dogs for centuries. Their reputation as family dogs is unprecedented. Being a large breed of dog that was highly domesticated and intelligent, it was the perfect candidate to build a whole new lineage.
Though you could call it a wolf hybrid, the owner says the five year span of wolfdog mixing with the European German shepherd puppies she acquired in the starting years of her 20-year-long effort was enough to reduce the unruly nature of the wolf.
One of her pet peeves with the standard German shepherd were the oversized ears, overly dark eyes and health issues caused by decades of selective breeding. Finding a breeder of Old German shepherd dogs like Rin Tin Tin, her inspiration for the breed, was an incredibly difficult task.
Once she was close to giving up the search, a breeder from France contacted her and sent pictures of their dogs. She immediately knew it was the right German shepherd breed to make her dream come true.
Fast forward to 2011 she successfully produced the first litter of Blue Bay puppies and the first “working prototypes” of a Blue Bay shepherd. Her successful blue wolfdog ranch now became the perfect source of wolf blood for the breed she had been working on for two decades.
How Much Wolf Is In A Blue Bay Shepherd?
Photo from: @raven_the_blue_bay_shepherd
Well, for a very accurate answer you should probably ask Vicki herself via the contact options provided below in the Breeder Information section.
The testing for wolf DNA percentages is much more complicated and difficult than most people believe. A wolf-like appearance can be colloquially measured in “wolf content” amounts.
While testing for wolf DNA is expensive, it is possible to find a laboratory that can display the percentage of wolf DNA within a dog. To me, the Blue Bay shepherds look like a mid content dog.
However, I am not a wolfdog expert by any stretch of the imagination, and I based my guesstimate on the pictures available at Wolfdog Sanctuary. Here is a small table to lay out the basic principles in determining wolf content.
Low Content 1-49%
Mid Content 50-74%
High Content 75%+
A low wolf content dog will usually have very few, if any wolf, characteristics. Mid content is a blend that clearly shows a wolf feature variation but still has a higher percentage of dog content. High content, in essence, means that the animal is almost entirely wolf in appearance.
Important Notice From The Breeder
Because there is only one place to get yourself a Blue Bay — the Southern Breeze Ranch, Spencer posted a warning about other people or breeders claiming to sell Blue Bay shepherds and urged anyone interested in purchasing one to ask for a certificate.
She signs all of the documents related to Blue Bay shepherds herself and is, currently, the only registered breeder.
How Much Do Blue Bay Shepherds Cost?
Information on this topic is also somewhat vague and I would not rely on anything found on Google. Contacting Spencer will give you the exact price.
If you are into speculation, here is a ballpark figure — $3500. Yeah, they are not cheap by any means. However, I presume the price could be even higher given how rare and exclusive the breed is.
The fact that it is still in the development phase means that the American Kennel Club (AKC) does not recognize it as a breed and you cannot participate in shows or competitions with a Blue Bay shepherd.
Breeder Information
Address: Palm Bay, Florida
Phone: +1 561-248-4610
Email: [email protected]
Website: Southern Breeze Ranch: Blue Bay Shepherds
The Blue Bay Shepherd Profile Card
Photo from: @sagethebluebay
Blue Bay shepherd dogs deserve a special profile card simply because of their extraordinary physical features and temperament.
Thanks to Vicki Spencer, I can now finally write about science fiction without it being fiction. I feel like I am writing a Star Trek log entry right now. Her breeding program accomplished what many before her have failed to do — creating a new purebred dog breed of GSD.
The Long Awaited German Shepherd Upgrade
So we know all about the appearance and temper of the German shepherd from years and years of the breed being the most known dog in the world.
In Spencer’s breed’s case, the GSD base, the Blue German shepherd, was, and still is, very hard to find let alone buy. Its features differed slightly from the standard GSD and were a perfect match to mix with her wolfdogs.
The dilute gene gives it the blue coat color but the body proportions, coat length and overall physical appearance are identical to the standard GSD. What is a Blue Bay shepherd then? What is the temperament of a Blue Bay shepherd? Here come the answers!
Blue Steel Colored Magnificence
The Blue Bay German shepherd’s coat is bluish due to the presence of the blue German shepherd’s dilute gene. Blue Bay shepherds have a medium length coat, more similar to the wolf ancestors than the blue German shepherd.
A double coat makes sure that the cold weather is handled with ease while still having insulation from the summer heats. The tail is fluffy and long, ending in a point.
The ears are more proportional to the rest of the body (I am sure Vicki is as delighted by this as I am) and the eyes have a distinctive green tint. The contrasting eye color on a dark blue coat looks mesmerizing.
Keep in mind that a Blue Bay shepherd puppy will have light blue eyes that over several weeks of growth turn into green.
In terms of height, male Blue Bays can grow upwards of thirty inches at the shoulder while females usually do not go past that mark.
They are substantial in terms of weight too. Males can be as heavy as one hundred thirty pounds (some weigh more) with females reaching an even one hundred pounds.
Their body frame is very similar to that of a wolf – a narrow chest, longer legs and almost straight back with an overall more athletic body shape than the GSD’s rounded lines. Their muzzles are also slightly pointier than a German shepherd’s.
Bigger paws mean bigger hugs and bigger holes in your yard. Thank god Vicki has the acreage to avoid the whole digging stress (pun intended).
Satisfaction For Wolfdog Lovers
Dog breeders that mixed breeds of wolfdogs with other wolf-like dog breeds were never able to preserve the dog parent breed temperament. Wolves are wild animals and, in wolfdogs especially, the aggressive and possessive traits are deeply embedded into the genetic code.
Spencer says that her Southern Breeze Ranch wolfdogs are very calm and showcase none of the aggression or possessive behavior associated with wolves. That is, indeed, excellent news for people who always wished they could legally acquire a wolfdog or wolf-like dog.
These large dogs have very moderate temperaments. They do not display aggressive behavior like many GSD bloodlines do. Some of the Blue Bay shepherds have been mixed with Alaskan Malamute or Siberian Husky dogs to give them the calm and stoic demeanor.
The blue color is not the only example of excellence. They retain their protective instincts and extraordinary ability to assess danger. The Blue Bay is very trainable thanks to its astuteness. They are also a bit more stubborn than dogs further from their wolfish heritage.
Exercise needs are an endeavor with Blue Bays. Being a large breed, they require meaningful activity, and a lot of it. Taking it on a walk is certainly a nice way to relax and impress others with its magnificence, but the Blue Bays require intense work to expend their energy.
They will be very mindful of children and will be moderately playful. However, a Blue Bay will obey only the most authoritative person in the family. It can agree to certain rules and commands by other family members, but the brunt of its respect will be towards the family “leader”.
Health And Life Expectancy
Photo from: @wolfpackblue
Searching Google for Blue Bay shepherd health problems resulted in no authoritative web pages confirming any. There are mentions of hip dysplasia and bloat but without verification it is impossible to speculate.
According to the International Wolf Center, the myth that wolfdogs live longer than domesticated dogs creates unrealistic expectations in people who want to get a wolfdog. However, their life expectancy is the same as large breed dogs’.
So, I did some first grade math and found the average of a Blue Bay shepherd should be between nine and a half and twelve years. Keep in mind that wolves in the wild have an average lifespan of six to eight years but, theoretically, in captivity they can reach twenty years of age.
Since Spencer breeds wolfdogs that have been five or more generations away from their pure wolf heritage with strong lineages of Blue German shepherd, I cannot claim that my calculations are close to correct. The most precise answer can be given only by Vicki herself.
Do Blue Bay Shepherds Make Good Pets?
A million dollar question with a simple answer: yes they are good pets. Now for the “but” part… A Blue Bay requires structured attention. That means that leaving it alone in a house for prolonged periods of time will result in uttar ruin by the time you are back.
In addition, they require assertive authority to be housebroken. Many of the GSD’s marquee traits were retained in the Blue Bay shepherd too, so we cannot expect them to be completely different animals.
If you are not a person who often goes on field trips, hikes, or practices any intense activity that the dog can participate in, you will feel stressed with a Blue Bay always having extra energy to spend on your furniture.
The double coat will need regular brushing. I hope you have some good brushes for that amount of hair. In case you or anyone from your family has allergies, this will definitely be a poor choice of pet as they shed quite a lot.
Food Needs
Judging by the owner testimonials from Spencer’s page, I would say you will need to open a bank account for a Blue Bay’s diet. Jokes aside, they can eat a lot, and I can only presume that you should not just use your garden variety commercial dog food as a quality diet.
If you are planning to get such a rare dog breed, you probably intend to care for it to the best of your abilities. Contacting Vicki by email or phone or someone who bought a Blue Bay from her would be the best course of action in this case.
This Blue My Mind
It really did. When I found out about the Blue Bay shepherd breeder in Florida, I simply had to check what it was all about.
Vicki Spencer’s perseverance in making her vision a reality can serve as an inspiration for other breeders to take their time instead of rushing to create or keep up with the demand.
For potential dog owners, this means that a new category of dog breeding has been created – wolf-like dogs that retain only the best traits from both GSD and wolfdog heritage.
Considering getting yourself a Blue Bay? I say go and do it. Not without a plan though.
