Blue Bay Shepherd - TOP 10 Interesting Facts

1) Origin
The Blue Bay Shepherd development began in 1990s in Southern Breeze Ranche kennel in Florida by Vicky Spencer, who wanted to create a new breed with the natural beauty of a wolf, but with the loving personality, willingness to please and loyal nature of a dog. She knew, that these characteristics could be found in German Shepherds, and indeed, the first Blue Bay Shepherds were developed by crossing blue variations of German Shepherds with wolfdog hybrids with blue coats.

​2) Name
The Blue Bay Shepherd was first bred in Palm Bay, Florida, hence the word „bay“ in their name. The rest of their name is descriptive, as it is describing their beautiful blue coat and shepherd ancestry.

3) Not a wolfdog
The Blue Bay Shepherd is sometimes called as a wolfdog, but it is better to say, that it is a dog with wolf heritage. The wolf in Blue Bay Shepherd is overpowered by all the other breeds used in the breeding process, which means you dont need to be worry about any agressive, uncontrolled and wild wolf-like behaviour from this dog, quite the opposite!

4) Companion
The Blue Bay Shepherd is not bred as a working dog breed. The one main purpose of breeding was to create the best possible companion pet. These dogs should have stable, sweet and affectionate temperament, they should never show any sign of agression, they should not be timid around people, even around strangers and they should be very intelligent and eager to please, which makes them easily trainable. But i would still not recommend these dogs to novice dog owners, as some of them might show a little bit more independent and stubborn temperament which will be harder to train. And it is still a very strong dog breed and with the wrong owner, they might turn problematic. The Blue Bay Shepherd can live with other dogs in the family, especially if socialized together from the puppyhood and it can make good gentle partner for kids, but of course, you should never leave any dog breed, with a very young child, unsupervised.

5) Energy level
As you would probably expect, this is not a coach potatoe. The Blue Bay Shepherd is an active breed, that will need daily longer walks, jogs, hikes, vigorous playtime, fun training sessions.. Just anything that will keep their body and mind occupied. If they are provided with enough exercise, than they will be very calm and relaxed indoors, but without enough exercise, they might develop some unwanted behaviour, such as destruction.

6) Size
This is a lean, muscular and strong dog breed with average height around 30 inch, which is 76 cm and weight between 70-105 lbs, which is 30-50 kg. Females are naturally slightly smaller than males.

7) Coat and color
The breed is famous for its beautiful bluish gray colored coat. Sometimes, the Blue Bay Shepherd can also have different coat color, such as white, grey or red, but the blue color is by far most common. The breed posses a very dense doublecoat, which si protecting the breed from all kinds of weather. Next to the coat color, the eye color is also very distinctive, as these dogs usually have very pale eyes, ranging from green to hazel.

8) Maintenance
Speaking of coat, lets mention the grooming needs as well. These dogs do shed quite a lot. It is important to regularly brush their coats to remove all the dead and loose hair and minimize the shedding. Regular brushing will also help to redistribute natural oils all over the coat. No other grooming is required. Just like with all the dogs, you should also regularly check their eyes, ears, nails and teeth and clip them or clean them if needed.

9) Rarity
The Blue Bay Shepherd is still extremely rare breed. There is only one kennel that is breeding these dogs, and that is the Southern Breeze Ranch. Only the founder – Vicky Spencer – is breeding real pure Blue Bay Shepherds and it is still considered as a breed in development, rather than a purebred dog breed.

10) Health
This should usually be rather healthy and hardy breed, but there are no real scientific studies published about the breeds health yet. Just like the German Shepherd, even the Blue Bay Shepherd could potentionally have problems with hip dysplasia, but this problem should not be that prevalent as with the GSD. All large sized and deep chested breeds can also have problems with bloating. Other than that, every dog can suffer from the typical doggy issues, such as allergies and infections.