The first litters were finally produced in March 2011. Because only one person (and a few helpers) is overseeing this new breed’s development, the number of puppies produced each year is low, and thus the dogs are quite rare.All Blue Bays are issued a registration number and a hand-signed certificate by the founder of the breed. Their dramatic looks and temperament have attracted widespread interest.But what is it really like to participate in the foundation of a completely new dog breed?Blue Bay Shepherd owners say they can’t walk their dogs far without stopping to answer questions about them!Some of the things people most often want to know are:Let’s get the ball rolling with some fast facts about Blue Bays.Less than 10 years ago no one had heard of these dogs at all.But today, increasing numbers of hopeful puppy-seekers are looking for information about Blue Bay Shepherds.First of all, there aren’t many dog breeders with the vision and determination to try and start a brand new dog breed.The Blue Bay Shepherd is the life’s work of one woman, called Vicki Spencer.Unlike many established dog breeds, which were founded decades, centuries, or even millenia ago, the Blue Bay Shepherd is a thoroughly modern breeding project.Which means we have unprecedented access to information about how they started out and what Spencer is trying to achieve, via her writing and interviews.The first litters of foundation Blue Bays were born in March 2011 by crossing blue-coated wolf dogs with traditional European German Shepherds.Since then, Spencer says five more breeds have contributed to the Blue Bay Shepherd gene pool, and she plans to outcross with one more breed before closing the studbook.She’s kept the exact genetic recipe of Blue Bay Shepherds closely under wraps, but anecdotal reports from people who have bought her dogs then paid for genetic testing suggest that Spencer says that Blue Bay Shepherds are intended to capture some of her favorite physical features of wolves, in a breed which doesn’t have the stigma of being a wolfdog.Several working dogs have contributed to their make up, but Blue Bays themselves are designed to be pets and live happily in people’s homes as companion animals.Blue Bay Shepherds have been created by crossing Spencer’s own stock of wolfdogs with other domestic breeds.The first litters of Blue Bays were six generations removed from their nearest wolf ancestor, and Spencer says the ideal proportion of wolf heritage in a Blue Bay is about 6%.However, since the breed is still being established by outcrossing (mating with other breeds) and linebreeding (mating related individuals) the amount of wolf heritage in each litter is still highly variable.And Spencer concedes some Blue Bays are still more wolf-like than she intends the finished breed to be.When Spencer set out to create the Blue Bay Shepherd, she was determined upon some very specific features:Their coat can be long, or a medium-short length known as ‘plush’.Females typically weigh 70-85lbs, and up to 100lbs.Males usually weigh between 85-105lbs, but have reached 130lbs.Stood on their hindlegs, they are easily tall enough to give you a big friendly lick around the chops.Something which their owners report they seem quite fond of doing!Spencer is eloquent and passionate about the physical qualities she wants to encapsulate in the Blue Bay Shepherd breed.But she says there’s something more important than all of them, and that is their temperament.A Blue Bay Shepherd should be affectionate, gentle, and trainable.In fact early Blue Bay Shepherds have been notable for just how much they love people.They are not shy or timid, and Spencer has specifically avoided breeding from individuals with guarding tendencies, which also means they don’t tend to bark very much either.And whilst Blue Bays have a couch potato side, they also have rampant energy.Owners report that they need several hours of exercise a day, and quickly resort to destructive behavior and escape artistry if they don’t get it.They’re also power-chewers, and clever enough to open doors and latches.Since Blue Bays are so big, it’s especially important to teach them good manners.Their size is going to intimidate people on walks, knock people to the ground if they Like all breeds the best way to teach them good manners is by using Using punishment will only reduce how much control you have over them, and potentially make them resort to aggression.It will be important not to over exercise a Blue Bay as a puppy.It takes longer for the joints of large breed dogs to fully mature, and too much impact on them in the meantime can cause permanent damage.But once they’re fully grown, Blue Bays will need several hours of outdoor exercise every day.Being part of the origin story of a new breed is an exciting prospect.But it comes with lots of unknowns, and one of those is how the overall health of the breed is going to turn out, or what their average life expectancy will be.Spencer has said that she is trying her best to avoid hip problems in Blue Bay Shepherds.It will be a while yet before we have sufficient volume of data about Blue Bay Shepherds to say whether they are a healthy breed or not.In the meantime, it’s reasonable to expect that the following conditions could be a problem:Joint disorders such as hip, elbow and shoulder dysplasia are common among large dogs.They are partly hereditary, and partly more likely because large dogs’ joints take longer to mature, which means a longer period of growth during which they are still ‘soft’ and vulnerable to damage.The risk of passing joint disorders from one generation to the next can be minimized by screening breeding dogs before mating takes place.It occurs when the stomach twists back on itself and becomes a sealed chamber.Bloat can be prevented by not exercising a dog too soon after eating.When it happens it is fatal without surgical intervention, so owners of at-risk dogs should make sure they are familiar with the symptoms.Inbreeding depression is a reduction in biological fitness caused by mating related individuals.Spencer has written about using line breeding (breeding related dogs) to fix desirable traits in the Blue Bay Shepherd.Line breeding is not unusual, or even very controversial, in order to establish a new breed, or even maintain a popular line of a well-established breed.However, it’s not risk-free.