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Since adopting Jude, I’ve heard a LOT of people say, “He’s so beautiful! I want a Blue Bay Shepherd, too!”
Let me be perfectly clear here: No. You probably don’t.
Jude is good at walking politely on the leash, is exceptionally affectionate toward humans of all ages, loves Blackjack (my cat) like a brother, and plays well with a few other dogs, but there are a slue of issues Jude has which make him difficult to deal with, and he’s not the only BBS who exhibits these problems. Carefully reading owner testimonials has exposed that many of said issues are not unique.
Jude is an escape artist. He can unlock both front doors, has chewed through steel cables to open the back of my truck, and has bent the wire mesh on the goat pen to wiggle underneath it. I’ve now just discovered that he can also fit through the damned cat door.
His ability to escape from an array of different places has been both frustrating and fascinating. It also perfectly illustrates why I do not recommend the Blue Bay Shepherd (or any wolfdog) as a good companion animal for anyone without experience in training/living with large-breed ‘difficult’ dogs.

Jude may not have been bred as a working dog like Cabal, and his energy level is generally more manageable than Cabal’s is; but Jude is nevertheless very high-maintenance and cannot be left unattended unless he’s tied up or secured in the dog run - to which we have had to make several improvements because he’s been finding all the weak spots as fast as we can fix them.
He’s not the best when it comes to meeting new dogs, either, especially un-neutered males. He is perfectly okay with Cabal, fixed submissive males, and with prettymuch all female dogs, but I generally opt to decline when people ask if they can introduce their pup to Jude. He has never attacked another dog, and plays fabulously with those he deems likable, but it’s always a tense moment when an off-leash dog comes barreling up to us on the beach, as I never know how Jude will react.
Contrary to what I was initially told by his previous owners, Jude’s prey drive is indeed quite strong, and while he avoids the farm animals under my supervision, is not afraid to chase the goats and chickens when he thinks no one is watching. Even so, he is great with Blackjack, and other BBS owners seem to have been able to socialize their dogs to cats, as well. He apparently regards cats as weird micro-dogs, whereas all other small critters are chew toys.
On the topic of chew toys - Blue Bays are mouthy bastards. I discovered quite quickly that Jude is VERY mouthy, even at two years of age.
He’d done this funny thing before, where he would take my hand gently in his mouth and lead me around, and I thought it was quite amusing, until he started jumping on me to grab my hand back when I took it out of his mouth. This escalated to him grabbing my forearm quite firmly; he wasn’t trying to do damage - if he wanted to, he’d have no doubt snapped my bones like dry twigs - but it was enough to leave four matching bruises - two on each side of my arm - and large welts where his teeth had clamped down.
Thankfully, Cabal was there to reprimand Jude for this transgression: He grabbed Jude’s scruff and threw him to the ground, then stood over him and made a big show about sniffing Jude’s crotch. He let Jude up after Jude averted his gaze, and the two went about playing as if nothing had happened. But Jude remembered Cabal’s warning and hasn’t jumped up on me like that since. I still don’t know how that situation would have unfolded if not for Cabal’s interference.
With all this negativity out of the way, I want to assure you that Jude is still a wonderful companion for Andrew and myself, largely in part because I work from home and am able to spend more time with Jude than his previous owner did. And Andrew, who grew up raising a 110-pound St. Bernard/pitbull mix, is good at setting the ground rules for Jude when he decides to overstep his bounds. Jude seems to thrive now that he’s got some structure to follow.
Since adopting Jude, he’s made exceptional improvements in his behavior, but he is still a work-in-progress, and likely will need constant reinforcement in his training throughout his entire life.
This means that he will get better, yes, but we will never be able to let our guard down around Jude.
So no - aside from the fact that breeding designer dogs like BBSs is downright stupid, and buying from the breeder who creates them will only further support that stupidity, you really don’t want a Blue Bay Shepherd, especially if the reason you want one is because you simply think they’re pretty.

Description

Since adopting Jude, I’ve heard a LOT of people say, “He’s so beautiful! I want a Blue Bay Shepherd, too!”
Let me be perfectly clear here: No. You probably don’t.
Jude is good at walking politely on the leash, is exceptionally affectionate toward humans of all ages, loves Blackjack (my cat) like a brother, and plays well with a few other dogs, but there are a slue of issues Jude has which make him difficult to deal with, and he’s not the only BBS who exhibits these problems. Carefully reading owner testimonials has exposed that many of said issues are not unique.
Jude is an escape artist. He can unlock both front doors, has chewed through steel cables to open the back of my truck, and has bent the wire mesh on the goat pen to wiggle underneath it. I’ve now just discovered that he can also fit through the damned cat door.
His ability to escape from an array of different places has been both frustrating and fascinating. It also perfectly illustrates why I do not recommend the Blue Bay Shepherd (or any wolfdog) as a good companion animal for anyone without experience in training/living with large-breed ‘difficult’ dogs.

Jude may not have been bred as a working dog like Cabal, and his energy level is generally more manageable than Cabal’s is; but Jude is nevertheless very high-maintenance and cannot be left unattended unless he’s tied up or secured in the dog run - to which we have had to make several improvements because he’s been finding all the weak spots as fast as we can fix them.
He’s not the best when it comes to meeting new dogs, either, especially un-neutered males. He is perfectly okay with Cabal, fixed submissive males, and with prettymuch all female dogs, but I generally opt to decline when people ask if they can introduce their pup to Jude. He has never attacked another dog, and plays fabulously with those he deems likable, but it’s always a tense moment when an off-leash dog comes barreling up to us on the beach, as I never know how Jude will react.
Contrary to what I was initially told by his previous owners, Jude’s prey drive is indeed quite strong, and while he avoids the farm animals under my supervision, is not afraid to chase the goats and chickens when he thinks no one is watching. Even so, he is great with Blackjack, and other BBS owners seem to have been able to socialize their dogs to cats, as well. He apparently regards cats as weird micro-dogs, whereas all other small critters are chew toys.
On the topic of chew toys - Blue Bays are mouthy bastards. I discovered quite quickly that Jude is VERY mouthy, even at two years of age.
He’d done this funny thing before, where he would take my hand gently in his mouth and lead me around, and I thought it was quite amusing, until he started jumping on me to grab my hand back when I took it out of his mouth. This escalated to him grabbing my forearm quite firmly; he wasn’t trying to do damage - if he wanted to, he’d have no doubt snapped my bones like dry twigs - but it was enough to leave four matching bruises - two on each side of my arm - and large welts where his teeth had clamped down.
Thankfully, Cabal was there to reprimand Jude for this transgression: He grabbed Jude’s scruff and threw him to the ground, then stood over him and made a big show about sniffing Jude’s crotch. He let Jude up after Jude averted his gaze, and the two went about playing as if nothing had happened. But Jude remembered Cabal’s warning and hasn’t jumped up on me like that since. I still don’t know how that situation would have unfolded if not for Cabal’s interference.
With all this negativity out of the way, I want to assure you that Jude is still a wonderful companion for Andrew and myself, largely in part because I work from home and am able to spend more time with Jude than his previous owner did. And Andrew, who grew up raising a 110-pound St. Bernard/pitbull mix, is good at setting the ground rules for Jude when he decides to overstep his bounds. Jude seems to thrive now that he’s got some structure to follow.
Since adopting Jude, he’s made exceptional improvements in his behavior, but he is still a work-in-progress, and likely will need constant reinforcement in his training throughout his entire life.
This means that he will get better, yes, but we will never be able to let our guard down around Jude.
So no - aside from the fact that breeding designer dogs like BBSs is downright stupid, and buying from the breeder who creates them will only further support that stupidity, you really don’t want a Blue Bay Shepherd, especially if the reason you want one is because you simply think they’re pretty.