German Shepherd Dogs

A dog that's "firm of nerve, attentiveness, unshockability, tractability, watchfulness, reliability, and incorruptibility together with courage, fighting tenacity, and hardness." These were Captain Max Emil Frederich von Stephanitz's exact thoughts on what traits the perfect dog ought to have.

On April 2, 1899 con Stephanitz purchased Hektor Linksrhein, a yellow and gray dog from a dog show that he visited with a friend. He belieed this dog posessed all of the qualities necessary in the perfect dog. This dog was later renamed Horand von Grafrath by the Captain. Trhe renaming of this dog was the start of the trend that uses von in the German Shepherd Dogs' names. In Germany, this "von" suggests a noble ancestry. This very dog became the foundation dog for all of the German Shepherd breed.

Horand von Grafrath became the first ever German Shepherd Dog registered with the Verlin fur Deutsche Schaferhunde (the SV), which was founded in 1899. Von Stephanitz was the first president of this German Shepherd Dog club. He was self appointed breeding master, judge, and breed inspector. The outward beauty of a dog meant nothing to him. It was more important for the dog to possess a working ability.

Eventually von Stephanitz realized that the German Shepherd Dog's original job of sheepherding was quickly waning. He knew that if the dogs were not used for useful work then their intelligence would suffer. As a result, von Stephanitz invented a new occupation for his breed of dog. He created programs for obedience, police work, and herding trials. In order for a SV club member to breed and register their dogs, von Stephanitz made it manditory for breeders to demonstrate their dogs' working ability first.

When trying to redefine the breed's working uses, von Stephanitz had to literally beg the German police force to take a chance on his dogs. At first they laughed at him, but in the end his persistance payed off. The German Shepherd Dog became a valued law enforcement partner. So good, in fact, that they were called "German Police Dogs"at one point in time. The breed soon after became wartime messengers for the German army, guard dogs, and trackers.

In 1908, the American Kennel Club registerd its first German Shepherd Dog. She was gray with a black saddle. Her name was Queen of Switzerland. During the German Shepherd's early popularity in the United States quantity became more important to the breeder than quality. As a result of this, health and temperament problems began to arise. The Americans started breeding more overangulation and other "showy" qualities into their dogs. These changes to the breed made the animals no longer fit for the work that they were bred to do.

In the United States, a split developed between the old-style working German Shepherd Dog and the modernized American show stock. In the 1950's the American breeders showed more preference toward a sloping topline and severe rear angulation, as well as a very long loin. Most German breeders strived, then and now, to maintain the standards set by the breed's founder.

There are many activities that you can train the modern day German Shepherd Dog for. They are a very versitile and intelligent breed that can be trained to do almost anything. The most common of todays roles for the German Shepherd Dog is the loyal family pet. Some other popular activities for German Shepherd Dogs are formal obedience trials, schutzhund trials, flyball competitions, and herding competitions. The German Shepherd Dogs also make excellent service dogs as well as search and rescue dogs.

Schutzhund
In many areas of the United States and Europe, Schutzhund is an important element of training in the German Shepherd Dog world. This sport was created to honor the old on Stephanitz way of training the breed. Before he died, he said, "Take this trouble for me. Make sure my shepherd dog remains a working dog, for I have struggled all my life long for that aim."

Schutzhund is a sport that demands great stamina, high intelligence, and the most versatility of all other performance events. The trial covers three different phases: tracking, obedience, and protection. In the tracking phase the dogs must follow a scent from footprints left by a stranger to the dog. It can take place on either dirt, concrete, grass, or any other surface that the judges choose. These courses become more difficult at higher Schutzhund levels.

In the obedience phase, the dogs work both on and off of the leads. They practice regular commands as well as scaling walls, retrieving a heavy weight over a jump, an A frame, and flat ground.

The protection phase includes bite work which the dog defends his handler against staged assaults. The person trying to "assault" the handler is protected by a special well padded sleeve that the dog is trained to bite. The dog must stop the attack instantly on command and go into the "guard mode". This mode is where the dog barks constantly at the assailant but does not actually bite him.

Flyball
Flyball is a team sport that was developed for dogs in the 1970's. It is a relay race that has four dogs per team. The course has four hurdles that are spaced ten feet apart and a spring loaded box that shoots out a tennis ball. Each dog jumps the hurdles and presses the box to catch the ball then runs back over the four hurdles. When the dog crosses the starting line, the next dog takes his turn. The first team to have all four dogs cross the finish line without errors is the winner of the heat.

German Shepherds come in other colors besides the traditional black and tan saddle back that most people are accustomed to seeing. Solid black, black and tan, and sable three of the most popular colors in the United States.

The dog is solid black with both the undercoat and top coat appearing black in color. The solid black color is a recessive gene in the German Shepherd Dog. Most solid black dogs will have a tiny bit of white fur on them somewhere, usually between the toes.

Black and cream is a version of black and tan where the tan points are more of a washed out creamish color rather tan a full on tan.

Black and red is a darker version of the classic black and tan coloring. The tan points are more red and more vibrant than the black and tan version

On a black and silver dog the tan points are more of a silvery gray color than the traditional tan coloring.

Black and Tan dogs are black with the tan points or black saddles. Most black and tan dogs are born mostly black and their tan colors continue to come in for the first few years of life.

The blue variation a genetic dilution of the black coloring. Blue German Shepherd dogs do not have any black on them.

The liver coloring in the german shepherd is another genetic dilute. The liver dogs do not have any black on them, instead the nose and paw pads are a brownish liver coloring.

The term "Sable" itself refers to the banding of colour on the dogs individual hairs. The hairs on a sable dog are 'tipped' with varying amounts of black on the ends, with the rest of the hair being any other shade.

White German Shepherds have no pigment to their fur. They have black noses with dark eyes and black paw pads.

Bi-colored German Shepherds are probably some of the hardest to come by and to correctly identify. A true bicolor will have pencil markings (dark stripes) on the toes and tar heels (darker heels). They are usually mostly black with only the legs and maybe small dots above their eyes being tan.