I pass by a man walking a dog that looks exactly like the German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin I used to watch on TV as a child. His eyes alert and focused, the intelligence he possesses is quite evident.
According to Wikipedia, as a herding dog, German Shepherds are working dogs developed originally for herding sheep. Since that time, however, because of their strength, intelligence, trainability and obedience, German Shepherds around the world are often the preferred breed for many types of work, including disability assistance, search-and-rescue, police and military roles and acting. The German Shepherd is the second-most registered breed by the American Kennel Club and seventh-most registered breed by The Kennel Club in the United Kingdom. Despite its primitive, wolf-like appearance, the German Shepherd is a relatively modern breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899.
Description
German Shepherds have a double coat which is close and dense with a thick undercoat. The coat is accepted in two variants — medium and long. The long-hair gene is recessive, making the long-hair variety rarer. Most commonly, German Shepherds are either tan/black or red/black. Most color varieties have black masks and black body markings which can range from a classic "saddle" to an over-all "blanket." Rarer color variations include the sable, pure-black, pure-white, liver, silver, blue, and panda varieties.
Intelligence
German Shepherds were bred specifically for their intelligence. In a list of breeds most likely to bark as watchdogs, researcher Stanley Coren ranked the breed in second place. Coupled with their strength, this trait makes the breed desirable as police, guard and search-and-rescue dogs, as they are able to quickly learn various tasks and interpret instructions better than other breeds.
Temperament
German Shepherds are moderately active dogs and are described in breed standards as self-assured. The breed is marked by a willingness to learn and an eagerness to have a purpose. They are curious, which makes them excellent guard dogs and suitable for search missions. They can become overprotective of their family and territory, especially if not socialized correctly. They are not inclined to become immediate friends with strangers. German Shepherds are highly intelligent and obedient, as well as protective of their owners.
East-European Shepherd
The East-European Shepherd is a variety of the German Shepherd bred in the former Soviet Union with the purpose of creating a larger more cold-resistant version of the German Shepherd. It lacks the physical deformities bred into western show lines of German Shepherds and has become one of Russia's most popular dog types.
King Shepherd
The King Shepherd is a variety of the German Shepherd bred in the United States. Its breeders are hoping to rectify the physical deformities that have been bred into the original breed.
Shiloh Shepherd
The Shiloh Shepherd is a variety of the German Shepherd bred in the United States. It was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to correct behavioral and conformational issues that have been bred into modern German Shepherds. It was bred for large size, length of its back, temperament and soundness of hips. It has been recognized by the American Rare Breed Association since 1990.
White Shepherd
The White Shepherd is a variety of the German Shepherd bred in the United States. White-coated German Shepherds were once banned from registration in their native Germany, but in the United States and Canada the coloration gained a following, and a breed club was formed specifically for white-colored German Shepherds, calling their variety the White Shepherd. The variety is recognized as a separate breed by the United Kennel Club.
White Swiss Shepherd Dog
The White Swiss Shepherd Dog is a variety of the German Shepherd bred in Switzerland. It descends from the American White Shepherds, the first stud dog of what became the breed was an American dog born in 1966 that was imported to Switzerland. The variety was recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale as a separate breed in 2003, and it is now recognized by a number of national kennel clubs.
Use as a working dog
German Shepherds are a popular selection for use as working dogs. They are known for being easy to train and good for performing tasks and following instructions. They are especially well known for their police work, being used for tracking criminals, patrolling troubled areas and detection and holding of suspects. Additionally, thousands of German Shepherds have been used by the military. Usually trained for scout duty, they are used to warn soldiers to the presence of enemies or of booby traps or other hazards. German Shepherds have also been trained by military groups to parachute from aircraft or as anti-tank weapons. They were used in World War II as messenger dogs, rescue dogs and personal guard dogs. A number of these dogs were taken home by foreign servicemen, who were impressed by their intelligence.
The German Shepherd is one of the most widely used breeds in a wide variety of scent-work roles. These include search and rescue, cadaver searching, narcotics detection, explosives detection, accelerant detection and mine detection dog, among others. They are suited for these lines of work because of their keen sense of smell and their ability to work regardless of distractions. In the photo above, the German Shepherd Urban Search and Rescue Task Force dog works to uncover survivors at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.
At one time the German Shepherd was the breed chosen almost exclusively to be used as a guide dog for the visually impaired. When formal guide dog training began in Switzerland in the 1920s under the leadership of Dorothy Eustis, all the dogs trained were German Shepherd females. An experiment in temperament testing of a group of Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds showed that the Retrievers scored higher on average in emotional stability and ability to recover promptly from frightening situations, cooperative behavior and friendliness; while the German Shepherds were superior in aggression and defensive behavior. These results suggested that Labrador Retrievers were more suited to guide dog work while German Shepherds were more suited to police work. Currently, Labradors and Golden Retrievers are more widely used for this work, although there are still German Shepherds being trained. In 2013, about 15% of the dogs trained by Guide Dogs of America are German Shepherds, while the remainder are Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers.
German Shepherds are still used for herding and tending sheep grazing in meadows next to gardens and crop fields. They are expected to patrol the boundaries to keep sheep from trespassing and damaging the crops. In Germany and other places these skills are tested in utility dog trials also known as HGH (Herdengebrauchshund) herding utility dog trials.
One Mexican German Shepherd, Zuyaqui, was dissected and his body put on display at the Sedena’s “Narco Museum” in Mexico. He is regarded to be the dog who has captured the most drugs in Mexican police and military history.
History
During the 1850s, attempts were being made to standardize dog breeds. Dogs were being bred to preserve traits that assisted in their job of herding sheep and protecting their flocks from predators. In Germany this was practiced within local communities, where shepherds selected and bred dogs. It was recognized that the breed had the necessary skills for herding sheep, such as intelligence, speed, strength and keen senses of smell. The results were dogs that were able to do such things, but that differed significantly — both in appearance and ability — from one locality to another.
To combat these differences, the Phylax Society was formed in 1891 with the intention of creating standardized development plans for native dog breeds in Germany. The society disbanded after only three years due to ongoing internal conflicts regarding the traits in dogs that the society should promote; some members believed dogs should be bred solely for working purposes, while others believed dogs should be bred also for appearance. While unsuccessful in their goal, the Phylax Society had inspired people to pursue standardizing dog breeds independently.
With the rise of large, industrialized cities in Germany, the predator population began to decline, rendering sheepdogs unnecessary. At the same time, the awareness of sheepdogs as a versatile, intelligent class of canine began to rise. Max von Stephaitz, an ex-cavalry captain and former student of the Berlin Veterinary College, was an ex-member of the Phylax Society who firmly believed dogs should be bred for working. He admired the intelligence, strength and ability of Germany's native sheepdogs, but could not find any one single breed that satisfied him as the perfect working dog.
In 1899, Von Stephanitz was attending a dog show when he was shown a dog named Hektor Linksrhein. Hektor was the product of few generations of selective breeding and completely fulfilled what Von Stephanitz believed a working dog should be. He was pleased with the strength of the dog and was so taken by the animal's intelligence, loyalty and beauty, that he purchased him immediately. After purchasing the dog he changed his name to Horand von Grafrath and Von Stephanitz founded the Society for German Shepherd Dogs. Horand was declared to be the first German Shepherd Dog and was the first dog added to the society's breed register. In just a few decades of the Society for German Shepherd Dogs’ establishment, the breed became one of the world’s most popular and numerous — a position it has maintained to this day. By 1923, the Society for German Shepherd Dogs claimed 50,000 dues-paying members in more than 500 branches in Germany alone.
Adolf Hitler acquired a German Shepherd named "Prinz" in 1921, during his years of poverty, but he had been forced to lodge the dog elsewhere. However, she managed to escape and return to him. Hitler, who adored the loyalty and obedience of the dog, thereafter developed a great liking for the breed. Holocaust victim Benjamin Jacobs described running away from German Shepherd dogs who harassed his family at Auschwitz extermination camp where over 1 million people were murdered. During the first half of the 20th century, the German Shepherd dog came to be strongly identified with Imperial and Nazi Germany, because of the breed's association with purity and militarism.
Etymology
The breed was named Deutscher Schäferhund by von Stephanitz, literally translating to "German Shepherd Dog." The breed was so named due to its original purpose of assisting shepherds in herding and protecting sheep. At the time, all other herding dogs in Germany were referred to by this name; they thus became known as Altdeutsche Schäferhunde or Old German herding dogs.
The direct translation of the name was adopted for use in the official breed registry; however, at the conclusion of World War I, it was believed that the inclusion of the word "German" would harm the breed's popularity due to the anti-German sentiment of the era. The breed was officially renamed by the UK Kennel Club to "Alsatian Wolf Dog," after the French region of Alsace bordering Germany. This name was also adopted by many other international kennel clubs.
Eventually, the appendage "wolf dog" was dropped, after numerous campaigns by breeders who were worried that becoming known as a wolf-dog hybrid would affect the breed's popularity and legality. The name Alsatian remained for five decades, until 1977, when successful campaigns by dog enthusiasts pressured the British kennel clubs to allow the breed to be registered again as German Shepherds. The word "Alsatian" still appeared in parentheses as part of the formal breed name and was only removed in 2010.
Popularity
When the UK Kennel accepted registrations in 1919, 54 German Shepherds were registered. By 1926 this number had grown to over 8,000. The breed gained international recognition after the end of World War I. Returning soldiers spoke highly of the breed and animal actors Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart popularized the breed further. The first German Shepherd Dog registered in the United States was Queen of Switzerland. Her offspring suffered from defects as the result of poor breeding, which caused the breed to suffer a decline in popularity during the late 1920s.
Popularity increased again after the German Shepherd Sieger Pfeffer von Bern became the 1937 and 1938 Grand Victor in American Kennel club dog shows, only to suffer another decline at the conclusion of World War II, due to anti-German sentiment. Popularity increased gradually until 1993, when they became the third most popular breed in the United States. As of 2016, the German Shepherd is the second most popular breed in the US. Additionally, the breed is typically among the most popular in other registries. The German Shepherd dog's physique is very well suited to competing in shows and competitions, such as agility trials.
In popular culture
German Shepherds have been featured in a wide range of media. In 1921 Strongheart became one of the earliest canine film stars, and was followed in 1922 by Rin Tin Tin, who is considered the most famous German Shepherd. Both have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Batman’s dog Ace the Bat-Hound appeared in the Batman comic books, initially in 1955, through 1964. Between 1964 and 2007, his appearances were sporadic.
A German Shepherd named Inspector Rex is the star of an Austrian Police procedural drama program of the same name, which won many awards, where German Shepherd Rex assists the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit. The show was aired in many languages.
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