Breed History
The German Shepherd Dog is the end result of a concerted effort to create the perfect shepherd and working dog, and is perhaps the most meticulously designed breed in existence today....
The German Shepherd is among the newest of breeds, and owes its existence primarily to a man by the name of Captain Max von Stephanitz and the Verein fur deutsche Schaferhunde, a society formed by von Stephanitz in 1899 to propagate the breed. Von Stephanitz was a great admirer of the native German herding breeds, but he felt that no one breed embodied all of the desirable traits of the group. With that in mind, von Stephanitz began with the best herder he could find, a dog named Horand v Grafet, and from there developed what would become the German Shepherd Dog. These dogs excelled not only at herding but at a number of other task as well, including police and military work. As a result, it was not long before they had spread throughout Europe and North America. The German Shepherd Dog was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1908. During World War I the German Shepherd saw action on both sides, but due to increasing animosity toward Germany, the breeds named changed several times during this period. At one time or another, the breed was called the Alsatian (after the Alsace-Lorraine region on the border of France and Germany), Alsatian Wolfdog, Shepherd Dog, or simply Wolfdog. None of these named proved particularly popular, and the AKC and other organizations eventually changed the name back to German Shepherd Dog. The German Shepherd Dog held the coveted title of most popular dog in American for many years during the 20th century. This popularity came largely from film and TV stars Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin, as well as the breeds inherent desirable traits. Though no longer top dog in the US, the German Shepherd is still in the top five in terms of AKC registration, and also serves in a myriad of working roles including shepherd, police dog, guard dog, narcotics and/or bomb sniffing dog, search and rescue, and seeing eye dog.