Setting the Standard for the Breed

 

In this chapter

• Understanding how one man shaped a breed
• From shepherd to police dog to war dog to actor: Evolving the breed
• Reviewing the AKC German Shepherd Dog standard of perfection
• Knowing which traits disqualify a dog
• Admiring a GSD’s most noble character

Dog fanciers know that having a defined standard for each breed is vital to the breed’s success. The folks who control that standard, and thus the breed, work to eliminate or reduce health problems, develop a sound temperament in the dogs, and so on. This chapter explains how the German Shepherd Dog came into being and was developed into the dog that we know and love today — the most incredibly versatile breed ever known. To understand this amazing dog, you must understand its roots.

Understanding How the Breed Was Developed

A low growl warns of an intruder’s presence . . . A steady pull guides a blind person away from danger . . . A hurtling form brings down a fleeing criminal . . . A lithe shape searches a pile of rubble for buried victims . . . A warm body huddles close to keep a lost person alive . . . The best dog in the world joins his special boy on a grand adventure every day and guards the foot of his bed every night.

Intelligent, loyal, noble, sensitive, courageous — the German Shepherd is what we wish humans were like. It is the dog not only of movie action adventures, but also of real-life heroism. But this wasn’t always so. The GSD of today arose from humble beginnings, an unassuming dog with a great work ethic. Many such dogs existed in the late 19th century; what eventually made the German Shepherd different was in large part the life work of a single man. Max von Stephanitz shaped the German Shepherd into the breed that would become the most popular and versatile dog in the world.

Creating the breed

Dogs have shared a relationship with people throughout recorded history — a relationship originally based on function. Some dogs were better at sounding alarms due to intruders, for example, and some were better at chasing down game. Eventually, as breeders mated the best guards to the best guards and the best hunters to the best hunters, breeds were born. As other animal species became domesticated, dogs who could guard and control them became especially important. The German Shepherd claims these early stock-tending dogs as its forefathers.

In time, the strains of dogs became more and more specialized so that by the 19^th century, the German countryside was home to a group of adept but diverse sheep-herding dogs. Many of the dogs were not large or tough enough to handle some of the larger, stubborn sheep found in Germany.

Enter Captain Max Emil Frederick von Stephanitz, a cavalry officer who had some knowledge of functional animal anatomy. He admired the German sheepdogs but envisioned a dog who consistently combined all their best traits. Although he experimented (somewhat unsuccessfully) with breeding dogs in the 1890s, his luck changed in 1899, when he found the dog who embodied his ideal. He bought the dog and immediately changed the dog’s name to Horand von Grafhath. Having found the dog who would found the breed, von Stephanitz founded a club devoted to the breed, the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde (SV), with Horand the first dog registered.

The SV immediately began holding annual shows, in which von Stephanitz judged and chose the best male (the Sieger) and female (the Siegerin). He based his awards not only on the dogs’ merits but also on their pedigrees and their ability to counteract prevalent faults in the breed. Because breeders usually flocked to the Sieger of the year, von Stephanitz was able to steer the breed’s development.

As the SV grew, local branch clubs arose. Local Breed Wardens were appointed who inspected litters and evaluated breedings. This iron-fisted policy may have seemed tough, but it was largely responsible for the breed’s rapid rise in quality. The policy is still in place today.

Proving the dogs’ usefulness

von Stephanitz demanded that the dogs be useful. Beauty, though appreciated, was not a top priority. Sound temperament and body, as well as a zest for life and work, were paramount, and he devised herding and obedience trials to test them. Yet even as the ultimate German sheepherding breed was growing in popularity, German sheepherding was on the decline. Now that von Stephanitz had created the sheepdog of his dreams, it was threatened with large-scale unemployment!

Leave it to von Stephanitz to reinvent his precious breed, promoting German Shepherds as police and military dogs. Although the military scoffed at the notion at first, he demonstrated the dogs’ courage and ability to deter and apprehend criminals by placing several dogs with the police force. As the dogs’ reputation for police work grew, the military adopted a few. Those few were so good at their mission that when German troops entered into World War I, they did so with German Shepherds at their sides. Whether searching for wounded soldiers, laying phone lines, or serving as messengers, sentries, or guards, German Shepherds introduced a new element into warfare.

Taking the dogs worldwide

In the early 1900s, purebred dog mania swept across Europe and America. Anything that looked like a pure breed and could be trotted around a show ring was fair game. The German Shepherd was no exception, and the first GSD (then called the German Sheepdog) was registered by the American Kennel Club in 1908. Perhaps ­ because it didn’t have the eccentric looks or foo-foo ways of some of the more popular breeds, it wasn’t much of a hit, and those early imports had little impact on present GSDs in the United States.

With WWI, all things German became unsavory, and the breed lost much of the favor it had found in America. The American Kennel Club changed the breed’s name to Shepherd Dog in an attempt to protect the breed from patriotic zealots.

When the war ended in 1918, the American public was quick to forgive the breed its German heritage and, coupled with the tales of the dogs’ incredible feats of war service, was even faster to welcome them into its homes. In fact, wherever soldiers came from, German Shepherds followed them home.

Suffering from growing pains

In short order, the German Shepherd became the most popular breed in the world. It seemed that the only limit to the dogs’ abilities was the imagination of the people who trained them. During WWII, they were the first dogs to be trained to locate buried victims in British air-raids, the pioneers of today’s search-and-rescue dogs. After the war, they were trained to guide the blind, beginning a legacy of helping disabled people to live independently. Their presence on police forces throughout the world grew to unsurpassed levels. Just as important, they proved to be dependable and loyal family members. As more and more German Shepherds gained fame through heroic deeds, often literally saving the lives of family members, more and more families chose GSDs.

Serious dog fanciers continued to breed, compete, and win with GSDs, excelling at obedience, trailing, and conformation competitions. German Shepherds became invincible in the obedience ring and dominated the Working Group, and later the Herding Group, at AKC shows. The German club, the SV, grew to become the largest and most powerful breed club in the world.

Whenever something gets popular, people try to make a buck off of it. German Shepherds have been very popular for a long time, and a lot of people have tried to make money at their expense. Even by 1920, opportunists had stepped in and begun breeding GSDs as fast as they could. Not every German Shepherd has the temperament, health, or physical qualities that exemplify the breed, so not every dog should be bred. Yet bad dog after bad dog was bred repeatedly, with no regard for the quality of the dogs produced or the lives they would live. Dogs with poor temperaments were sold to unsuspecting families, and the German Shepherd gained a reputation as a biter.

Breeders also sold dogs in poor health, with their loving families agonizing over diseases that seemed to plague the breed. The German Shepherd became the poster child for hip dysplasia (see Chapter Dealing with GSD Hereditary Health Problems), and with the public’s growing awareness of hereditary problems in purebred dogs, GSD show breeders got the blame. More German Shepherds fell into the wrong hands, often owned by people who thought that the meaner they could make them, the better protectors they would be. It doesn’t work that way, and German Shepherds were blamed unjustly for the bad habits they had been taught. As numbers grew, prices fell, sometimes to nothing, and more people got GSD pups on a whim only to abandon them at the slightest problem.

HOWLYWOOD STARS: FAMOUS GERMAN SHEPHERDS

Amid the influx of Shepherds from Germany following WWI came a dog that never distinguished himself in the show ring but became the most famous dog in America. Etzel von Oeringen was born in 1917, trained for police work in Germany, and brought to America in 1921, where he eventually became the property of an actor/writer and dog trainer team. Retrained and renamed for the movies, “Strongheart” was an instant screen sensation, the first truly famous animal star. Such was Strongheart’s fame that it seemed it would never be eclipsed. Yet the greatest canine star of all-time had already been born and would become a household name in a very short time. The story began during WWI in a bombed German dog kennel. An American army patrol discovered the lone survivors, a mother and her five newborns, and took them back to base. After the war, one of the patrols, Lee Duncan, returned home with two of the pups, a brother and sister named Rin Tin Tin and Nannette (named after good-luck dolls that children gave to returning soldiers in Europe). Nannette’s luck didn’t hold, as she soon died of distemper, but Rin Tin Tin (or Rinty to his friends) went with Duncan to Los Angeles. In 1922, Rinty was entered in a dog show, which he lost, and a jumping competition, which he won with a jump of nearly 12 feet. The jumping event was filmed, and Rinty was a natural on the big screen. He appeared in several film shorts doing various stunts, until his big break came when he was able to step in and play the part of a wolf, completing in 20 minutes what the studio had not accomplished with a real wolf in days. The grateful studio was a small one named Warner Bothers, and it decided to feature Rinty in first one film and then film after film. Rin Tin Tin is credited as the dog who made Warner Brothers.

The German Shepherd has always had staunch and devoted supporters, however. Many breeders refused to sacrifice quality for quantity, and many owners remained who demanded and understood the best this breed could be. Between them, they raised the German Shepherd to even greater heights. The German Shepherd of today remains the most versatile of all breeds, sound of body and mind and adhering as closely as possible to the ideal vision of the breed. It is constantly tested in family homes, working jobs, and performance trials, and by the breed standard of perfection.

Defining the Modern Standard for the Breed

German Shepherds look the way they do for a reason: They’re built to do a certain job. But looks aren’t everything. A good-looking GSD should also be able to move in an efficient, sound manner and have the good sense to be able to direct its good-looking, good-moving self to do good work. The good Shepherd of today is the result of generations of breeding to an exacting blueprint, a standard of perfection of the idealized German Shepherd.

The breed standard is a comparison by which every individual GSD can be evaluated against the idealized perfect German Shepherd. It ensures that breeders will continue to strive to improve the breed without straying from its original type. In the United States, the accepted standard for German Shepherds is the one that the German Shepherd Dog Club of America submits to the American Kennel Club. Other German Shepherd organizations that are members of the World Union of SV Clubs (WUSV) abide by the SV standard. Few substantial differences exist between the AKC and SV standards, however. A good German Shepherd is a good German Shepherd, no matter by what standard he is judged.

The official AKC standard is printed in Appendix C; I present a summary here. To help you understand the points that the standard mentions, Figure 2-1 highlights the key parts of a German Shepherd.

First of all, a German Shepherd should give the overall impression of agile strength, being well-muscled, alert, noble, and full of life. He is fearless, self-confident, and somewhat aloof, at the same time not hostile or shy.

Males are distinctly masculine, and females distinctly feminine. Males are 24 to 26 inches in height at the withers (the highest point of shoulder blades), and females 22 to 24 inches. Both sexes are longer than they are tall, ideally in the proportion of 10 to 8.5

The dog’s head is noble, cleanly chiseled, and strong without coarseness. The expression is keen and intelligent, with dark, almond-shaped eyes, erect ears, and a black nose. The muzzle is long and parallel to the top of the skull when viewed from the side, without an abrupt stop at the forehead. The jaws are strong, with full dentition and a scissors bite.

FIGURE 2-1: The key parts of a German Shepherd.

The withers are relatively high and slope downward onto the level back. The chest is deep, with the prosternum, or forechest, positioned ahead of the shoulder when seen in profile. The abdomen is neither paunchy nor ex-tremely tucked up. The loin is strong and of moderate length, and the croup is relatively long and gradually sloping. The tail is set on low and carried fairly low in a saberlike curve. It is bushy and long, with the last vertebra reaching at least to the hock.

The shoulder blades are long and obliquely angled, meeting the upper arm at an approximate right angle. The forelegs are straight, with oval bone. The strong, springy pasterns slope at about 25 degrees from the vertical. The feet are short, compact, and well arched. The upper and lower thighs are well muscled and articulate at an approximate right angle. The hock is short.

The body is covered with a double coat of medium length. The outer coat is coarse, straight, or slightly wavy and lies close to the body. Most colors are permissible, with rich, strong colors preferred.

Certain faults are considered so untypical of or undesirable for the breed that they are disqualifying faults. Although they don’t in any way detract from a dog’s ability to function as a companion or worker (except, perhaps, the one about trying to bite the judge), they do render a dog ineligible for conformation competition. As such, dogs with disqualifying faults, as well as other serious faults, should not be bred except under exceptional circumstances.

• Cropped or hanging ears
• Noses not predominantly black
• Undershot jaw
• Docked tail
• A white coat
• Attempts to bite a judge

Remember

The possession of a disqualifying trait doesn’t necessarily make a dog unsuitable as a pet. For example, white GSDs are just as healthy as the black-and-tan ones and make beautiful pets and wonderful companions.

Appreciating How a GSD Moves

The German Shepherd standard of perfection involves more than just arbitrary beauty marks. In theory, a dog who is built right moves right — but that doesn’t always happen in practice. That’s why a big part of evaluating a German Shepherd is watching him move from every angle.

The German Shepherd Dog was developed to trot tirelessly for a full day’s work, acting as a moving fence while performing its duties as a herding dog. Subsequent roles also require tireless athleticism, whether the dog is a patrol dog, a service dog, or just a companion.

The German Shepherd standard describes the most efficient trot in dogdom. The hallmark of the GSD’s trotting gait is its great elasticity, strength, and fluidity, covering the ground in long, ground-eating strides. The GSD invented the so-called flying trot, in which all four feet are off the ground at full extension so that the dog actually floats forward with every stride. (See Figure 2-2, in which the dog is almost to that point.) No other dog breed can approach the GSD’s trotting ability.

FIGURE 2-2: A GSD’s gait is known as the flying trot.

Good trotters have to be sound when viewed from the front or the rear. In general, this means that the legs converge in a straight line toward the center line of gravity without interfering with one another. Any deviation from a straight line of support (such as cowhocks, turned pasterns, or bow legs) weakens a dog’s stride and detracts from its strength.

Evaluating the German Shepherd’s Character

The best-looking, best-moving German Shepherd in the world is nothing without character. This is a working breed, and no matter how well built a dog is, you can’t force the desire and temperament to do the job on him. If those traits aren’t there, you may have a lovely pet, but you won’t have a real German Shepherd.

The German Shepherd Dog standard emphasizes temperament perhaps more than any other breed standard. Look at what the SV standard says about temperament:

“With an effervescent temperament, the dog must also be cooperative, adapting to every situation, and take to work willingly and joyfully. He must show courage and hardness as the situation requires to defend his handler and his property. He must readily attack on his owner’s command but otherwise be a fully attentive, obedient and pleasant household companion. He should be devoted to his familiar surroundings, above all to other animals and children, and composed in his contact with people. All in all, he gives a harmonious picture of natural nobility and self-confidence.”

The German Shepherd has remained one of the most popular breeds in the world not because of its looks, and not because of its movement, but because of its character. It is the dog at its best, the true companion you wish your best human friends could be: noble, courageous, and loyal, but in private moments saved for you alone, a bit of a clown and a puppy at heart — a real character!

The perfect German Shepherd would conform to every point of the standard and trot with great, sound strides. Beyond that, he would be of strong and noble temperament and of robust health. There is no perfect German Shepherd, but I hope that yours comes close. I’m sure that he will be your perfect friend.

by D. Caroline Coile, PhD