The German Shepherd

Rin Tin Tin, movie and television star of the early to mid-nineteenth century, introduced and helped to establish the German shepherd breed in this country. German shepherds were developed by Max Emil Frederick von Stephanitz, a German cavalry officer, to manage a particularly large and querulous local brand of sheep. 

Von Stephanitz also served as the first president of the German shepherd breed club and so had a great deal of influence in developing the breed standard. During the First World War von Stephanitz volunteered some of his dogs for service. The dogs performed so well, both in military and police service, as well as in movies, that an explosion in popularity of the breed resulted. Since that time the breed's popularity has waxed and waned, but today it is again on the upswing as people find the German shepherd's virtues outweigh its liabilities.

Rin Tin Tin Introduces the German Shepherd to America

When Air Force Corporal Lee Duncan returned to his California home after World War I, he brought with him two German shepherd puppies he had found in a deserted bunker in France when they were less than a week old. Nannette, whom Duncan considered the smarter pup, contracted pneumonia and died not long after arriving in this country. A fervent animal enthusiast, Duncan spent three years hounding movie studios until he got the other dog, Rin Tin Tin, a bit part in the 1922 movie The Man From Hell's River.

 

By the time Rinty, as he was called, died 10 years later, he had made 25 films (most of them silent movies) and two 12-part serials for Warner Brothers. He earned $1,000-a-week and had his own production unit, chauffeur, limousine, orchestra, diamond-studded collar and personal chef. He repaid the attention by single-handedly rescuing the studio from financial ruin and providing jobs for scores of Warner Brothers employees. 

The Father of Them All

The puppies that Lee Duncan found in France were descended from breeding stock supplied to the German army by Max Emil Frederick von Stephanitz. A German cavalry officer of noble birth, von Stephanitz was asked to leave the military in 1898, having just attained the rank of captain at the age of 34, because he had married an actress, a union considered beneath his station. Von Stephanitz had always wanted to be a gentleman farmer — the military was his mother's idea — so he bought an estate near Grafrath the following year and devoted himself to his wife, his family and his fondest avocation: producing the consummate working dog. 

 

In the early 1890s when von Stephanitz was still in the military, he observed a shepherd tending his flock one day. The sheep, which grew large and querulous in that part of Germany, were almost too much for the shepherd's dogs to manage. Von Stephanitz thought he could level the grazing field if he bred a medium-size working dog that could contend with crusierweight sheep as well as the smaller variety also found in Germany. The dog he envisioned would be intelligent, quick, protective, noble-looking, trustworthy, sound and entirely dedicated to pleasing its owner. 

 

At that time a number of dogs of various sizes, shapes and abilities were used for herding sheep in Germany, but no one had been able to merge those strains into a uniform breed. Von Stephanitz was more qualified than most for this undertaking, for he brought to the task the scientific and genetic knowledge he had acquired while serving with the veterinary college in Berlin. He also brought a stockman's eye. At a dog show in 1899 he saw a four-year-old male named Hektor Linksrhein, who stood about 25 inches at the withers and was close to the embodiment of the ideal working dog von Stephanitz had envisioned. He bought the dog on the spot, and two weeks later, with the help of his friend Artur Meyer, founded a breed club, the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde (SV). Von Stephanitz was the first president. Meyer, who conducted the affairs of the club until his death in 1900, was the secretary. Hektor Linksrhein, whose name was changed to Horand von Grafrath, was the first German shepherd dog registered by the SV. 

Stacking the Deck

As president of the SV, von Stephanitz dictated the rules and regulations by which the club was run and the criteria by which dogs were accepted for inclusion in its stud book. Those criteria were expressed by von Stephanitz in his description of Horand von Grafrath: "Remarkable in his unswerving loyalty to his master, irrepressible in his high spirits, never idle, always in motion, good-natured but not a flatterer, a constant pleasure to the eye." 

Although many of the dogs from which the German shepherd was developed were of unknown origin, they possessed in great measure the virtues with which von Stephanitz sought to endow his new breed. The principal virtue, of course, was working ability. Von Stephanitz believed "German Shepherd breeding is working dog breeding, or it is not German Shepherd breeding." He insisted that dogs must have working-dog degrees in order to qualify for conformation shows. 

Soon after the SV had been organized, it held its first annual Sieger show to select the male and female champions (Sieger and Siegren) for the year. Von Stephanitz judged the shows, and because of dog fanciers' inclination to breed their bitches to current winners, his selections wielded a great influence on the development of the German shepherd breed. 

War Heroes

When the first world war broke out, von Stephanitz volunteered some of his dogs for military service. The army scoffed at the idea until German policemen began raving about the dogs von Stephanitz had given them. The army then agreed to allow German shepherds to carry messages, help lay telephone lines, locate wounded soldiers, stand watch and go on scouting patrols in the service of their country. These abilities did not go unremarked by British and American soldiers who fought in Germany. They returned home with tales, no doubt exaggerated sometimes, about the German wonder dog. 

These war stories and Rin Tin Tin's movie exploits ignited a meteoric surge in the popularity of German shepherds in the United States. Movie-hero dogs like Rinty and his Hollywood rival Strongheart were smarter than rocket scientists, braver than Hannibal, more loyal than a patriot and slicker than Houdini. Not surprisingly, everyone wanted dogs just like the ones on the silver screen. 

The German shepherd craze was compounded by newspaper stories of the heroic deeds performed by these wonder dogs -- babies rescued from burning buildings, damsels in distress saved from a terrible fate at the last moment. The news stories, whether based entirely on reality or not, added to the growing obsession. 

The first German shepherd import, one Queen of Switzerland, had been registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1908 and shown that same year in New York. In addition a few unregistered dogs found their way to the United States with returning troops, but the buying frenzy erupted with gale force in the 1920s. Imports from Germany trebled, and when that country's supply couldn't meet this country's demand -- von Stephanitz had instituted a quality-control inspection system that discouraged opportunistic breeding -- Americans started mass-producing German shepherds. Haphazard breeding gave birth to dogs that not only lacked the sterling qualities of the canine film heroes but also were untrustworthy and more expensive to maintain than people had anticipated. Then came the Great Depression, and many German shepherds were turned out on the streets to fend for themselves while America floundered in financial chaos. 

In 1920, while Lee Duncan was still trying to get Rin Tin Tin a movie role, AKC registered 2,135 "shepherd dogs." Six years later AKC registered 21,596 German shepherds, and for several years in the middle of the decade the German shepherd was the most popular breed in the United States; but by 1932, the year Rin Tin Tin died (he is buried in France), German shepherd registrations had plummeted to 1,333. There was, nevertheless, one positive effect in this reversal in popularity. It left the breed in the hands of a few diehards who had only the best interests of the dogs at heart.

Born-Again Celebrities

Just as the first world war had made the German shepherd's reputation, World War II refurbished it -- once again with help from the entertainment world, this time in "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," a popular boy-and-his-dog series that aired on ABC from 1954 to 1959. German shepherd registrations had been doing nicely on their own, climbing from 4,921 in 1947 to 17,400 in 1954, the year Rusty and Rinty and the gang at Fort Apache made their television debut. When the show rode into the sunset five years later, German shepherd registrations (33,735) had nearly doubled, then they started to grow in earnest, reaching a personal best in 1971, when 111,355 new shepherds were enrolled by AKC. 

Unfortunately, indiscriminate breeding jumped up and bit this boom, too. Temperament and health suffered the predictable consequences, and German shepherd registrations took another freefall. By 1986, when 55,958 new shepherds were registered by AKC, the breed's annual enrollments had been cut by half. Nevertheless, the German shepherd dogs bred to reflect their original character continued to be stars at almost everything for which they were trained. They excel as guard dogs, herding dogs and Leader Dogs for the Blind, and they are formidable competitors in the obedience and conformation rings, too. 
 

For these reasons the German shepherd has made yet another comeback. Its 1997 performance, 75,177 new registrations, made it the third most popular breed in the United States. What's more, the German Shepherd Dog Club of America, founded in 1922, has undertaken a serious effort to educate the public regarding where dogs of true German shepherd character can be located. The organization also has done its best to make people aware that only through proper training can the German shepherd dog achieve its true potential.

No Better Protection

Everything about the German shepherd expresses strength, agility and complete alertness. According to the breed standard, "the ideal dog is stamped with a look of quality and nobility -- difficult to define, but unmistakable when present." Certainly the dark eyes, erect ears and luxurious, but not exaggerated, coat combine to produce the desired look; and while most colors are permissible, strong and rich colors are preferred. Faded or pale colors are frowned upon, and white dogs are barred from AKC shows. Because a good part of the German shepherd dog's essence lies in its ability to work, sound and efficient movement is an essential breed characteristic. The German shepherd's gait -- effortless, ground-covering and rhythmic -- reflects the dog's power and dignity.

The German shepherd is an easy dog to maintain, with one exception -- hair! Prospective owners must make the choice in advance: They use a brush judiciously on a regular basis or they resign themselves to living with an entire wardrobe decorated with dog hair. 

The German shepherd is, at heart, a friendly dog, but it will always want to make sure strangers have a right to enter its home before admittance is granted. Those who appear not to have entry rights are challenged by a formidable protector. Looks alone make the German shepherd an imposing foe -- males usually stand 24 - 26 inches at the shoulder, and females are only 2 inches smaller. Add strong bone, great body capacity and a head that can assume a challenging expression when necessary, and you have one of the best security systems known to humans. 

With his own flock, however, the German shepherd is a happy-go-lucky family member ready to play games, go hiking, take a swim or, on the other hand, sit quietly by its master's side while he or she reads a book or listens to music. Indeed, few dogs are more intelligent or trainable than the well-bred German shepherd. Responsible breeders consider their dogs' mental and physical health above all, and their breeding stock produces dogs that bring unqualified companionship and protection for many years. 

German Shepherds -- Causes for Concern

Irresponsible breeding the world over has left the German shepherd breed with a myriad of problems that a prospective owner must be concerned about. Unreliable temperaments in a dog this size are a major worry and a frequent subject of headlines. A study of 178 dog-bite cases reported to Denver animal control officials in 1991 revealed that German shepherds and chow chows were the dogs most likely to bite. Shepherds also accounted for 19 of the 304 dog-bite fatalities in this country between 1979 and 1996. Only two other breeds — pit bulls (60) and Rottweilers (29) -- bit more people to death. The Detroit News reported last July that "at least one national insurance company, MetLife Auto & Home, no longer writes homeowner coverage for people who own any of five different breeds of large, often aggressive, dogs: pit bulls, Rottweilers, chow chows, German shepherds and bull terriers."

Obviously, temperament testing of breeding stock is an absolute necessity in German shepherds, and the buyer should settle for nothing less. Hip dysplasia and other problems of the bones and joints are also encountered frequently. A puppies' parents should be certified either "good" or "excellent" by the Orthopedic Foundation of America, and breeders should allow potential buyers to inspect those certificates.

Eye conditions, including cataracts and retinal dysplasia, are known to affect German shepherds. Bloat, epilepsy and heart related problems are also reported, as are von Willebrand's disease and hemophilia A.

This list of health concerns is not presented to discourage prospective German shepherd owners but rather to encourage them to be extremely careful in selecting the breeder from whom they buy their puppies. Dedicated breeders test their stock and do everything in their power to make sure that the puppies they breed are sound mentally and physically and have every opportunity of becoming exactly the kind of dog that Captain von Stephanitz envisioned 100 years ago.