Description

German Shepherd

In 1891, German sheepdog enthusiasts formed the Phylax Society in an attempt to standardize one recognizable breed from the country's many regional herding and flock guarding dogs. Differences of opinion split the group up by 1894, but one man continued its mission - Captain Max von Stephanitz. He valued utility and intelligence over beauty and found the dog he felt personified that in one Hector Linksrhein, whom he later re-named Horand von Grafrath. Stephanitz went on to co-found the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV), the German Shepherd national breed club in 1899 and his dog, Horand, was the first to be registered by the SV. (Horand was also credited for being the founding sire of the breed.) The SV was not merely a national breed club charged with creating the GSD conformation breed standard; it was also a registry and controlled all breeding of German Shepherds in the country.

Herding jobs disappeared with the advent of the railroad as sheepdogs were no longer needed to move flocks to market and sheep raising went into a decline, so Stephanitz promoted German Shepherds as effective police and military dogs. They were employed as couriers, sentinels and rescuers of wounded soldiers in World War I. Their performance so impressed American and English soldiers that some smuggled puppies home with them and fanned interest in the breed. The 1920s saw one of those smuggled pups become a star in silent films - Rin Tin Tin - and interest in the breed really took off. Shortly thereafter, the German Shepherd Dog became the #1 breed in America.

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