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Most dog breeders like to imagine that their breed date back into antiquity. But in fact as breeds go, the German Shepherd is a relativly modern one. It's origins go back to Germany and the last decades of the 19th century. Originally they were sheepdogs, or mixed appearances, with a wide range of colours, coats and characterisitics. From the types available it was decided to select a dog that had a short coat, rather than long or wired, that had erect ears, and was dark of colour. This dog was the prototype and its decendeants popularity grew, in Britian alone once the German Shepherd was introduced its rise was meteoric. During the world wars the name of the dog was changed ot Alsatian, as for obvious reasons its association with Germany was not acceptable. To date there are propably more German Shepherd in the world than any other breed of dog......and personally I can understand why! |
