Welcome to the gateway to an exciting trip back through time! No, this is not Jurassic Park, because it is far wiser for Man to develop (not create! for creation is God's work and only God has the wisdom to create perfection-one only has to watch how all the elements of nature work in harmony with each other and how every living thing has its place to appreciate the monumental miracle of the living world!)
The German Shepherd Dog is the most versatile breed of dog in the world. The breed may not be the best at every task it is capable of, but it is able to do the greatest VARIETY of tasks well. Throughout history, the German Shepherd Dog has served to tend and herd livestock, provide companionship and protection to its human family, deliver messages and other materials during wartime, lead the blind, and assist law enforcement and other authorities in numerous ways and in a variety of places and situations, from railways to country borders. Modern tasks of the breed include police work (with a number of varied tasks included in this category), herding, service to the handicapped in a wide variety of ways, companionship and protection in family homes (the task for which the majority of German Shepherd Dogs are acquired to perform), search and rescue work, and sport competitions. Sport competitions that people take pleasure in training the German Shepherd Dog for, and in competing against each other in include Schutzhund (the German working competition, in which a dog must earn a passing score in each category of tracking, obedience, and protection to gain a title), Conformation, Obedience, Trailing (similar to tracking but a higher degree of difficulty and also Trailing differs somewhat in the skills a dog must apply to succeed), Agility, Herding, and there are other competitive dog sports evolving into sanctioned events with standards, rules, and recognized titles, all the time. (Coming soon, a page specifically listing the types of competition German Shepherd Dogs and/or White Shepherds are involved in.)
The White Shepherd is achieving recognition by a number of national and international organizations as a separate breed. This has happened because the political organizations in control of the German Shepherd Dog have long held extreme prejudice against German Shepherd Dogs of this particular COAT COLOR. White herding dogs were heavily used in the creation of the breed and most of the greatest foundation dogs of the breed throughout history carried the gene for the white recessive. The same is also true of the blue and brown dilution colors in the breed, although to a much lesser degree. That was simply because until recent times, there was no way for many advocates of the blue and liver variations to get acquainted with each other. The Internet has been an extremely important tool in bringing people who share interests together, and in giving these people an opportunity to communicate and share.
Many devotees of the German Shepherd Dog are steadfastly loyal to whichever style within the breed they have become involved with. Those fanciers are convinced that their particular style and bloodlines are superior to everyone elses. In reality, there is good and bad and mediocre in everything and in the German Shepherd Dog Breed, some lines and styles are suited ideally for some purposes but may not be as qualified as a dog of a different style for others. The main styles within the standard German Shepherd Dog breed are the German Conformation showdog, the German working style dog (including the Eastern European working dogs-although they are too tough for some working situations), the American "old-fashioned" style, and the American conformation style. There are other styles within the breed that are lesser known than these, but which are usually distinctive enough to be recognized as different from the categories above, one such example would be that of the older British style of showdog.
There are several other "spinoff breeds" of the German Shepherd Dog. Probably the best known is the "Shiloh Shepherd" which differs from the German Shepherd Dog mainly in being selectively bred for extreme size. The Shiloh Shepherd fanciers also do not discriminate against the longcoated dogs, longer hair adds to the appearance of greater size. There is nothing wrong with the German Shepherd Dog breed being divided into sub-categories, whether they are seen as varieties or as separate breeds. Throughout history, dog breeds have evolved in the same way, as a tree branches out from its trunk in different directions.
This site has been created to explore the history and development of the breed, and also to provide space for photos, pedigrees, and other elements of breed history. The history pages actually started at another website, but as they continue to grow it has become necessary to set up a site to devote to the history of the German Shepherd Dog. Regardless of what variation of the breed you are involved with, they all started from the same roots and foundation. The important breeding animals that shaped the direction of the German Shepherd Dog from the beginning to modern times, were important in the shaping of all the present variations within the breed, and the variations which have or may eventually become separate breeds or varieties of the German Shepherd Dog breed.
Click this link to take your trip back in time into the history of the German Shepherd Dog.
Historical German Shepherd Dog Photo Galleries
If you have photos and pedigrees of your German Shepherd Dog(s) that you would like to see included in our historical German Shepherd Dog galleries, please snail mail them to:
Sahiela Historical German Shepherd Webpages
1006 Independence Dr. E
Elwood, IN. 46036
or email them to DrGSDGenes@gmail.com
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