Old German Shepherd Dog

Old German Shepherd Dog

Old German Shepherd Dog - Male
Other names	Altdeutscher Schäferhund
Country of origin	Germany
Traits
Classification and standards
Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

The Old German Shepherd Dog (German: Altdeutscher Schäferhund) is a traditional type of working herding dog from Germany. It is a landrace consisting of working strains of dog, and is the type from which the modern German Shepherd Dog was developed as a standardised breed. The landrace is not recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale but has its own standard.^[1]

History

Before the 1890s, any dog used for herding and protecting sheep in Germany was referred to as a "German Shepherd Dog". The dogs were bred solely for their working ability, with little effort to standardise a particular appearance, eliminate genetic defects or to create a defined breed of dog.^[2]

In 1899 a new formal breed was established by the Society for the German Shepherd Dog. This was selected from amongst the working shepherd dogs,^[3] and became the modern German Shepherd Dog breed.^[4]

Many German herdsmen continued to breed their dogs for working ability rather than to the new breed standard, and their remaining non-standardised working dogs were called Altdeutscher Schäferhund, or "Old German Shepherd Dog".^[5][3][6]

Modern breed

The modern Old German Shepherd consists of dogs whose ancestry can be traced to before establishment of the German Shepherd Dog. The breed standard requires the animal to be capable of herding sheep and cattle. In 2008, the German Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Livestock Breeds (GEH) listed the breed as "extremely vulnerable" to extinction.^[7]

Appearance

An Old German Shepherd Dog with a predominantly black coat.

The Old German Shepherd Dog is bred solely for working ability, and thus its appearance differs between each dog; however, most appear similar to the long-haired variation of the modern German Shepherd, often with slightly different colouring patterns. The coat may be any length and can be shaggy, smooth or wiry, and the colour may be black, brown, blue^{[clarification needed]} or tan. The ears may be either erect or semi-erect.^[3] They are generally around the same height as a typical German Shepherd: 55 and 65 centimetres (22 and 26 in) at the withers. They weigh between 22 and 40 kilograms (49 and 88 lb) but are known to have been larger.^[6]

References

1. ^ "Top-10-Fragen" (in German). AAH. http://www.altdeutschehuetehunde.de/?id=13&artikel=22. Retrieved 2008-10-16. 
2. ^ "A Profile of the German Shepherd Dog". Just Shepherds. http://www.justshepherds.com/germanshepherdprofile.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Altdeutscher Schaeferhund". Herding on the Web. http://www.herdingontheweb.com/english.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-07. 
4. ^ "History of the Breed". German Shepherds.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20080601121843/http://www.germanshepherds.com/thegsd/history/. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
5. ^ von Stephanitz, Max; Schwabacher, Joseph (1994). The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture. Hoflin Publishing Ltd. p. 12. ISBN 9789993280057. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Willis, Malcolm; Bennett, Janet. The German Shepherd Dog: A Genetic History. Maxwell Macmillan International. ISBN 0876051751. 
7. ^ "Westerwälder Kuhhund" (in German). German Society for the preservation of old and endangered breeds Association. http://www.g-e-h.de/geh-raku/hunde/hundkuh.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-08.