Brief History of the German Shepherd

Hektor v Schwaben

Ingo v Hafenlohrtal

The German Shepherd Dog of today originated around the late 1800s from a variety of  "German Sheepdogs" which have been recorded as having no fixed type or colour. Captain Max Von Stephanitz and others began to fix a type which became known as the German Shepherd Dog and which displayed characteristics somewhat along the lines of what we would recognise as the German Shepherd Dog today.  Coat colours and coat types on those early dogs were varied. 

In 1989 the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde or SV (German Shepherd breed club) was formed and the progress of the German Shepherd dog as a breed escalated.  The first three dogs to be registered by the SV were Horand v Grafrath (No1), Marie v Grafrath (No2) and Schwabenmadle v Grafrath (No3).  Horand's son Hektor v Schwaben (No13) was made Sieger in 1900 and 1901 (Grand Victor).

When the breed reached Britain, due to the war with Germany, it was renamed the Alsatian Wolf Dog, a term which is not used now.

It appears that the first German Shepherd Dogs reached Australian Shores around the early to mid 1920s with 88 imports coming before a breed import ban was imposed in 1929.  There were fears that wolf blood ran through the veins of the breed and it was considered potentially dangerous at that time that this breed could potentially get loose and breed with the dingo, with the end result being a dangerous wild breed which would kill sheep. 

In 1972, after 43 years, the import ban was lifted and since that time many imported German Shepherds have come into the country with the bulk of them being from England and Germany.  One of the most notable early German imports to come to Australia was Austrian Sieger Ingo vom Hafenlohrtal (in 1975).  Even after the main import ban was lifted, in parts of Australia, namely Western Australia, there were still breed bans on unsterilised German Shepherds entering the state and these bans were lifted a little later.

Through the 80s the popularity of the breed increased, with record numbers of German Shepherd Dogs being shown.  In the 1990s the German Shepherd Dog in Australia became the most popular breed with registrations being far above any other breed and its popularity has continued into 2006 although registrations have declined a little since the 90s.