German Shepherd Dog Types
Copyright 2006 -- Moc Klinkam; all rights reserved.
The following German Shepherd Breed Type Comparisons demonstrate various German Shepherd pedigree types, coat colors, and coat types. On this page you'll find representations of various types within the German Shepherd Dog breed that will assist the reader in further understanding how genetic bloodline inheritance and provenance influence the overall type, characteristics, form and associated function of the German Shepherd Dog breed.
While the German Shepherd Breed Standard has for over a century specified the required characteristics, traits, appearance, drives, and working utility of the German Shepherd Dog breed, there has evolved in the 20th Century and particularly in the last several decades some significant derivations of that original breed standard.
These derivations and deviations from the original German breed standard for the German Shepherd Dog are the catalyst for all manner of discussion and some heated argument. Today, one can find distinctive differences between the different German Shepherd types across international boundaries and even within the specialties represented in a single country. For example, in the United States of America, there are significant differences between German Shepherd Dog types, characteristics, and form and function when comparing the American ("AKC") German Shepherd types and the German Shepherd Dogs of West German, East German and Eastern European pedigree and lineage. There are also significant differences in the physical appearance ("phenotype") and genetic makeup ("genotype") when comparing the German/European working lines German Shepherd Dog and the show lines representatives.
The primary catalyst for the significant differences between American AKC types and the German Shepherd Dog representative of the German breed standard is that historically the German and Eastern European German Shepherd Dog bloodlines have been strongly premised on a comprehensive system of form and function, with breedworthiness evaluated and tested through a variety of schemes including hip (and increasingly elbow) evaluation, working titles (ie, Schutzhund, IPO, KNPV) and the German SV Breed Survey. The subtypes (ie, the AKC bloodlines) have not benefitted from the European influence and over time there has developed an unfortunate emphasis on appearance, much to the denegration of functionality, utility, and overall health and hardiness.
In fact, there are now such significant differences in the United States between the AKC Specialty type and the European bloodlines that there has arisen in recent years a call to demarcate the two types into distinctive breeds -- the "American Shepherd" and the "German Shepherd Dog." Further muddling the situation are the boutique breeders who choose to specifically breed and market dogs based only on visual characteristics ("phenotype") that are specifically excluded from the original German Shepherd Dog Breed Standard, such as the blue, liver and white colors, and even the long-haired German Shepherd Dog. It is one thing to accept the fact that these off-standard colors and coat types can and do occur in even the most diligent breeding program, and to acknowledge that a specific coat color or type does not automatically make a dog deficient any more than it automatically makes a dog more "valuable." It is quite another situation when a breeder elects to abrogate the critical importance of comprehensive soundness of temperament, character and functionality and instead focuses solely on selecting for and reproducing a particular coat color or physical trait.
There are now even breeders reproducing some genetic mutations such as dwarf (referred to in the commercial breeders' marketing literature as "miniature") or spotted coat "Panda Shepherds." Being so far removed from the original breed standard, and based solely on oddity of appearance due to genetic malformation, these dogs are not to be considered German Shepherd Dogs. Also included on this page are photos of the "Shiloh Shepherd" which is commonly misconstrued as a "type" of German Shepherd Dog, when in fact it (and the "King Shepherd") is a mixed breed and an example of a boutique breed genetically manipulated for commercial sale to a niche market.
The seminal issue, and the most troubling aspect of any departure from the established German Shepherd Dog breed standard, is if any breeding is considered or accomplished based solely on a marketable appearance. The abandonment of the critical components of form and function in any German Shepherd Dog breeding program is an inexcusable failure of attentiveness to the original breed standard, and a diminishment of the breed as it was originally conceived and should continue to be a dog of comprehensive form, function, and utility.
When any dog of any breed is produced based solely on physical appearance, that breed is on the slippery slope of diminishment and destruction. In the United States we have seen that happen in a stunningly short period of time with far too many breeds of dogs. This is due in large part to a dismal lack of attention to breed standardization and diligent breed preservation by the American Kennel Club (AKC) which has long been in the business of heavily marketing and selling paper that gives the perception of validating any breeding of any male to any female without regard for the consequences to the resulting progeny, and to the breed, and to the hapless puppy buyers who are misled into believing that an "AKC pedigree" means much of anything at all.
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East German ("DDR") working type female German Shepherd; gray sable stock coat |
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East German ("DDR") working type male German Shepherd; heavily saddled black and red
stock coat |
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Czech/East German ("DDR") working type female black German Shepherd; all-black (red color
seen at tips of hairs in hindquarters was due to prior sun overexposure), long coat with undercoat |
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Eastern European / Czech working type male German Shepherd; gray sable, close stock coat |
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Eastern European / West German working type male German Shepherd; gray saddled sable,
stock coat |
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East/West German working type male German Shepherd; heavily saddled black and tan, stock coat |
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West German working type male German Shepherd; heavily saddled black and tan,
close stock coat |
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West German working type female German Shepherd; red sable, stock coat |
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West German working type female German Shepherd; black and red saddle, stock coat |
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West German highlines type male German Shepherd; black and red saddle, plush coat |
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West German highlines type male German Shepherd; black and red saddle, stock coat |
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American & West German working type female German Shepherd; all-black stock coat |
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American & West German highlines type male German Shepherd; heavily saddled black and tan,
stock coat |
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American & German type male German Shepherd; black and tan saddle, close stock coat |
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American & German type male German Shepherd; black and red saddle, stock coat |
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American AKC non-specialty type male German Shepherd; heavily saddled black and faded tan,
stock coat |
Photos courtesy Nancy Roberts |
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American AKC type female German Shepherd; black and tan saddle, long coat with undercoat |
Non-German Shepherd Dogs
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"Shiloh Shepherd", over-sized, long-coated mixed breed dog
recently developed and marketed in USA; not a "type" of German Shepherd Dog. |
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