History

Despite its somewhat wolf-like appearance, the German Shepherd Dog is a relatively modern breed, created in Germany in 1899 by German nobleman Max von Stephanitz.

von Stephanitz, a former cavalry officer and dog breeder who had studied at Berlin’s Veterinary College, set out in the 1890s to standardize the local herding dogs.

While attending a dog show in 1899, he purchased a dog, the result of years of selective breeding by its owner, which von Stephanitz considered to possess all the qualities he considered necessary in a working dog.

That dog, which he renamed Horand von Grafrath, became the very first German Shepherd Dog, and effectively the progenitor of every GSD that exists to this day.