During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Germans had used a wide variety of working dogs to herd sheep and cattle. There was no particular consistency of type other than that found within various strains in different parts of the country. Attempts to merge the strains into one distinct breed had been unsuccessful and all the sheepherding dogs were placed under the category of shepherd, regardless of their size, shape, ear carriage, coat length, or color.

Dog shows had been held so that breeders could compare their dogs with others of the same age and sex. For dogs under two years of age, there were two classes, males and females. There were a few all-breed shows and there was an unsuccessful attempt at starting a club known as the Phylax Society which favored aethetics rather than aptitude as their selection criteria.

So what was it about Horand that so impressed von Stephanitz about Horand that led to his being selected as the foundation of the German Shepherd Dog? In his own words, Horand was "remarkable in his unswerving loyalty to his master, irrepressible in his high spirits, never idle, always in motion, good-natured but not a flatterer, a constant pleasure to the eye." Additionally, Horand was large, 24 to 24½ inches at height of withers, a very good medium size with powerful bones, beautiful lines, nobly formed head, clean and sinewy in build.

It was in Horand's mental soundness and in the actual qualities he transmitted that created the German Shepherd Dog used throughout the world today as a working police dog, drug dog, armed services dog, guide for the blind, Schutzhund dog, search-and-rescue dog, obedience dog, show dog, agility dog, herding dog, and family companion. Years later, after the breed was established, Stephanitz permitted attention to the overall appearance of the breed, but he insisted to the day he died that efficiency should take precedence over mere beauty.

Horand became the first registered German Shepherd Dog and the first entry in the newly founded S.V. Stud Book with the number SV1. Horand was greatly admired by many breeders who were quick to use him in their breeding programs. Not surprisingly, he became the dog that best exemplified the goals of early breeders. Thus the German Shepherd Dog was bred from the central German and South German strains of existing sheepherding dogs with the final goal of creating a working dog with exceptional aptitude. One hundred years later, in Germany alone, more than two million German Shepherds had been duly recorded in the S.V.'s studbook.

Horand was bred selectively to those bitches most similar in type to himself. His son Hektor von Schwaben became the second German Sieger and Hektor's sons, Beowolf von Starkenbug and Piolot III, headed the three most important Horand lines.

As soon as it was possible, only purebred German Shepherds whose hereditary bloodlines could be proven were entered into the Stud Book – a ruling that is still in effect today. Two years after the Club was founded, Artur Meyer died. Von Stephanitz absorbed his work and moved the seat of the S.V. to Munich. This doubled his work and, for the rest of his life, he devoted himself to his family, the S.V., and the breeding of the German Shepherd Dog. Under his direction, the membership of the S.V. grew to over fifty thousand members and six hundred chapters by 1923. The S.V. kept and published the stud book and a gazette regularly as well as a newsletter to keep members informed, and held its Sieger Show yearly.

The S.V. organization did not always run smoothly. In the early years, breeders of luxury breeds strongly disputed the judgment of the S.V. that the German Shepherd was a working dog and must remain so. It was due to the single-minded attitude of von Stephanitz that he was able to assert his position and defeat the attempts of less-dedicated persons to interfere with the development the breed.

Another hurdle that von Stephanitz was faced with was the lessening need for herding dogs. Railroads were now transporting stock and sheep raising was on the decline. But again, von Stephanitz's keen sense of foresight led him to promote the German Shepherd as a police dog which also opened the door for the German Shepherd to develop into dog capaple of rendering many services to mankind.

Click here for page 3 and more about von Stephanitz and the history of the German Shepherd Dog.