Horand was not a one-off: He had been very deliberately bred by Friedrich Sparwasser in Frankfort, who focused on fixing the upright ears and wolf-like body style that so many fanciers admired. The newly rechristened Horand came from Thuringia in north Germany, where dogs of his kind were common. Still, local and regional styles of dogs did intrinsically develop, and Von Stephanitz harnessed them to fix the traits he wanted in what he considered the ultimate German herder.
A good sheepdog was a good sheepdog, no matter how it looked. But for centuries before, the prevailing philosophy had been, simply: Beauty is as beauty does. 1955 Beauty and BrainsĪt the turn of the 20 th Century, when Von Stephanitz began trying to standardize Germany’s many “flavors” of herding dogs, the craze for identifiable breeds was cresting. Chimney Sweep of Long-Worth, German Shepherd Dog. Horand was given the inaugural registration number SZ1, effectively making him the first-ever German Shepherd Dog.Ĭh. Von Stephanitz gave this prized acquisition a new name – Horand von Grafrath – and, soon, a new identity: Within a month, Von Stephanitz and Meyer founded the world’s first German Shepherd club, Verein fur deutsche Schaferhunde with a membership that included three shepherds, two factory owners, a mayor, an innkeeper, an architect and a magistrate.
Impressed, Von Stephanitz gladly handed over 200 German gold marks to purchase the dog on the spot. “A gentleman with a boundless zest for living” is how Von Stephanitz described him. While the 4-year-old’s striking, wolf-like appearance doubtless first drew Von Stephanitz’s eye, his intelligence and depth of character sealed the deal. And that is where he spotted a dog named Hektor Linksrhein. His continuing quest for breeding stock prompted Von Stephanitz to attend one of the country’s largest dog shows in April 1899, accompanied by his friend Artur Meyer. Before they disappeared entirely, Von Stephanitz decide to create a formal breed of German sheepdog, buying a sprawling estate near the Bavarian town of Grafath on which to raise them. But as modernity encroached and grazing land slowly evaporated, these peerless sheepdogs began dwindling in number. But instead pursuing his dream to be a gentleman farmer, he relented to family pressure and joined the military.Īs a cavalry officer in the German countryside, Von Stephanitz came to admire the sheep-herding dogs he encountered there for their intelligence and lightning-fast responsiveness. Growing up in an affluent family in mid-19 th-Century Germany, Max Emil Friedrich von Stephanitz had always wanted to study agriculture, even spending time at Berlin’s veterinary school. The existence of the German Shepherd Dog hinged on one chance meeting.
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