by Ann Garner  

The German Shepherd Dog did not originate in a breeder’s planned  program; it evolved through a way of life.   No dabbler in genetics “mixed up” a new brew of the stuff of life in order to produce this dog.  This dog is not a hybrid created by an intentional or unintentional crossing of other breeds.  Instead the dog was literally forged by the demands of the everyday work with the flock -- which over time  shaped the dog’s physical structure and its mental character.    

The founder of the breed, Rittmeister Max von Stephanitz, looked at the  variety of outward appearances of this dog whose working structure and character had been molded in the furrows of the open field agricutlural system of Central Europe.  And he saw that the strength of the endurance  
trotter and its diligence in work could be the basis for a modern breed, conforming to a standard type in appearance.  But always maintaining the love of work and the structure and endurance to perform it.   

In the words of the founder:  

"...the  sheep-tending dog  must be a swift, keen-scented and  
intelligent animal of good medium size, sturdily built, always on the alert and ready for work...  

...this dog did not come into being all at once or everywhere at once.  In Germany it came into use about two to two and a half centuries ago {before 1920’s -- ed. note}...."  

Von Stephanitz goes on to explain that from the dog’s instinct to encircle the sheep flock, it developed the ability to keep the flock together as it moved along roads or settled on meadows.  He goes on to describe the dog’s duties in warding  the livestock off nearby planted crops, an element of this dog’s work that is particular to this herding system.    

"...the warding off trait evolved further till it became an instinctive talent, for the newly acquired ability became part and parcel of the breed through selection....The tending  dog has to have many and varied talents....Only one dog has the inbred skill, the one who for centuries on end has been able to establish a metaphysical rapport  with plowman, herdsman, and livestock, and by this means has acquired “the herding sense...”  

My own understanding of this wonderful breed  has been deepened by my personal experience with herding work in the traditional manner -- that is to say, sheep tending in open fields, warding sheep off roads and crops when necessary.   I can certainly understand the pleasure that the  weary cavalry captain , Max von Stephanitz, would have gained from sitting on his horse and watching these dogs with the herding sense work  
so diligently hour after hour.    

In a way, I can take  deeper pleasure in their work, because I am involved in it and benefit from their work.  The cavalry captain could not become a herdsman, as I have had the opportunity to do.  On a crystal clear Spring day in our Great Valley, I can lean on a staff and watch the dogs tend my sheep as they graze, and I know what contentment is.  

Source: The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture.  Max von Stephanitz, 1925