Shepherd dog
Shepherds are originally from shepherds for hats and driving used the flock of sheep sheep dogs . Dogs were specially bred for this purpose, and this is how working dogs emerged , which are summarized under the term shepherd dogs . To this day there are sheepdogs as working dogs of the shepherds. Dog breeds were later developed from the working dogs . In Germany the term is often used synonymously for the German Shepherd Dog .
Duties of a German Shepherd
Max von Stephanitz , who is considered to be the founder of the breed of the German Shepherd, derived the tasks of a German Shepherd from those of a herd dog as follows in 1921 :
“The first and earliest of these tasks [of the dog with the herd] is to protect the herd, whether it is at rest or when it is scattered about grazing, against external enemy influences. The second is to keep the herd together, to prevent the unauthorized segregation of individual animals, especially on the way to the pasture, and to seek out lost animals and bring them back to the pile. And the third, finally, is to protect the cultivated fields adjacent to the pasture from the delicacy and thus the devastation caused by the grazing herd. This last task is now the main task of the German Shepherd, who has become a guardian and defensive dog [...]. "
Races
Breeds recognized by the FCI
Shepherds are summarized in the breed nomenclature of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) to section 1 of group 1.
Breeds not recognized by the FCI
- Old German Shepherd Dog
-
Old German herding dogs
- Yellow cheek
- tiger
- Sheep poodles also herding poodles
- Fuchs: Harzer Fuchs
- Black
- Strobel
- Westerwälder / Siegerland cow dog
- Eastern European Shepherd Dog
