The German Shepherd - A Complete Anthology of the Dog

By Read Books Ltd.

The German Shepherd - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breed from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breed - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of the breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: Dogs And How To Know Them by Edward C. Ash (1925), Dogs Of The World by Arthur Craven (1931), Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopaedia by Walter Hutchinson (1935) and many others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473352698

Book preview

A TYPICAL ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG

If these brutes are allowed to go bush, they will become a greater pest than rabbits, foxes, or prickly pear. Crossed with the Dingo, they will become dangerous to human life and merciless killers of cattle and sheep.

ALSATIAN—ALEX VON MINNEFELD (ANGEHÖRT)

Alsatians are trained to guard property, track and capture criminals and act with almost human intelligence. A long-haired or woolly Alsatian is kept in Southern Germany. The Alsatian Wolf-Dog Club was recognized by the Kennel Club, on August 6th, 1919. The French claim the breed’s origin as Alsace, but in pre-war days it was known in France as ‘Les chien de Berger Allemand’ (Geo Horowitz; The Alsatian). Vegetius, a military writer of the 4th century, describes the Croatian dog, to resemble in hair and size a wolf.

ALSATIAN.—Head proportionate to size of body, long, clean-cut, lean, broad at back, tapering to nose; no stop, top of nose parallel to forehead, skull slightly domed. Head viewed from top, long V-shaped. Lips tight fitting, clean. Nose black. Teeth level. Eye almond-shaped, dark, placed to look straight forward. Ears placed high, moderate size, broad at base, tips pointed, carried erect (puppies’ ears hang until 6 months old or longer). Neck fair length, strong, joining head without sharp angles, no dewlap or throatiness. Shoulders sloping well back, muscular but not coarse. Forelegs straight (viewed any way). Hindquarters and loins broad and strong, rump long, sloping; stifles well turned; hocks strong, well let down. Body broad, straight, rather long, well developed. Belly tucked up (fairly), a distinct waist. Chest not too broad, good depth. Sides flat but not too flat-sided (length from point where chest joins neck, to buttocks, in straight line, slightly greater than height). Tail bushy with thick hair, never carried above back or straight up. Feet round, short. Toes strong, slightly arched, held close together. Pads hard, nails short, strong, colour dark. Coat smooth double. Under woolly; outer straight, tight, flat. Coat under body to behind the leg longer, forming near thigh a mild form of breeching. On head, inside ears, on front of legs, hair short. Longer and thicker (in winter approaching a ruff) along neck.

THE ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG

*

Those who keep Alsatians speak highly of their docility, intelligence, and affectionate nature. Words are proved by deeds!

One, a delightful creature, devoted to her owners, would not allow corporal punishment ‘in humans.’ She entered at once into the conflict, leaping at the striker with short sharp cries, and seizing the offending arm in her mouth. Never a mistake; however keen the battle, the one striking was held. She had, too, a great, deep, curious love for chickens. They could walk over her paws, and feed in her tin whilst she was feeding. For hours, they were placed on her side or held in her mouth; and, though wet, the chickens were never the worse for their experience. They appeared quite used to it.

Alsatians are trained to exacting work; such as tracking down a thief, and guarding property. If you drop anything, there is no question of losing it; the dog carries it even if you can’t.

The colours range from black to white, various shades of brown and grey, a chestnut brown at times, some browns, darkened with black. White is not in favour, as it is too noticeable for night work. The head is wolf-like, but refined. The ears are erect, the body long, the tail carried to a gentle curve at the hocks, and when moving, supple muscular control, speed, and neatness are evident.

*Buffon (1792) writes that the ‘chien de Berger’ ‘or what is sometimes called Le chien-loup or wolf dog’ is the original dog of France. He describes the dog as ‘very large and strong; sharp-nosed, erect and sharpeared; very hairy, especially about the neck.’

THE ALSATIAN

A somewhat similar dog to the Spitz is the Esquimaux dog and the Alsatian, or German Sheepdog, or wolf-dog. I am afraid there has been much indiscriminate breeding, so that in England the breed is by no means as evenly good as it was a few years back. To-day, big, gaunt, shapeless dogs are on the increase. As to the story of the breed, on the one side there has been continual exaggeration of the danger of such dogs, and, on the other, constant refutation of what, after all, are facts. It would probably be better for owners to concentrate on advertising the undoubted advantages of such a dog than to decry the very characteristics which are so much in the dog’s favour. The dog might well be allowed to remain the super-guard dog, rather than to attempt to bring it up