Stephanitz 1901 - Page 1

http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0006/bsb00068420/images/

Found this 2 days ago - most of us read "The German Shepherd", but almost all of us only read the "modern" version.
This is an online copy of the originally written book, more than interesting. I read it for the first time during the last 2 days.

Sorry, it´s German only ( maybe there is a translation somewhere on the net ).

Stephanitz is talking about

• History of shepherds as a whole
• Breed Standard of the German Shepherd
• Breeding / how to
• Raise and care / diseases
• Exhibitions and exhibitors / how to show successfully
• Buying and selling of dogs / how to
• Shipping of dogs / how to
• Special terms and abbreviations
• SV
• Constitutions of SV and breedbook

I´m naming the pages according to PDF file, not according to the book now:

Page 21: Character
Page 56: Exhibitions / shows
Page 66: Elbows, back, fore- and hindquarters

Page 70: Here he describes 3 goals for the breed :

1. Betterment in body and mind of the working dog ( shepherd = herding )
2. Dogs suitable for interested amateurs
3. War- and ambulance dogs

On page 58 he says that he ( SV ) is interested in and supporting trials for herding, war, and ambulance ( SchH successfully started a couple of years later )

My result after reading his "first" book:
He liked the shepherd dogs, and he had a vision about the outlook of his breed, and he knew nothing about working/training a (herding)dog.
He talks about the stuff he knows at that point ( 1901 ): Buying/selling/breeding/raising/exhibition/his standard ...

Looking at the same book written 30 years later ( a lot of dogs were successfully used as "war"dogs, supported by Stephanitz ) he ( or whoever ) talks a lot more about training and evaluation ( a lot of clubs around at that point ), but a lot more about angulations and their degrees, too .
 

Thanks, Susie. When my life gets back to normal. I'll see if I can find a translation.

Susie .. my German is poor but it seemed to me that Strphanitz had help writing the book from others and perhaps as is popular today there might have been a "ghostwriter" invoved??  The pics of the early dogs are a great resource.  Interesting there are some "collie looking" GSD in those first founding dogs and a couple of the longhaired GSD had a sheep dog look and coat  (see Russ v.d. Krone page 14).  Also I believe all of the Sch titles were for herding (Sch H) in the early dogs (ie the was no protection phase and no Sch I-III)??  The only protection work in the early days was or the breeding suitability test that was pass/fail ???  During WWI I believe the use of the GSD was primarily as a messenger and to deliver ammo as well as nosework .. not very much biting or prison duty as was more a thing of the WWII German military. Hard to find pics of some of the early dogs so despite my poor German the book is a great resource and the price is right.  Thanks!

There are pictures in that edition that were not in the later editions! I will certainly have a look at it, even if my high school German isn't up to reading very much of it!

Bubba, SchH always was the same - the first official SchH trials in Germany were held around 1906,
but the PHV ( now part of DVG ) was already founded around 1901.
All of this was a very fast development ( herding / war dog / SchH ) - most of the working dog owners were "amateurs" like today, they organized themselves very fast and efficient.
Belgium started Ringsport officially in 1903 ( Edmond Moecheron 1880 ),the first police dog school in Gent in 1899.

Stephanitz talkes about 3 coat types you were able to find during this time in Germany :

• stockhaar ( most )
• rauhhaar ( far less and not "pure" )
• zotthaar ( far less and a lot of them with faulty ears )

He clearly favored the stockcoat with erected ears, but he had to deal with the stuff he had access to. He simply started to create "his" breed - the first "standard" ( his vision, not the dogs he saw in real ) already describes the later German Shepherd pretty well.

Agree, and i might ad that as a visionair looking down today, he wood be a very proud of the way his creation has conquered the world and especially the hearts of us GSD lovers.

The most versatile breed,that withstood the test of time and overcame the hardship and resentment of two world wars. 

Sheer genius. 

I don´t think he would be too proud about all the variations now ( German, Czech, English, American, Chinese...working, show, sport ...)

In his 1901 version he already describes "exhibitions" exactly. Why? He had to to see the different dogs, so he was able to choose the dogs fitting best to his THEORETICAL standard ( and our SV show circuit was born... )
He knew about conformation only at that point, he was no trainer. But he must have recognized very soon, that even breeding "working dogs" without former proof of their working qualities will result in a desaster, otherwise official working titles wouldn´t have been established that soon.

This might be the most important passage of the book: ( page 58 pdf , page 47 according to the book pages )

I try to translate:

Due to the fact that on exhibitions an evaluation about beauty and breed worthiness only can happen, but the breed efforts of the club not only are focused on the refinement of the outlook, but on the conservation and betterment of the working abilities of our dogs, too, we are endeavored to create events, in which an evalution of the dogs according to their capacities will happen, in first case sheep herding trials, further on war- and ambulance trials.

There is no problem with shows or sport to my way of thinking and the Cap'n way of thinking.....its Breeding FOR these elements that has created lines and loss of functionality in work.

Yeah Stephanitz would be very proud ........................... serious

Serious if we consider the achievements of the breed in general instead of imposing our individual vision of wat the breed should be like.