You might be surprised to learn that the German Shepherd did not become a breed of dog until the late 19th century. There was a veterinarian named Max von Stephanitz, who saw a home-bred dog at a dog show. This dog was the first German Shepherd and von Stephanitz thought he would make an optimal working dog.
The German Shepherd has an incredible sense of smell, a great work ethic, and excellent physical traits that he said made him ideal for working and herding sheep. With this in mind, he felt that he was on to something and ended up buying the dog directly from the show and taking it home. He renamed this dog and gave it the very interesting name of Horand von Grafrath (yes, times were different back then).
Over the next few years, the dog slowly grew in popularity, but you might be surprised to learn that there were only 54 German Shepherds registered with the UK Kennel Club in 1919. Although the dog became more popular over the next few years (there were 8,000 of the breed). registered in 1926), it wasn’t until the popularity of movie star Rin Tin Tin (a German Shepherd) in the 1920s that this dog truly became one of the most popular breeds worldwide.
Since then, the German Shepherd has skyrocketed in popularity and remains one of the most owned dogs in the world. They are the third most popular breed in the United States, which says a lot about how prevalent they have become.
