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Rin Tin Tin Introduces the German Shepherd to America
When Air
Force Corporal Lee Duncan returned to his California home
after World War I, he brought with him two German shepherd
puppies he had found in a deserted bunker in France when they
were less than a week old. Nannette, whom Duncan considered
the smarter pup, contracted pneumonia and died not long after
arriving in this country. A fervent animal enthusiast, Duncan
spent three years hounding movie studios until he got the
other dog, Rin Tin Tin, a bit part in the 1922 movie The
Man From Hell's River.
By the
time Rinty, as he was called, died 10 years later, he had
made 25 films (most of them silent movies) and two 12-part
serials for Warner Brothers. He earned $1,000-a-week and had
his own production unit, chauffeur, limousine, orchestra,
diamond-studded collar and personal chef. He repaid the attention
by single-handedly rescuing the studio from financial ruin
and providing jobs for scores of Warner Brothers employees.
The Father of Them All
The puppies
that Lee Duncan found in France were descended from breeding
stock supplied to the German army by Max Emil Frederick von
Stephanitz. A German cavalry officer of noble birth, von Stephanitz
was asked to leave the military in 1898, having just attained
the rank of captain at the age of 34, because he had married
an actress, a union considered beneath his station. Von Stephanitz
had always wanted to be a gentleman farmer — the military
was his mother's idea — so he bought an estate near Grafrath
the following year and devoted himself to his wife, his family
and his fondest avocation: producing the consummate working
dog.
In the
early 1890s when von Stephanitz was still in the military,
he observed a shepherd tending his flock one day. The sheep,
which grew large and querulous in that part of Germany, were
almost too much for the shepherd's dogs to manage. Von Stephanitz
thought he could level the grazing field if he bred a medium-size
working dog that could contend with crusierweight sheep as
well as the smaller variety also found in Germany. The dog
he envisioned would be intelligent, quick, protective, noble-looking,
trustworthy, sound and entirely dedicated to pleasing its
owner.
At that
time a number of dogs of various sizes, shapes and abilities
were used for herding sheep in Germany, but no one had been
able to merge those strains into a uniform breed. Von Stephanitz
was more qualified than most for this undertaking, for he
brought to the task the scientific and genetic knowledge he
had acquired while serving with the veterinary college in
Berlin. He also brought a stockman's eye. At a dog show in
1899 he saw a four-year-old male named Hektor Linksrhein,
who stood about 25 inches at the withers and was close to
the embodiment of the ideal working dog von Stephanitz had
envisioned. He bought the dog on the spot, and two weeks later,
with the help of his friend Artur Meyer, founded a breed club,
the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde (SV). Von Stephanitz
was the first president. Meyer, who conducted the affairs
of the club until his death in 1900, was the secretary. Hektor
Linksrhein, whose name was changed to Horand von Grafrath,
was the first German shepherd dog registered by the SV.
Stacking the Deck
As president
of the SV, von Stephanitz dictated the rules and regulations
by which the club was run and the criteria by which dogs were
accepted for inclusion in its stud book. Those criteria were
expressed by von Stephanitz in his description of Horand von
Grafrath: "Remarkable in his unswerving loyalty to his master,
irrepressible in his high spirits, never idle, always in motion,
good-natured but not a flatterer, a constant pleasure to the
eye."
Although
many of the dogs from which the German shepherd was developed
were of unknown origin, they possessed in great measure the
virtues with which von Stephanitz sought to endow his new
breed. The principal virtue, of course, was working ability.
Von Stephanitz believed "German Shepherd breeding is working
dog breeding, or it is not German Shepherd breeding." He insisted
that dogs must have working-dog degrees in order to qualify
for conformation shows.
Soon after
the SV had been organized, it held its first annual Sieger
show to select the male and female champions (Sieger and Siegren)
for the year. Von Stephanitz judged the shows, and because
of dog fanciers' inclination to breed their bitches to current
winners, his selections wielded a great influence on the development
of the German shepherd breed.
War Heroes
When the
first world war broke out, von Stephanitz volunteered some
of his dogs for military service. The army scoffed at the
idea until German policemen began raving about the dogs von
Stephanitz had given them. The army then agreed to allow German
shepherds to carry messages, help lay telephone lines, locate
wounded soldiers, stand watch and go on scouting patrols in
the service of their country. These abilities did not go unremarked
by British and American soldiers who fought in Germany. They
returned home with tales, no doubt exaggerated sometimes,
about the German wonder dog.
These
war stories and Rin Tin Tin's movie exploits ignited a meteoric
surge in the popularity of German shepherds in the United
States. Movie-hero dogs like Rinty and his Hollywood rival
Strongheart were smarter than rocket scientists, braver than
Hannibal, more loyal than a patriot and slicker than Houdini.
Not surprisingly, everyone wanted dogs just like the ones
on the silver screen.
The German
shepherd craze was compounded by newspaper stories of the
heroic deeds performed by these wonder dogs -- babies rescued
from burning buildings, damsels in distress saved from a terrible
fate at the last moment. The news stories, whether based entirely
on reality or not, added to the growing obsession.
The first
German shepherd import, one Queen of Switzerland, had been
registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1908 and
shown that same year in New York. In addition a few unregistered
dogs found their way to the United States with returning troops,
but the buying frenzy erupted with gale force in the 1920s.
Imports from Germany trebled, and when that country's supply
couldn't meet this country's demand -- von Stephanitz had
instituted a quality-control inspection system that discouraged
opportunistic breeding -- Americans started mass-producing
German shepherds. Haphazard breeding gave birth to dogs that
not only lacked the sterling qualities of the canine film
heroes but also were untrustworthy and more expensive to maintain
than people had anticipated. Then came the Great Depression,
and many German shepherds were turned out on the streets to
fend for themselves while America floundered in financial
chaos.
In 1920,
while Lee Duncan was still trying to get Rin Tin Tin a movie
role, AKC registered 2,135 "shepherd dogs." Six years later
AKC registered 21,596 German shepherds, and for several years
in the middle of the decade the German shepherd was the most
popular breed in the United States; but by 1932, the year
Rin Tin Tin died (he is buried in France), German shepherd
registrations had plummeted to 1,333. There was, nevertheless,
one positive effect in this reversal in popularity. It left
the breed in the hands of a few diehards who had only the
best interests of the dogs at heart.
Born-Again
Celebrities
Just as
the first world war had made the German shepherd's reputation,
World War II refurbished it -- once again with help from the
entertainment world, this time in "The Adventures of Rin Tin
Tin," a popular boy-and-his-dog series that aired on ABC from
1954 to 1959. German shepherd registrations had been doing
nicely on their own, climbing from 4,921 in 1947 to 17,400
in 1954, the year Rusty and Rinty and the gang at Fort Apache
made their television debut. When the show rode into the sunset
five years later, German shepherd registrations (33,735) had
nearly doubled, then they started to grow in earnest, reaching
a personal best in 1971, when 111,355 new shepherds were enrolled
by AKC.
Unfortunately,
indiscriminate breeding jumped up and bit this boom, too.
Temperament and health suffered the predictable consequences,
and German shepherd registrations took another freefall. By
1986, when 55,958 new shepherds were registered by AKC, the
breed's annual enrollments had been cut by half. Nevertheless,
the German shepherd dogs bred to reflect their original character
continued to be stars at almost everything for which they
were trained. They excel as guard dogs, herding dogs and Leader
Dogs for the Blind, and they are formidable competitors in
the obedience and conformation rings, too.
For these reasons the German shepherd has made yet another
comeback. Its 1997 performance, 75,177 new registrations,
made it the third most popular breed in the United States.
What's more, the German Shepherd Dog Club of America, founded
in 1922, has undertaken a serious effort to educate the public
regarding where dogs of true German shepherd character can
be located. The organization also has done its best to make
people aware that only through proper training can the German
shepherd dog achieve its true potential.
No
Better Protection
Everything
about the German shepherd expresses strength, agility and
complete alertness. According to the breed standard, "the
ideal dog is stamped with a look of quality and nobility --
difficult to define, but unmistakable when present." Certainly
the dark eyes, erect ears and luxurious, but not exaggerated,
coat combine to produce the desired look; and while most colors
are permissible, strong and rich colors are preferred. Faded
or pale colors are frowned upon, and white dogs are barred
from AKC shows. Because a good part of the German shepherd
dog's essence lies in its ability to work, sound and efficient
movement is an essential breed characteristic. The German
shepherd's gait -- effortless, ground-covering and rhythmic
-- reflects the dog's power and dignity.
The German
shepherd is an easy dog to maintain, with one exception --
hair! Prospective owners must make the choice in advance:
They use a brush judiciously on a regular basis or they resign
themselves to living with an entire wardrobe decorated with
dog hair.
The German
shepherd is, at heart, a friendly dog, but it will always
want to make sure strangers have a right to enter its home
before admittance is granted. Those who appear not to have
entry rights are challenged by a formidable protector. Looks
alone make the German shepherd an imposing foe -- males usually
stand 24 - 26 inches at the shoulder, and females are only
2 inches smaller. Add strong bone, great body capacity and
a head that can assume a challenging expression when necessary,
and you have one of the best security systems known to humans.
With his
own flock, however, the German shepherd is a happy-go-lucky
family member ready to play games, go hiking, take a swim
or, on the other hand, sit quietly by its master's side while
he or she reads a book or listens to music. Indeed, few dogs
are more intelligent or trainable than the well-bred German
shepherd. Responsible breeders consider their dogs' mental
and physical health above all, and their breeding stock produces
dogs that bring unqualified companionship and protection for
many years.
German
Shepherds -- Causes for Concern
Irresponsible breeding the world over has left the German
shepherd breed with a myriad of problems that a prospective
owner must be concerned about. Unreliable temperaments in
a dog this size are a major worry and a frequent subject of
headlines. A study of 178 dog-bite cases reported to Denver
animal control officials in 1991 revealed that German shepherds
and chow chows were the dogs most likely to bite. Shepherds
also accounted for 19 of the 304 dog-bite fatalities in this
country between 1979 and 1996. Only two other breeds — pit
bulls (60) and Rottweilers (29) -- bit more people to death.
The Detroit News reported last July that "at least
one national insurance company, MetLife Auto & Home, no longer
writes homeowner coverage for people who own any of five different
breeds of large, often aggressive, dogs: pit bulls, Rottweilers,
chow chows, German shepherds and bull terriers."
Obviously,
temperament testing of breeding stock is an absolute necessity
in German shepherds, and the buyer should settle for nothing
less. Hip dysplasia and other problems of the bones and joints
are also encountered frequently. A puppies' parents should
be certified either "good" or "excellent" by the Orthopedic
Foundation of America, and breeders should allow potential
buyers to inspect those certificates.
Eye conditions, including cataracts and retinal dysplasia,
are known to affect German shepherds. Bloat, epilepsy and
heart related problems are also reported, as are von Willebrand's
disease and hemophilia A.
This list
of health concerns is not presented to discourage prospective
German shepherd owners but rather to encourage them to be
extremely careful in selecting the breeder from whom they
buy their puppies. Dedicated breeders test their stock and
do everything in their power to make sure that the puppies
they breed are sound mentally and physically and have every
opportunity of becoming exactly the kind of dog that Captain
von Stephanitz envisioned 100 years ago.
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