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Pfeffer von Bern
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Until the outbreak of the second World
War, German Shepherds in America where identical to the German Shepherds in Germany.
The last dog imported from Germany before the war to have a major impact
on the GSD in America was "Pfeffer
von Bern". He became the US Grand Victor in 1937, and in the same
year went back to Germany to become the German National Show Sieger, then became the US Grand Victor again in 1938. By
producing about 47 Am Chs he became the first ROM
in 1952 and did dominate the US bloodlines throughout the 1940s.
During the second world war the GSD in
America, cut off from its German roots, and quite possibly subject to some
German bashing made fashionable by the war, started to develop its own
appearance, mostly through very close line breeding, but in many instances
also through repeated inbreeding. After the end of the war, some American breeders recognized the need to
get back to the original working shepherd and spent good money on imported GSD’s
from Germany, but a new trend had started.
American judges and breeders had developed "a taste" for their own,
uniquely "American" style German Shepherd, featuring a more
"refined look", and a lot more hind leg angulation
to get that "unreal floating side gaite".
One drastic example of the widening
split between German and American bloodlines in the 1960s is "Bodo vom Lierberg
SchH3, FH". He was the 1967 German, Dutch and Belgian Sieger (Grand Victor), was sold to America, but didn’t make US Grand victor and ended up
contributing very little to the breed. His brother, "Bernd vom Lierberg Sch3, FH"
being as similar to Bodo in look and temperament as
only a twin brother can be, remained in Germany and became THE most famous working dog ever since. They where the
last all-in-one "universal" working and show dogs.
Any real working Shepherd breeder in the world would give just
about anything to have the name Bernd or Bodo vom Lierberg in his/her
pedigree. Some breeders
even use "sound-alike" kennel names to cash-in on the fame of that
name.
During the 1950s and 60s, only about
half of the US Grand Victors were German imports,
the last one being "Arno von der Kurpfalzhalle" in
1969. Since then, the American Shepherd has gone its own
way entirely, and today, no German import would have a chance of winning
anything in an American show ring. The "American" Shepherd has
become a pure object of beauty, to be looked at through a window. Its ability
to be useful, reliable, well tempered and healthy, in fact, every thing the
German Shepherd originally became famous for, has been sacrificed for that
"floating side gait" during the last 30 years of AKC style inbreeding.
There is absolutely no resemblance left between those two separate breeds of
Shepherds, except the name.
The majority of American breeders are
aware of the extreme difference in the quality of the American Shepherds they
breed, and are attempting to cover up this fact by using German sounding kennel names, in the hope of fooling
the public.
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