[4] To combat these differences, the Phylax Society was formed in 1891 with the intention of creating standardised development plans for native dog breeds in Germany.

With the rise of large, industrialised cities in Germany, the predator population began to decline, rendering sheepdogs unnecessary.

[5] Max von Stephanitz, an ex-cavalry captain and former student of the Berlin Veterinary College, was an ex-member of the Phylax Society who firmly believed dogs should be bred for working.

[5] He admired the intelligence, strength and ability of Germany's native sheepdogs, but could not find any one single breed that satisfied him as the perfect working dog.

[5] Hektor was the product of a few generations of selective breeding and completely fulfilled what von Stephanitz believed a working dog should be.

[5] In just a few decades of the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde's establishment, the breed became one of the world's most popular and numerous, a position it has maintained to this day.

It is believed the society accomplished its goal mostly due to von Stephanitz's strong, uncompromising leadership and he is therefore credited with being the creator of the German Shepherd Dog.

[9] During the first half of the twentieth century, the breed came to be strongly identified with Imperial and Nazi Germany, because of its association with purity and militarism.

[10] Adolf Hitler acquired a German Shepherd named "Prinz" in 1921, during his years of poverty, but he had been forced to lodge the dog elsewhere.

[10] Preparing for his suicide, Hitler ordered Dr. Werner Haase to test a cyanide capsule on Blondi, and the dog died as a result.

[12] Erna Flegel, a nurse who worked at the emergency casualty station in the Reich Chancellery stated in 2005 that Blondi's death had affected the people in the bunker more than Eva Braun's suicide.

[16][17][18] The reputation of the German Shepherds as a dangerous breed had grown to such an extent that importing them was briefly banned in Australia in 1929.

The direct translation of the name was adopted for use in the stud-book; however, at the end of the First World War, it was believed that the inclusion of the word "German" would harm the breed's popularity,[22] due to the anti-German sentiment of the era.

[23] The breed was officially renamed by the UK Kennel Club to "Alsatian Wolf Dog",[22] after the French region of Alsace bordering Germany.

the appendage "wolf dog" was dropped,[22] after numerous campaigns by breeders who were worried that becoming known as a wolf-dog hybrid would affect the breed's popularity and legality.

[5] The name Alsatian remained for five decades,[22] until 1977, when successful campaigns by dog enthusiasts pressured the British kennel clubs to allow the breed to be registered again as German Shepherds.

[24] The word "Alsatian" once appeared in parentheses as part of the formal breed name of the American Kennel Club and was removed in 2010.

Rarer colour variations include sable, pure-black, pure-white, liver, silver, blue, and panda varieties.

[39] A 2020 literature review in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that from 1971 to 2018, of all pure breed dogs in the United States, the German Shepherd was responsible for the most bites severe enough to require hospital treatment.

[46][47] Some show strains have been bred with an extremely roached topline (back) that causes poor gait in the hind legs.

It lacks the physical deformities bred into western show lines of German Shepherds and has become one of Russia's most popular dog types.

These military working dogs (MWD) are usually trained for scout duty, and they are used to warn soldiers of the presence of enemies or of booby traps or other hazards.

[60] An experiment in temperament testing of a group of Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds showed that the Retrievers scored higher on average in emotional stability, ability to recover promptly from frightening situations, cooperative behaviour and friendliness; while the German Shepherds were superior in aggression and defensive behaviour.

[65] One Mexican German Shepherd, Zuyaqui, was dissected and his body put on display at the Sedena's "Narco Museum" in Mexico.

[67] Popularity increased again after Sieger Pfeffer von Bern became the 1937 and 1938 Grand Victor in American Kennel Club dog shows, only to have another decline at the conclusion of World War II, due to anti-German sentiment.

[citation needed] A study conducted by the University of Zurich found that 45% of the police working dogs were affected by degenerative spinal stenosis, although a small sample size was used.

[84] Some breeds like the German Shepherd, are predisposed to a variety of different skeletal disorders, including but not limited to: canine hip dysplasia, Cauda equina syndrome, and osteoarthritis.

[88] Another North American study found 10.26% of German Shepherd Dogs surveyed at teaching hospitals to have hip dysplasia, compared to 3.52% overall.

[89] Congenital hyposomatotropism, also known as pituitary dwarfism has been known to be an autosomal recessive disorder in the German Shepherd dog for a long time.

It became one of the staple productions of Hungarian television history, making German Shepherds the most popular dog breed in the country ever since.