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The German Shepherd Dog breed standard, as presented by the League and the BAGSD's to the Kennel Club; it has now been approved by the W U S V., the FCI and the SV.

CHARACTERISTICS

The main characteristics of the G.S.D. are:- steadiness of nerves, attentiveness, loyalty, calm self-assurance, alertness and tractability, as well as courage with physical resilience and scenting ability. These characteristics are necessary for a versatile working dog, nervousness, over-aggressiveness and shyness are very serious faults.

GENERAL APPEARANCE

The immediate impression of the G.S.D. is of a dog slightly long in comparison to its height, with a powerful and well muscled body. The relation between height and length and the position and symmetry of the limbs (angulation) is so interrelated as to enable a far reaching and enduring gait. The coat should be weather-proof. A beautiful appearance is desirable but this is secondary to his usefulness as a working dog. Sexual characteristics must be well defined - i.e. the masculinity of the male and of the female must be unmistakable.

A true to type G.S.D. gives an impression of innate strength, intelligence and suppleness, with harmonious proportions and nothing either over done or lacking. His whole manner should make it perfectly clear that he is sound in mind and body, and has the physical and mental attributes to make him always ready for tireless action as a working dog.
With an abundance of vitality he must be tractable enough to adapt himself to each situation and to carry out his work willingly and with enthusiasm. He must possess the courage and determination to defend himself, his master or his master's possessions, should the need arise. He must be observant, obedient and a pleasant member of the household, quiet in his own environment, especially with children and other animals, and at ease with adults. Overall he should present an harmonious picture of innate nobility, alertness and self-confidence.

HEAD

The head should be proportionate in size to the body without being course, too fine or overlong. The overall appearance should be clean cut and fairly broad between the ears.
Forehead - should be only very slightly domed with little or no trace of centre furrow. Cheeks - should form a very son rounded curve and should not protrude.
Skull - the skull extends from the ears to the bridge of the nose tapering gradually and evenly, and blending without a too pronounced 'stop' into a wedge shaped powerful muzzle. (The skull is approximately 50% of the whole length of the head). Both top and bottom jaws should be strong and well developed. The width of the skull should correspond approximately to the length. In males the width could be slightly greater and in females slightly less than the length.
Muzzle - should be strong with the lips firm, clean and closing tightly without any flaws. The top of the muzzle is straight and almost parallel to the forehead. A muzzle which is too short, blunt, weak, pointed, overlong or lacking in strength is undesirable.

EYES

The eyes are medium sized, almond-shaped and not protruding. Dark brown eyes are preferred, but eyes of a lighter shade are acceptable provided that the expression is good and the general harmony of the head is not destroyed. The expression should be lively, intelligent and self-assured.

EARS

Of medium size, firm in texture, broad at the base, set high, they are carried erect (almost parallel and not pulled inwards), they taper to a point and open towards the front. Tipped ears are faulty. Hanging ears are a very serious fault. During movement the ears may be folded back.

MOUTH

The jaws must be strongly developed and the teeth healthy, strong and complete. There should be 42 teeth, 20 in the upper jaw, 6 incisors, 8 premolars, 4 molars, and 22 in the bottom jaw, 6 incisors, 2 canines, 8 premolars and 6 molars.
The G.S.D. has a scissor bite - i.e. the incisors in the lower jaw are set behind the incisors in the upper jaw, and thus meet in a scissor grip which part of the surface of the upper teeth meet and engage part of the surface of the lower teeth.

NECK

The neck should be fairly long, strong with well-developed muscles, free from throatiness (excessive folds of skin at the throat) and carried at an angle of 45° to the horizontal; it is raised when excited and lowered at a fast trot.

FOREQUARTERS

The shoulder blade should be long, set obliquely 45 ° and laid flat to the body. The upper arm should be strong and well muscled and joined to the shoulder blade at a near right angle. The forelegs from the pasterns to the elbows, should be straight viewed from any angle and the bones should be oval rather than round. The pasterns should be firm and supple and angulated at approximately 20-23° . Elbows neither tucked in or turned out. Length of the forelegs should exceed the depth of the chest at a ratio of appropriately 55% to 45%.

BODY

The length of the body should exceed the height at the wither, the correct proportions being at 10 to 9 or 8.5. The length is measured from the point of the breast bone to the rear edge of the pelvis. Over or under sized dogs, stunted growth, high-legged dogs and overloaded fronts, too short overall appearance, too light or too heavy in build, steep set limbs or any other failure which detracts from the reach of endurance of the gait, are faulty.

Chest: should be deep (45-48% of the height at the shoulder) but not too broad. The brisket is long and well developed.
Ribs: should be well formed and long, neither barrel shaped or too flat; correct rib cage allows free movement of the elbows when the dog is trotting. A too rounded rib cage will interfere and cause the elbows to be turned out. A too flat rib age will lead to the drawing in of the elbows. The desired long ribbing gives a proportionately (relatively) short loin.
Belly: is firm and only slightly drawn up.
Back: is the area between the withers and the croup, straight, strongly developed and not too long. The overall length is not derived from a long back, but is achieved by the correct angle of a well laid shoulder, correct length of croup and hindquarters. The withers must be long, of good height and well defined. They should join the back in a smooth line without disrupting the flowing top line which should be slightly sloping from the front to the back. Weak, soft and roach backs are undesirable.
Loin: Broad, strong and well muscled.
Croup: should be long and gently curving to the tail (approximately 23°) without disrupting the flowing top line. The illium and the sacrum form the skeletal basis of the croup. Short, steep or flat croups are undesirable.

HINDQUARTERS

The thighs should be broad and well muscled. The upper thigh bone viewed from side, should slope to the slightly longer lower thigh bone. The angulations should correspond approximately with the front angulation without being over angulated. 1 hock bone is strong and together with the stifle bone should form a firm hock joint. -hindquarters overall should be strong and well muscled to enable the effortless forward propulsion of the whole body. Any tendency towards over angulation of hindquarters reduces firmness and endurance.

FEET

Should be rounded, toes well closed and arched. Pads should be well cushioned and durable. Nails short, strong and dark in colour. Dewclaws are sometimes found on hind-legs; these should be removed 2-3 days after birth.

GAIT

The G.S.D. is a trotting dog. His sequence of step therefore follows a diagonal pattern in that he always moves the foreleg and the opposite hind leg forward at the same time. To achieve this, his limbs must be in such balance to one another so that he can thrust the hind foot well forward to the midpoint of the body and have an equally long reach with the fore foot without any noticeable change in the back line.
The correct proportion of height to length and corresponding length of limbs will produce a ground covering stride that travels flat over the ground, giving the impression of effortless movement. With his head thrust forward and a slightly raised tail, a balanced and even trotter displays a flowing line running from the tips of his ears over the neck and back down to the tip of the tail.
The gait should be supple, smooth and long reaching, carrying the body with the minimum of up and down movement, entirely free from stiltiness.

TAIL

Bushy haired, should reach at least to the hock joint, the ideal length being to the middle of the hock bones. The end is sometimes turned sideways with a slight hook; this is allowed but not desired. When at rest the tail should hang in a slight curve like a sabre. When moving it is raised and the curve is increased, but ideally it should not be higher than the level of the back. A tail that is too short, rolled or curled, or generally carried badly or which is stumpy from birth, is faulty.

COAT

a) The normal coated G.S.D. should carry a thick undercoat and the outer coat should be as dense as possible, made up of straight hard close lying hairs. The hair on the head and ears, front of the legs, paws and toes is short. On the neck it is longer and thicker, on some males forming a slight ruff. The hair grows longer on the back of the legs as far down as the pastern and the stifle, and forms fairly thick trousers on the hindquarters. There is no hard or fast rule for the length of the hair, but short mole-type coats are faulty.
b) In the long-haired G.S.D. the hairs are longer, not always straight and definitely not lying close and flat to the body. They are distinctly longer inside and behind the ears, and on the back of the forelegs and usually at the loins, and form moderate tufts in the ears and profuse feathering on the back of the legs. The trousers are long and thick. The tail is bushy with light feathering underneath. As this type of coat is not so weatherproof as the normal coat it is undesirable.
c) In the long open-coated G.S.D. the hair is appreciably longer than in the case of type (b) and tends to form a parting along the back, the texture being somewhat silky. If present at all, undercoat is found only at the loins. Dogs with this type of coat are usually narrow chested, with narrow overlong muzzles. As the weather protection of the dog and his working ability are seriously diminished with this type of coat it is undesirable.

COLOUR

Black or black saddle with tan, or gold to light grey markings. All black, all grey or grey with lighter or brown markings (these are referred to as sables). Small white marks on the chest or very pale colour on inside of legs are permitted but not desirable. The nose in all cases must be black. Light markings on the chest and inside of legs, as well as whitish nails, redtipped nails or wishywashy faded colour are defined as lacking in pigmentation. Blues, livers, albinoes, whites
(i.e. almost pure white dogs with black noses and near whites) are to be rejected. The undercoat is, except in all black dogs, usually grey or fawn in colour.
The colour of the G.S.D. is in itself not important and has no effect on the character of the dog or in its fitness for work and should be a secondary consideration for that reason. The final colour of a young dog can only be ascertained when the outer coat has developed.

HEIGHT

The ideal height (measured to the highest point of the wither) is 57.5cm for females and 62.5cm for males. 2.5cm either above or below the norm is allowed. Any increase in this deviation detracts from the workability and breeding value of the animal.

FAULTS

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

NOTE

Male animals must have two apparently normal testicles fully developed in scrotum.