In 1889 Captain Max von Stephanitz began the standardisation of the breed.  It all started at a dog show in Karlsruhe in western Germany.  A medium-sized yellow-and-grey wolflike dog caught his attention.  The dog was of the primal canine type, supple and powerful, and possessed endurance, steadiness, and intelligence.  He was a working sheepherder, born with this ability, requiring no training other than direction and finish to become proficient at the task.  This dog, Hektor Linksrhein, was purchased by von Stephanitz, renamed Horand von Grafrath, and became the first registered German Shepherd Dog.

Von Stephanitz founded the Verein für Deutsche Sch·ferhunde, SV (German Shepherd Dog Club), becoming the first president, and in a short period of time achieved the standardisation of form and type in the breed.  A standard was developed based on mental stability and utility.  The Captain’s motto was “Utility and Intelligence”.  To him beauty was secondary, and a dog was worthless if it lacked the intelligence, temperament, and structural efficiency that would make it a good servant of man.  A breed standard was developed as a blueprint dictating the exact function and relationship of every aspect of structure, gait, and inherent attitude.

Von Stephanitz inbred heavily and also Luchs, his brother, to consolidate the bloodline.  Horand’s best son, Hektor von Schwaben, the second German Shepherd, was mated with his half-sister as well as through daughters of his own sons, Beowulf, Heinz von Starkenburg, and Pilot 111.

As Germany became increasingly industrialised and the pastoral era declined, von Stephanitz realised the breed might also decline.  With the co-operation of police and working dog clubs, a set of specific tests was developed in tracking, formal obedience, and protection work.  This was the prototype of the present Schutzhund trials.  He persuaded the authorities to utilise these dogs during the war as Red Cross dogs, messenger dogs, supply carriers, sentinel, tracking and guard dogs.