Alsatian – a Dog with Personality
The German Shepherd Dog also known as an Alsatian comes literally from the German Deutscher Schäferhund. The Alsatian is a relatively new breed of large-sized dog originating in the late 19th century. Originally a herding dog, particularly for sheep.
The Alsatians strength, intelligence and obedience they are often employed in police and military roles. The German Shepherd is also one of the most popular breeds around the world.
The breed originates from a dog named Hektor Linksrhein. He so impressed Von Stephanitz that he purchased it and renamed him to Horand von Grafrath and founded the Society for the German Shepherd Dogs.
Horand von Grafrath became the hub of the German Shepherd breeding programs and was mated with many other society member dogs.
The German Shepherds popularity has increased quickly throughout the 20th Century, though it had some problems in popularity in the early days due to genetic health issues from poor inbreeding and after the world wars with anti German feelings. This caused the UK Kennel Club to rename it to “Alsatian Wolf Dog”, a while later the wolf dog appendage was dropped and in 1977, the breed officially became the Alsatian Dog. The Alsatian popularity was fuelled by animal actors such as Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart. Now days it is in most countries the third most popular dog breed.
They are a large dog of between 55 and 65 centimetres ( 22 and 26 inches) at the withers and weigh around 30 kilograms (60 lb).
The German Shepherd’s face has a long square cut muzzle, a doomed forehead, a long neck, powerful jaws, large erect ears (that are often pulled back when on the move), black nose and brown, medium-sized eyes. With a bushy tail.
Alsatians come in a variety of colours, the normal versions are the tan/black and red/black types with black saddles and masks. Less common types include the sable, all-black, all-white, liver and blue varieties, which may not fit country breed standards. German Shepherds have a double coat. A dense close thick outer coat, which is shed all year round and a thick undercoat. The long-hair variety is rarer.
Like many working dogs, German Shepherds were bred for their intelligence, and are ranked as the third most intelligent breed of dog by Stanley Coren in his reference study and book “The Intelligence of Dogs”. This intelligence combined with the German Shepherds power makes the breed sought after as police, guard, and search and rescue dogs, the Alsatian rapid learning ability and ability to interpret instructions are better than other large breeds.
German Shepherds are known for aggression and have been banned in areas as a result. Statistically, in the United States, they are responsible for more unprovoked indiscriminate bites than any other breed, and have a reputation to attack smaller breeds of dogs.
Additionally studies have shown that Alsatians are the third most likely dog breed to attack a person and in another report found that German Shepherds were responsible for almost half of the dog bites that needed medical attention, compared to a more normal 20% of bites needing medical treatment, not surprising with their strong jaws and sharp canine teeth.
The problem is not with the dog, but the owners. As with any clever active dog (or child), if they are not regularly active and kept busy, they can become troublesome. The Alsatian must have puppy socialisation and good education from an early stage. Unlike the collie, which a lot of its aggressiveness has been breed out from show strains, the German Shepherd does not seem to have lost this character.
They can bond very well with their family, however they can become over-protective of their family and territory. Due to this they may appear a bit aloof.
German Shepherds learn well and are very obedient and not easily diverted, but due to their strong personality, you need to be very forceful with them.
The Alsatian will need to have two good walks a day. They are not a dog for a busy family without time for attention. For this reason, busy families regularly ask professional dog walkers such as London dog walking to help out by walking them for several hours a day.
Poor breeding has led to common health issues, hip and elbow joint problems (dysplasia) which often causes the dog pain and often causes arthritis. The Alsatian also is susceptible from monorchidism (one testicle), weakness of temperament, and missing teeth, as well as folded or bent ears which never fully turn up when reaching adulthood. The Alsatian is often has ear problems due to his large and open ears.
Alsatians, like many deep chested dogs are prone to bloat, this is often fatal, so if you think this may be a problem, go straight to the vet. Bloat is a build up of gas in the stomach, caused for varying reasons. The symptoms of distress for no apparent reason, a firm distension of the abdomen, general weakness, depression, problems breathing, hypersalivation, and retching without vomiting. A high rate of dogs with bloat have cardiac arrhythmias (around forty percent), loss of appetite, vomiting and weight loss.
The Alsatian often suffers from Degenerative Myelopathy, or DM is a neurological disease and are predisposed to Von Willebrand Disease, a common generic bleeding disorder, which shows in differing degrees of bleeding tendency, commonly in the form of easy bruising, nosebleeds and bleeding gums. .
In spite of these problems, the Alsatian is robust with simple dog care and the average lifespan of a Alsatian is 7 – 10 years, which is normal for a dog of this size.
The German Shepherd has great olfactory sensitivity so is one of the most widely-used breeds in a wide variety of scent-work roles, including search and rescue, cadaver searching, narcotics detection, explosives detection, accelerant detection, and mine detection dog, amongst others.
So the Alsatian is a great clever breed that will love you, if you have the time and energy for him. Not advised for busy working families.