Wehrmacht WWII German Working Dogs

[Hoyden R.]

These two are rather interesting, in the first picture, you see the German NCO inspecting one dog. In the second, you see the other dog's reaction to agitation or intentional provocation with a newspaper.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Hoyden R.

[Hoyden R.]

Another of the NCO(?) with their dogs. I love the solid black dog in the lower right hand side.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Hoyden R.

[Hoyden R.]

Another favorite. One brother is a tanker so I am told. The verdict is still out as to whether this is a shaved German Shepherd dog or a Belgian Malinois.

[Ulsterman]

Cool. I understand that most of the dogs had Military documents that included their lineage- some going back to Frederick the Greats' era.

[Hoyden R.]

Cool. I understand that most of the dogs had Military documents that included their lineage- some going back to Frederick the Greats' era.

Frederick the Great died in 1786, so it is not likely that our modern working dogs had their lineage traced back to his time. In that time period, breeders were just beginning to breed like to like to form specific breeds. Earlier dog breeders tended to breed the best dog for the job to the best female dog for the job in hopes of producing more dogs that could do that job at hand.

The German Shepherd breed had it's beginnings in the mid to late 1800's depending on which source you check. The earliest club to record the lineage of the dogs that still exists today is The Verein fur Deutche Schaferhunde which was founded in 1899 after the demise of the Phylax Society in 1894. The Bunderssieger Zuchtschau has been held every year since 1899 with dogs entering from all around the world. If you click the link and have a look, you can see the great difference between the early German Shepherd dogs and the modern abominations with spinal deformities. It is truly heartbreaking to see.

Another working breed used by the Germans are the Airedale terriers, which where bred in the later part of the 1800's by crossing a Black & Tan Terrier (Welsh Terrier) to an Otterhound with some Bull and Terrier thrown in for good measure.

The Doberman breed was developed around 1890 by Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann to protect him as he was the Tax Collector and needed protection from bandits and the like.

[Laurence Strong]

You have some very interesting photo's. Looking forward to seeing more.

later

Larry

[Hoyden R.]

This is one of those photos that came with a group of other photos. Something about this dog just caught my attention. Maybe it's the bandage on his ear? Maybe the soulful look in his eyes? He is a beautiful dog. I just love this photo.

[Hoyden R.]

A nice little document that I picked up

[Hoyden R.]

Another from my collection

[Hoyden R.]

Undoubtedly this boxer is someone's pet, but I had to have this picture and it also came in a set of photos that were from a Veterinary

school.

[Hoyden R.]

The same General Lieutenant as the picture with the Boxer with a couple Doberman pups

[Hoyden R.]

Once again, the same General Lieutenant as above, inspecting working dogs & their handlers.

[Hoyden R.]

And another from that VET grouping of dogs and handlers all lined up.

[Hoyden R.]

A silly photo that was in the Vet grouping. A german shepherd all dressed up.

[Ulsterman]

The German Shepherd breed had it's beginnings in the mid to late 1800's depending on which source you check. The earliest club to record the lineage of the dogs that still exists today is The Verein fur Deutche Schaferhunde which was founded in 1899 after the demise of the Phylax Society in 1894. The Bunderssieger Zuchtschau has been held every year since 1899 with dogs entering from all around the world. If you click the link and have a look, you can see the great difference between the early German Shepherd dogs and the modern abominations with spinal deformities. It is truly heartbreaking to see.

Thanks! This is a very interesting subject!

I shall tell you a quick story then. In 1990-shortly after the wall came down, I was managing a series of Fleet Bank branches in New England. One day a chap walked in with a commercial loan application and asked for a loan of $15,000 with which he was going to rebuild a kennel, buy some more acreage and buy another German Shepherd-from the disbanding GDR kennels.

I was a new banker at the time and it was my very first commercial loan request, I having just been licensed by the new England Bankers association a few days before so i was agog at his request. Most commercial loans are structured towards helping small shop keepers, accountants, fishing boats, small tree farms, smaller factories etc.. "Livestock" was not in the manual.

So, somewhat bemused I sat smugly behind my 180 year old desk as this guy then proceeded to outline the most detailed and thoughtful business proposal I had ever seen in my 3 years of banking.

I was agog.

The 3 dogs he had brought back as stud dogs had already produced $20,000 in income from puppies! They were insured for $150,000! In 1990 that was VERY serious money. I only had loan authority of $25,000 and the total collateral on this loan was a bankers' dream. I did not believe his stated value of the dogs until he pulled out a Lloyd's ten year insurance binder (that's the gold standard of business insurance) for $150,000! He had perfect collateral. The puppies were going for @ 1-2,000 each as I recall.

He brought in one of the dogs- @ 4 years old or so and it had a GDR doggie Militarpass. In it was included a pedigree that went back to 1775! I remember because it was the same year as the battle at Lexington. His dog was smaller, tougher looking than the longer, leaner American shepherds and I specifically remember it had a much thicker chest and stronger, shorter legs. He said it was like "a little tank"-very intelligent, loyal, protective and smart....and could rip your throat out at a word of command. It had HUGE jaws.

So I called around, had my boss co-authorize the note and off he went with his loan.

The cool thing is that shortly thereafter he and his dogs were in the Wall Street Journal.

So that's why I say the military dogs went back to Fthe G.

[Ulsterman]

By the way, @ 2 years ago I saw a photo album sold of a WW1 dog handler and his dogs. Included were a series of marching snaps of Weimer era parades of the "German Wardogs Veterans' Association". I wish I had bought it now.

[Hoyden R.]

I would have loved to have seen that pedigree Ulsterman! I've asked several of the well versed dog men that I know and they said a pedigree to 1775 is possible, but not for a German Shepherd dog. The early progenitors were likely another breed used as the foundation of the GSD breed.

When my boss showed me what he paid for the dogs he brought over from Germany and Czech Republic, I gagged. I could not believe what he paid for them. I wasn't sold until I had my hands on the first litters of German Shepherd and Malinois puppies.