German dog breeds: German Shepherd and Rottweiler history

Part 1

How many dog breeds trace back to Germany

Exact counts of German-origin breeds vary between kennel clubs, so looking at individual histories tells you more than a number would. The German Shepherd was built out of herding dogs from central and southern Germany. The Rottweiler's ancestors are linked to Roman drover dogs that crossed the Alps and mixed with local dogs near the town of Rottweil.

Part 2

The German Shepherd: from farm dog to formal breed

In 1891, a group of German dog fanciers calling themselves the Phylax Society tried to create one standardised shepherd breed. Phylax is a Greek word meaning guardian. They could not agree on whether looks or working ability mattered more, and the society broke up by 1894. On 22 April 1899, Max von Stephanitz and Artur Meyer founded the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde, known as the SV, at a dog show in Karlsruhe. Von Stephanitz's own dog, registered as Horand von Grafrath, became the first entry in the breed's stud book. Horand stood 61 centimetres tall and was valued at 200 Deutschmark at the time, a considerable sum. The SV also created a Zuchtbuch, or breed register.

The club grew quickly: by the early 1920s the SV had around 57,000 members, a number that dropped again during the economic crisis that followed. During the First World War, about 7,000 German Shepherds were killed while serving as messenger, telephone cable, or medical service dogs. More than two million German Shepherds have since been entered into that same stud book.

Jobs these German dogs did

• Herding sheep in the mountain pastures of Germany, the original job of the German Shepherd.
• Driving and guarding cattle on the way to market, the original job of the Rottweiler.
• Guiding blind people, a role German Shepherds took on from the late 1920s.

Part 3

The Rottweiler's working past

If your dog is a Rottweiler, you can trace that history back to the Roman era, according to the FCI breed standard. The Rottweiler's origin is recorded as Germany, with ancestors said to be Roman drover dogs that crossed the Alps with Roman legions and mixed with local dogs near the town of Rottweil. The breed took its name from that town and was used to herd and guard cattle and to pull carts of butchered meat to market, which earned it the German name Rottweiler Metzgerhund, or butcher's dog. That role declined by the mid-19th century once railways took over moving livestock to market. Demand for the breed returned before the First World War, when it was used as a police dog, and it went on to serve as a messenger, ambulance, draught, and guard dog in both world wars. By 1882, the breed's numbers had fallen so far that a show in Heilbronned featured only one poor example of it.

German clubs formalised the breed soon after: the Deutscher Rottweiler-Klub formed in 1914 with around 500 dogs, and the Süddeutscher Rottweiler-Klub followed in 1915 with around 3,000. The two merged into the Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler Klub in 1921. That merger was officially recorded by a district court in Stuttgart in January 1924. The Rottweiler was recognised by the American Kennel Club in 1931 and was shown at Crufts in Britain in 1936. In the mid-1990s, it was the most registered breed with the American Kennel Club, and by 2024 it ranked eighth among purebred dogs in the United States.

Part 4

What ties these histories together

Looking at your own dog's history, you will notice both breeds share a pattern. The German Shepherd's founders put working ability above appearance from the start, saying plainly that a pleasing appearance is desirable but it cannot put a dog's working ability into question. The Rottweiler's job as a cattle-driving and guarding dog also came first, with its name and work tied directly to the town of Rottweil.