Is German Imports better than American Shepherd?
(updated 4/20/10) As stated on our History of the German Shepherd Dog page, the original purpose for the German Shepherd dog was herding sheep. The founders of the breed needed more people involved in their dogs so they started looking for other jobs (besides herding sheep) to help their breed survive. They found their German Shepherds did very well in military duties to help soldiers do their jobs. Today the Germans are still breeding and producing a Police Working Dog. The first German Shepherds I saw as a kid (1960s) they were called a German Police Dog. We American are breeding for a dog more along the lines of a herding dog. The American Kennel Club have them listed in the Herding Group. In general the American Shepherds are calmer dogs than the Imports for several reasons. Police work requires that a dog be highly motivated to work 7 days a week. Their training requires them to be aggressive enough for bite training (or attack training). If their shepherds fail the biting sleeve
