The German Shepherd was developed to be a police dog, right?
Actually he was developed to herd sheep — hence the name shepherd. But during World War I, his intelligence, trainability, and protective instincts were put to use as a messenger dog, rescue dog, and sentry dog, and eventually he became the world’s leading guardian, police and military dog, search and rescue dog, bomb and narcotics detection dog, and guide dogs for the blind. Today, because so many temperament and health problems have become embedded in the breed’s gene pool, it’s difficult to consistently find or breed healthy, stable German Shepherds for working purposes. Today, breeds like the Belgian Malinois and Labrador Retriever are overtaking the German Shepherd in fields where the German Shepherd used to predominate.
