Long-Coated German Shepherds

The Breed

What is a „long-hair“ shepherd? Where does he come from? These questions and others are asked, when we walk our beautiful dogs and meet people from other countries, to whom these dogs are unknown.
Here is the history of these dogs:
The long-hair shepherd is actually the „father“ of the „short-hair“. Before the year 1899 two kind of shepherds were found here in Germany, among them was one kind with longer hair. These shepherds were generally used for sheep-work.
A person, named Rittmeister von Stephanitz recognized the intelligence of these dogs. He strongly believed, that these dogs could be also used for other tasks. He had an idea, of how the body structure of these dogs should be like to be able to perform as working dogs. He also believed that the coat of working dogs should be relatively short. In 1899 he founded the „SV“ Club (Schäferhund-Verein), thus the standard for the German-shepherd was set. Later on the F.C.I and VDH accepted this standard and unfortunately in this standard the long-hair was undesirable and was no longer to be accepted in the breed, because he supposedly did not have any „undercoat“. After all these years of breeding, still in some litters appear now and then puppies with longer hair. If it does happen, this particular litter is usually a good one, because the sires and dams, which were used, are carrying the genes of many years ago. The long-hair shepherd has usually a very strong boned body structure and comes along with a very good nature and a great character.

In the sixties and seventies not many shepherds were seen on the streets with long hair, because the short hair-breeders firmly gave them away quietly to people as family dogs, who had no intention to breed with them. More and more people kept them for pets. Some of them, who also used the long-hair dog for working dogs recognized their great ability to be good schutzhund dogs just like their brother the „short-hair“. These people did not want the long-hair breed to die out.
Then in 1984 a small group of people gathered together and founded a club by the name of„LSVD e.V.“(Langstockhaarschäferhundeverein Deutschland e.V.) - „long-hair shepherd club Deutschland“. This club laid down very strict breeding regulations with the hope to be recognized by the VDH, SV and F.C.I. The petition was turned in 1991, but no recognition came from the VDH, SV and F.C.I.

In the year 1989 another Long-hair Club was founded, ASVD and a few years later also another Long-hair Club, LSGS was founded in Switzerland. Members of these Clubs are growing rapidly, with their goal to make the Long-Hair Shepherd more popular.

In the late 1990s a book by the name of “Ratgeber Langhaar-Schäferhund” was written by Horst Hegewald-Kawich. This book explains a lot about the long-hair shepherd. It also states a very important fact, that the long-hair like his brother the short-hair does have thick undercoat and can be used as working dogs all around the world and in sport competitions like obedience, tracking, attacking and agility.

Here in Germany the LSVD, ASVD and LSGS has their own shows. The dogs, which are selected for breeding, have to pass at least one obedience test and also have to be presented in front of a breeding committee, where their sound temperament is also being tested. Their hips have to be x-rayed and only dogs without any signs of displazie can be used for breeding. Starting in 2004 it is required by the ASVD, that also the elbow (ED) habe to be x-rayed. All in all what can be said is, that for the purchase of a good short hair dog out of a very good blood line, people sometimes have to pay many thousands of Dollars, where a long-hair-shepherd out of the same litter or with the same blood-line bred through the Clubs of the LSVD, ASVD or LSGS cannot be sold too expensive, because he has no recognition with the SV. People who got to know the long-hair dog and his qualities, want him for his beautiful looks, his intelligence and his sound character. Looking back to the last 7 years we have seen people come to our house and leave fascinated by these beautiful animals.