About The Breed

The Long Haired German Shepherd is often referred to as a "Coated Shepherd."  Long Haired German Shepherds are beautiful dogs to behold.  They have bushy tufts behind the ears, big fluffy pantaloons, big bushy round tail, long fringes along the backs of the legs and longer hair between the toes.  The coat is generally very soft, almost silky.  A puppy can often be identifed as a Long Haired if it possesses ear fringe or tufts.  

A Long Haired GSD's personality is different than a "normal" coated dog as it is generally sweeter, calmer, gentler, more mellow and more comical.

Typically they are larger in size, strong boned body structure and a straighter back, not as sloped as the short hair shepherd.

They are admired for their beauty, working ability and their outstanding balanced and trainable temperament.  Talk to anyone who has owned a long haired shepherd and they will not only describe in glowing terms the dogs beauty but they will undoubtedly tell you about a dog unmatched by others in terms of loyalty, trainability and unbeatable temperament.

Short Coated German Shepherds have two coats, an outer and under coat.  The true Long Hairs do not have the under coat so their outer coat seems silky and smooth looking because it does not have the body of the under coat to deal with.  Because the Long Hair doesn't have an under coat it actually sheds less then a short haired German Shepherd does. 

The Long Haired German Shepherd is actually the "father" of the "Short Haired" German Shepherd which most people know or have seen.  Before the year 1899, two principal kinds of Shepherds were found in Germany.  One of these was the Long Haired.  German Shepherds were generally used to herd and guard sheep as well as to protect and provide companionship for their human masters.

In the later 19th century a man named Rittmeister von Stephanitz recognized the inate intelligence of these popular "farm dogs."  He strongly believed that these dogs were well suited for other tasks.  He imagined how the body structure of these dogs should be able to perform well as "working dogs."  Amongst his ideas was that the coat of a working dog should be relatively short.

In 1899 Stephanitz founded the "SV Club" (Schaferhund-Verein).  As a result of this club a standard for the German Shepherd was set.  Later on the FCI and VDH accepted this early standard.  This was unfortunate because the standard declared that the Long Haired was undesirable and was no longer an "acceptable" characteristic of the breed.  Primarily this was because the long haired dogs did not have an under coat.

The under coat was beneficial in helping the GSD withstand the elements during sheep herding in Germany's climate.

After many successive years of breeding even today some litters appear with puppies having long hair.  When this does happen the litter is usually considered a good one because the sire and dam that produced the litter are carrying the characteristic genes of the "Olde World Shepherds" of many years ago.  It is typical that the long haired German Shepherd has a very strong boned body structure.  This breed variant also exhibits a very good nature and great character.

In the 1960's and 70's not many long haired shepherds were seen in public, primarily because the usual "short haired breeder" almost always gave them away privately to be used as "family dogs" with the understanding that they would not be bred.  The fact is that these "unwanted dogs" made great family pets.  More and more people adopted these dogs as a pet because they had a magnificently strong bone structure, large size and wonderful temperment.  Some of these owners recognized that these dogs also exhibited a great natural ability to be good schutzhund dogs just like their "brothers" of the short haired variety.  Naturally these owners did not want the original long hair breed to disappear.

In 1984 a small group of people gathered together in Germany to found the "LSVD e.V" (Langstockhaarschaferhundeverein Deutschland e.V) club.  A result of this club has been the definition of very strict breeding regulations with the hope to be recognized by the German VDH, SV and FCI organizations.  By 1991 they had petitioned the SV, VDH and the FCI to accept the long hair variety once again.  At that time the petition was denied.  But bolstered by the consistent excellence of the breed, long hair breeders remain undeterred. 

By 1989 several long hair clubs were formed; the ASVD and the LSGS in Switzerland.  In these organizations as in the LSVD, long coats are shown in confirmation as well as in working ability competition.

Members of these clubs are growing rapidly with the goal to make the Long Haired German Shepherd more popular.

The Long Haired German Shepherd is considered a "fault" in the German Shepherd Dog breed according to CKC and AKC standards as well as the International (FCI) breed standard.  Because they cannot be shown in conformation at SV regulated shows as well as CKC, AKC etc., many make wonderful working dogs in SAR, assistance work and police work.

The long hair gene is a recessvie gene so if a long haired Shepherd is bred he will produce long haired Shepherds.  Basically even if a long haired puppy is born to a litter from short haired parents, that is the "end of the line" for the short haired gene.  As long as this long haired is bred with another long hair it can never produce a short hair puppy.