What is the difference between the West German and East German dogs? The West German is bred towards conformation and the East German is bred more towards working performance. The East German has no show lines and the West German has a pronounced curve of the back. The West German is the show line German Shepherd, while the reference to the East German is the working line German Shepherd. The East German Shepherd shares a common ancestry with the West German Shepherd, and the distinction began in the post-war divided German Empire. With the defeat of Germany in World War II, this once-imperial capitalist West and the communist Soviet Union combined to split into: the pro-Soviet East Germany (GDR) and the pro-Western West Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland). Under the different political systems, East German Shepherds were bred more towards working performance and West German Shepherds were bred towards conformation. The East German Shepherd, also called the DDR or Working Line German Shepherd, tends to have darker pigmentation, a short, sturdy head structure and excellent bone structure, and not as pronounced a back curve as the show line (West German Shepherd), as it is the flat back that is more in line with athletic structure science and provides greater athletic energy relative to the arched back. The breeding of the East German Shepherd focuses on the inheritance of working ability. The way to keep the East German Shepherd in good spirits is to allow for an adequate workload. The major difference between the West German Shepherd and the East German Shepherd is that the West German Shepherd focuses primarily on the dog’s appearance and does not consider the inheritance of the dog’s courage and working, athletic instincts. For many people, mentioning West German Shepherd means show line German Shepherd, while mentioning East German Shepherd means working line German Shepherd!
