10 Fascinating Things You Never Knew About German Shepherds

They're considered to be the third smartest dogs breed. This is measured with a simple test where dogs have to follow a simple command after only five repetitions and follow the first command 95% of the time.

You can find half a million videos featuring German Shepherds on Youtube.

Going to the Dogs was a play that starred six German Shepherds. It didn't do very well. 

In rare instances, some German Shepherds can be born with pituitary dwarfism, causing them to be very little. However, it also causes them to have a lot of health problems.

Max von Stephanitz found a brown and yellow wolf-like dog in Western Germany in 1889 and bought it after being impressed by its discipline and intelligence. He set up the German Shepherd Dog Club and set the standards for the breed. 

Stephanitz worried that a need for the dogs might decline as Germany became more industrialized. He worked with police and service workers to ensure that they could be used in those fields.   

Dogs had a variety of jobs during the war. They worked as mercy dogs, aiding wounded soldiers, guards dogs or delivering messages. Some Americans loved them so much, that they brought them back after the war. 

German Shepherds are the second most popular dog in America according to the American Kennel Club. 

After the war, Americans and Europeans alike were wary about anything German. In America the name was changed to shepherd dogs and in Europe they were called Alsatian wolf dogs.

Rin Tin Tin was rescued from the WWI battlefield by an American soldier. His owner trained him to appear in silent films and he was so talented that a movie about him was developed.