“abc” spelt it correctly. Copy her.

“kittensl…”
You obviously have experience of the non-GSDs that get called GSDs, maybe even REGISTERED as GSDs.
Go get experience of what is produced by the true breeders of GSDs, the people who have the health checks done and can SHOW your their certificates, the people who prove their dogs for type by showing them, the people who prove their dogs for trainability and character by training them and competing in such as the courage tests.
Unless a GSD has 2 parents who possess a Breed Survey Classification (KKl in German), the odds are high that it does NOT fit the International Standard of the GSD for size and/or shape and/or character and/or health.

“abc”:
The reason for the popularity of the deutsche Schäferhund aka German Shepherd Dog is because of what it was developed for – herding sheep.
(1) All the sheep herding breeds are (until ruined by show-is-all breeders and pet “breeders”) very attentive to their humans. But only the HERDING breeds are – the many breeds developed primarily to GUARD the sheep are a different story, they being bigger, stronger, and usually have coats that look remarkably like a sheep’s coat.
That attentiveness makes them naturals for training – indeed many self-train by mimicking their elders. A sheep farmer in my e-group bought a GSD pup at the start of the year and entertains us with tales of how the old BC is training the GSD pup – the pup doesn’t know that the BC way of working is different to the GSD way, so there are are some interesting behaviours being produced. In addition, whereas most herding breeds were selected to follow orders, the GSD was selected for initiative – the ability & willingness to work independently (one of my sheep-farmer pen-friends left a group of city kids with her GSD & flock while she went to the shops. By the time she returned, her GSD had the kids trained to run the boundary line for him, bring him a dish of water, and pat him – sneaky initiative, eh!)
(2) Because guarding IS part of the GSD’s job description, it is larger than most herding breeds – but cannot be VERY large because mass makes it not nimble/agile enough, and requires much more food. That size means it is large enough and powerful enough for MANY tasks, including dragging a hungry ram out of the unfenced crops, guiding a blind person, steadying a person with a poor sense of balance, carrying a drum of telephone cable across No Man’s Land during WW1 and WW2. It is capable of showing teeth large enough to deter most hoons from their violent thought, jumping over a wall, and bringing down a fleeing felon. I can pat mine without having to do much bending.

Attentiveness, trainability, ideal middle size, versatility – isn’t that enough for most people? Okay – their all-weather coat is easy to look after (provided you stay away from the unshowable long-coats, all they need is an occasional brushing, maybe a wipe-over with a damp towel), and they moult for about only 4 weeks a year – never mind that they spend the other 48 weeks practising to get those moults exactly right! (Hence the need for an occasional brushing….)

Add publicity: Several GSDs have become film stars, of which the contemporaries Strongheart and RinTinTin are best known (it’s a shame that after the initial RinTinTin and his unregisterable son Junior, all the RinTinTins were pale descendants of the shockingly pale Odin vom Busecker Schloß, and so tv watchers came to think that GSDs SHOULD be pale). About 30 years ago British tv included “Radar” as a police dog in its “Softly Softly” and “Z-Cars” series, and he became a much-demanded star.
And there is no denying that the GSD and its almost-identical (because it was developed to do the same tasks) rival, the Malinois, make GREAT police dogs, the versatility meaning that they can defend their handler, track lost children, detect drugs & explosives. Other breeds can perform a particular one of those tasks better than can the GSD, but they cannot perform the whole lot as well as a GSD does. And so it is not a coincidence that GSDs are particularly adaptable as film stars (whereas it usually takes at least 6 Rough Collies to perform one “Lassie” movie).

Finally – the dog LOOKS right. Unless it is from a line that has been ruined by distorting it to suit the fashion of a particular country’s show ring (see ) the adult GSD has the right blend of nobility, alertness, calmness. So, as of 1942, it has always been in the top 4 for popularity almost everywhere in the world.

Sadly, few TRUE GSDs have been produced since the early 70s – the world has gone mad.
“Breeders for quantity” have neglected to do the health & character tests that kept our breed DESERVING its popularity.
“Breeders for exaggerated show fashions” have neglected to do the character testing that keeps our breed pleasant to have in the family, and have often ignored the limits on size & shape (it doesn’t help that the rebel Standards of the AKC, the CKC, the NZKC and The KC (Britain) don’t actually STATE limits).
“Breeders for exaggerated sport or protection dogs” have neglected to keep the character safe to have in the inexperienced family, and have ignored the limits on shape.

I would imagine that among the things that deter most people from Newfies is their bulk (try lifting a sick Newfie into your vehicle!) and short life-span of 8-10 years. I’ve forgotten whether they are one of the breeds notorious for drooling onto EVERYTHING, but they look to have a head suitably shaped for that unpleasant trait. Not too many people NEED a dog that can rescue them from the swimming pool, and the way commercial fishing is done has changed immensely since the Newfie was developed. Informed people probably find that the relative incidence of hip dysplasia is a big deterrent – the NZVA (which uses the 0-to-106 BIF-scale for scoring hips, 0 being perfect) reports an average of 23 for Newfies as against 12 for GSDs:

25± years ago the predictions were that the medium & large dogs would be replaced for popularity by the small dogs such as Bostons and Cairns and Pekes, but it still hasn’t happened.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly:
“In GSDs” as of 1967

2. Plus they have a lot of great qualities as a dog.

3. Many German Shepherds that you see are not actually German Shepherds but are Belgian Shephers, Czech Spepherds and other less common breeds of shepheds.

Newfoundlands have not garnered that same image eventhough they are fantastic dogs.

German Shepherds here in the US because of a ton of backyard breeding have really had some problems. Friends of mine that are police officers involved with K-9 divisions have repeatedly told me that they have had to go overseas to get Shepherd puppies because the ones here are no longer suitable as police working dogs.

Because GSDS are so popular, they have lots of health issues caused by overbreeding and they end up in shelters all the time.

Although I haven’t seen them in some time, there were a pair of Newfies that used to appear in the park where I walk my dogs – I think they were landseers, basically white with several large black patches.

Newfies are great dogs. Maybe some are put off by their size. Only thing I can think of.

Edit: I have to echo Nancy M’s sentiment. Be glad it’s not too popular. Be glad they haven’t made a movie starring a Newfie. Akita rescues are sort of bracing for what’s going to happen about June or July, after the release of “Hachiko” next month.

Imho, shepards are big dumb lugs that throw their weight around to try and push things into the direction that they want it in. Or so I’ve learned from this one.

1. Labrador Retriever
2. Yorkshire Terrier
3. German Shepherd Dog
4. Golden Retriever
5. Beagle
6.Dachshund
7. Boxer
8. Poodle
9. Shih Tzu
10. Miniature Schnauzer

where does your dog rank?