Breeding pedigree dogs is essential for meeting society’s needs for service dogs, working dogs, sporting dogs or simply a four-legged family companion. Pedigree dogs are branded goods that are characterized by their unmistakable “breed-specific” features.

The character or nature is a feature set out in the German Shepherd standard, which is used to characterize the product as “typical” while taking many other factors into consideration. The assertions and requirements covered by the character judgment are principally designed to prove the dogs are environmentally sound and socially friendly. But they are also drawn upon as an additional examination for our working dog requirements. The character judgment includes determining a dog’s behavioral traits that manifest themselves on the basis of hereditary assets subject to the available breeding, development and posture qualities.

The Federal Convention has consentaneous resolved that there will be an application for character judgments to be introduced. But what does that mean?

Why do we need a character judgment?

Society as a whole is being increasingly critical and applying significant pressure on dog breeders, handlers and pedigree dog breeding societies. Bans on dangerous dogs, and unscrupulous dog breeders and trainers are being more and more widely discussed. And the discussion always returns to devastating bite incidents involving dogs. The fear, which is largely the trigger and cause of these discussions and requirements, that is at the heart of this issue must be taken seriously. Meaningful measures need to be taken to show that we are taking the situation seriously, and want to find solutions and foster a feeling of good will.

Even-tempered dogs who have strong nerves yet are not excessively aggressive are in demand nowadays. The dogs must be able to adequately deal with the constantly changing demands of their social environment. By introducing the concept behind the character judgment, the society is implementing its wish to place our dogs’ nature and its fundamental importance at the forefront, and to make it possible to assess its influecing factors.

And this is therefore important to later align canine efforts and work, to understand the reasons behind unwanted behavior traits and disorders – also known as character deficiences – and to help prevent these emerging further in the world of dog ownership in a way that is appropriate both for the animal and for society as a whole. We are responsible for using the knowledge arising from biological behavioral research on the nature of dogs available to us presently and for considering the knowledge gleaned from cynology.

The key guiding principles are therefore using knowledge gained from biological behavioral research to better understand the dog, its behavior and its behavior development. In doing so, it is important to consider the interplay between inherited and acquired behavior control traits, and between fear and aggression. There is no doubt today that a dog’s nature is not predominantly determined by genetics. Instead, it is the combined result of countless interactions between hereditary dispositions and natural, social and civilizing environmental conditions. Therefore, only the foundations of nature are inherited. Nature itself is not inherited, but rather it develops as a result of environmental conditions on the basis of genetic dispositions. Hereditary dispositions are not based on specifi  nature or behavior genes, but rather on genes that when combined have an effect on the organism’s development and behavior foundations. This means that one and the same gene influences the inheritance of physical and behavioral traits.

What does this mean for nature?

Even if you discount necessary environmental influences as part of this consideration for ease – nature cannot be bred by itself. Our dogs have innate regulation mechanisms. They have an innate ability to learn.

Using the different innate strategies for gaining experience, it is possible for the dog to complement its behavior to the conditions within its “personal” environment. Learning is therefore not something distorting or overlapping, but rather fulfills the innate drive for openness and incompleteness. Learning – particularly formative and character-like learning – therefore allows a dog’s nature to develop. A dog’s nature is the result of a dynamic development process between genetics and environment. Unfavorable environmental deficiencies cannot be compensated for through breeding. Dogs who are unable to fulfill their innate drive for learning an open behavior program naturally develop behavior that is more or less distorted.

In future, the society will not only support its members to teach a dog to perform to BH/IPO standards. By introducing the character judgments, we want to encourage dog owners to ensure that a dog is not deprived of anything that they need for their behavior and nature to develop healthily (Kaspar Hauser effect). Furthermore, we must not expect anything unnatural from the dog, which may harm the development of their nature. Deprivation or excessive demands result in fear or aggressive behavior.

The way dogs live alongside humans has changed and our dogs must be introduced to these changing conditions. A puppy’s willingness for social convergence or confrontation with the environment crucially depends on their past experiences during rearing, and on the coping strategies they have learned and acquired until this point, as well as meeting their natural social needs. Without the right rearing and developmental conditions, our dogs cannot themselves show which genes they are really carrying, which is why humans must bear this responsibility to demon- strate what the dogs cannot achieve.

What happens in a character judgment?

As part of a character judgment, a dog’s behavior and its flexibility is recorded by confronting them with different stimuli that may trigger or provoke a particular behavior. A conclusion can be drawn on the dog’s nature based on their behavior throughout the entire assessment, with the aim of checking the dog’s suitability for living with humans in today’s world as objectively as possible.

The dog should not be handled in obedience. Commands must be kept to the very minimum. For this reason, performance examinations (BH, IPO, etc.) that predominantly test learned and conditioned behavior are no substitute for character judgments. Character judgments are split into the following categories: 

Impartiality
The dog should allow their handler and an unknown person, e.g. the judge, to touch them at different points on the body.

Social behavior
Interaction with people, individuals, groups.

Noise sensitivity
In this section, the dog is subjected to different acoustic stimuli, e.g. rattling, engine noise and blanks being fired as the loudest stimulus.

Certainty of movement
Sensitivity to heights (e.g. assessed by looking at a dog’s movement behavior across tables) as well as a dog’s movement on flat ground.

Play and predatory instinct/behavior under stress
The assessment is based on how the dog plays with their owner (teamwork) and with an unknown person (representative). Furthermore, the intensity towards obstructed prey (willingness to find) and their willingness to play under increased demands (moving table) are also assessed. Only a dog that feels comfortable in its environment and can cope with the situation is able to play.

Basic nature 
Behavior in isolation and when meeting an unknown person.

What happens during the assessment?

The dog is assessed is two ways: based on the specific evaluation of each behavior trait (descriptive) and based on reliability ratings. Not only are the dog’s reactions crucial here, but also how the dog manages the individual situations and using which coping strategies. If the dog becomes visibly overstressed, the assessment is stopped so that the dog is not harmed indefinitely.

General grounds for exclusion include character deficiencies that are also stipulated in our breed standard. This affects dogs that are very anxious, aggressive dogs that show increased aggression in peaceful situations, as well as dogs that are sensitive to shots being fired. The description makes it easier for the dog owner and other persons involved to follow the results of the character judgment. By awarding reliability ratings, it is possible to add more weighting to more significant behavioral situations. Furthermore, the reliability ratings make it possible to gather statistics and monitor the character judgments more closely.

What are the implementation provisions?

Only German Shepherds may be subject to the character judgment/ZAP. Character judgments are only carried out at weekends, at the same time as the examinations that have already been published. A maximum of 12 dogs, and a minimum of 4, can be entered for a character judgment on one particular examination day. Friday counts as a half examination day, meaning a maximum of 6 dogs can be entered. It is not permitted to have a Friday alone as an examination day.

The registration fee is EUR 20 per dog. Dogs aged between 9 and 13 months (inclusive) are permitted for entry. When the dog can’t pass the character assessment at the given age it can be it can be made up leeway. This also applies to dogs bred abroad or dogs acquired when they are older who are then destined to be used for breeding in Germany. However, a special permission from the main office is requested. The concerned dog is blocked for 5 months (as of the date of the character assessment) for participation in all other breeding relevant performance events and breed surveys. (similar to initially entering breeding programs aged between 13 and 18 months).

Once the character judgment and ZAP have been passed, the dog must pass the breeding survey before they can be used for breeding without restriction. In the event of a negative result, the character judgment can be repeated once. It will be noted in the assessment documentation if a dog is repeating the assessment. A report will  be drawn up for each assessed dog, which will then be given to the owner. The data sheet lists information about the age of the subject, gender, condition, husbandry conditions and future intended use. The character judgment is listed on the pedigree and the dog’s owner receives a certifi   te and completed assessment sheets. The assessments achieved are published in SV-DOxS. As with the breeding program, the society has made the “SV character judgment” program available to event organizers. This means it is no longer necessary to spend a long time recording messages and creating documents.

How will the character judgment be supported?

Der alternative Weg in die Zucht - ZAP

In der Vergangenheit wurden die mentalen Eigenschaften unserer Zuchttiere oftmals nur unzureichend beschrieben. Als Maßnahme zur mittel- bis langfristigen Verbesserung der Wesenseigenschaften unserer Hunde hat die Bundesversammlung für alle Deutschen Schäferhunde mit einem Wurftag ab dem 01.07.2017 eine Wesensbeurteilung (WB) als einen Teil der Zuchtzulassung für unsere Rasse verbindlich eingeführt. Das Verhalten des Hundes ist ein sehr wichtiger Bereich, der neben der Gesundheit und dem Rassetyp untersucht/nachgewiesen sein muss, bevor der Hund die Erlaubnis erhält, an der Zucht teilzunehmen.

Mit der Einführung der Zuchtanlagenprüfung (ZAP) haben wir nun die einmalige Chance, alle Qualitätsmerkmale des Hundes auch in einer Datenbasis zu hinterlegen und diese künftig vor allem den Züchtern zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Bei der WB/ZAP werden Spitzen im negativen Sinn herausgefiltert und besonders positive Hunde hervorgehoben. Die bei der WB/ZAP getroffenen Aussagen und Anforderungen dienen vorrangig dem Nachweis umweltsicherer und gesellschaftsverträglicher Hunde. Sie werden aber auch als Ergänzungsprüfung für unsere Gebrauchshundeanforderungen herangezogen. Die ZAP dient somit der Feststellung von Verhaltenseigenschaften des Hundes, die sich auf der Grundlage erblicher Anlagen unter dem Einfluß der bereitgestellten Aufzucht-, Entwicklungs- und Haltungsqualitäten offenbaren. Das Wesen in seiner Vielfalt und Breite ist ein herausragendes Qualitätsmerkmal unserer Rasse.

Mit der Einführung der ZAP will der Verein sicherstellen, dass sich jeder Hundehalter adäquat mit seinem Vierbeiner bereits in den Sozialisierungs- und Prägungsphasen beschäftigt und dafür sorgt, dass seinem Hund nichts von dem vorenthalten wird, was er naturgemäß zur gesunden Entwicklung seines Verhaltens und Wesens braucht. Gleichermaßen darf ihm aber auch nichts Naturwidriges zugemutet werden, was die Entwicklung seines Wesens schädigen könnte. Erfahrungsentzug bzw. Überforderung führen oftmals zu Angst- bzw. Aggressionsverhalten.

In der nun standardisierten Wesensbeurteilung werden die Bereiche Unbefangenheit, Sozialverhalten, Geräuschempfindlichkeit, Bewegungssicherheit, Spiel- und Beutetrieb/ Verhalten unter Belastung und Grundwesen geprüft und beschrieben.

Eine Verbindung aus einem deskriptivem (beschreibend) und einem internen Punktesystem oder Notensystem bietet dazu den Vorteil einer besseren Kontrolle und Bewertung des jeweiligen Hundes.

Zuchtanlagenprüfung im Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) e.V. (Arbeitsteil)

Einhergehend mit der Einführung der Wesensbeurteilung hat der Verein seit 2018 auch, erstmalig in der SV-Geschichte, eine eigenständige Prüfungsordnung entwickelt, die  alternativ zur FCI-Prüfungsordnung (IGP) für den Züchter einen zweiten Weg zur Zuchtzulassung bietet.

Die ZAP kann analog zur IGP ab 18 Monaten abgelegt werden.

Der Arbeitsteil der ZAP gliedert sich in die Bereiche Nasenarbeit in den vom Hundeführer wählbaren Varianten Fährten- oder Stöberarbeit, Gehorsams- und Verteidigungsübungen.

Die Bewertungsgrundsätze:
Der Schwerpunkt der Bewertung liegt auf der Art und Weise, wie der Hund mit seinem Hundeführer agiert sowie den Fähigkeiten und Anlagen des jeweils zu beurteilenden Hundes.
Bei der Bewertung des Hundes geht es nicht um exakter, höher, schneller oder weiter!
Die Beschreibung des Hundes erfolgt adjektivisch.
Das Urteil pro absolvierter Abteilung sowie das Gesamtergebnis lautet bestanden oder nicht bestanden. (Neu in der Kynologie: Die bisherige Bewertung mit einer Punktzahl entfällt.)

Sind die drei Einzelabteilungen bestanden wird das Kennzeichen ZAP zuerkannt.

Das Ziel der neu eingeführten ZAP ist die Vielseitigkeit in der Rasse und die vorhandenen Gebrauchshundeeigenschaften zu erhalten und zielgerichtet zu fördern.

Das schwerpunktmäßige Ziel lautet dabei: Zucht auf Gesundheit (Exterieur), Talent und Verhalten!