What are ‘pink registration papers’ for a German shepherd?

For me personally "pink papers" have no importance. This is a breed or show rating. It means that both parents have been "koer Classed level ONE" (breed surveyed). A dog gets koer classed by going before a judge who watches him run around a ring to view his (or her) movement, the judge measures and weighs the dog and then watches the dog do very very limited handler protection.

In my opinion the weakness to the breed survey program is the temperament test is minimal. While the requirements are very specific and detailed for the physical characteristics of the dog, they are marginal for the temperament and working ability of the dog.

In Germany, if one of the parents of a litter is not breed surveyed the puppies from the litter can not get pink papers.

I am a firm believer that it is far more difficult to breed a dog with good temperament and strong working drive than it is to breed a show dog. The proof of this statement is the lack of good working dogs Vs the number of show dogs. If breeding strong working characteristics was an easy thing to accomplish we would see many more strong working dogs in this country.