That is a toughy, I was hoping the picture would show a bright red and black saddle coat, then it would have being easier, but that picture ,he can be a mix of many (gsd)
He looks nice, I can say that maybe some sieger but I realy can't say.Nice dog Kelly

I would *guess* german showline (at least in part). Several reasons. First, you don't usually see such fading in the american lines. You can see it in the german showline as they are bred so much for the 'red' which ultamately gives poorer pigment, especially with the saddle and black mask on face. This dogs angulation does not look to be american line either. Think you can say it is not the DDR or czech lines as they tend to have super stong pigment.

Kelly,

Before I express my opinion let me lay out my credentials and tell you why you should believe me:

I have no credentials. There is no reason you should believe me. My opinion is based on very limited experience and observation. In other words, I'm proffering up useless speculation.

OK, here's what I think. I think he is from working lines, not show lines. I have no way of knowing if he is from German lines, American lines, Czech lines, Italian lines or Chinese lines. I suspect, though, that he is from European lines, not American.

Here's why I think this: Most of the American line GSD's I've seen have sloping hind quarters. I don't know the technical term for it. Your dog has a straight back, which makes me think he is from a European working line.

The breeder who I bought my dog from imports and sells GSDs from Germany, both working lines and show lines. The German show line dogs he sells have the same sloping hindquarters I've seen in American line dogs.

As I said, total speculation based on my limited observation. My analysis totally breaks down if there are, in fact, American line GSD's around who don't have the sloping hindquarters.

ok ok, interesting replies... keep em coming, l like all the opinions... Maybe Mr. Ed Frawley can comment???? just maybe.

Keep the opinions coming...

This puppy looks like mix of Show and Working. Nice firm structure, but not straight back, lower pigmentation is sometimes result of work/show Red/sable breeding. Smaller head looks like Western show(they tent to have larger heads), or maybe even American.
I think he is mix of show/working line

He looks nice

I have to agree with you in some degree, I have seen plenty of washed out coats (pardon my expression) that are actually half show line half working lines.And they look just like the dog in question.
I have seen a half sieger line half working line dog that could be this dogs litter mate, they are the exact same color.Now the head is not what I call typey.I am not sure there is any American line in that dog, but again I'm wildly assuming from a photo

Rich, not arguing with your analysis of the dog's origin here...
I have no clue what line he's from

Just thought I'd show you a photo of my female American show line shepherd: http://www.gentlesoulsshepherds.com/mokaforest.jpg

Don't know how well the back thing applies...

I'd also disagree that all American show line shepherds are stupid and spooky. I'm the first one to agree that Moka (my female shown in that photo) would be useless as a working dog in any kind of bitework, but she's one of the smartest dogs I've ever known (practically trained herself) and her nerves are rock-solid.

She's a very sweet and affectionate little female (59 pounds, now 11 years old); loves children and small animals, very protective of them. She's also completely bomb-proof - we've had some drunken teenager boys around our neighbourhood "gang up" on her during our walks, trying to scare her at Halloween with their crazy costumes (big masks, capes etc).
When they pester me too much she gets defensive, but never so much as takes a step back when threatened, just calmly standing her ground and keeping herself between me and the threat. Not showing any avoidance when threatened at night by a bunch of teenagers yelling, throwing things at her with big scary costumes on... not bad for a backyard-bred dysplastic little female.

Another incident we had involved 3 large stray dogs going after our pet rabbits. This was last summer; we had the rabbits out in exercise pens in our front yard and Moka was loose in the yard too. Our front yard is not fenced in, and 3 large stray dogs came charging over, jumping at the pens and trying to get at the rabbits.
The largest of the dogs is a huge mix (over 180 lbs, a very dominant male that lives down the street), and they were all aggressively circling and barking at the rabbits.

My then 10-year-old little American show line female with arthritic hips charged at the dogs and would not back down.
I ran out and tried to chase the dogs away, but the dominant male charged at me and body-checked me (don't know what it's called). He knocked me to the ground and I decided to go back to the house and grab a shovel to chase them away more safely so I wouldn't get bitten.

Now Moka could easily have bolted and run back to the house (or to the backyard) since she was loose, but she stood her ground! The dogs circled around her and the rabbits, but she never let them get between her and the rabbits and she stared them down.

It worked. They saw her determination and actually backed down. Once I came back with the shovel and screamed at them, I managed to chase them off down the street and went to go get their owner. Moka never left the rabbits, even when she was on her own.

...

I'm not saying that I like the American show lines because I don't. I think that the shepherds you see in the show ring are hideously deformed creatures (the German show lines are no better with their horrible roach backs!!). I would certainly not go out and buy another show line shepherd knowing what I know now, but I still don't think it's fair to be that derogatory to all show line American shepherds.

They don't all suck. Sure they're useless as police dogs or as protection dogs, but many of them have very nice temperaments to be pets. They bark at intruders, some are braver than others and for the most part, they're effective deterrents.

Just felt the need to step in here and defend my Moka. She's a fantastic dog, has been the best companion and protector we could hope for for the past 11 years and I'll miss her so much once she's gone. I got her when I was 11 years old and we pretty much grew up together.
I'm hoping that she'll still live for many more years though, because she's irreplaceable and priceless to our family (showline or not).

Kelly, I think your shepherd looks very nice.
He looks very smart and is built nicely, no horrible deformities as far as I can tell (so probably not from successful American show ring lines or German show lines, haha).

The face/head does look a little bit like some of the West German working lines, but the muzzle looks longish like the American show lines.

Who knows? As the others have stated, maybe he has a whole bunch of things mixed into him!

Or maybe you just got lucky and ended up with a nicely shaped good looking show-line dog

Glad that he's working out so well for you!

Yuko,
Is that your girl when she was younger, I love that photo she looks like she was actually posing,so sweet!