Here's a quote I found on the web, no idea how true it is but I recall reading something similiar a couple of years ago.

"The first German Shepherd was registered in 1899, and was called Hector Linksrhein. Later he was renamed Horand Von Grath, and was bred to a Wolf-Shepherd-Crossbred female named Mores-Pheningen, a trained herding dog which produced Hecktor V Schwaben, which became the German Seiger for 1900 and 1901.

The German Seiger for the years 1906 and 1907, Roland Von Starkenburg, was the grandson of Hector V Schwaben. Starkenburg can be found in many modern German Shepherd pedigrees."

I read when they looked at dna the poodle was closer to the wolf than the gsd. I re-read this 4 times to make I read it right. Unfortunately I can't remember what newspaper I was reading so I can't quote sources. If this is true it takes wolf crosses out of the deal.

One point that seems to be lost is that there have been changes in what true GSD's have been over the years. At one point in time there were some large very solid GSD's. I had one that was whelped in the late 60's early 70's. At his working weight he was 135#. I am not a big person at 5'7" and I could just barely reach my arms all the way around his chest. He ruined my on the breed because I can't find anything like him and have looked for years after we lost him. Tempermently he would allow a child to take food out of his mouth and still hold a person for the police with a broken jaw.

There are issues with a dog that big. First they are going to wear out quicker than a smaller dog. Carrying that much size is hard on joints and backs. So they have a shorter life span. They aren't as agile as a smaller dog. Since I don't really want my dogs to have to make a bite they have advantages. They are incredibly intimidating. If they do have to make a bite they do the thing I want and that is to put the person on the ground now and keep them there.

If you are looking for a dog to do actual police work you need a dog that is more agile and will last longer. You also need a dog that is going to have to bite on a regular basis. It would be nice if they didn't have to, but they reality is that they will and a smaller dog will just work better.

Jeff, The link is in my previous post, Apr 29, has a nice chart. you'll need adobe reader for it