I am trying to figure something out here, my GSD male was bred by a man in Nebraska. The previous owner was another military guy that was deploying to Korea, anyway a few days after he deployed his wife decided that she had her hands full w/ kids and dropped Luke off at a boarding kennel. She told them that she wasn't coming back, but couldn't bring herself to drop him at the Humane Society. The guy who owns the kennel knew I was looking and called me, so I got him for the price of his "hotel" bill. Anyway, I have spoken with her once on the phone and she promised to send me the papers on him. He was pretty large at the time so I just figured that he was an American type, when I spoke with her she stated that he was bred from 2 dogs out of West Germany. I am a curious person, so this sort of bugs me. I never have gotten the papers from her, she says that she'll send them, and never gets around to it. I am NOT interested in breeding him, just would like to know exactly.
Are there some key traits of the types in general?
I see the fellow's DDR male down the street and he has a shorter broader muzzle than Luke, and is also shorter in the back than Luke too.
Temperment wise they are VERY similar though.
But I know a guy that has an American type that he is breeding and Luke is not that HUGE, and nowhere near as angulated in the hips either.
They have played and Luke moves alot faster, and is more agile by far. This Am. GSD has problems with a 5 ft fence, Luke goes through passenger windows on my lifted Jeep without so much as touching the sides, and 6 ft fences don't mean too much to him either. I am trying to get an education here in what the distinct type are, later when I go looking again I'd like to know where to start.

Just to stipulate here, the Am. that I know of wieghs around 115-120lbs and probably upwards of 29". Luke's head is a little bigger, but he is 27.5 to 28" tall and about 97lbs at 17 mos old. He is all bone and muscle, Blk/Tan saddleback with some grey/white hairs mixed in up near the whithers. Bones are big, but not huge, feet are pretty big though, his head is MALE. Typical meathead.
Temperment wise, the Am. GSD is shakier, gets freaked out over stuff, Luke could care less, and if he is cautious about something he just investigates it, gets over it within a minute and goes on. The DDR male down the street is the same way, nothing rattles him. The DDR is 3 years old and roughly 94 lbs.
If I am rambling here, sorry. I am curious about this though, come a few years down the road I will be looking again, and I'd like to have some knowledge about this stuff before I look.

If you don't ever get the papers, the dog's tattoo number (usually found inside an ear) may be a place to start looking for his pedigree info.

While any individual dog from AKC, West German, DDR or other lines can be any shape or size, if you were to generalize, DDR/Czech dogs are typically a little bigger than dogs from the West, with larger bones and big heads. They also tend to have a little bit darker pigment.

After spending a good bit of time being around dogs from various lines (West German, DDR/Czech, Belgian, etc) and seeing them next to each other, some people can become (relatively) good at guessing were a dog might be from by a generalization of how he looks.

Thanks, he is still sort of lanky yet, he is filling out, but actually runs alot of it off at the lake. That was what I'm asking about, just generalizations in type. That DDR male is darker, and reddish, not tan really. Luke is tan where he isn't black, except those gey/white hair mixed in near the withers and behind the shoulders. With a BIG meathead hooked to a reasonably long muzzle. The DDR male has a shorter muzzle.