King Shepherd Dog Breed

The King Shepherd is classified under the working group but was previously found in the herding group. This hybrid, which is widely believed to have been first produced in 1995 by Shelley Watts-Cross and David Turkheimer, was intended to be a very healthy and easily tempered working dog whose abilities would allow for easy adaptation to a wide range of jobs — such as police, guide and therapy work — as well as a be a great family companion.

PROS

• Obedient
• Courageous
• Very energetic
• Great guard dog
• Highly trainable
• Remarkably strong
• Versatile workday
• Excellent watchdog
• Few health problems
• Extremely intelligent
• Wonderful with children
• Can be a bit of a clown
• Can't wait to please you
• Loyal devotion to family
• Behaves well with other animals

CONS

• Expensive
• Headstrong
• Needs a lot of daily exercise
• High-maintenance with grooming
• Not suitable for small apartments / homes
• Must be properly and patiently socialized
• Can become overly protective of family and property
• Growing popularity leads to being poorly bred by backyard breeders (BYB)
• Requires a great amount of stimulation lest destructive behavior is taken up
• Strong tendency to dominate and requires "pack leader" or will take over the household

There are few recently introduced hybrid dogs that offer so much and so remarkably as the King Shepherd: loyalty, work ethic, intelligence, devotion, strength, health and amiability. The following King Shepherd info can be supplemented by reading our pages for the parent breeds.

The King Shepherd possesses a keen intelligence and with it is easily trainable, extremely loyal and able to adapt to a number of situations — including being a fun-loving, playful and eager-to-please companion. Like the parent breeds from which they come (and may have come, as there is a small handful of breeds that are usually mixed with the German Shepherd to produce a King Shepherd), they are well-known for their rescue, police and herding work. As therapy, guard and guide dogs they also excel.

King Shepherds tend to have a fair amount of patience, if not more than most dogs. They know their strength and are careful with it, and they understand how to deal with large groups due to their parent breeds' herding backgrounds.

Because they are highly intelligent, very active and brimming with energy that must be burnt off on a daily basis, King Shepherds can quickly develop bad habits if not exercised long, hard and daily.

Unlike most hybrids, producing an F1 King Shepherd apparently involves only German Shepherds. There are some breeders and sources that state that the original breeders of the King Shepherd, Shelley Watts-Cross and David Turkheimer, also used Alaskan Malamutes and Great Pyrenees, but the King Shepherd creators' Web site mentions neither of these two breeds anywhere on the site. Since those first King Shepherds were produced (in 1995), however, these two chief breeders have allowed for "other breeds" to be used to "strengthen" and "build upon" the breed.

While the first King Shepherds were produced by breeding selectively American and European German Shepherds that clearly deviated in size — i.e., were exceptionally large — from the American Kennel Club's breed standard, the two breeders responsible for conceiving the King Shepherd state on their Web site that their own standard for this hybrid includes producing F1's by breeding King Shepherds to Shiloh Shepherds, German Shepherds to Shilohs and even Kings back to German Shepherds.

To get an F2 King Shepherd, two F1 Kings are cross-bred; and two F2s produce an F3. The term "multi-generational" is used for F3 and above (F4, etc.) generations.

For the F1B, A King Shepherd is bred back to an American or European German Shepherd, whereas the F2B is produced by crossing an F1 with an F1B.

The King Shepherd has a long-haired coat, and there are few coat variations for this breed — but even then such variations are only in color: pure white, pure black and two- or three-color that don't include sable or other dark colors.

There is only one size for the King Shepherd: large.

The King Shepherd temperament — and size — is one that perfectly positions this hybrid as a working dog for a variety of tasks that require strength, obedience and courage: search-and-rescue, therapy, herding and guarding. As they come primarily from cross-breeding American and European German Shepherds but certainly have other large Molossers involved (such as Alaskan Malamutes, Great Pyrenees and Shiloh Shepherds), there is sure to be a variety of traits that can occur. If you plan on adopting a King Shepherd puppy, you should be sure to have the breeder provide the proper papers regarding the parents and their lineages so as to know which breeds have been involved, and then learn about those breeds so as to best understand your new family member.

King Shepherds are easily trainable, have a desire to please and are wary of strangers without being aggressive unless overtly threatened. These highly intelligent dogs make great watch- and guard-dogs. Despite their size, they are wonderful with children; as with any dog, however, they must not be left alone with small kids and all children should be taught how to behave around them. As they have herding in the blood, they are usually good with other pets too.

The original breeders, Shelley Watts-Cross and David Turkheimer, had as one of they goals the desire to produce a dog that was as close to being free of health problems as possible. With large dogs, hip dysplasia is a common malady, and the bigger the breed the more prominent the problem. With King Shepherds, however, the possibility of having hip dysplasia appears to have been greatly reduced. Although there have been reports of other issues — such as eye, heart and internal complications — they have been very few in number.

Kept at his or her peak, you can expect your King Shepherd to live for about 10 or 11 years.