German shepherd

American  

[jur-muhn shep-erd] / ˈdʒɜr mən ˈʃɛp ərd /

noun

German shepherds plural

1. one of a breed of large shepherd dogs having a coat ranging in color from gray to brindled, black-and-tan, or black, used especially in police work and as a guide for the blind.

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German shepherd British  

noun

1. another name for Alsatian

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• German shepherds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of German shepherd

1930–35; shepherd probably as translation of German Schäferhund

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

German shepherd

“I eventually just got to the point where I didn’t think he was going to do anything,” said Fowler, who accused Bhakta’s German shepherd of killing his chickens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

Elliot: I've got two dogs - a sausage dog and a German shepherd.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

"Finn's law" was named after German shepherd Finn, who suffered near-fatal injuries as he protected PC Dave Wardell from an attacker in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in 2016.

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026

“All the people across the nation of Malawi are talking about these four German shepherd dogs,” Sekeya said in one post as generic images of the dogs scrolled behind him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026

I saw at once it was the same German shepherd that had been tormenting Marlene through the gate.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo