In the 19th century the German Pinscher was used as a stable-dog to protect the stable as a guard and to kill rats and mice. The breed was defined already in 1880. In 1895 Josef Bertha foundated the "Pinscher Klub"in Germany. The German Pinscher was not as populair as his next of kin the Schnauzer. (=rough-haired pinscher). From 1939 (the beginning of the 2nd world war) it went down with the German Pinscher breed and in 1949 the last german pinscher was entered into the stud-book. In 1957, 8 years after the last enter in the stud-book, there was a man named Werner Jung. He was the breed-supervisor of the German Pinscher-Schnauzer-Klub (=PSK) and he saw that the German Pinscher became exinct. He was the man which rang the bell and with all his devotion and aviable means he tried to get the german pinscher back and save the german pinscher from exinction. Withhis black and tan bitch named "Jutta" and a bitch Kitty v. Bodenstrand which he had found and bought and also some oversized miniaturepinschers he bred a small basis of german pinscher under his kennelname 'v/d Birkenheide'. In his book 'der deutsche Mittelschlag Pinscher'he describe all his set-backs and other things which he achieved with his german pinscher breed. Werner Jung is the man which lay the basis for the modern german pinscher breed. Within the Netherlands we do not have to go back so far in time to recall the dutch history of the german pinscher. Around 1970 the first German Pinschers were imported from Sweden and Germany and so the dutch german pinscher-breed could start. The above mentioned says already that the German Pinscher was not bred much and maybe that was his luck that he is only bred for real pinscher-lovers. Still it is quite a rare breed in the Netherlands. On the right you can see a picture of the first german pinscher in the Netherlands. Her name was "Agretts Desiree" and imported from Sweden. On this picture the bitch is 10 months old. Within a year Agretts Desiree gained 19 CACIB's. The father and mother of Agretts Desiree came both from Germany and her grandparents were from the Kennel 'V/d Birkenheide' (the kennel of mr. Werner Jung) Two years later, the halfbrother of Agretts Desiree (=same parents but born in a litter later) came also to the Netherlands. Out of these two dogs the first litter was born in 1971 in the Netherlands. On the left a photo of the mother of Agretts Desiree, Gesa von Haingraben. (Many thanks to Agneta Odelberg-Rätz for the fotos.) ( top )