Why does that shepard have long hair in its ears (BrentD's pic)? There sure seems to be a great deal of variation in the various bloodlines.
Because there is a long coat variation that comes about at times from color breeding for black is what I was informed of by a breeder of working GSD's in the early 1980's.
Although a long coat GSD is undesirable characteristic the handful I have seen were used as guard dogs in the commercial area primarily because most people did not want such a dog and they were still very good for the work.
Two of the baddest professionally trained mofo guard dogs I have ever come across was a long coat GSD and a Giant Shnauzer a particular guard dog business owner owned around 1983 I had the pleasure of knowing.
