Blondi profoundly distraught when he lost him. He had been given a German Shepherd before named "Prinz" in 1921, during his years of poverty, but he had been forced to lodge the dog elsewhere. However, she managed to escape and return to him. Hitler, who adored the loyalty and obedience of the dog, thereafter developed a great liking for the breed. He also owned a German Shepherd called "Muckl". Before Blondi, Hitler had two German Shepherd dogs, a mother [born 1926] and daughter [born ca. 1930] – both named Blonda. In some photos taken during the 1930s the younger Blonda is
Old German herding dogs to as a "German shepherd dog". The dogs were bred solely for their working ability, with little effort to standardise a particular appearance or create a defined breed of dog. In 1899 a new formal breed was established by the Society for the German Shepherd Dog. This was selected from among the working shepherd dogs, and became the modern German Shepherd Dog breed. Many German herdsmen continued to breed their dogs for working ability rather than to the new breed standard, and their remaining non-standardised working dogs were called ' (plural with '), literally 'old-German shepherd-dog'. Under the Verein für