 In the 1920s a number of German Shepherds were imported into the Byelorussian SSR from Germany where a breeding program was established with the aim of adapting the breed to the harsher Soviet climatic conditions, over several decades of selective breeding a distinctly different form of shepherd had been created from that known in the West.Whilst initially the breed was centered in Byelorussia, it soon spread throughout the Soviet Union although the breed's fortunes suffered during the Great Patriotic War.The East European Shepherd was used heavily by the military and police within the Soviet Union as guard and sniffer dogs, the breed was a favourite of the KGB who only ever kept solid black examples, if a single non-black pup was born in a litter bred by the KGB the entire litter was destroyed and that breeding was not repeated.