We feel your pain. All the prefix’s and suffix’s are confusing and don’t seem to mean anything to someone who doesn’t do this for a living or doesn’t speak German fluently. We are still getting our brains wrapped around some of it ourselves, but here is a general overview so that you know what creates value in a GSD.

So… what do the show classifications mean?

“a” – The “a” designation of females means that hips and elbows have been certified as “normal”
SG – Very Good
V – Excellent
VA – Excellent Select rating given only at the Sieger Show (VA1 is the best classification, then VA2 and so on)
FH – Higher rating in German Shepherd tracking ability
SCH – training involves 3 levels of Schutzund (German) for “Protection” training. The “1” designation is lower than the “3”.
Kkl 1a – A Koerklasse dog that has a Schutzhund degree and would have demonstrated sufficient ability as a working dog to qualify for breed evaluation.
IPO / IGP – (Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung) is International Trial Rules for sport training classifications. It also involves 3 levels where the “1” designation is lower than the “3”.
BH – (Begleithundprüfung, which translates as “traffic-sure companion dog test”) is a temperament test in Basic Obedience for companion GSDs. A German Shepherd must pass this before it

Other Health Classification:

OFA – The OFA classifies hips into seven different categories: Excellent, Good, Fair (all within Normal limits), Borderline, and then Mild, Moderate, or Severe (the last three considered Dysplastic)
Pennhip Certified – PennHip radiographs are more sensitive for detecting hip dysplasia than OFA radiographs
DM Cleared – Means the dog is extremely unlikely to develop Degenerative Myelopathy (DM is a disease that affects the spinal cord, resulting in slowly progressive hind limb weakness and paralysis)