Hemophilia

As far as is known, the first haemophiliac German Shepherd Dog was Canto vd Wienerau SchH2. He was born in 1968 and died in 1972. He was used heavily for breeding, as he had and produced structure  that was considered desirable for the breed at that period in time. He was a showy, well-angulated animal. Unfortunately, he also was  the first known haemophiliac German Shepherd Dog, a fact that was to remain hidden until his daughters began to produce affected males.
         Like Haemophilia A in humans, the gene for Haemophilia is on the  X-chromosome, meaning that all daughters of an affected male carry the gene for Haemophilia A on one of their X-chromosomes.  Canto sired 239 daughters, all of which would have carried the gene for haemophilia A on one of their two x-chromosomes. Canto's sons, inheriting the Y chromosome, which is not involved, would be normal.

      Because Haemophilia A is carried on the x chromosome, the gene can pass from generation to generation through daughters of haemophiliacs to their female progeny. Blood testing can reveal which females are carriers
  of the gene, and why the SV did not take  measures to eliminate the problem when it  was first discovered, I do not know. There are  different degrees of the severity of the disease, which may explain why some dogs, such as SG Udo v Haus Goldschmeid, lived nine and a half years despite being haemophiliac. Because so many generations have passed, Canto vd Wienerau usually is too far back on pedigrees to appear, making it harder to identify pedigrees with the potential for haemophilia. The disease is still out there, however, and passing from female to female, could travel generations. A son of a female carrier has a 50% chance of receiving his mother's normal X chromosome, and a 50% chance of receiving her haemophiliac x-chromosome. Some males out of haemophiliac pedigrees have been tested and found to be normal, such information is usually provided by the owner of the male. In the absence of such verification, any male from a haemophilia potential pedigree must be considered possibly affected unless proven otherwise. Two of the most prominent sons of Flora  Konigsbruch (a Canto daughter), Reza v  Haus Beck, and Nick vd Wienerau, were FREE of the haemophilia gene. The breed "got lucky" there because these two males had widespread influence on the breed in
  Germany. A number of haemophiliac males were sent to the United States, because Americans were  impressed with German dogs and German titles, and did not know of the problem. Some breeders thus  managed to unload their haemophiliacs and make some money in the process. I heard of someone paying $20,000 for an import, a Canto grandson, which died of haemophilia not too long after his arrival in the US. Only a very  few haemophiliacs were openly acknowledged as existing, in the SV-Zeitung magazine.
  These are listed below:

  Bedwins Finnigan
  Bronco v Haus Ellenbeck
  Lido v Holtkamper See
  Santo v Sulterkamp
  SG-Udo v Haus Goldschmeid
  Urso vd Wienerau
  Xray v Trienzbachtal
  Zello v Piastendamm (the only dog I have
  seen officially rejected from the Zuchtbuch for
  being a hemophiliac.)