"Dogs called Belgian Malinois have earned spots on departments in Pennsylvania, Michigan, South Carolina and Ohio after training by Dave Blosser, owner of the private Tri-State Canine Services in Warren, Ohio. The breed can be as small as 40 pounds (18 kilograms), and Blosser compares the dogs favorably to larger breeds"
That's funny. As I said, a German Shepherd should NEVER be "125 lbs"; at worst, 90. And the smallest officially can be about 45 lb. A pox upon those who've made every Joe Schmoe think a GS is a "very large" dog.
This seems to be a trend in many breeds. Our Golden Retriever, Prior Lake Jake, got up to 115 pounds at 18 months. We trimmed him back (reduced his chow) to 90-92 pounds which he easily carried.
My GSD's sire was an eastern european import and hovered around a buck and a quarter, and he was not in the least bit fat. My Timber seasonally drifts between 105 - 110 and I consider him an exceptionally large Shepherd...he's substantially bigger and exhibits far mor musculature than the dog pictured in the article (see photos on my FR home page.)