Are you sure they were Eastern European Shepherds and not DDR East German line? The EES from Russia were crossed with Caucasian Ovcharka (sp?), Black Russian Terriers, and other breeds from what I remember. I’ve had some DDR dogs (and some are in my lines) that were huge, supposedly before the wall came down some of the dogs utilized were massive. Not all, of course, but some. My big male who is going on 12 has some West German (touch of DDR), along with some various other lines and he’s 30” and 145 pounds . Would love to see a pic of your dog.
I don’t think so. The DDR Shepherd images I’ve seen are colored primarily in black and brown. Titan is black, blond, silver, and white, with a very straight back. He looks a lot like this one: https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.dJxyp3QV9skHmxPb0EHEMgEsCd%26pid%3D15.1&f=1