don't know if its a german shepherd thing - but mine used to do that sometimes - only occasionaly, and not really eat it, but pick it up like she wanted to carry it somewhere. i just used to make her drop it and then bag it & bin it. don't think its anything wrong - just a bit odd really ....
Many reasons for this. Sometimes it's because pup isn't digesting the food properly and needs a more digestible diet. She may be hungry too. If you are feeding her something like pedigree chum, it has additives to make it tasty which are not removed by digestion so the poo will still smell like food to pup. Once they get the habit it's hard to break. Increasing the protein content and decreasing the additives in the food can help.
Thanks woofgang, she is on dry food but has had diarrhoea for three weeks now, I took her to the vets last Tuesday and since then she has been on chicken & rice diet but back on her dry food since Wednesday & her diarrhoea has come back again so a trip back to the vets I think.
Did you change her food from what the breeder was feeding her on, and when re introducing her dried food from the chicken and rice, did you do it very gradually over four or five days?