Doberman Pinscher

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Description: The Doberman Pinscher is powerful and compact with great speed and endurance. The Dobie is alert, noble, and versatile. These elegant dogs are adventurous and protective and require lots of socialization, as they can become dominant or shy. Athletic and muscular, these big heartthrobs require plenty of exercise. They have been known to be great guard dogs simply because of their intimidating appearance, but are fantastic family dogs if raised and socialized properly. They love being with their family and are very loyal and people-oriented. The Doberman Pinscher is highly intelligent, obedient, and energetic. They are bold and determined dogs.

Dobie males range from 26-28 inches in height, and female 24-26 inches. They weight 55-90 pounds. Their coat is smooth, short, and thick, being solid black, brown, blue, or fawn(Isabella) with rust on head, body and legs. There are also albino Dobies, but they tend to have quite a bit of health problems and can be extremely nervous.(As far as I know. Feel free to correct me. :) ) The Doberman Pinscher does best in suburban or rural areas, but can adapt to city life if provided ample exercise. Dobies live 10-15 years and originated in Germany. Louis Dobermann is credited with the creation of the Doberman, by crossing German Shepherds, German Pinschers, Weimarancers, Rottweilers, English Greyhounds, and Manchester Terriers. Most believe that they came from a shorthaired shepherd, the Rott, and a German Smooth-haired Pinscher and Black and Tan Terrier. Tail docking and ear cropping are quite popular with this breed today.

Dobermann's dogs were quite aggressive and very hard to raise. Otto Goeller took over the breeding of Dobies after Dobermann's death, and created a more cohesive personality with a high trainability. Goeller founded the German National Doberman Pinscher Club in 1899, and the Dobie was awarded official recognition in 1900. Today the breed thrives as a guide dog, therapy dog, and police dog, and is slowly gaining popularity in agility.





Dobies are one of my favorite breeds. ^^ They are great dogs, and very sweet. I love training them. :)
 

szecsuani

Experienced Member
Actually, this brred is not my favorite, they are too tough (not sure about the spelling...) for me. I don't think I could handle a dobie...
But very informative, thanks for sharing! :)
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Lol, they can definitely be a bit difficult. And very active. They are great dogs when raised and trained correctly though. ^^ They are gorgeous and very sweet, and the ones I've worked with are very eager to please. But they can sure be a handful.
Ha...but as I was told earlier today, "If you can handle Border Collies, you can handle anything." Haha!!
 

alee

New Member
I love the breed also... I especially like the ones that are a dark brown and light brown instead of black and brown. When I pick a dog, I pick one thats gonna be a chalenge(like my husky) you get out of dogs what you put in. No matter the breed they all need rules, excercise, limitations and love. I had labs growing up, but I don'T think I could go back to getting a lab, I would either get another husky, a shepherd or a dobie.
 

szecsuani

Experienced Member
Yeap, I would like a "challange dog" too (Pami is not a too challenging dog, too easy to live with.. :LOL:)...
But maybe I'm not too fond of this breeed, because the only dobies I have met before are pretty agressive, and one almost attacked me once.
Hungarians can't really handle dobermans. I think I have only met one that was pretty well behaved.
 

cleverdogs

Well-Known Member
I love dobies and have never met an aggressive one, they're not very popular around here which is a good thing.

The only thing that puts me off is their short life span. Here 8-10 years is considered a good age and I know people who've lost them a lot younger than that.

Luckily ear cropping and now tail docking is illegal in the UK.
 

jenclerm

Experienced Member
My best friend has two dobermans.. andthey are babies!! I never met a dog that sticks to you like velcro!! :p But yes they are very active and can get over excited easily.

Here is a pic of Korso(back) and Bella(red)
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Cute pic Jenclerm! Thanks for sharing. ^^

Unfortunately, people in Texas tend to be dog lovers long before they are dog trainers. Most of them decide they want a very demanding dog and end up with a terribly behaved, uncontrolled, aggressive dog. (Of course, this is all a generalization mostly specific to my area.)
A friend of mine had always wanted a Dobie, and decided to get a little male Dobie puppy. He was dominant from the start, and my friend who knew nothing of training and socialization quickly ran into big problems(no one listens to me...lol). He ended up going to my trainer friend(coincidentally) and he has since improved in leaps and bounds, but it's taken a lot of work. Bohdi is a handful to say the least for an inexperienced trainer. He's very intelligent and a lot of fun to work with though. I ran into a Dobie owner at Petsmart the other day with Mudflap, and the dog was a sweetheart. He had raised her properly from the sound of it, and had trained her some but was pursuing more classes(she was only about 7 months old). She greeted me by sitting, never crowded Mudflap, and kept trying to shake my hand the whole time I was talking to the guy. ^^ A bit timid, but no aggression issues at all.
Dobermans are great to train in my opinion. They make great family dogs if raised properly.
 

winstonsmom

New Member
Proud Dobie mom

I have an 8 month Doberman Pincher and I love this breed! He was challenge at first because walking him was not enough exercise- but since I have been taking him to the dog park everyday and walking him he is a dream at home. He is very easy to train; was house broke within 2 weeks and it takes only a few hours to learn a new trick. I have a Doberman meetup group and have met many other wonderful affectionate dobies and they seem to play well with other breeds. They get a bad reputation, but dobies today are bred to have better temperaments than when they were first bred.
 

snooks

Experienced Member
I had a black/red male Dobie what was adorably sweet, cuddly, bomb proof, let the girl dogs boss him around but didn't let them beat him up. He would just walk away. At about 9 mos old he stopped a rather menacing man at an interstate rest stop from climbing in my car after I told him rather menacingly to stop. Those puppy fangs bared and he was an impressive sight. Mangy man disappeared like Tinkerbelle. He never chewed anything or pottied ever in the house and was very laid back, biddable, and calm. I think breeding for temperament, with all breeds, and treatment during training and daily life makes 99% of the difference for any dog and it's adult behavior.

These guys are beauties. Unf I agree many people do encourage and breed for aggression which is not totally undesirable for a working guard dog. The average pet owner has no business owning a dog with questionable heritage of any size that is a strong breed. Most reputable breeders won't sell Dobies, Rotties, Pits to inexperienced owners because they want their dogs to be breed ambassadors. When they end up in the news or in the shelter as biters we all lose. I would love to have another but I'm afraid of the insurance problems and some of the bully persecution in CO. :dogsad: These are truly loyal and loving dogs, I never felt unsafe when he was with me and I never had a worry about children running up to pet him which happened surprisingly often. I always asked that they have Mom and Dad's permission before petting any doggie they didn't know.
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
If I decide to pursue training service dogs rather than veterinary work, Dobies are a breed I have seriously considered(if service training ends up being in my future, I'd like to run something similar to Yoyopoodle's business--breed, raise, train, and place your own dogs).

Your story reminds me of Zekers when he was a pup....as incredibly timid as he is/was, my shy, cower and show belly upon meeting other dogs, tried to defend me at least once. We were training on the front porch when aggressive neighbor's dog(same one who attacked Mudflap) came storming into my yard, right up to the porch, hackles raised, barking, snarling, fangs, etc. My teeny little 3-month-old shy boy got in front of me and started snarling. Although it was't necessarily the best thing to do, I scooped him up so he didn't get eaten and grabbed the closest weapon I could find(think it was a broom, don't remember now). Swapped mean dog across the head to get some room(he was willing to cross the porch rails and gnaw on my leg) and the neighbor's CHILDREN came and got the dog. Ugh...

My dad and I both want Dobies someday. Lovely dogs.
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Lol yes he does love his girls(Mud and me, lol!).

Met three pretty Dobies yesterday, two of which were GIANTS. My my, huge Dobies. Gorgeous 5 month female already the size of the average girl Dobie, and boy was just a big giant monster(with a big giant monster heart too, lol). Other was a little blue girl, very pretty.
 

silent

New Member
Dobes can be great dogs if you are consistant with them from the begining. Set boundries and enforce them. They don't do well with wishy washy owners. They do need a lot of socialization from small pups to be a well rounded member of society.

Temperament is a large part genetic and a good breeder who knows their lines and works their dogs in some venue is very important. They can be distructive if not properly exercised both mentally and physically. A tired dobe is a good dobe lol.

The lifespan isn't nearly as high as listed, DPCA offeres longevity awards at 10. Very few make it past 12 or so. The majority of unknown lines live to around 5-7.

They are a breed that has several health risks, cardio (which hopefully the dna marker will be found soon since it has been found for boxers recently), vWD (a bleeding problem where the blood lacks proper clotting factor) there is a DNA test for although the majority of 'affected' never become clinical. Spondylopathy (Wobblers) and a form of copper toxicity brought in from import bloodlines. They can suffer from PRA (more common is euro lines) so cerfed lines is important. Hip displaysia is not as bad as in some breeds but seems to be on the rise due to so many people breeding without health testing. Thyroid is the simpliest and least expensive to treat.

By choosing a good breeder you can increase you chances at getting a dobe with the temperament you desire and a long lived healthy dog. Even then mother nature has her way and a pup from even the best lines can have problems. They are a working breed but there is still a little wiggle room while remaining within the standard as far as drives. All dobes should have rock solid nerve and should not be nervous dogs. This isn't to say that there are not a lot out there that are but they tend to be either undersocialized especially during imprint peroids or from parents/lines who did not have good nerve. Passing the WAE is important for any dobe a person intends to breed. Some are softer than others as far as control, some are voice sensitive while other higher drive dominate dogs will blow your verbal reprimand right off!

They are very much a people dog. Velcro is a common term attributed to dobes. They do not do well kept away from the family outside or in runs/kennels. They want to be close to their person as much as possible. They are the only breed specifically bred for personal protection. They do not work at a distance or alone as well as some breeds like german shepherds.

The males especially seem to mature at a slower rate than many other breeds. It's common on dobe forums to hear people talk about how happy they will be when 'he' turns 2 (or 3) and ups delivers his brain! They are goofy pups for a long time!

In dobes bigger is not better, oversized dobes are higher risk for hip problems, torn acl's and cardio.
 
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