Doberman Pinschers

i never ever ever ever never had a problem with my dobies.... besides the bulldogs i grew up with dobermans. my mom wouldnt allow an American Bulldog in the family but she WOULD allow a dobie [8|] kinda odd when you think about it...
but oh well...
i want another one someday too but its a fight with my husband over it... he hasnt met very many nice ones, but he grew up during the bad times.... but so did my mom and her family.. and they still owned dobermans! the difference is... the ones my hubby met were not trained properly.. the ones my family owned were members of the family and well loved and cared for. they were protective but not psychotic!

the ones i had were always leaners.... meaning if you stood still they would lean against you with all their weight.. and if you moved they would fall over. they loooooved cats too. in a good way. but they were raised with cats.
now... the last two dobies i owned were mixed breeds. one of them had a pure bred father and a who knows what shepherd for a mother... but he was probably thebest damned dog i ever had! he was such a moose, but he was a great dog.
the other had a pure bred dad and an aussie/pitbull for a mom. he was more of a clown. more aussie/pit than dobie.. but he was a great dog.
the one we had when we were kids was wonderful family dog. he would do all kinds of goofy things for attention. like if you were in his way he would walk between your legs.. he was a big boy too... so it meant you also got to go for a ride on his back before you fell off.
my landlords also had a dobie. his name was Laddie and he was a sweet heart, but he LOOKED like a monster. the other tenant they had was the owner of the daddy to my aussie/pitxdobie.. and the landlord's son owned several dobies. they were great. when we went out for trail rides we had about seven dogs (half of them dobies) following us. running ahead of the trail, or falling back. they were great trail companions.
they were just the right amount of protective. none of them ever got into trouble for biting a person or attacking another dog.


eta
ok i bragged all about the ones i grew up with.... and forgot about training and new comers to the breed...
they're smart.... fast learners... or mine always were. i never had an issue with DA or people aggression.
one of them would follow me everywhere.. i never needed a leash for him. when i went into a store he would wait outside and look in the window to keep an eye on me.

they are under the BSL gun though.... for obvious reasons i guess... the age old stigma is still with them.
the ones i grew up with were amazing dogs and i never could understand why people were so afraid of them. they werent hyper or destructive (ok one of them WAS but only when i was out of town.. he would shred house plants)

my experience is... if they are trained properly and made a part of the family then they are one of the best (right next to the American Bulldog []) but they always seemed so mellow and laid back. mine hardly got excited over anything. they werent depressed... just easy going lol but i also spent a ton of time with my dogs. and i mean a TON. if i could i always took them with me on summer vacations or weekend visits with my dad or grand parents.

Things that first time Doberman owners should know:
 
* Dobes are “Velcro dogs.” They are constantly by your side, & they are quite content to stay with you.
* They are very sensitive to your feelings. They know when you are upset, & they try to cheer you up.
* Exercise is a must. The amount of exercise, both mentally & physically, that they need is unbelievable. An under exercised Dobe is almost guaranteed to be destructive.
* Training & socialization from an early age is a must. Dobes are bred to be suspicious of strangers. If you do not do the work to socialize early, you will likely end up with a large, reactive or aggressive dog.
* An ideal Dobe owner, has an assertive personality. Positive training methods work very well with Dobes, because they will work for nothing more than making their owner happy.
* Their intelligence is amazing. They can & will outsmart you from time to time. You have to be able to think one step ahead of them or they will push until they get exactly what they want, when they want it.
 
Unfortunately, Dobes are victims of breed bans. You will quickly learn that almost all dobe owners are staunchly against BSL. Sadly, if the pitties were to be fully banned, dobes would quickly be elevated to the pit bull‘s current position.
 
I absolutely love the breed, but I will quickly say that they are, in no way, a dog for everyone.

I've never owned one, but every time I see one in person I'm stunned by how gorgeous they are!!  Sorry, no actual experience to add. []

Dobes are “Velcro dogs.” They are constantly by your side, & they are quite content to stay with you.

Many of them will sit their hind ends on your lap or the couch and the front feet stay on the floor.[]

I love Doberamans and would love to have one, but I'm currently cursed with them so I'm staying away for a while. They are great dogs and major clowns. They can have hip dysplasia, even coming from a good breeder it's still possible for one to get it.
 
Shiva

dobermans are amazing! I'm starting to look for one myself. everything amanda said was right on. They are also nice and clean. Definitely not golden retrievers...but with proper exercise, training, and socialization they can be IMO, some of the best dogs you can get!
 
oh, they are also prone to a lot of health problems. I know cardiomyopathy is really big in dobes, as well as hip dysplasia, von willebrand (which is kinda like hemophilia) and more. A good breeder is a must.

Many of them will sit their hind ends on your lap or the couch and the front feet stay on the floor.[]

 
My new foster girl does this.  It's too funny to see her butt on the couch, & her feet on the floor.[]
 

  dobermans are amazing! I'm starting to look for one myself. everything amanda said was right on. They are also nice and clean.

 
I wish that somebody would remind Bevo that he's supposed to be nice & clean.  He tends to forget that.  We hike at least twice a week & I carry "Bevo washing water" in my vehicle because he always find something nasty to play in.[&:]
 
 
 
 
 

Many of them will sit their hind ends on your lap or the couch and the front feet stay on the floor.

 
Is that just their trait...or is many others...?
My Husky/Chow mix., Nanook does the same......it almost looks like he is trying to sit on my lap, but ends up putting his butt down on the couch, and from there he will stand.......[8|]

mine always did this... the one that leaned the most would crawl into my lap... he wasnt a pure bred dobie but he was as big as one and i was only thirteen years old at the time. he was easily as big as i was.


i miss that dog []

I've only ever met sweet dobes that want to lean on you and cuddle up, even when you're a perfect stranger. I understand they can be a little intense and prone to anxiety, though. My cousins had one that got hit by a car one foggy morning and ended up in a cast. Even so, the moment she saw one of the cats she lived with she'd lurch to her feet and try to chase it. That one didn't get on so well with other dogs.

Dobes, I have recently discovered, have beautiful, long tails. I saw a natural pup the other day with dangly ears and this whip-like tail wagging around at the back. It was too cute! []

I prefer Dobe's ears natural, they're cuter. A point my ex disagreed with and wouldn't even consider my point. But anyway, a Dobe with a tail would be interesting. My first, bad temperment, Dobe had to have his tail re-docked as whoever did it originally did a crappy job and there was like a bone chip in the end that bugged him so he'd turn around in circles until he got ahold of his stub and would then chew on it. The vet who did the re-docking also did a crappy job as his stub wasn't round anymore, it was squared off. [:'(]
 
I think a natural tail Dobe would be dangerous when they got to their clowning around and whiping the tail around. Rio's tail is dangerous enough when he's being funny, and his has hair. I can only imagine a Dobe tail with no hair.
 
Shiva

nah Bulldog tails are dangerous... they dont clear tables... but they can give you a nasty whop against the leg with it! can leave a welt too!!
my first one was docked and cropped, but that was done before we got him.. another of mine had a natural tail and it cool [] he was mostly like a shepherd in the way he carried it. kinda lazy and down low - not submissive, just relaxed posture. there's a diff lol - he wagged it much the same way as a shepherd, that is.. he wagged his entire rear end and the tail just kinda trailed along lol

looks somethin like this
finding natural dobermans on the web is HARD!!!

i just now found this
http://www.thebear.fm/shows/wicked-wendy-daniels
scroll down to the dober licking the fireman

now.... if this breed is so danged vicious.. how could a complete stranger (fireman) dressed in full regalia come in to her home even though its burning down to rescue her and she not eat him up?

Well, it's not recent and it's not of my last pee problem Dobe, but here's a picture of my first, temperment problem, Dobe who had natural ears. Phoenix's(pee problem, were a little bigger).
 
This was Tyler. And Phoenix is the one with the Staffy. They loved each other, still unhappy I couldn't keep him.