Throwback to the past. =)

[David Ferguson]

Growing up my Grandma always had Dobes.
She had 3 when I was born, 1 when I was in my teens, and 1 when I was an adult.

But it was this boy here that set into motion my life long love for Dobes.
This is Crate.
Growing up this dog was everything to me. He commanded my attention, respect, and admiration. He was the biggest, smartest, coolest, and most amazing looking dog I had ever seen as a young boy.
I would go to my Grandma's house every chance I got and play with him for hours, and hours. I knew as a young boy that I would own Dobes when I got older.
I sure was heart broken when we got old, and past away. I still think about him a lot.

Here I am in 1990 with Crate.

 

[DreamingDoberman]

What an adorable childhood picture and I can see why you loved him so much, he is handsome!

 

[Ingrid H]

What an awesome picture! I can see why you'd fall for a dog like Crate

 

[MyBuddy]

What a beautiful story that brought tears to my eyes! Its always so hard to lose our beloved animals but what an imprint they leave! Crate was a special guy!

 

[Dobs4ever]

There is not love great than a child and his dog especially if it is a doberman.

 

[FredC]

My story is almost identical except there were two. One owned by a different uncle on both sides of the family.. I swear I couldn't pick a favorite if my life depended on it back then.. At the age of 5ish they were like Giants or characters in a scifiovue and I had never experienced pride until I met them and confidence was at an all time high when I get to visit them. I recall it like it was yesterday that when I was around those dogs time stopped and nothing else existed.. I knew then I was destined to have some of my own someday.

 

[StarlightDobe]

I have always loved dobes, I think they are the most beautiful regal dog I have ever seen. When I was younger, and ventured off on my own I had I had gotten 2 puppies from someone, for free, pure dobe, one black and one blue. The black boy had already had his ears cropped, the vet didnt do the blue because he was about half the size of his brother. They were named Shadow (blue) and Bandit (black). I didnt have papers but gave them traditional names, and named them after a racing company my brother knew of. they were the Shadowwoods boys. I got Shadow cropped, he was about 16 weeks, but sadly a week after he got parvo. This was back in the 80's. Shadow passed from the disease but Bandit being bigger and stronger survived, but he had brain damage. I could not risk him with my young daughter so I gave him to a rescue. Thus began my love for the breed. I had a few more when I was younger, mostly rescue, one was a mix, named Loki, who my daughter would walk around our back yard by his collar and he would follow so calm and happy. The other was a female that I took from an abusive home, she became my guardian until someone stole her from my house and left her out in the cold and she froze to death. He paid the price, he got lucky though and was only fined and sentenced to community service at a shelter. It was a long time between dobes after that, and I got Mysti in 2002. I will never go back ot any other breed, these are my only desire in a pet.

 

[GennyB]

Before I got my first dobe I never experienced what a real doberman was like. We have a friend that has had dobermans for years. He does not understand the importance of training and socializing. His dog were always so out of control you couldn't stand to be around them. Another friend had a dobe that was never socialized and had to be put up when other people were around. I thought "No thanks!"
It wasn't until I brought my first dobe home that I understood what great dogs they are. His name was Chaos, I loved that dog like no other and still miss him today.
And this is why...always at my side.

 

[FredC]

Another friend had a dobe that was never socialized and had to be put up when other people were around. I thought "No thanks!"

I have one of those unfortunately.. I blame myself 100%.. I think my idea of socialization was inadvertently overkill and did more damage then good but I couldn't imagine a world without him.

 

[David Ferguson]

I have one of those unfortunately.. I blame myself 100%.. I think my idea of socialization was inadvertently overkill and did more damage then good but I couldn't imagine a world without him.

Over socializing to a point that a dog acts a lot like an unsocialized dog happens.
I have a friend who had a Rotty back when we were in our early 20s. He went to great lengths to socialize the Rotty as a puppy. The dog turned into a very necrotic dog later in life as a result.
Its part of the learning process.

 

[salisa826]

I've shared this pic before. It's my husbands first Dobie. He was a male named Bruno. He died at 3 (I think) of heart issues. Right before Bruno died they got a red female and named her Bruna. She lived til 10ish. My FIL put her down after she went blind. She became severely depressed BC she couldn't do her job anymore.

 

[JanS]

What an awesome pic and beautiful Doberman! My best friend during my childhood had one and he made it a dream of mine to own one one day with his elegance and loyalty. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized she keeps Dobermans (or at least one) now in her adult life so she must have been in love with the breed as much as me.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Beautiful pics and stories! Catch these two. The love of my life. One of the hardest things I've ever done was carry him to his grave.

 

[MyBuddy]

One of the hardest things I've ever done was carry him to his grave.

You guys are killing me! Even though I'm in tears at the moment, I still love remembering our past loves!! But your statement here just tears at my heart for all those 'final moments' we spent with them! Each one is etched in my mind forever.

 

[Dobs4ever]

Over socializing to a point that a dog acts a lot like an unsocialized dog happens.
I have a friend who had a Rotty back when we were in our early 20s. He went to great lengths to socialize the Rotty as a puppy. The dog turned into a very necrotic dog later in life as a result. Its part of the learning process.

There were obviously other things that went very wrong. You can't over socialize a dog. Good training does not begat poor behavior so either something physically went wrong such as a brain tumor or other medical issues that affected the dog, a tramatic experience or poor temperament. Good training does not go bad. There is no such thing as "over" socializing -the more you do the more experience the dog has with all kind of people, environment, noises etc. Doing it incorrectly could create a problem but a dog that is good does not turn bad because of socializing.

 

[David Ferguson]

There could of been a lot of variables.
Some dogs just react to things differently. Being able to read the dog, and where he is at in his mental development is important. That is probably where the problems came in with the Rotty.

I still believe you can over socialize a dog. As well as poorly socialize one, even while trying to socialize one properly. Maybe its a fine line between the two.
I try to take socializing on a dog by dog basis. Some need less, some need more. Some need different kinds at different times.

All just my opinion.

 

[FredC]

There were obviously other things that went very wrong. You can't over socialize a dog. Good training does not begat poor behavior so either something physically went wrong such as a brain tumor or other medical issues that affected the dog, a tramatic experience or poor temperament. Good training does not go bad. There is no such thing as "over" socializing -the more you do the more experience the dog has with all kind of people, environment, noises etc. Doing it incorrectly could create a problem but a dog that is good does not turn bad because of socializing.

I can't speak for David. But in my case you nailed it.. I take sole responsibility and didn't over socialize Mars in the literal sense. I misunderstood his needs as a Doberman and inadvertently traumatized him by taking him to fireworks shows, parades, carnivals, etc... My hybrid wolf pups wouldn't bat an eye at this type of stimulation, I learned early on the two have very different requirements.. I may as well have taken him out to purposely put the fear of God in him. Sirens, explosions, screaming, dancing, strange lights. I firmly believe this was all to much to soon. Good intentions with bad results.. The worst side effect of taking him to these types of events for socialization as a puppy was he quickly related most of the commotion with children and spent the majority of his life scared to death of kids, sirens, fireworks and thunder. We have managed to fix most issues But i just dont know how to fix the kid thing because frankly it scares me..

 

[Dobie Wan Knobie]

Throwback to 1980 and my first Doberman - Alex - a female. She was the coolest bitch ever...so smart.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Yeah, pardon my waxing emotional last night.

 

[MemphisBlue]

we always had shepards as family dogs and I always thought I'd get one too. Beautiful and loyal. The neighbour had a doberman which we were told was nasty and keep away from the fence- but as kids we used to rev it up from the other side of the fence until it wanted to kill us :-D
I was walking, I think it was home from the park, by myself I was 8 and everyone else had ridden off on their bikes. I just remember finding a cool feather in the gutter. Looked up and there was this HUGE monster heading straight at me,. Mum tells me it was a rottie- I just remember the teeth. So I ran screaming down the street in the other direction only to see the neighbours dobie jump the fence and come at me teeth out. I still remember the fear thinking that dog was going to kill me because I used to bang the fence and laugh.
Im told by the lady across the road that I fell into a ball on the road and the neighbours dobie jumped right over me and mauled that rottie. It had to be put down.
Needless to say I no longer banged on the fence but dug a hole under it so I could feed it meat I saved from dinner. His name was Caesar. Never wanted a anything but a dobe after that