strykerdobe
Hot Topics Subscriber
Hello all,
I am the owner of DobermanBlog.com. I came across this thread and just wanted to clarify a few things.
1 - I really appreciate that a few of my articles have been shared in your community. It is a tremendous help to the cause.
2 - I am originally from Europe, but have been living in the US long enough to have a wider perspective of the world.
3 - Thank you for kind words about the recent death of my dog. My house became dead quiet without him. And so my heart.
4 - Uneducated buyers is one of the fundamental problems we have in the breed worldwide. My blog targets them - people outside of doberman community, looking for a puppy.
5 - Yes - I have to generalize some information to make it understandable to my audience. You might get neat picky about some details, but this is because you know what's going on. How do you explain a complex issue to the unaware person? You generalize, simplify, educate, and entertain.
6 - The blog originally was a hobby just to share how I've imported my dogs. But I've done a proper SEO optimization to make my blog searchable worldwide. My readership grew exponentially through several continents in English-speaking countries.
7 - Over the years, the blog had helped many people to learn BEFORE they acquire a puppy. I don't keep track, but many people write to me with questions before or after they've purchased a puppy following the blog.
8 - Yes "working" usually refers to the dog's ability to perform what it was created for - protection. Our breed is losing this ability worldwide, but the most in the US (AKC dobermans). No offense to your community - this is simply a fact. Let's not get hung up on this - the breed has bigger problems to solve.
9 - The bottom line is such (again - very generalized): there are 3 major groups of Dobermans (Eastern European (EU), working lines, and AKC). All 3 share common problems in health, breeding, and buying practices.
Health issue: EUs have the worst health/longevity due to heavy inbreeding on DCM lines, but it's the largest doberman population in the world. Breeding AKC dogs to EUs will spread DCM like a virus. And that's the reason why working lines are not interested in mixing with EUs.
Working lines are more appealing to people in IPO, which is a much smaller community comparing to pet community. These dogs in general are not as inbreed (considering COI) and have a bit better longevity. But the community of working breeders is shrinking (I'm currently collecting data worldwide - it's shocking).
AKC lines have better longevity (still). But they are of no value to working lines or EUs because they've lost the working temperament. I understand many of you will disagree, but you have to see a European dog in protection and test your AKC dog the same way to understand what it means. Let's not get into this discussion just yet.
Breeding issue: Only working lines (due to their geo location) is somewhat regulated. Most regulations are of temperament and working ability, and very little about health. The rest of the world - no breeding regulations. A single person decides which two dogs to breed. The problem is that breeders make decisions based on the stock they have. But it happens that this material is now worldwide affected. We should not put pressure on breeders and hold them responsible for resolving this. The issue is too complex and should be looked at by geneticists. Every proper breeder has a "style" (a line they've developed) that they can't look at without being bias, even if they can admit the line is affected. So it should be up to the scientists to fix the genetic material. And most likely it will mean combining dogs that otherwise won't be combined. AKC breeders won't want a DCM plague from Europe, working lines won't want unworkable AKC dogs, EU's don't want to mix with either because they have the prettiest dogs. But all of this is irrelevant if we lose the breed. This has to be resolved by a third party that won't be bias and can only focus on genetic material.
Buying practices. Working lines attract the most educated buyers. People, who want an IPO dog do their due diligence and know a great deal about the breed in comparison to the pet community. Buyers are educated, and breeders try to match dogs to people instead of selling on a "first come first serve" principle. Hence - you won't see a working line dog for an open adoption or in a shelter. The EUs are overpopulated and that is driven by high demand online. Uneducated buyers are willing to pay high price for a cute puppy. EUs are simply supplying the demand and no longer question buyers (and yes - I remember the times when you have to be on a waiting list for years to get a puppy from a breeder). So dogs are often end up in wrong hands, returned, abandoned, etc. I am not familiar with AKC buying/selling process, but I see lots of rescue groups on Facebook. And the situation looks similar - dogs being in wrong hands, etc. I believe AKC breeders are much more diligent in screening buyers (than what's currently going on with EU's), but obviously it's not working. Breeding should not be to supply the demand. Breeding should be in demand. If it's too easy to buy it has no value to people. And for that reason - there are not too many imported dogs surrendered. Because importing is an extra effort that people have to invest. That makes that dog more valuable to keep.
10 - I read forums and FB conversations, talk to people in different countries. We all see these issues and we all want the situation to change. The problem is that we get hung up in the small details that differentiate our vision.
I intend to translate my blog to other languages. Not because everything I say is the only view that others should follow. But because the process I've created works - it gets to buyers on time and redirects them. And the more the articles are re-posted --> the higher ranking it gets in search engine --> the more people will find it (I found this thread through data in my Google Analytics for the blog). So, again, I'm grateful you've shared my articles (even if you disagree in some details) - it's a tremendous help to theq cause.
But the blog is a tiny contribution in the system that has to be created worldwide before we lose the breed.
P.S. I simply don't have time to follow variety of media. If you want to engage me in the conversation, feel free to email with the link to the thread - admin at dobermanblog.com
Welcome from Ohio!
Great info!
Thank you.
Please stick around.
