Added a new Dobergirl to the family!

[Aaron56]

Lost one of my current Dober girls due to age and health issues not too long ago and just last week added this girl to the family -

Meet Agatha!

Got an awesome deal on her seeing as how she was a 'slightly used' dog and not a puppy...


Girl is a little over 2 yrs old and apparently had issues with one particular other female at her former owners home and they were constantly fighting with this girl refusing to back down even after getting chewed up a few times really badly. Owner decided that one of them had to go so... I was able to bring her home with me!
(previous owner DID say that she got along with most every other dog around but that one sooo...)

So you can get an idea of the damages the other girl inflicted on her (and this one picture does not show it all) -

Previous owner did all of her own shots / vaccinations and HW preventative stuff herself at home so no records on any of that but... She DID pass her HW test at my Vet and got all of her current vaccine stuff taken care of / sorted out. (paid for all the shots but only got the Rabies and bordetella so far - go back this monday for the rest that are listed here)

My Vet said she looked fine and that she should grow all her hair back just fine in time. Only suggestion she had was to put some weight on her butt!

One of my lady friends at the local TSC suggested this stuff for her neck and the hair regrowth and I can honestly say that YES she was correct that it would help and correct that it smells like bacon.

Will post a better and current picture later but that hair is darn near completely back to normal now and unless I point to the exact spot most would not notice any signs of damage. A bet I will not be able to find the spot in a few more weeks...

New girl has been pretty darn awesome so far as I is considering myself darn lucky to have found her! Very, very obviously 'home trained' and so far the only thing she has damaged inside my home that she was not 'given' was a single paper towel that I had left laying around after one of my meals. No accidents of any other sort inside of my home and no signs of destructive behavior at all. Already crate trained - No whining when crated... Already potty trained - No accidents except for the first night she was here and it was thunderstorming the rain sideways all night long that entire night. Surprised my other dog went out in that crap it was so bad... Still Working on her boundary training both here at home and at work but so far do not think it is going to be any sort of problem teaching her where any of 'my' particular lines are at.

(I did notice that when I went to pick her up at her previous owners house that first night that she was unleashed and outside in her former owners front yard and not having any issues at all following commands she was given or staying inside her owners yard. Lady said she was trained all of those lines with an invisible fence system and picked it up super quickly to where she did not 'need' the collar any longer and she was correct from what I could see... Dog never stepped a foot outside of any of the particular area in the front there that the lady pointed out to me.)

This was her today and her boundary line was that side door that was propped wide open for most of the day.

While I was not 'directly' holding her leash - she 'was' attached to my big girl and big girl can and will listen to any command to 'drag that bitch back here'!
56lbs ain't gonna pull around 86lbs that wants to go in the other direction for very long!

I don't see it taking this girl long to learn where all of the lines are around here to the point that she does not need any sort of special collars or leashes to stay inside of them.



Has been getting along great with Dystopia (the existing female) here.

Dystopia likes the heck out of Agatha as well!

Agatha has been a snugglebug with both me and Dystopia. Very friendly with respect to the new 'family' here.

At least 3 or 4 times now I have looked up and seen Agatha licking out the inside of Dystopias ears (clean ears FWIW) while Dystopia lays back and loves that crap...



So far, I am believing what her previous owner said about how the problem was only with that one particular girl but remaining cautious until they have both 'proved' themselves with respect to each other.

New girl seems awesome so far but I am not taking any chances any time soon.

If I got to go take a shower or mow the yard and don't want them both right there with me (can't properly supervise for whatever reason) - Somebody is going in their crate...

Any time you add a new dog to the family trust has to be earned and the new dog has to be tested.

Crates make in unpossible for something bad to happen while you might for whatever reason might not be there to directly intervene.

 

[JanS]

Welcome from Minnesota!
What pretty girls you have there and it sounds like things are working out well so far. It's good you separate them when unattended since same sex aggression can be very real.

 

[Aaron56]

Welcome from Minnesota!
What pretty girls you have there and it sounds like things are working out well so far. It's good you separate them when unattended since same sex aggression can be very real.

Used to go by DobermanGuy and worked as a moderator on some puppy chat whatever but eventually got banned everywhere for whatever reason (or simply stopped visiting).

That is Princess and Potatoehead in those pictures. (you has seen those pictures before )

Your site has seen Patience and Dystopia too...

Now, you gets to see lots of pictures of Dystopia and Agatha and read lots of goofy stories about how they interact and get along.

Gonna be lots of pictures...

 

[Aaron56]

Picture of her neck from this morning -

(That MTG stuff is awesome AND smells like bacon. Anything that smells like bacon has got to be better than stuff that does NOT smell like bacon)

Big girl seems to have really taken to Agatha and sticks pretty close to her...

Out of all the Dobermans I have had over the years - Dystopia has been the least strange dog-aggressive one I have ever had. 'Unusually accepting' towards other dogs is the best way to describe her.

The way she does not react at all to strange dogs, cats, squirrels, etc. is not what I would consider normal for Dobermans but sometimes - You get one that is not like the others!

Dystopias sister was on the exact opposite end of that spectrum.

 

[JanS]

Used to go by DobermanGuy

Oh I remember now.

 

[Aaron56]

Oh I remember now.

Guess you can tell then that I did not 'rename' Agatha. She got to keep the name she already had.

Little doubt I would have named her something stupid!

 

[MichiH]

Used to go by DobermanGuy and worked as a moderator on some puppy chat whatever but eventually got banned everywhere for whatever reason (or simply stopped visiting).

That is Princess and Potatoehead in those pictures. (you has seen those pictures before )

Your site has seen Patience and Dystopia too...

Now, you gets to see lots of pictures of Dystopia and Agatha and read lots of goofy stories about how they interact and get along.

Gonna be lots of pictures...

Great photos of your pretty Dobergirls! I love the slide one haha, mine loves the slide too.

 

[Aaron56]

Great photos of your pretty Dobergirls! I love the slide one haha, mine loves the slide too.

Agatha is the 8th Dobergirl so far and likely will not be the last.

Keeping my guard up and being very watchful but so far everyone seems to be getting along great.

Little girl gave Dystopia a detailed ear cleaning last night (inside and out / both ears) which big girl loved!

 

[Aaron56]

Vet did suggest that I put some weight on her so...



Her mealtime stuff has definitely changed.

I did get a bag of her previous kibble to ease her transition into the kibble I feed here normally but on top of that she has been getting the same 'extras' that is normally added to the kibble around here.

So far she has loved any and all of the 'extras' even if they were of the lower calorie variety.

Carrots and green beans get her plenty excited about meals just like sharing a can of sardines does.

 

[Two Dobes]

She looks very content with your girl Dystopia....I am glad you were able to give her a new home. She looks like she had it rough where she was .... like she wasn't able to get to the food bowl either.
Now she has a new beginning, with someone who will care for all of her needs . Thanks for all the photos...her neck does look alot better!

 

[Aaron56]

She looks very content with your girl Dystopia....I am glad you were able to give her a new home. She looks like she had it rough where she was .... like she wasn't able to get to the food bowl either.
Now she has a new beginning, with someone who will care for all of her needs . Thanks for all the photos...her neck does look alot better!

My Vet lady did say I needed to put some meat on her butt but other than that she looked (and checked out as) healthy.

Granted she is shorter in height than my other girl so perhaps 'should' weigh less but... She is definitely getting slightly bigger portions and lots of treats until she gains a bit. Got the remainder of her shots today and she is up to 56.5lbs from 56.2 a few weeks ago when we were there for the first exam and those vaccinations. Slowly working on it...

I did not meet her until after the majority of her wounds were healed (except for the hair coming back) but it was pretty obvious she got chewed up pretty bad. I do believe her previous owner lady tried the best she could but apparently she just could not get them to get along in the same home at all and it was a 'crate and rotate' situation until they could rehome her.

I believe that as far as her being around other dogs is concerned she will ultimately do just fine here. My existing Dober girl is coming up on 8yrs old now and definitely slowing down aside of being a fairly calm girl to begin with.

My biggest focus right now is making sure the little one does start anything with the big girl or harass her and it will be a long time before I trust her enough to even consider leaving her unattended around Dystopia. Not going to happen!

The big girl was here first and I owe it to her to make darn sure the new girl is not causing her any grief or allowed to be starting anything.

Her previous owner could have done a lot of things differently from the very start and things might not have ever got to the point they did but...

Example: Dystopia has HER own food bowl in its own spot and she has been taught from day one here that if she goes anywhere near one that is not hers that I will immediately step in and move her butt away from it. That concept has been rooted in her brain now for years to the point that I no longer 'need' to supervise her when she is eating around other dogs trained the same way. Even if her sister only ate half her food and then walked away - Dystopia knows not to go near that bowl...

New girl has no concept of that bowl ownership thing because she never had an owner that was willing to sit or stand right there and enforce the rules while they all ate.

Regardless of where we were at I always made a habit of placing Patiences bowl on the left

And Dystopias on the right.

They figured that stuff out fairly quickly.

Fed white girl in a different room separated by a baby gate at first but she did not like that at all! Her bowl is behind the Dobergirls line of bowls here but in the same room (not in the picture) and that finally made her happy. Did not take her long to learn the rules about no sharing, bowl ownership, and how nobody would ever be allowed to steal anything from her bowl...

Agatha is a good dog and I am considering myself lucky to have found her. Pretty confident that if I put in just a little bit of effort to help her learn she will be an awesome dog!

 

[Two Dobes]

I agree....she will fit right in. I see paintings in the background....are you an artist?

 

[Aaron56]

I is pretty damn happy about the progress Agatha is making.

 

[Aaron56]

I agree....she will fit right in. I see paintings in the background....are you an artist?

Depends on what you consider art. But no, I do not do paintings.



Getting more and more happy every day about my new 'used' dog.

She was getting some sun with Dystopia today when a train went by and this is how she reacted -

She picked it up almost instantly from me and Dystopia that nothing back there was worth worrying about. Thusly she does not give a shit about that train or anything going on back there.

5 sets of railroad tracks back there and lots of stimulus that needs to be ignored.


Having Dystopia around to help Agatha settle in has already saved me many months of training work with Agatha. (more likely years)
Not just in desensitization training but also verbal commands and helping her learn what the words that I use mean. She has been very much following the leader here around Dystopia. Has been very submissive to her and cleaning her ears with 'regularity'.

Deep down to her ear drum cleanings what Dystopia most definitely enjoys!

Was pretty hesitant about letting them play rough together not knowing if Agatha understands bite inhibition or not but so far have not had any issues and it does seem like Agatha knows how to play mouthy Dobergames without actually squeezing and doing any damage.

Definitely not worried about Dystopia squeezing anything too hard during any sort of Dober 'playing'.

Still keeping a very close eye out for any signs of danger but so far so good.

 

[Aaron56]

Before I picked Agatha up I shared pictures of how my current girls were set up as far as their housing and such and her previous owner commented about how the crates were bare of any bedding.

I explained to her how my girls would 'quickly' shred / destroy anything and everything fabric or cloth wise that entered their crates and she assured me me that Agatha was not destructive like that.

Agatha came with the bedding from her old crate and her previous owner was not joking when she said that the girl was non-destructive AND crate trained.

Agatha will crate on request without issue (previous owner used the word 'kennel' and it only took a few days to teach her that 'crate' was the same thing) and stay if asked (even if door is open) and does not whine or throw a fit if I do need to close and latch the door so I can take a shower or whatever. (trust has to be earned and all)

So far - Zero destructive behavior anywhere here. Girl does not mess with anything not given to her... Will walk around or hop over anything she can to avoid disturbing if she can help it.



Her own blanket being stuck in the one crate was pretty smart on the part of her previous owner and definitely helped her transition from there to here and know which crate 'belonged' to her.


Her first pig ear here she ate about half and then walked away from it leaving it in her crate. Dystopia is trained to never stick her face in a crate that does not belong to her and I believe Agatha picked up on that.

Have not seen Agatha try to stick her face in Dystopias crate either so far...



I plan to start food / bait testing her soon.

Would not be surprised if she has already been trained to not be stealing food from her humans (leaving the room to answer the door bell with your sammich unattended on the coffee table and your Doberman loose in the same room and 'unsupervised').




I got lucky here with the way her former owner trained her and the time she spent on it all.

 

[Aaron56]

Agatha is not really mouthy when she plays. She wants to run, chase and dodge play most of the time.

This was her smacking Dystopia with her paw to get the game going again -

I am not going to be happy if she gives big girl a heart attack from the sudden increase in activity.

Agatha is noticeably more calm inside the house with respect to how she interacts with Dystopia. None of the playing like they do outside and very submissive to her. (both of them - nobody is trying to play goofy Doberman games inside the house)

Calm is good inside the house...

If I had 2 pieces of paper and had to write out the stuff I didn't like about this dog on one and that stuff that was awesome on the other -

The only stuff on this girls 'didn't like' page would be potty break stuff.

Having to teach her words for the different stuff and get her to do whatever when I ask her to do it...

Example: Dog has no idea what 'Hurry Up' means.

My first Doberman came here as a puppy during the winter months. The wife and I both hated the cold and would tell the dog to 'hurry up' on potty breaks when out in that stuff. Dog hated the cold too and tended to go fast in those conditions.

A summer or so after that we are out in the yard and the wife tells the dog to 'hurry up' and the dog squats to pee but nothing comes out (while the dog is looking at us) -

That was the dog telling us that she knew what the word meant but that she had nothing to pee.

That and the not wanting to get out there and do the stuff when it is raining / storming sort of stuff.

Again, this is where 'hurry up' is important but not understood. Yet...

 

[Aaron56]

Agatha has been QUICKLY and easily learning her boundaries at home and at work so have been slowly expanding her boundary lines (at work) to cover more and more of the property.

She has full run of the place on the inside but we are still working on all the boundary lines outside. Getting there...

I give her about ten feet or so past the corner of our building in this direction and no more for now.

In the other direction - So far I have only been allowing her to go as far as the first light pole and no further.

Our property goes all the way down to the next pole past that one. Technically the 'front' of the building down there.

Might let her explore that area some tomorrow.

Up front there (on the top right corner in the picture above behind the stop sign) there is a very small park she has not been to yet. Small playground, a slide, a few frisbee golf baskets... Very, very small park but... It do be close by!

Some stuff about fences and Dobermans -

I have enough pinch collars for everyone but have not 'needed' one for years now with the older girl. She knows all the boundaries here and can't be easily coaxed into crossing one. Have not had the need to use a pinch collar on Agatha at all yet. New girl wants to be right by my side if she can help it and has zero problems coming when called. Pinch collars continue to collect dust for now!

Have done a lot of walking with her at work and most of the time when inside it has been off leash. If she hears 'behind' and 'follow' - Her little butt is like a magnet behind me and bit to the right and stays there. (would bet that she figured out the what particular words = the actions as fast as she did because of Dystopia being around to show her)

Her previous owner definitely spent some time taking this girl on walks. (If I am holding the leash and tell her to 'follow' - She gets back there and follows. No trying to lead me or trying to drag me where she wants to go garbage)

I was seriously considering a puppy when I got extremely lucky and found this girl. Because of her previous training and her age I got to pretty much skip all of the puppy expenses and time spent training and just get the dog!

 

[Aaron56]

I will be glad if Agatha can help Dystopia shed 5 to 10lbs of stuff she don't need.

Agatha is crazy fast when she wants to be.

Both girls seem to be having a blast playing with each other and so far Agatha has shown perfect bite inhibition (mouthy as a normal Doberman but not squeezing anything when she is playing).

Agatha has been very respectful and submissive to Dystopia so far.

Still don't trust her yet for anything longer than a very few minutes. If I got to make a quick trip to the grocery store or want to take a 15 minute shower - Somebody is getting crated.

It takes only one command and a few seconds to crate one or the other and make the chances of a conflict breaking out when you are not directly supervising them 0%.

I used to not be so worried about same sex aggression until I met Agatha and saw what the other girl did to her face and neck. And that was with me only seeing that damage AFTER it had mostly healed!

I think things will be good here but am still being very cautious until I have a lot more time with the new girl. Better safe than sorry is where I stand on all of that...

 

[Ddski5]

I miss the Doberman zoomies and the sight of them clashing.

Yeah…never experienced SSA but read a lot about it. Scary on how fast it can happen- one minute they are cuddly licking each other and the next they are literally trying to kill each other.

If I had two of same sex, I don’t think I would let them clash and play aggressively (even though that’s what Dobermans do). I would have to stop anything that remotely looks like something that could trigger real aggression towards each other.

Good luck.

 

[JanS]

I would have to stop anything that remotely looks like something that could trigger real aggression towards each other.

Yes that's very true. I've heard it doesn't happen as much with females but if it does it can be a far more serious fight.