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Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann and the Doberman Pinscher
January 28, 2011, By Ria Hörter, ARTICLE, SELECTING
Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann (1834-94) was a 19th-century German “tax officer, flayer and dog catcher,” whose name will be forever linked with a versatile working breed.
Dobermann would certainly have benefited from a dog’s protection as he collected taxes and patrolled at night. As a dogcatcher, he could choose the best dogs for his purposes. From the beginning, his dogs were known regionally as Dobermann’s Hunde (Dobermann’s dogs).
Pinschers and sheepdogs
We know that Dobermann crossed several types of dogs to get a “harsh dog,” but there are different opinions about the dogs he bred. The famous German dog writer Richard Strebel stated: “I very much doubt if we should place the Dobermann Pinscher in the Pinscher [terrier] group. Maybe he belongs in the Sheepdog group.” Strebel claimed that the first dogs bred by Louis Dobermann were Pinscher/sheepdog crossbreds. But he noted: “It is quite possible that other breeds contributed as well.”
Breed origins
In his book Die Deutschen Hunde (German Dog Breeds), published in 1904/05, Strebel wrote that the city’s “stray-dogs catcher and dog skinner started breeding harsh dogs, together with two other men, a Turmwärter [tower guard] and a Fluhraufseher [a kind of county policeman].” For their first litters, the three men used stray dogs.
Without a doubt, Dobermann’s profession impacted his decision to breed guard dogs. However, there were other reasons to breed this type of dog. The farmers in the Apolda region used guard dogs to deter intruders and tramps, and the dogs bred by Dobermann were also used for several jobs in the police force.
‘Schnuppe’
It’s not easy to establish the origin of the Doberman Pinscher. There are several stories, particularly about the first years.
The version of Louis Dobermann’s contemporaries is that the first litters were bred from Dobermann’s favourite bitch, a mouse-grey smooth-coated Pinscher named ‘Schnuppe.’ The sire’s breed and name are unknown, but it could have been a Thuringer sheepdog or Black and Tan Terrier.
Looking at the photograph (circa 1870) of Louis Dobermann with two dogs, one must admit that these dogs show no similarity to the present Doberman Pinscher.
However, the 1903 drawing by Richard Strebel clearly shows two Dobermans. In the intervening years, breeders had succeeded in developing a type immediately recognizable today.
1863 dog market
The dogs bred by Dobermann from the middle of the 19th century were certainly not mongrels. Both Strebel (1905) and Seegers (a Dutch dog writer, 1912) argued that these dogs were very much the same as smooth-coated Pinschers, with perhaps a trace of sheepdog. Dobermann, however, never showed great interest in the appearance of his dogs, and he didn’t keep stud books. His first requirement was to create a watchful, sharp, brave and intelligent dog. We know he succeeded. Several of his dogs were shot by hunters because they were too sharp and keen on game. In a way, this behaviour obstructed the breed’s popularity in its first years. Not infrequently, the life of such a dog ended on a chain. So in a certain sense, Dobermann didn’t derive great pleasure from his dogs’ tremendous qualities as guard dogs and watchdogs. On the other hand, the presentation of Dobermann Pinschers at the first dog market in Apolda, in 1863, when Dobermann was 29 years old, was joyful and a success. This event became so important that it is officially recorded in the history of the city of Apolda.
A different story
Otto Göller tells a quite different story when it comes to the breed’s early history. He knew Dobermann personally and in 1910 wrote about him in Der Dobermannpinscher in Wort und Bild (The Dobermann Pinscher in Word and Picture). Göller reduced Schnuppe to “a cross bred between already existing dogs in Dobermann’s time in Apolda.” Nothing about a real Pinscher. According to Göller, Schnuppe had been mated to a “butcher’s dog.” He does not explain what a butcher’s dog was, but we can be reasonably certain that Göller was referring to the ancestor of the present-day Rottweiler crossbred with a sheepdog. It is known that these types of dogs existed in Thuringia at that time. Göller further states that Pinschers and hunting dogs were also used, not purebred. At the end of his story, he wrote, “Dobermann has bred with a mixture of these dogs in the years around 1870.” As a token of admiration, Göller and his friends named these dogs after Louis Dobermann.
Blue Great Danes?
Göller had more to tell. He stated that the origin of the Doberman Pinscher went back to the ancestors of the German Shepherd Dog, to blue Great Danes, smooth-coated Pinschers and short-coated hunting dogs. His opinion is opposed by others, including the well-known Austrian scientist and dog fancier, Prof. Dr. Emil Hauck. The discussion continues today, the most important question being: Were Louis Dobermann’s foundation dogs purebred or was Otto Göller right about the mongrel Schnuppe and the ancestors of the German Shepherd? The Dutch author Seegers (1912) wrote that Göller’s opinion was not valid and Strebel (1905) claimed that Louis Dobermann deserved all the credit.
However, there is one subject on which they all agreed: Göller was the one who promoted the breed. It was he who, in 1899 and in cooperation with Oskar Vorwerk, founded the first breed club in Apolda. In the same year, the first Spezialzuchtschau (specialty for Dobermans) was organized, with an entry of 12 dogs. In 1905, Karl Meyer, a pharmacist in Apolda, published the breed’s first stud book.
Hauck’s theory
Dr. Hauck’s view on the origin of the Doberman Pinscher is important. In his opinion, the smooth-coated Pinscher was the breed’s most significant ancestor. If hunting dogs were used, they must have been hounds. He doubted the influence of sheepdogs, but admitted that Black and Tan Terriers could have contributed. There had been Dobermans with Greyhound blood and, finally, Hauck believed that crossbreeding with Great Danes or Rottweilers was likely. Perhaps Hauck’s opinion was based on the fact that Dobermans are sometimes born tailless. From the beginning, Doberman Pinschers had cropped ears and docked tails.
Breed recognition
The breed club was founded in the pub Zum Bergschlösschen during the Apolda Dog Market of August 1899. At the same time, breeding rules were determined. Around 1900, other breed clubs were founded in Frankfort, Hamburg, Mannheim, Hanover and Berlin. Goswin Tischler (kennel Von Grönland) arranged for the breed’s recognition in 1895. If Louis Dobermann had only lived one more year to see this.
Although the Doberman Pinscher is no longer a “harsh” guard dog, the CKC standard states that the breed is “Energetic, watchful, determined, alert, fearless, loyal and obedient.” Louis Dobermann would no doubt be pleased to learn that his creation still possesses the characteristics he envisioned more than 100 years ago.
Further reading:
L. Seegers, Hondenrassen (two volumes). Amsterdam, 1912.
Richard Strebel, Die Deutschen Hunde (two volumes). Munich, 1904/05.
A breeder/exhibitor/judge and retired bookseller and publisher, Ria Hörter is a contributing editor of Onze Hond, the national dog magazine of Holland.
Photo courtesy of Ria Hörter
This excerpt is from ‘Masterminds: Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann and his Doberman Pinschers,’ which originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Dogs in Canada
Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann and the Doberman Pinscher
January 28, 2011, By Ria Hörter, ARTICLE, SELECTING
Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann (1834-94) was a 19th-century German “tax officer, flayer and dog catcher,” whose name will be forever linked with a versatile working breed.
Dobermann would certainly have benefited from a dog’s protection as he collected taxes and patrolled at night. As a dogcatcher, he could choose the best dogs for his purposes. From the beginning, his dogs were known regionally as Dobermann’s Hunde (Dobermann’s dogs).
Pinschers and sheepdogs
Breed origins
In his book Die Deutschen Hunde (German Dog Breeds), published in 1904/05, Strebel wrote that the city’s “stray-dogs catcher and dog skinner started breeding harsh dogs, together with two other men, a Turmwärter [tower guard] and a Fluhraufseher [a kind of county policeman].” For their first litters, the three men used stray dogs.
Without a doubt, Dobermann’s profession impacted his decision to breed guard dogs. However, there were other reasons to breed this type of dog. The farmers in the Apolda region used guard dogs to deter intruders and tramps, and the dogs bred by Dobermann were also used for several jobs in the police force.
‘Schnuppe’
It’s not easy to establish the origin of the Doberman Pinscher. There are several stories, particularly about the first years.
The version of Louis Dobermann’s contemporaries is that the first litters were bred from Dobermann’s favourite bitch, a mouse-grey smooth-coated Pinscher named ‘Schnuppe.’ The sire’s breed and name are unknown, but it could have been a Thuringer sheepdog or Black and Tan Terrier.
Looking at the photograph (circa 1870) of Louis Dobermann with two dogs, one must admit that these dogs show no similarity to the present Doberman Pinscher.
However, the 1903 drawing by Richard Strebel clearly shows two Dobermans. In the intervening years, breeders had succeeded in developing a type immediately recognizable today.
1863 dog market
A different story
Otto Göller tells a quite different story when it comes to the breed’s early history. He knew Dobermann personally and in 1910 wrote about him in Der Dobermannpinscher in Wort und Bild (The Dobermann Pinscher in Word and Picture). Göller reduced Schnuppe to “a cross bred between already existing dogs in Dobermann’s time in Apolda.” Nothing about a real Pinscher. According to Göller, Schnuppe had been mated to a “butcher’s dog.” He does not explain what a butcher’s dog was, but we can be reasonably certain that Göller was referring to the ancestor of the present-day Rottweiler crossbred with a sheepdog. It is known that these types of dogs existed in Thuringia at that time. Göller further states that Pinschers and hunting dogs were also used, not purebred. At the end of his story, he wrote, “Dobermann has bred with a mixture of these dogs in the years around 1870.” As a token of admiration, Göller and his friends named these dogs after Louis Dobermann.
Blue Great Danes?
Göller had more to tell. He stated that the origin of the Doberman Pinscher went back to the ancestors of the German Shepherd Dog, to blue Great Danes, smooth-coated Pinschers and short-coated hunting dogs. His opinion is opposed by others, including the well-known Austrian scientist and dog fancier, Prof. Dr. Emil Hauck. The discussion continues today, the most important question being: Were Louis Dobermann’s foundation dogs purebred or was Otto Göller right about the mongrel Schnuppe and the ancestors of the German Shepherd? The Dutch author Seegers (1912) wrote that Göller’s opinion was not valid and Strebel (1905) claimed that Louis Dobermann deserved all the credit.
However, there is one subject on which they all agreed: Göller was the one who promoted the breed. It was he who, in 1899 and in cooperation with Oskar Vorwerk, founded the first breed club in Apolda. In the same year, the first Spezialzuchtschau (specialty for Dobermans) was organized, with an entry of 12 dogs. In 1905, Karl Meyer, a pharmacist in Apolda, published the breed’s first stud book.
Hauck’s theory
Dr. Hauck’s view on the origin of the Doberman Pinscher is important. In his opinion, the smooth-coated Pinscher was the breed’s most significant ancestor. If hunting dogs were used, they must have been hounds. He doubted the influence of sheepdogs, but admitted that Black and Tan Terriers could have contributed. There had been Dobermans with Greyhound blood and, finally, Hauck believed that crossbreeding with Great Danes or Rottweilers was likely. Perhaps Hauck’s opinion was based on the fact that Dobermans are sometimes born tailless. From the beginning, Doberman Pinschers had cropped ears and docked tails.
Breed recognition
The breed club was founded in the pub Zum Bergschlösschen during the Apolda Dog Market of August 1899. At the same time, breeding rules were determined. Around 1900, other breed clubs were founded in Frankfort, Hamburg, Mannheim, Hanover and Berlin. Goswin Tischler (kennel Von Grönland) arranged for the breed’s recognition in 1895. If Louis Dobermann had only lived one more year to see this.
Although the Doberman Pinscher is no longer a “harsh” guard dog, the CKC standard states that the breed is “Energetic, watchful, determined, alert, fearless, loyal and obedient.” Louis Dobermann would no doubt be pleased to learn that his creation still possesses the characteristics he envisioned more than 100 years ago.
Further reading:
L. Seegers, Hondenrassen (two volumes). Amsterdam, 1912.
Richard Strebel, Die Deutschen Hunde (two volumes). Munich, 1904/05.
A breeder/exhibitor/judge and retired bookseller and publisher, Ria Hörter is a contributing editor of Onze Hond, the national dog magazine of Holland.
Photo courtesy of Ria Hörter
This excerpt is from ‘Masterminds: Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann and his Doberman Pinschers,’ which originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Dogs in Canada
