Soon to be new Doberman Owner :)

Snoops

Snoops

Member
Greetings

Very soon we plan to be new Doberman owners. Never having owned a Dobie before I have some questions I'm hoping can be answered to put my mind at rest.

I have always loved the look of the doberman, albeit the cropped ears type (as thats what I thought they were born like lol) but will get as natural eared one, and one with a tail. Its illegal in the UK and I also don't mind that look either.
It was between the Doberman and the rottweiler. Both these dogs I have loved the look of and their black and rust colour.

Our previous dog was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and it was the most relaxed, chilled and well mannered Staffy ever :) sadly passed away last year ;(

My family have been think of getting another dog and a Doberman is on top of our list. However I get a lot of mixed reactions and answers.

Are Dobermans that much harder to look after?

Can owners of Dobermans also have a life or do they always need to be with the Dog otherwise the dog suffers from separation anxiety (i'm talking about max 5 hours left alone when no longer a puppy i.e Shopping, visting friends etc)

My Stafford was never created nor chewed/pee'd or poo'd in the house. Speaking to many people they say that Dobermans should always be crated when left alone. Is this true?

I am based in the UK, on a called day here, say -4 degrees , would the dog require coat or would their current skin be sufficient? My Staffy had one.

Does anyone own a Stafford and Doberman, and how to they compare with one another?

We have a family ranging from a 7 year old to a 65 year old. Would both of these family members be ok with a Doberman.

I am thinking of a female purely down to them being smaller and lighter and worried that males may mark its territory in the house!

Thank you all for your advice.
 
Welcome from Texas!
So I'm a first time dobie owner but I can answer a few of the questions you have!
I don't think they are "harder to look after but they are quite energetic and require daily walks/training to tire them out.
My guy is 1 year old now and I crate trained when I 1st got him. Made it so much easier but now I don't use the crate unless I'll be gone for extended periods of time... like 6+ hours.
He doesn't have separation anxiety but I have seen some with it. But, this is a behavior and can be fixed with training.
And my guy is intact and he hasn't marked inside once yet.
Also, dobie's are amazing family dogs. Very gentle with the young ones and listen well too.
Hope that helps a little bit.
 
Hi fellow UK member :ntmy:

Welcome to DCF from Sarah in the South West. Nice to have you onboard. You want to know more about this wonderful breed? You’ve come to the perfect place :)

Are they much harder to look after? You reap your rewards ten fold if you put in the time and effort. They need brisk walking every day and all-out running as often as possible. Mental exercise is just as important as physical with this breed. A bored, restless doberman is no fun at all. They can become destructive if their needs are not met. They will make up their own entertainment, trust me!

If you’re not an active person the dobie is not for you. A quick stroll around the block won’t cut it I’m afraid.

They require strong leadership and obedience training is a must.

And yes, you can have a life!! By building confidence at an early stage in their lives you can avoid any sharpness or shyness. Just start with basic obedience and build on it.

They do like a ‘job’ so anything from IPO, tracking, Canicross to agility....it’ll keep them mentally and physically stimulated.

Great with young and old, too. Children need to learn to respect the dog and vice Versa. Boundaries and rules need to be in place to keep everyone living in harmony :thumbsup:

I’ve had 3 boys, not one of them marked. I currently own my first bitch. Size wise, yes she’s smaller but what she lacks in size she sure makes up in strength.

-4 shouldn’t pose any problems at all. We have ‘chillier’ mornings down in the South but no need for a coat. We do own a coat purely for the days it rains.

I agree on crate training a pup. It can provide a number of benefits to you and your dog. It will provide a sense of security for them. Helpful with a variety of important goals, including house training, preventing destructive behaviour, and teaching a dog to settle and relax.
 
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Thank you for all your replies. Beautiful looking Dogs you have.

"They do like a ‘job’ so anything from IPO, tracking, Canicross to agility....it’ll keep them mentally and physically stimulated."
Is this required daily? Or do you mean like once/twice a week?

Apologies for the silly questions . I just want to make sure the breed is correct for us and we do right by it.
It will get over 1 hour exercise daily and 2+ hours twice a week.
 
Hello and welcome from another Texan. I agree with what’s been said. The only thing I can add especially being a first time owner is finding a reputable breeder. We have 2 dobie one from a “hobby” or Back Yard Breeder and another from a reputable breeder. And they are completely different and I think a lot has to do with breeding. My BYB dobie while a wonderful pet is skittish and sensitive - definitely not your fearless dobie - and no amount of training will change that - it’s just who she is. While my other dobie has lots a confidence and is fearless- if there’s a loud sound she goes and checks it out while my other one runs away. Also, I never heard from the BYB after I picked up my pup while the reputable breeder still keeps in touch and is available if I have any questions or concerns.
 
Hello from Tennessee, I actually breed staffies for about 13 years last one passed two years ago, never breed dobies just owned them, I’m on my third one. I can tell you there is a night and day difference in dobies and staffies my staffies where relaxed and trained when they wanted to more or less and just great all around pets. My dobie is a hyper active, train CONSTANTLY cause he loves to, work addicted junky and we won’t even get started on the clinginess. As someone else stated they LOVE a job and if it’s a tru workingline dobie amplify that by ten. rotties are more like a staffie when it comes to activity level but dobies are above both breeds in activity level it’s actually not even close

Duke is 6 months and has never been created so far he hasn’t tore our home up, he’s been left for around four or five hours at a time with free roam minus the bathroom

My grandmother is 78 and my youngest son is 3 they all co exist great he loves my son and annoys my grandmother lol

Hope that helps some and good luck
 
Welcome from Minnesota and kudos to you for doing your research ahead of time.

Dobermans are a great breed, but not for lazy people who don't want to put the time into training. They are in no way misbehaved as long as you build a strong leadership foundation from the time they are pups. They are very intelligent and will try to challenge you if you're lax with them but if you train them and give them a job they'll do very well with you.
 
Snoops said:
Is this required daily? Or do you mean like once/twice a week?
Click to expand...

It’s Canicross for us (cross country running) and no it’s not daily. 3-4 times a week. Her ‘rest’ days include more obedience training.

I can’t speak for the other jobs. But I shouldn’t think it’s daily. They may well have set sessions weekly. @LifeofRubie may be able to give you some insight on agility? How often they work.

Getting back to the crate. My girl’s 4 and she doesn’t use a crate. It’s still readily available to her and the odd evening she’ll go inside but she’s really not that fussed. She’s mentally mature and shown that maturity to me through trust.

When is the right time to stop the crate? Many people want to start leaving their dogs loose in the house just after teething at about 7-9 months of age. For most dogs this is too early. Way too early. My previous boys were around the 24-30 month old mark to be loose in the house.
 
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Welcome from Louisiana!!!

First time Doberman owner here but had many dogs in past.

Ragnar is almost 6 months and is no where near to my other dogs I have owned, mostly hunting dogs. He is full of energy that must be redirected. If not, he will get into something.

Our household probably doesn't help either though. With three daughters running in/out from school, going to soccer practice and two cats in the house, our environment is high strung and stimulating. It never fails, I get him settled down on the rug and a daughter or cat will stir him up and here we go again....where did he go and what is he doing??? Must always have eyes on him.

He was a really bad Dobershark, nipping all the time and it seemed to settle down but here recently it is back at full force. He got my youngest and my wife pretty good the other night. I am thinking he is in his Doberteens and is challenging my wife for dominance and trying to put my youngest in her place. Had a big family education session last night (again) and stopped him in his tracks with this.

I can tell you first hand that the saying, "a tired Doberman is a good Doberman". I work with him everyday with obedience training and three nights a week we go with the girls to the soccer fields for 1-2 hours. There may be my downfall though, taking him out so much may have built up his expectations and stamina and when he does not get his training he is a rascal!!! But at same time, I just cannot leave him in the crate when I am at the soccer fields. After all, that's why I got him.

He loves his crate. His home inside of our home. Most of the time in our living room, I have him tethered on a leash and when he is ready to sleep for the night, he will look at me and then stare at his crate. The sign of, "I am sleepy dad, time for me to retire". He goes right in and is out for the night.

From what I gather, there are all kinds of dispositions with Dobermans. High energy, low energy, temperament, big/small, etc..... As said in above post, I think the best way to get kinda what you are looking for is to start with a great breeder. They know Dobermans and can find you the Doberman that will best suit your family and situation.

Extremely smart, quick to learn and always pushing the boundaries (both negative and positive). I just read a post that said something like "utmost joy and a nightmare all wrapped into one"--my wife would definitely agree with that.

Stick around this forum. Lots of great info and experts on this site that are willing to help.

Good luck with your endeavor.
 
Snoops said:
Thank you for all your replies. Beautiful looking Dogs you have.

"They do like a ‘job’ so anything from IPO, tracking, Canicross to agility....it’ll keep them mentally and physically stimulated."
Is this required daily? Or do you mean like once/twice a week?

Apologies for the silly questions . I just want to make sure the breed is correct for us and we do right by it.
It will get over 1 hour exercise daily and 2+ hours twice a week.
Click to expand...

Yes, as @Viemarangelrock mentioned, we do agility! It's a really great activity to do with your dog and we get complimented all the time on how focused she has become. For less than $100, I have a few jumps set-up in my backyard that we can go out and practice on here and there that is great for tiring her out.

The only caveat, you really shouldn't start dogs on agility until at least 18 months old; all that jumping on young joints and what not. And it really depends on your facility for how often classes are. The place we go, we pay a flat monthly fee and the first three levels of class were 3 times a week; now that we're at the highest level, it's twice a week. Sine we practice at home, we've been able to go through the levels pretty quickly which obviously saves $$ but it's not a "cheap" hobby, albeit a REALLY fun one!

And to your crate comment, I'm not sure Rubie won't ever NOT be in a crate. She's also: never destroyed anything via chewing or damaged the house trying to get after the cat or learned that windows are fun to bark incessantly at.

Yes you can still have a life but only if you're dog is tired, first :D
 
Hello!
We've got a 9 month old female and she's been the most smart, friendly and cuddly dog I've ever had. I grew up with a black lab, beagle and Australian shepherd. She has definitely been the least amount of work, VERY easy to train.

We live in a very small condo in Toronto. She's great with our cat, they chase each other and the cat shows her who is boss if she gets too rough. Great with strangers in the elevator. We get compliments on how well behaved she is.

Great with kids! We've had her around 1 1/2 to 12 year olds and she has been wonderful. Only kisses :) I did however train her since she was a baby by doing what a small child might do ie. grab, poke, pull etc to make her used to it all.

My partner works from home most days so she isn't in her crate too too much. Once about 7-8 months old she could be in her crate for 4-5 hours while we're at work. Before that she had to be brought out to pee every couple hours. She's going longer and longer without bathroom breaks, by 1 year I think she could make it a whole work day if we HAD to leave her. Otherwise we have a dog walker that comes and walks her around lunch. I wouldn't recommend whole days in a crate though (we do it maybe one time per week with the dog walker visit) on these days she destroys whatever is in her crate, she's even chewed a hole in the wall when we had it too close by accident, she's also moved her whole crate about a foot away from where it was originally.

We've left her un-crated while alone a few times, sometimes she's left everything alone and a few times she's found things to chew. This has been my fault though for not hiding clothes/socks/chargers. HOWEVER, when left alone with our family dog (Australian Shepherd) at my parent's house many times she's too occupied with having a buddy to do anything bad :)

She does go after the Aussie's neck now that she's taller than her. She does the same with my partner's parents' puppy thats the same age. She doesn't do this with dogs at the dog park or other family member's dogs (cousins/family friends). I think its because she knows they're close family and they spent alot of time together when she was a puppy.

She has a winter coat from Chillydogz and a neck warmer.
 
Thank you all for your valuable input.
Much appreciated
I will keep you all posted on the progress and how its going. We plan to see a breeder in first instance to see how much they know there breed, how the dogs are kept and if they can answer some of my questions to make me feel at ease they are genuine breeders whose number one priority are their dogs.
 
Snoops said:
We have a family ranging from a 7 year old to a 65 year old. Would both of these family members be ok with a Doberman.
Click to expand...
I am 65 and I am raising two littermate puppies.
Lots of mental and physical stimulation, consistent, calm and assertive training is very important.
Mine are on the upper end of activity level and have a high drive for work and training.

Welcome to DCF from Florida
 
Welcome from Montana,

I have two a male whom will be 8 this year and a female whom will be 6 in the coming months. Never have I had an issue with either of them being left alone. I work long, long hours somedays they need to stay home due to hot/cold weather and cannot be left in a truck while traveling for a day. Never an accident, destroyed anything, or noticed any real sort of seperation anxiety. Although my male is extremely attached to me, he'll take a sock or shoe or something with my scent and lay with it all day ( yeah it's sad ). I don't do crate training, bought a few when they were pups but never used them. My female could be left alone for a week and I don't think she'd notice I was gone. She is much like Ferdinand the bull, large, in charge but can lay around all day and not have a care in the world.

Don't read into stereo types as all dogs are truly unique and have their flaws/perfections. They will demand your authority, so rule with an iron fist. They will challenge you nearly every chance they can get for the first few years as they are very smart. However they are also extremely loyal. You won't go to the bathroom alone, like ever again. You will sleep with a 1" section of your bed as they must lay close to you. They will certainly deter anyone thinking about entering your home without your permission. Truly I can say without a doubt, I will never be without a doberman for as long as I live. I cry thinking about the time I may have to spend without my two in my lives, but then I think how much joy they've brought me. So again I'll never be without. Simply the best breed.
 
Thank you all. I'e been reading numerous threads on Female v Male. Extremly tough. I hear females are smaller but can be more manipulative and slightly more intelligent and thus get bored more easily. Males are bigger but more independent, calmer and chilled.

I like the smaller size but want the calm , relaxed male personality :)
 
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