Winstonftw
New Member
Hello everyone!
I'm the proud pop of an 8 month old Doberman Puppy named Winston. My Wife and I have had him since he was 9 weeks old and we have often wondered, debated, and then researched questions we would ask each other about our K9 son as he continued to grow.
Of late the main question has been about his temperament.
Now to give some background we live in S. Florida where there are no shortage of the "bully breeds". We have made sure to socialize him by taking him to the dog park, letting him meet everyone in our neighborhood while taking walks, and even taking him to eat with us when going to the beach or on other outings. I believe this is especially important as he is already 28 inches at the shoulders and 79 lbs and apparently has 4 more months of growth in height alone so unless someone knows him he can appear quite intimidating.
We made sure when we were researching breeders to look at reviews concerning the temperaments of the dogs that former customers had left. While I had been around large work dogs before due to my time in the military, my wife had not. That and the fact that we were bringing a dog into a home with a 7yr old and 3 cats it was important for us that the dog not be aggressive nor too timid.
So Winston just turned 8 months about 4 days ago. For the past 3 months at least I have noticed that whenever my wife or little girl walk out of a room or if we're taking a walk and they stroll too far away he will start to whine and may bark. I understood that this was his protective nature beginning to form. They don't call Doberman's Velcro dogs for nothing. This is not something I was overly concerning about and in fact expected at some point in his early development.
I have also noticed him gaining more confidence of late with other dogs which is where my question is rooted. He has gone from being a beta to an omega recently (Omega's being below Alpha's and assuming the alpha role when a more dominant dog is not present). He plays very well with other dogs. Enjoys running, wrestling, ect... He likes to steal toys but is not toy aggressive and will wait for a dog to give up a ball or frisbee before taking it and will relinquish it back if another dog displays a desire for it.
As recently though as today I saw something at the dog park. Another dog that is a regular began antagonizing my dog to show dominance. Now up until now my dobie has shown no inclination of challenging other dogs. However it got too the point where my boy started to snarl at the other dog and the owner of this other dog began to hold my dog to keep him from doing anything. We separated the two and my dog went back to playing. A short time later my dog was playing tug of war and he was rushed by a smaller (albeit older) shephard which he immediately began fighting with. Neither dog was hurt but I could not tell if Winston had retaliated because he had already been keyed up from the previous dog antagonizing him or if he has turned a corner in his development. I want to note that he has never antagonized nor gone after another dog with aggression.
At what age do doberman's usually begin to stand up for themselves or show that confidence level which we as owners need to be aware of so as to avoid incidents in social settings???
Sorry for the drawn out story. Just trying to explain the basis of my question as thoroughly as possible.
Below is a picture of our boy Winston at 7 months. Height= 27 inches, Weight=72 lbs.
I'm the proud pop of an 8 month old Doberman Puppy named Winston. My Wife and I have had him since he was 9 weeks old and we have often wondered, debated, and then researched questions we would ask each other about our K9 son as he continued to grow.
Of late the main question has been about his temperament.
Now to give some background we live in S. Florida where there are no shortage of the "bully breeds". We have made sure to socialize him by taking him to the dog park, letting him meet everyone in our neighborhood while taking walks, and even taking him to eat with us when going to the beach or on other outings. I believe this is especially important as he is already 28 inches at the shoulders and 79 lbs and apparently has 4 more months of growth in height alone so unless someone knows him he can appear quite intimidating.
We made sure when we were researching breeders to look at reviews concerning the temperaments of the dogs that former customers had left. While I had been around large work dogs before due to my time in the military, my wife had not. That and the fact that we were bringing a dog into a home with a 7yr old and 3 cats it was important for us that the dog not be aggressive nor too timid.
So Winston just turned 8 months about 4 days ago. For the past 3 months at least I have noticed that whenever my wife or little girl walk out of a room or if we're taking a walk and they stroll too far away he will start to whine and may bark. I understood that this was his protective nature beginning to form. They don't call Doberman's Velcro dogs for nothing. This is not something I was overly concerning about and in fact expected at some point in his early development.
I have also noticed him gaining more confidence of late with other dogs which is where my question is rooted. He has gone from being a beta to an omega recently (Omega's being below Alpha's and assuming the alpha role when a more dominant dog is not present). He plays very well with other dogs. Enjoys running, wrestling, ect... He likes to steal toys but is not toy aggressive and will wait for a dog to give up a ball or frisbee before taking it and will relinquish it back if another dog displays a desire for it.
As recently though as today I saw something at the dog park. Another dog that is a regular began antagonizing my dog to show dominance. Now up until now my dobie has shown no inclination of challenging other dogs. However it got too the point where my boy started to snarl at the other dog and the owner of this other dog began to hold my dog to keep him from doing anything. We separated the two and my dog went back to playing. A short time later my dog was playing tug of war and he was rushed by a smaller (albeit older) shephard which he immediately began fighting with. Neither dog was hurt but I could not tell if Winston had retaliated because he had already been keyed up from the previous dog antagonizing him or if he has turned a corner in his development. I want to note that he has never antagonized nor gone after another dog with aggression.
At what age do doberman's usually begin to stand up for themselves or show that confidence level which we as owners need to be aware of so as to avoid incidents in social settings???
Sorry for the drawn out story. Just trying to explain the basis of my question as thoroughly as possible.
Below is a picture of our boy Winston at 7 months. Height= 27 inches, Weight=72 lbs.
to DCF from Florida!
