Dobermans

[LellowYedbetter]

Does anyone have an experience if Dobermans? Are they easy to house train? Destructive? Any other advice on them much appreciated

• High exercise needs
• Sensitive (despite their reputation) - can be emotionally unstable.
• Powerful
• Tend to bond with one person
• Need to pick breeder carefully as they have quite a few health risks
• Relatively short socialisation period as puppies, leading to fear and/or aggression towards dogs, human, other animals if not socialised properly
• High on the trainability scale (easier to train) but use punishment based training methods with extreme caution, would do much better with reward-based only.
• Vocal
• Intelligent (this is both good and bad)
• Can suffer separation anxiety

The breed has extremely high rates of Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the proportion of Dobes affected by it is still growing at rather an alarming rate. As of 2010 the prevalence of it within European Dobes was 58% and its estimated that the number will have risen to 72% by 2020.

The breed as a whole suffers from a real lack of genetic diversity and that, coupled with the fact there’s currently no test for DCM (beyond being able to diagnose it once a dog is affected), means it’s incredibly hard to avoid.

I’d highly recommend reading the following articles:

UFAW - Dobermann Pinscher - Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Institute of Canine Biology - Are we watching the extinction of a breed? (Part 1)

ICB - Are we watching the extinction of a breed? (Part 2)

I was going to mention DCM too. I'm not sure I could deal with knowing that there was a high chance my dog could keel over and die suddenly and without warning at any moment.

There was a video around of a doberman dying (I think while playing fetch) due to DCM, though I haven't been able to find it for you. Shocking and brutal; I wouldn't sign up for the trauma.

I've owned 2 dobies back to back, lost my last one in October last year. They were both fabulous dogs.

Only owned bitches so not sure about the males however both my girls were super affectionate (especially my last one who thought she was a lap dog!!). When they're with you they like to be near you, usually being patted. However I was able to leave mine for periods of up to 5 to 6 hours without a problem.

Exercise wise, they like at least 2x45 min walks per day but if possible one longer walk of around an hour and a half and a shorter 2nd walk. If they are exercised properly they are couch potatoes and love lying sleeping.

Both mine were really greedy and got through tons of food.

My first dobie; we had from a pup so she was well socialised and got on fine with other dogs, my second was a rescue at 2 who had missed her socialisation so could be hit and miss with other dogs although she got better as she got older and when we adopted another pup (not a dobie) she absolutely adored her!!

Very strong and quite stubborn although intelligent and relatively easy to train. Not too destructive either.

Health wise; both my girls lived until they were 9.5 years, first died of heart failure and the second had cancer.

They aren't easy dogs by any stretch but I love them and I miss mine terribly!!!

We have one, a male, nearly 2yrs old, we’ve had him since he was 12weeks.
He’s our first Dobe having had dogs all my life. IMO they are not a first dog unless you are going to take time to learn about training etc and do it.
Ours is VERY loving, not a mean bone in his body, complete wooss around other dogs. He’s a complete Velcro dog, extremely funny, communicative and a complete character. Absolutely adore him.
On the other hand he has days when he is a complete pain in the arse, constantly looking for mischief and loves to shout ... a lot! Eg purposely putting his toy under furniture then shouting at me to get it for him! Or antagonising my other dog, just cause he can and gets a reaction. Thankfully those days are few and far between.
They are not a breed, imo, that would cope with being left all day everyday as, with our one, he just loves people and company too much. That being said we can go out for 4hrs or so and he just sleeps. He’s also a complete cuddle monster, follows me round the kitchen with that pleading look as he wants me to sit down for a cuddle.
As with any breed, bring a Dobe up right, lots of training, socialisation etc and you would have a wonderful family member. Not for the faint hearted though as they can be stubborn and sensitive, so no harsh handling.

Thanks for the replies. We current have a dog but looking into our next breed. Have always loved Doberman’s, love the way they look, watched lots of videos and read up lots on them ... but believe it or not I’ve never actually met one!

I lost my Doberman a couple of years ago, only 8 and we lost her to dcm as mentioned above. Absolutely heartbeaking thing to go through and has put dh off having another. I'd have another tomorrow. She was an amazing dog. However was hard work/destructive if not exercised A LOT, everyday.