Struggling to cope with Dobermann

[Lockstop]

Female, 3.6 years old.

hyperactive off the scale. I know they’re an energetic breed but she really is something else. She’s constantly climbing the walls, whenever I move she jumps to attention thinking something exciting is about to happen, she lives on her nerves, sleeps with one eye open, permanently primed to jump into action. I got up at 4:30 this morning and she’s been flying around, whining and jumping from sofa to sofa since. I got up that early because I’m poorly. She doesn’t even give me chance to wake up properly. This behaviour continues all day, evening and night until bed time. She wears me out. I’m so tired. My whole life revolves around her, I can’t do anything without her whining at me or throwing things at me (seriously).

I do brain games with her, constant training, walks, runs, nothing tires her out. Nothing even makes her content. She’s excessively intelligent - she learnt all basic commands within weeks of having her so I had to take her to advanced obedience and trick training classes just to get her brain challenged enough. I feel like she’s always one step ahead of me. I’m so tired. Never again with this breed.

Constant stimulation, exercise and attention is a bad idea for any dog, let alone one as high-needs as a Dobermann.

You say you've done loads of training with her but have you ever worked on just teaching her to "be"?

Dogs need to learn how to settle alone, it's an essential life skill and one all working dogs are taught out of necessity. Look at police dogs - they have to settle in the vans for hours sometimes, the same with sniffer dogs. Hounds and gun dogs also settle in kennels or on shoots, and the same goes for collies who settle on the tractor or on the farm/yard for hours at a time.

I often go to working farms and the dogs are just laying around - alert, yes, but settled and not constantly on the go or whining for attention.

She needs to learn how to be.

Yes agree with the above. My mums working line setters spend an awful lot of time sprawled out napping. If it’s this relentless id be consulting a behaviourist to work with you to get them to settle

Yes good advice above. We have a working collie and it's counter intuitive but you do need to ignore her a lot. The obnoxious behaviour like trying to get your attention with toys will get worse for a whole whilst you do this (look up extinction burst) but eventually she will learn she can settle and do nothing. Then you can start reinforcing the settle or training a go to bed cue. The good thing is because she's so smart it doesn't matter she's an adult she can still learn this. I admit I just tried to train settle with our collie without doing the vital ignoring! That doesn't work. Settle just became a new game for her. But provided I put the effort into being boring she takes the hint now.

Someone we know has one and it's on Prozac and can't be left! Not helpful I know but the learning to be still sounds good!

I agree with the previous posts.

My WCS will doze for hours when I am working at home because I had to ignore him. When it's a non working day he is really vigilant because he knows he will get played with.

Ultimately getting them to understand how to settle is really good. Ironically doing lots of things with them all the time sounds great on paper but you might be overstimulating her or have just accidentally trained her to expect your attention all the time.

Maybe get a trainer in if you can to give you some tips on getting her to settle.

You bought a breed that is absolutely notorious for this exact behaviour, and are upset that's it's exhibiting it. What did you expect? This is a breed that hyperfocuses on its owners.

30 years ago, as naïve 23 year olds (now) dh and I offered to dog sit a Doberman for 3 months (turned into 2 years, but that is another story!), astoundingly beautiful, intelligent, big softies, but omg never met as whiny a dog in my life and it was very difficult to get that balance of stimulation vs rest.

We found she was best when in a routine, walks, training, play, eat at specific times etc, but then she was difficult if we stepped out of that routine.

I would never choose to have one as a pet. You might need someone experienced with the breed to help you out.

I sympathise, I have one, she’s 7 now & still whines daily. What has been said above is true, they need to learn to settle. Ignoring them is hard, but it does work. Mine appears to know when I’m wfh & will have a short walk early, then rest all day. She also seems to know when I’m off & will pester for a proper walk & cry at food time. She loves heat & if I put the fire on or if it’s a hot day she will sleep all day.

I mean, yes, you need to get some help teaching her to settle...but...

“Characteristics

Intelligent and firm of character, loyal and obedient.
Temperament

Bold and alert. Shyness or viciousness very highly undesirable.”

That’s the breed standard, so, I mean, in the nicest possible way... what were you expecting?

I'm not sure saying what were you expecting is helpful. The OP mentions health problems so it may be behaviour that was manageable at one point is now unmanageable. Also there's knowing and err knowing. We went lab to collie and whilst we knew she would be smarter and have a herding instinct it's still been an experience! The OP clearly knew the breed was energetic with high training needs and has tried to meet those needs. It's just the chilling out which l also didn't know needed to be taught or cued which is missing. I never had to teach my lazy-assed lab to chill as her indoor setting was chill from the day she arrived.

“I'm not sure saying what were you expecting is helpful.”

But there needs to be realistic expectations, she can absolutely get help with training and it’ll make a big difference to some of the behaviours , but she’ll still be a Doberman, she’s not going to suddenly turn into a different dog.