Thanks for the write-up! That tracks everything I’ve read about them. Unless my life changes to accommodate that level of involvement - fewer work hours and getting my kid’s ADHD under control, namely - I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to be the right human for a dobie any time soon.
Hopefully you are able to get your kid’s condition under control for everyone’s sake, especially for theirs. And hopefully you find the right doggie for you someday!
One thing you probably haven’t read about Dobermans is how much attention they attract. We’ve always had dogs, but we’ve never been mobbed by people wanting to meet our dog until we got our Doberman. I guess because they’re fairly rare, and they look really cool, that people really want to come say hi and pet him. Everywhere we take him (which is pretty much everywhere) he attracts attention, and people come over to talk to us.
They do have a great style. Do you have opinions on the ears? I’ve got concerns about the welfare of the animal sure, but I also just like the floppy ear look.
We were thinking that we wouldn’t crop our puppy when we got one, but when we finally found a puppy he was already cropped and docked. He actually just finished his posts a couple weeks ago. After going through the process, I’ll tell you that it was more of an issue for us than for him. He really didn’t care at all. He scratched at the posts periodically on the first day for around 4 hours and that was it. After that he didn’t care about them at all. He was super well behaved changing them, and really enjoyed getting his ears cleaned. They’re less likely to get ear infections with their ears up, and their sound localization is much better too. It helps us see what he’s listening too as well. He’ll move his ears around, and when he figures out where the sound is, he puts them both forward and looks in that direction. That’s pretty cool. So, I’d probably do it again if we were given the choice. Plus, they look so very handsome with their ears done.
Thanks for the write-up! That tracks everything I’ve read about them. Unless my life changes to accommodate that level of involvement - fewer work hours and getting my kid’s ADHD under control, namely - I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to be the right human for a dobie any time soon.
Hopefully you are able to get your kid’s condition under control for everyone’s sake, especially for theirs. And hopefully you find the right doggie for you someday!
One thing you probably haven’t read about Dobermans is how much attention they attract. We’ve always had dogs, but we’ve never been mobbed by people wanting to meet our dog until we got our Doberman. I guess because they’re fairly rare, and they look really cool, that people really want to come say hi and pet him. Everywhere we take him (which is pretty much everywhere) he attracts attention, and people come over to talk to us.
They do have a great style. Do you have opinions on the ears? I’ve got concerns about the welfare of the animal sure, but I also just like the floppy ear look.
We were thinking that we wouldn’t crop our puppy when we got one, but when we finally found a puppy he was already cropped and docked. He actually just finished his posts a couple weeks ago. After going through the process, I’ll tell you that it was more of an issue for us than for him. He really didn’t care at all. He scratched at the posts periodically on the first day for around 4 hours and that was it. After that he didn’t care about them at all. He was super well behaved changing them, and really enjoyed getting his ears cleaned. They’re less likely to get ear infections with their ears up, and their sound localization is much better too. It helps us see what he’s listening too as well. He’ll move his ears around, and when he figures out where the sound is, he puts them both forward and looks in that direction. That’s pretty cool. So, I’d probably do it again if we were given the choice. Plus, they look so very handsome with their ears done.
That’s good to hear. They do look a treat.