dobermann
Height: 63cm - 72cm
Weight: 30kg - 45kg
Average Price: £500-800
Living with 2 Dobermanns by member Nats
I have 2 Dobermanns', Roxy and Tyler, now both 3, and although when they were younger they could be a bit of a handfull, they have calmed down a lot over the past year and are becoming much easier to keep entertained!
Health problems
Roxy has had an ongoing skin infection, where lumps would come up all over her body, now it is reduced to her neck, we spent a lot of money trying to work out what it is, and now believe it may be linked to her diet, so we are in the process of different foods to see what works.
Dobermanns' notoriously have sensitive stomachs, and my two are no different, even if they eat a piece of bread they will have runny bottoms the next day. So we have to be careful they don't eat anything other than their dog food. When Roxy was younger she came down with 'garbage disease' on more than one occasion from eating cat poo and bits off food of the floor, I don't think this is specific to Dobermanns', but it doesn't help that they have sensitive stomachs anyway.
Common health problems for Dobies are VWd (Von Willebrand’s disease), Wobbler’s Syndrome & thyroid problems.
Exercise
Being a dog walker, my two get lots of exercise. However they are more than happy with an hour a day, as long as they get out, even just to go and play with other dogs in a field, they are content and will lounge around for the rest of the day.
Training
Dobermanns' are very easy to train, but they are far to intelligent for their own good, so they will pick up good habits just as fast as they can pick up bad habbits, and once they are rewarded for doing something naughty (like stealing the cat food off the work top) it takes a lot of training to undo that behaviour. My two both attend agility weekly as I believe its a great way to get their brains working and set some challenges for them!
Dobermanns' can excel in obedience training and protection work. I will advise however that they do need discipline, set boundaries/rules and a strong pack leader to keep them on the straight and narrow!
They have Separation Anxiety
This one is true, Roxy was terrible at being left alone when she was a puppy she would howl, toilet in the house, then eventually destroy something. We discovered by chance that she didn't do this when left with my sisters dogs, and from that we knew she needed a companion, our boy Tyler came along at just the right time and we haven’t had any problems from them since :)
They are couch potatoes
Completely true, given the choice I think my two would quiet happily lounge about on the bed/sofa all day, of course we don't let them, as by night time they get up and start playing about in the house. But if exercised and trained properly you will not have a Dobie bouncing off the walls, but a happy-go-lucky one that will nick the warm spot every time!
Food
We feed our Dobes on James Well Beloved complete dry food, once in the morning and once in the evening. It seems to be a good food for them and they always look in good condition. However lots of other Dobie owners will advise that they are to be fed Raw. If I had the time and space I would feed them raw as it would probably eliminate Roxy's skin problems.
Overall, I think Dobermanns' make a great family pets, they are great with kids, other animals and people. But you have to be prepared to put the work in to make them like that, as a un-balanced Dobermann can bring with it all sorts of problems, and give them a bad reputation!