Hi there. I have always had dogs, mainly labs, labx, large mixed breeds. I currently have a boston terrier and was wanting to know more about the dobermann breed from other owners. I spent over 12 months researching the BT breed and am so lucky with the one i have but now its time to get another dog. I am wondering if other Dobermann owners would like to share their experiences of owning one, i have read a lot about the breed, health, temperament but its not as good as hearing it straight from an owner!
Thanks in advance.

As well as any feedback you get here, why not try to get to Crufts in March and visit the Dobermann stand on Discover Dogs, you will see the breed in the flesh so to speak, and the folk on the stand will give you all the info you need about the breed, warts an all.

So far I've had 3.5 dobermanns :-P  And I would not be without them.  They are wonderful - charismatic, independant, loyal, cuddly, proper velcro dogs (avoid them if you don't like cuddling all the time!) but also very trainable, active and fun.  A sense of humour is essential!

They are energetic, will walk for however long you want to walk for.  Friendly, even my first rescue bitch with all her issues and aggression became the most loveable, soft dog and hugely popular among the other owners at the park!  They will protect you as of course they are bred to do, but IME if properly socialised, will not do it unless it is actually necessary.  In 11 years so far of dobes, I've only had one incident where my steady boy (my first dobe and first dog too) got in between me and something he thought was threatening, and at quite a distance - and that person turned tail and walked away quickly.

Bad points - health, first and foremost.  As much as it saddens me to say it, dobes are not a very healthy breed.  The biggest problem is dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) - a few years ago the figure for dogs affected by it was 60%.  I hope it is lower now but I'm not optimistic.  If you go to a breeder, every dog in the breeding program and preferably the relatives too must be tested, at the very least by echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) and ideally by ECG as well, and ideally within that, by 24 hour holter ECG.  DCM is nasty - it doesn't show up in most dobes until they are at least 4 or 5, by which time they've been bred if they are going to be, and it can be there without symptoms for years before it hits (known as occult DCM - findable by testing but the dog looks and acts healthy).  Testing should be done annually as well as it can develop very quickly.

Then you've got von Willebrand's, a form of haemophilia, are prone to hypothyroidism as well as a spinal condition called Wobbler's (forgive me, I'm not as 'up' on vWd and Wobbler's as I am on DCM!).  Hips should be checked before breeding too.  I believe there is also some prevalence of a particular eye disease, however I have not researched that at all.  Hopefully someone else will know more about that and post.

Breeding is everything: as with any dogs, dobes bred from bad stock can have temperament problems.  My first rescue was dangerously aggressive, primarily because she was completely unsocialised but I later found out that her mother was much the same which confirmed my suspicions that there was a genetic element interfering in my training efforts (she did become a fantastic dog but always had higher than normal stress levels).  By contrast a well-bred dobe is just wonderful - soft, loving, friendly.  My boy Linc is half dobe and he takes after them in that way, he's very lovable and huggable.

From the outside perspective they do have a reputation unfortunately - they used to be quite a bit sharper in temperament, and although breeders have put the work in to change that, the memories are still there, as well as from their time as a status dog.  So be prepared for people crossing the road to avoid you, and be aware that if anything were to happen, the dobe would likely get the blame just because of what it is.  Saying that though, not everywhere is the same - people round here are lovely and tend to adore them!

Physically they are low maintenance - decent food and maybe a once-over with a bristle brush or zoom groom every now and then, although I never groom mine at all.  They do moult but not massively.  They do need a fair bit of exercise and mental stimulation though, being intelligent dogs and independent to boot!

Boys are more cuddly and girls I find are more energetic and loopy at times but I couldn't pick one over the other.  I've had one full boy and my half boy, and two girls, and I would take either again.  I've done agility to some degree with all four and found no difference between the two except that the girls have been faster.  All have loved clicker training, you can't beat the response and results you can get using positive training with these guys :-)

One issue that exists within the breed is a tendency towards same-sex aggression, particularly with the boys; I've had it with both mine, even with Linc only being half dobe.  What I have found, though, is that it is primarily towards dogs of a similar size, and I've had no trouble with the girls at all.  I think it's much less of a problem in the UK dobes as elsewhere.  With a boston my concern would be more to do with clumsiness, they can be very clumsy dogs :-P  But, I have a dog here every day for daycare who is a similar size to a boston, she's been coming here since just after I got that first rescue dobe and I've never had any problems.

I have owned one Dobermann.  He came to me via his breeder as he had been returned at 6months - no fault of his.  She already had male and as stated it could have been a problem for her if she had kept him.  He was the most loveable dog to have around and very friendly.  He lived with three female Afghans, the eldest of whom ruled him with a whisker.  I was fortunate that he didn't suffer from ill health  other that he was von willebrands affected.  He had to have surgery for a blockage but with a transfusion sailed through with no problems.  He was also very gentle when the girls got old and frail and would keep away from them when running around.

He would play rough games of tug and football with my eldest son but would never be rough with me.  They do like to be with people and you will always find them in the same room with you and if possible touching you.

The big time, in fact, the huge time, problem with them in UK specific  breeding is health.

DCM seems common with them, maybe because of the lack of annual testing so affected dogs can be withdrawn from breeding, Nikita seems to know quite a bit about that, but from bits & snippets I have picked up since she gave that info it seems they are prone to all kinds of health problems & a short life span with lots of health problems throughout.

I have no idea what the average life expectancy of a UK Dobe is but the predominant average age of Eurpean Dobes is between 11 & 13 years & able to live an active, non health problem life throughout. My own Euro dog is 6 days short of 12.

Maybe take that into account before making any decision, any owner who ends up with a dog with a persistent pattern of never ending health problems this & that is going to end up with emotional problems which affect the entire family.
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Average lifespan here is 10, but that is brought down by those health problems - I've known older dobes that haven't suffered with those problems.  The two I've lost died at 10 and 11 - the 10yr old to DCM (without which she would have gone to mid-teens I think, she was fighting fit otherwise and died suddenly, before she showed any symptoms - it never affected her at all until that day) and the 11yr old to lymphoma.  He did suffer many problems and was never really healthy, but - and I feel it is important to include this - he was not well bred, he was brother-sister bred from two dilutes (breeding a dilute is a no-no normally, never mind to another and then to a litter sibling as well) so he was not stood in good stead from the start.

Most of his trouble wasn't classic dobe though - he was hypothyroid and a very unusual form of it, but I believe that was triggered by a reaction to his first vaccine rather than his breed.  Most of his trouble was joint related, culminating in a slipped disc at 10 and I think a lot of that was down to his dreadful conformation.  So again, go for a well-bred pup if you do go for a pup!

My Dobe lived to nearly 11 yrs and died from an aggressive splenic tumour,  No symptoms until distended stomach one day, operated on but it had spread to his liver and round his stomach, so the decision was made not to bring him round.  Other than a blockage, due to hime swallowing a piece of rope he only visited the vet for his annual vacs.

My Dobe lived to nearly 11 yrs and died from an aggressive splenic tumour,  No symptoms until distended stomach one day, operated on but it had spread to his liver and round his stomach, so the decision was made not to bring him round.  Other than a blockage, due to him swallowing a piece of rope he only visited the vet for his annual vacs.

The message was sent to my youtube site on Dec 24th 2011, its quite sad but alas relevant.

Message:
"My head is all over the place right now and I feel so guilty for even contemplating another Dobermann. Had some bad news at the last checkup that the prostate tumor has grown. The vet couldn't feel it before, just knew that there were cancerous cells there. The vet doesn't know how long he has got but eventually the tumour will cut the urethra off and he won't be able to wee anymore (can't believe there is nothing they can do about that). Some days he is still so lively and active but other days he is tired.

The vet told me not to get another Dobermann if I get another dog one day as all the ones he sees have so many health problems! He has another one on the books that has 7 ongoing conditions. We've had 2 other Dobes in the past. The first one we got in 1985 and the second in 1992 and they were both very healthy with just the odd thing as they got older (they reached 12 and 11). A friend of the family who owned a Dobe when we had our first had theirs drop dead from DCM chasing a squirrel, with no warning at all. Can't imagine how horrendous that must have been.

My current boy's dad is imported from Belgium - as far as I know that side of the family are all as fit as fiddles. I've met several other dogs he's sired and they don't seem to have any of the health issues mine has had, nor any of the nervousness. Don't know if I have just been unlucky or if it has all come from his mother's side. I am no longer in touch with the breeder nor know of any of my boy's litter mates, but it would be interesting to see if they have had similar problems.

Maybe I will contemplate another one day. Right now I am frantically making sure I have all photos and videos etc backed up! I just can't bear the thought that he isn't going to be here for much longer. He is by my side pretty much 24/7 wherever I go - don't know how on earth I am going to cope when he has gone."
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The vet told me not to get another Dobermann if I get another dog one day as all the ones he sees have so many health problems! He has another one on the books that has 7 ongoing conditions.

Well vets tend to NOT see healthy dogs, do they. They never see the true picture for any breed of any animal.

I was fortunate that he didn't suffer from ill health  other that he was von willebrands affected.

The 'way thats written' it can lead some people to make very erroneous conclusions, vWD comes in types, if your dog had an op no ill effects then it was probably type 1 but it comes in different types & its the 'type' combined with age which makes the dangers more severe in different types, a slight bump on the more severe types can cause fatal internal bleeding.

Did the vet actually test for type do you know?

1
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cardiovascular/c_dg_von_willebrand_disease.
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I believe there is also some prevalence of a particular eye disease, however I have not researched that at all.  Hopefully someone else will know more about that and post.

Maybe you mean PHTVL/PHPV,? but its not just Dobes or dogs specificaly, see link 1.
http://www.dobermanns.info/info/PHTVL.htm

See the link below for the health tests taken by this Polsh male & Polish bitch, both dogs have also passed the Polish fit for purpose mandatory breeding test.
http://www.the-dobermann.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4958:tirana&catid=94:puppies&Itemid=92
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>Well vets tend to NOT see healthy dogs, do they. They never see the true picture for any breed of any animal.

Exactly right.

Wow, im finding all the information really helpful. Thank you all so much im just sorry that most of you have lost your dogs due to these dreadful diseases. Its just awful when you a lose your friend, we lost our at 15 1/2 year old cross breed in march this year hence why we are looking for a new friend. Please keep the information coming.... Thank you all so much.

Please keep the information coming....

It might/would be more helpful if you outlined what kind of lifestyle you would like to live with the dog.

I only concentrated on some health aspects of the european dogs but they are in no way a laid back dog, they are extremely self demanding which in turn puts a lot of demands on any owner, their time & if a family person the demands on their family to keep a high drive dog well balanced & stable. Nikita described a velcro dog, that is nothing like the euro dogs, so maybe you could give a rough outline of how you & any family want to live with the dog!?
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> Maybe you mean PHTVL/PHPV,? but its not just Dobes or dogs specificaly, see link 1.

Yes, that's it, thank you.  I can never remember the initials.

> Nikita described a velcro dog, that is nothing like the euro dogs, so maybe you could give a rough outline of how you & any family want to live with the dog!?

Very true - UK dobes are somewhat dumbed down compared to the euros, very much more pet dogs (but still a lot of work).

We both work but have a dog walker who will do whatever we need and has a lot of experience. I can take it to work with me aswell which is usually the norm. I currently do agility, ringcraft and obedience/KC classes with our boston and would do the same with the next one, or whatever activity took our fancy, tracking, flyball etc as they are in my area with a good instructor. Weekends we like to camp, from spring to fall.  A strong working type would not suit us but a more laid back pet type would.

A strong working type would not suit us but a more laid back pet type would.

Credit to you for looking around for info first. Best stay well away from euro lines.

Nikita & the others here who have had them can tell you much more about the UK line dogs, they have the knowledge to fill you in much more on the wider aspects of them.
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I have been intimately involved with a friend and neighbour who in the time we have been friends has owned 7 Dobermans, 3 dogs add 4 bitches (never more than one male at a time and 4 at the most at one time).

The first two were al UK bloodlines but both from show grandparents but two pets bred together. 

Both were amazing dogs great with kids and other dogs, shown with a little success in puppy classes.  one lived to 12 and the other 13.

Next came two from a show kennels.  Sadly the male had inflammatory arthritis as a puppy (now it is suspected to have been vaccine reaction), which meant he was exercise restricted and missed out on a lot of canine socialisation.  He was not good with other dogs, but very obedient and great with people.  His heart failed at 8 or 9.

From the same kennel a bitch who died of Haemolitic Anaemia shortly after a booster vaccination, age 6, so also suspected vaccine reaction.

All the above were great 'Pet dogs' accepting and sociable with anyone introduced to them or into the house.

The expected good watchdogs.

The last two were sired by European Imports.  The male sadly had to be put to sleep at 3 years old when he without provocation knocked down and stood over menacing her toddler son right in front of her.  He had shown several signs of not accepting authority while going through puberty, and was very suspicious of visitors.

Sadly today we had to say goodbye to her last bitch at age 13, by a European sire.  the loveliest dog at home ever. 

Sadly from her first season onward she started exhibiting what I can only describe as signs of agoraphobia.  She at first would act fearful around other dogs, go ballistic when she saw them in the street.  this progressed to people and just being out.  She was well socialised extensively, shown as a puppy and junior (but withdrawn due to the issues).

At home she was friendly with visiting dogs, and if meeting them (like mine) out in the street would act as if she had never met them before.  She was spayed, hoping the issues might reduce but it made no difference. She would literally shake with fear.  It meant walks were limited to minimum ones early or late when it was quietest, muzzled and on a halter.  Over the last coupe of years of her life as eh aged her behaviour become more moderate out of the house, so that she could enjoy a wander on a flexi in our local recreation ground.

I am not making any judgements to lines, just stating experiences of 7 members of the breed of various breeding in experienced hands over more than 25 years