SearchQuestions about owning a Doberman---Sorry!!
I'm sure these questions have been asked and answered MANY times. I did look through and found many similar but not quite our situation.
Ok here it goes:
I am a stay at home Mom of three boys. (2,4,7 although we are not planning on getting a puppy for another year so they will be 3,5 and 8) We want to add a dog to our family and have been doing all the necessary research on different breeds. I never initially thought we would get a Doberman, but it keeps popping up and I do have some concerns. I just want some honest opinions if you think a Doberman would fit into our family.
We have a fairly large home and yard. We will not be putting up a fence for any dog, but plan on getting an invisible fence. We want a dog that is playful and run around outside with boys, play fetch etc. I would like a running partner and a dog that would alert us of intruders. They dog would be a part of the family. Fully welcome to sleep with our children or in our room. Any dog we get would go to puppy school and be well behaved. We visit the grandparents for day trips(occasionally overnight) and would bring the dog with us. They have dogs and we would need to know our dog would be ok with my Moms Boston Terrier and Aunts Golden Retriever. We also have a cat. We want a dog to go on hikes/camping with us. I am home most of time, but in and out with dropping kids off at school, sports etc. The dog would be welcome to come in the car for these short trips around town.
I am concerned with:
If my husband decide get the rare treat to dinner with out kids (whoohoo!) How will a Doberman be with a babysitter?
We have a pretty wild house at time with three boys. Rough housing and "wrestling" and general boy games occur frequently. Can the Doberman handle this? What about when the neighborhood kids are over?
Is 3-5 3 mile runs a week me (or more) and the chance to go out side in the yard whenever he wants, enough exercise? Do they need a lot of exercise their whole lifetime? I won't be quite the spring Chicken in twelve years myself :-P
Snow? We get a lot :-) Swimming?
What if we go to Disney for week, how would Doggie do at Grandmas?
I fear the Doberman may be too much Dog for us,but I have been reading really positive things too :-) Please be honest, we want a dog that "fits" us for our happiness and and for the happiness of the dog.
So sorry to be so long.
A properly trained adult Doberman is fine, even idea, in most the situations you describe: babysitters, stays with grandma, child friends, camping, swimming, little boys being little boys. And if you have the skill to raise three boys, I think you're qualified to learn to handle a Dobemran puppy.
Here is your main concern: Training the boys. Training a Doberman puppy isn't all that difficult. But your challenge will be to train the kids how to behave around the puppy, so your training efforts don't go down the tubs. Everyone in the house must partake in puppy training.
The puppy is going to see your three boys as his three litter mates. And if they are displaying energetic attitudes, the puppy will reflect that. If the kids come crashing through the house and pile onto each other, screaming and laughing (healthy little-boy behavior) the puppy is going to chase, bark, and play-bite (healthy puppy behavior). Locking a puppy up, or expecting him to sit quiet while the other puppies have a great old time, just wouldn't be fair.
You'll need to train the kids how to play around the puppy. The first to major puppy behaviors to mold are jumping-up and play-bitting.
Jumping-up: No one is to pet the puppy unless he's sitting. Of course, this doesn't count play, as long as the play is initiated by the human.
Play-bitting: The kids should always have a chew toy upon which he can direct the puppies bitting.
Very well said Alpha I especially agree with the part that it isn't fair to lock the puppy or sit quiet while the other puppies are having a good time. They do see them as littermates.
A good breeder will already have been working on the play bitting. Our last litter was extremely well trained in the play bitting and mouthing humans.
LYN-Z
I think a dobie would make a great companion for your family, I had two of them growing up when I was your boys age. Actually the boys will be a big help in socilizing and burning energy. Like Alpha said your bigest challenge is to train the boys on what the dog needs/should be doing. They are an awesome family dog. And if well socilized at a young age, they can go anywhere or be with anybody. As for winter, they don't really care for it. They will go outside and stay outside if your out their with them but I wouldn't expect to leave him/her outside for 30 min or more.
Go for it - Be stern and fair and he/she will be a great family dog. They are extreamly smart and will pick up on what you want pretty fast!
Aaron Carentz
New york
Thank you all for your responses. It has given me much to think about! The Doberman is still a top contender on what breed to get. My major concern is having to "worry" about the dog. As well as peoples perceptions. I don't want the parents of my children's friends to be nervous about having their children over here. Also my family is already having issues with our decsion to meet a few breeders spend some time with dogs as a possible choice as a new family member. (The Doberman is still on the top 10 list for dangerous dogs).
*sigh*
The other breeds I am looking at are the Vizsla, and German Shorthaired Pointer.
I am drawn to the Dobe, such a beautiful dog. Plus my husband is on board. And no one will be messn' with me when I run for sure!lol
Thanks again!
I usually find that once people meet my dogs, they soon come to the realization that dangerous dog list is bunk. Although it is not on TV anymore, the series Dog Town which highlighted the rescue and rehabilitation program of Best Friends Animal Society out in Utah put the lie to dangerous dogs.
Now, I do not mean to say that there are no dangerous dogs, but I do mean that there are no breeds of dogs that are more dangerous than other breeds. All dogs by nature are friendly and it is the actions of humans thats makes them mean. Any dog can be made mean.
Even the most notorious breed in the U.S., the Pit Bull, has to be trained to fight, and then those who would fight them are not sucessful in getting all of them to fight. The fate of the dogs that won't fight - they are either killed by the trainers or used as bait dogs. In fact, that was some of the animal cruelty charges against Michael Vick and his friends, they killed dogs that either would not fight or did not fight well.
Dog Town took 22 of the most troubled dogs that some has suggested be put down. They had to be taught how to play. There were many episodes of the show devoted to how they worked with these dogs. Now these dogs were severely damaged by their Vick trainers and had to be un-trained by Dog Town. It was very inspiring to watch the transformation.
Yet, how many times do we meed a pet Pit Bull in Pet Smart who is open and friendly? Before the dog fighters settled on the Pit Bull, many used Dobermans. We who own well adjusted and properly socialized companion Dobes are still today fighting the stereotype even though it has been decades since they were heavily used for that.
A dangerous Dog owner list would make far more sense than a dangerous dog list!
mmdobermans..I didn't know you live in Idaho. Were not that far from each other!! :)
Luke, I completely agree with you. People cause the problems with these strong alpha temperment dogs. I have owned a pit bull, sharpei and dobie. All have been good dogs. I just had to make sure they knew I was top dog. Where I failed my babies is I didn't socialize them enough. My kids were teenagers when I got them so the dogs were only around me and other big people. Years later when my grandson was born and started crawling around, my dogs were not happy. They would snarl at him if he got too close to their beds. So to prevent a horrible situation (my own son had been bitten by an Old English when he was 7 or 8 when he tried to give his grandma a hug), I had to give my dogs away. I felt horrible, as it was my fault for not providing the proper socialization as puppies.
I have learned my lesson and Lil Mama is around big kids, little kids, other dogs, cats, repair people that come over, etc. We go on walks, car rides, and trips to Petco. The only thing I haven't done yet is take her to the off leash dog park. Not comfortable with that yet.
Lyn, you are so wise to ask all these questions and research. I fell in love with Dobies when I was a teenager and I babysat for a family that had 2 little girls ages 3-5. When the girls were out playing in the front yard, the dobie would stand guard between them and the street. No matter where those girls went, the dog was with them. One night while babysitting, I got really sick. My mom came to take me home, but we had to take the girls with us and then mom went back with them to their house. Their dobie watched as we loaded the girls into the car, but made no moves to try and stop us. When their parents came home, they said they were surprised the dog didn't have a fit since she is so protective of the girls. She must have known everything was going to be ok.
A dobe sounds perfect for your home, they are great exercise buddies and good "babysitters" lol. I don't recommend running that much with the pup till @ least 10 months old... maybe even older. another great thing you and your kids can do with him/her is agility (when older) or flyball (again, when older)
you might have a prob with the swimming since a lot of dobes don't like the water.
Good luck!!
Joy and Skye!!♥♥♥♥♥
whoopsie, double post!!
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Wow, that was a lot of questions. The one thing that would concern me as a very discriminate breeder in placing puppies is the fact that you wont put up a fence. Yes I do think Dobermans can be taught to respect the invisible fence but they are not full proof. For example I feel very strongly with my own dogs who are incredibly trained and smart, if they saw a cat the prey drive would kick in like crazy and they wouldn't care how much they were being zapped.
Snow... we have lots of snow here in Idaho and my dogs are fine in short spurts of it. They love to go play outside as long as we are out with them. If you have one dog they are not going to entertain themselves very long to get the appropriate exercise. So the exercising is the hardest parts of the long winter months around here.
Kids and Dogs... I've always had kids with my Dobermans. Mine have done fine for the most part together. I think a female would probably better suit the age groups of your kids but that is my personal preference. Males take much longer to mature than females and they are just more clumsy in everything they do until they do mature. The one thing that I would caution you against is the wrestling and roughhousing. some protective breeds don't quite know how to handle it. Not that they would attack or anything like that but they can be QUITE concerned with it. This goes to say NEVER leave any child unattended with ANY dog no matter how well you think you know them. I'll give another example that I hope you can see from. Way back when with our first child we had a Rottweiler. Now keep in mind she had been raised with the kids but had tremendous prey/play drive. I was in the kitchen watching everyone play outside and as I looked up from washing dishes noticed that she had my older daughter by the hood dragging her across the yard. They had previously been running and playing with the dog. The dog didn't mean to hurt her and thank goodness I was right there, but my daughter couldn't breathe either. Don't think for a minute that it is a Rottweiler thing either. I could list instance after instance of things that happen with dogs and kids. If you want I can be more specific, have had lots of experience with it.
Dobermans love to go with on errands and love to go hiking, camping... anywhere they can be with their humans. They do not do well left alone or couped up all day without human contact. They are known as the velcro dog so if you don't want a dog under your feet all day long and have to be into everything that the owner is doing then don't get one. Your Doberman would be fine with your parents dog, the cat and the golden retriever as long as you do YOUR PART and socialize, SOCIALIZE,SOCIALIZE!! Training is extremely important and a puppy should be started properly from the moment you get them home. Finding a training center to utilize will be helpful.
Swimming... the dog may need a life vest. My dogs like the water and will go out in it to retrieve things but sink very quickly. I bought them a life vest this year should be fun. Most Dobermans have a harder time swimming.
Babysitters.... the dog will be fine.
Exercising.... This will be the best running partner ever and a fantastic way to burn off the energy and keep it fit. Just need to make sure you do no forced running in this matter until they are full grown, you can do lots of damage if started to early. What better way to give the dog exercise and protect at the same time.
Disney at Grandmas... the dog will probably do just fine, it would definitely miss you and be way to happy to see you when you get back home. It would probably be relieved that it was at grandmas since it would have been socialized to her before versus some kennel.
The very MOST important thing YOU can do if you decide to buy a Doberman is research and buy from a reputable Breeder! You have young children you need to consider and you want a puppy raised in an appropriate environment. You want the EXPERIENCED breeder to Pick your puppy for you! They know which one is more dominate, aggressive with other animals, fearful. Don't look in your local paper to purchase! This would be the biggest mistake of your life. You want a puppy that the parents have been health tested and the breeder knows the dogs in the pedigree. Just because someone advertises that they have both sire and dam on property DOES not mean they are a good breeder. Do you know that some lines may carry aggression? Your typical backyard breeder will know nothing about the lines behind the dogs they breed. Please, please PLEASE do research. I would be more that happy to recommend a few breeders to start with. Temperaments are extremely important with young children and to many new people make the mistake of buying from the wrong breeder!