Do you have anything in the Marlette, Michigan area?  I went to the [now] only vet in our area and he did nothing but give me funny looks and criticize how the vet before cropped her ears; mentioning how much HE cost versus where she had her's done, and how HE does ear cropping and how her's was done "too long.  It'll look ugly."  No one calls my baby ugly   Especially when I have to pay THEM money! Haha /rant.  I'm in need of a new vet that won't push his/her beliefs onto me.  For example, this vet I went to pushed the spade issue.  And I mean PUSHED.  Didn't even ASK me if I was going to do it, just said WHEN to do it.  This displeases me.

Any suggestions?

Hi Roxi,  I love the picture of Roxi with her sweet nose.  She is a doll - and I happen to think a show crop is beautiful.  Your girl will be stunning. 

I would be upset at my vet, too, if he criticized my baby!  I do feel strongly about the neuter thing, though.  There are only a handful of qualified people who should leave their dogs unsplayed and those are the committed breeders who uphold the breed standard and breed for health and temperament as well as confirmation. Dobermans can have so many inherent health problems that only breeders who strive to alleviate those conditions should be breeding. There really aren't that many of them.  I have heard so many people say "I just want her to have one litter."  That makes me crazy!!!  One unneutered dog can increase exponentially. Plus, I cannot imagine releasing any of my dog's puppies to the likes of a lot of the people out there looking for a dog. We got Ginger from the pound and it is sickening to see all the animals there who 90% of them will have to be euthanized.  So, that is one of the things I consider a hallmark of a conscienable vet and have absolutely no problem when they push this. Even though I would never not have a dog neutered, I don't take the vet's interrogation as an indictment that I won't; he's just driving home the absoulte importance of it. Ginger was only 11-12 weeks when we got her, and the pound would not release her until they spayed her. I didn't know they did it that young, and it was distressing, however, I took it on faith that they knew what they were doing as they have a stable of vets there that perform the neutering.  About 8 years earlier, we got one of our dogs from the pound and at that time they gave you a $75 voucher to turn in after you had the dog spayed.  People just weren't doing it and it was increasing to the animal population, so they changed the policy. Please post more pictures of Roxi!

Well, my breeder and I decided that we will breed her for at least one litter, and that she will handle it, but the fact is he forced it on me and I don't take well to that.  I almost felt like he had more plans for my dog than I did.  He didn't even ask me one question about if I planned on breeding or not, it was just "do this."  Um, no dude, it's my dog.  And I understand the importance of spading a dog (especially if there's a good chance s/he'll be left outside), but it should still be a QUESTION not a statement.

For the cropping, I've seen her other dobes and all of their ears are standing.  Her boy that was there has ears already standing!  And they are BEAUTIFUL!  The vet didn't like the curl, he didn't like the method of doing it, he basically didn't like ANYTHING that the vet before did with my dog, or my breeder for that matter.  She's been doing it for 18 years now, but according to him, she knows "nothing".  I knew this would happen.  The only good vet in our town retired and now we're stuck with a crappy one.  I wish I lived close enough to the Detroit-area so I could go to where Alpha listed, but I'm like 72 miles away :[.  This vet in town also charges an arm and a leg.  Or maybe I'm just used to the other GOOD vet?  He was cheap :/ 

/rant Haha  Sometimes things just get me soooo riled up!  Grrr >.<