SearchA dobie that does not bark?
I adopted a Dobie (just turned 3) about 6 weeks ago. She has become so special to me. I just wished she would bark when my friends and the UPS delivery guy drive into my yard. ( I live in a rural area) Can someone give me some ideas ???
I know she can because she has a very deep bark when she wants to chase the deer out of my strawberry beds!
There can be many reasons why she does not yet bark. She may not see them as threats. If the UPS driver comes on a regular basis, and you greet him pleasantly as he has a package you are expecting, he will not see the driver as a threat. No threat, no bark.
He will also not see your friends who arrive and are let into your home pleasantly as threats. No threat, no bark.
A Dobie will not act as a doorbell. My Miniature Schnauzers are my doorbell. My Dobies are their backup, and Red does not bark unless the Schnauzers keep carrying on. Then it's just a woof or two (ones that rattle the windows though). When I have friends come over, Red never barks. However, when someone stops out in the street that has not been here before, he sounds off. Princess at 7 months has not had a real opportunity yet.
My first Dobie was Windy, a black female whom I go when she was four months old. (That's her as my avatar) I took her with me when I went to visit my parents (1982) for Christmas. A few days later, my mother asked if she ever barked because up to that point the only bark she had issued was a small woof when she wanted out. About that time I heard the full throated deep chested Doberman bark followed by a definite guttural growl from the living room. I immediately went into the living room to find Windy confronting my father. He had just come in from the garage and was wearing a jacket and cap. Windy had been asleep in the den, and he went into the garage. She heard the noise and went to investigate. He walked back in and she did not recognize him and went on full alert. Her ears were back and the hackles up from her neck to her tail.
I told him to speak to her. He had frozen in place which was the correct reaction, and when he spoke to her, half the hackles came down, her ears came up to half mast, and her tail started wagging gently. She stepped forward, sniffed him and ears came up and tail started wagging. Dad reached out, scratched her behind the ears, and said "Good Girl". He fully understood her reaction. She had been confronted, in her area by a strange person, and acted accordingly.
A Doberman will only react when feel that they or their people are threatened. They will read your reaction and act accordingly.
:) Thank you green4!! this makes sense to me now. My other Dobies ( now deceased) always barked a couple of " woofs" when someone came in to the yard. I always appreciated that as it just let me know someone was in the yard.
Well, I think this will turn out well. All of my Dobe's came from shelters and with some problems what had to be worked on. This girl seems to have had obedience training and walks very good with a leash. Comes on the first "come", etc. I was told she was turn in to the shelter because she was always visiting elderly neighbor next door instead of "staying home."
This is a great forum. We can never learn enought about these wonderful animals. They are so special.
I've got nothing unless you want to ask your friends/family, neighbors, and the UPS guy to just dab on some deer pheramones before they come over. I'm sure they wouldn't mind, haha. :P ;D Haha, I'm sorry, that was useless to you, but i just got this image of everyone you know suddenly smelling like deer.