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Not sure If im going about this the right way, bieng a new member and all,but Im In the market for a new Dobe and could use a few tips on getting a cardio free dog.I have had bad luck in the past and dont think I can stand to lose another member of my family due to my lack of sound imformation.Piease help.
Find a breeder who asks you all kinds of question, forgets to tell you how much they charge, and crys when you leave with their puppy. Once AlphaAdmin gets off his lazy ass, the jerk that runs this forum ;), gets the breeder list up and running, breeders will be able to list themselves and we will have an easier time getting ahold of them. People who get puppies from them can tall about their experiences on the forum too so we can sift out the few good ones.
Thanks for your kind support and motivation horse. ::)
After a considerable amount of research I have placed a deposit on a dog from Family Dobes in Salt Lake City Utah. I found the dog I wanted first, and then researched the breeder. All my input was good but I still would like to hear other peoples opinions.?.
Well well well, kruegerspop. It looks like you've been doing some good work. i was just on their website http://www.familydobes.com/ and I really like their philosophy. It made me feel safe and happy (not common). They get their breeders from Europe and use the European standards for breeding, which are much more strict, especially temperament wise, than US AKC standards.
One thing you will most certainly find, especially if you've accustomed to US lines is that these dogs will have a sharper temperament. In other words, you'll need to make sure the puppy gets some good training and proper socialization. I'm sure you'll do a fine job of this if you're taking this amount of effort in finding a Doberman. European Dobermans are also not usually as pretty. Temperament and workability are assessed before confirmation.
One of our Dobermans, Jewel, if of German breeding. She's a great dog - highly obedient. She gets really mean when anyone gives her any trouble though. Not to us, but to anything unfamiliar. She's also a bit more homely and we have to keep a close eye on her diet. She'll steel the other dogs food and get chubby quick. When she was breeding we let her have all the food she wanted so she has gone through a few chubby periods. Her puppies loved it though. We used to jock that she didn't produce milk, she produced eggnog. Her puppies would get so much milk they would get milk mustaches.
Once her and Stormee had litters at the same time, just a day or so apart. Jewel only had two but stormee had like 12. When the smaller ones in stormee's litter looked skinny, we would rotate them with Jewel (neither would mind) and fatten them up right away.
Are you making a visit to that breeder soon? Let us know how things go! You may have found a good Doberman breeder!
@ AlphaAdmin
You're certainly welcome. How sore is your butt? I figure that is our best hope for the breeder list getting up - when the soreness in your butt surpasses your aversion to getting off of it.
Thanks for the input, I can almost see Jewel all fat and happy. Not homely sure. I'll let you guy's know how things go. My pup should be born around mid march and sent to me about 7 weeks later. P.S. you may right about this breeder. ;)
Now you don't have to almost see....
Not sure If im going about this the right way, bieng a new member and all,but Im In the market for a new Dobe and could use a few tips on getting a cardio free dog.I have had bad luck in the past and dont think I can stand to lose another member of my family due to my lack of sound imformation.Piease help.
I felt this topic was worth revisiting just in case others are wondering the same thing. I would like to add a few things to it that haven't been said here.
To start with cardio is rampant within the Doberman breed. We have a breed that is inflicted with cardio issues. Their is NO LINE that does not carry cardio in it. If you are interviewing breeders and asking about cardio and they tell you my lines don't carry it, then you better RUN the other direction. This person either has their head in the sand, is a backyard breeder and doesn't know or test, or they are hiding something. Their are no Doberman lines that are not affected by it somewhere and somehow. European, American, Russian whatever the case it runs in all the lines.
Their are a couple different ways that are dogs can be screened for it and each are equally as important and give a different picture of the heart. Without doing each one you wont have the complete picture. One test that can be ran is an echocardiogram this is basically an ultrasound of the heart but as we know from basic ultrasound technology can tell us volumes. It measures all kinds of things and finds defects. The other test that is equally as important is an 24 hour holter monitor. This is a machine that records all the heartbeats within a 24 hour period and catches irregular heartbeats.
Many breeders refuse to do the testing as it would ruin their breeding programs if they found out they had a problem. Some have the attitude if we don't test we wont know and we wont have to tell. Some breeders find it useless to do the testing claiming that the test is only as good as the day it was taken. This is true in a sense, but if you don't test your not going to know that your dog is free of the cardio disease. A dog that tests clear one day is not necessarily going to be clear of it in a year. If we don't test and take those affected dogs out of the breeding program though we only perpetuate the problem. So find breeders that test and tell. You want a honest breeder that is going to tell you which dogs in the pedigree have died of it. If they don't know the dogs that are behind the pedigree of their dog and what most of them died of then I wouldn't personally deal with them. You don't know what you will be getting. I look for a pedigree that is free of cardio for at least 3 generations. Annual testing should be done on all breeding animals.
I also like the idea that was mentioned on here about googling the breeders name, kennel name and see what comes up. This could save many people alot of heartache later. If your breeders name doesn't come up that doesn't assure you that their are not any problems with them either. Make sure you do your homework and ask complete questions about all the health issues that plague this breed. Your breeder should be knowledgeable of it, do not let them snake over the questions. Some talk the good talk but have nothing to back it up. You can search such things as OFA website to see if their testing has been recorded. Keep in mind not all breeders register everything with OFA, in that case ask for the proof. Expect a good breeder to ask as many questions of you as you do of them.
I look for a pedigree that is free of cardio for at least 3 generations.
To expand further on this, while looking for 3 generations that are dcm free, I think that one would also be wise to consider the ages of the dogs in those 3 generations. Some people breed their dogs too young, IMO, and 3 generations could only represent about 6 years and of course those dogs should all still be living. While it's great that they are still alive, they also represent a big unknown, meaning that you don't know what is going to happen with them in the future. In that respect, I think it's smart to look for breeders that choose older stud dogs and possibly breed their girls a little later than many, thereby increasing the age span of that 3 generations. If the bitches are bred around 4 years of age, it expands that 3 generation pedigree to 12ish years, and if they chose older stud dogs (maybe 7+), it expands that side of the ped to 20+ years giving you much more information on what the causes of death in the pedigree were/are.
Annual testing should be done on all breeding animals.
While I agree with this, I think that pet owners should be interested in this as well for the benefit of their dogs. Catching cardiac trouble early and starting medication may be able to extend the life of the pet.
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Take your time, have plenty of money, and ask a million questions. Here is a good article on the subjects. [url=http://"http://www.gentledoberman.com/buying.php"]Buying a Puppy[/url]
The trouble with cardiomiopathy is that you can't really test for it accurately. The best way to find out is a puppy is genetically predisposed is to know if any dogs in his line have died from heart problems. Determining this takes asking questions and researching the lines, and asking more questions. Finding a good honest breeder will help with this.
Testing a puppy, or testing a dog every year will only help you catch the condition early. Catching it early can help treat the problem, but there is really not much you can do but spoil a dog with the condition.
Find a breeder who asks you all kinds of question, forgets to tell you how much they charge, and crys when you leave with their puppy. Once AlphaAdmin gets off his lazy ass, the jerk that runs this forum ;), gets the breeder list up and running, breeders will be able to list themselves and we will have an easier time getting ahold of them. People who get puppies from them can tall about their experiences on the forum too so we can sift out the few good ones.
Regardless, let us know what you're doing. Let us know what breeders you're talking to. There are people willing to do research for fun on breeding lines who can halp you out and maybe people who have dealt with the breeder before.
Oh, another good trick is to put the breeder's name, their kennel name, and whatever else into a search engine, like Google, along with other words like 'bad' rip-off' and so on, and see what comes up.