My doberman's name is Ziva, named after the NCIS character in the tv series.  (Yeah, I'm a huge NCIS fan).  My wife and I have had doberman pinschers for the past 28 years, and we love the breed so much.  The one we had before Ziva came home with us was Darmok, a huge black and rust girl that was the smartest dog I ever knew.  She died of cancer a year ago, just 3 months before her 7th birthday.  I still get tears in my eyes when I talk about Dar.  She was so special.  We have other dogs, rat terriers and an old geriatric Pom, but after Dar crossed the rainbow bridge, I felt that my house was empty without a doberman in it.  When we found Ziva, my heart skipped a beat--literally.  She was never intended to replace Dar, and I have never expected more of her than she can give, but she gives so much.  I've taken her to basic puppy obedience classes, did a 4-week tracking basics class, even went through a 6-week agility class that was just an Intro to Obstacles class, just to give her some different things to do and make her aware of things that exist outside our own yard.  I have tried to expose her to many different situations, even taking her to work with me once or twice for a short while just so I could take her up and down in the elevator for that experience.  She is so much fun, and I love working with her.  She's 76.8 lbs right now (just had her wieghed 2 days ago) and is almost 26 inches at the shoulder, even though she looks like she is all legs.  Still very much a puppy at this point, but a very happy puppy.  I love my dog.