we rehomed a dobermann about 6 months ago when he was 9 months old and we are just struggling a little with him, he has been molly coddled and indulged so is rather spoilt and used to his own way, he is as you can imagine very head strong we know that persevering with him he will be, well he is, a completely cracking dog, his temperament is amazing and he loves our small dogs, our smallest girl kisses his face in the morning(he lies down so she can reach him ) am just having a bit of a low day and wondering what issues others have had and how they have overcome them??
Well, I dont think I can offer much advice really even though our dobe, Gelert, is 12 now. We've not had anything out of the ordinary to contend with, mostly down to the fact that she is such a wuss she never really goes far from us and doesnt like to do anything naughty!! Hope you feel a bit more cheery soon, just keep the training going and he'll be a great addition soon. He sounds as if he has a sweet nature and likes his kisses lol. Gels seemed to grow up a bit when she got to 2, so not long now.
aww he is a huge wuss too, he lets everyone bully him!! including the 11 year old foster papillon we have at the moment!! he will not go into the crate if this fearsome papillon is in there!!! he is very very pushy, but i know that with persistence and patience he will be so wonderful, just a down day am sure tomorrow will be better!!!! do love the name gelert, what attracted you to a dobermann initially??
My uncle had 2 black & tans and friends had the same when I was growng up...I just loved them and knew that they were the dogs for me. Gelert is brown and tan, female and beautiful. She is a very kind and loving girl, beautiful inside & out.
Ah...boys Think of it this way, at least you missed the viper teeth stage I love my boy and his incredibly cheeky ways and immense personality. He knows the boyf is the ultimate boss but will still play deaf until you get to increasing the tone! And I am adored and entertained with unwavering intensity by a boy who thinks the point of his very existence is to make me smile. Hes 5 now and still as dappy as ever if a little less inclined to beggar off to the other end of a field to see other dogs
What is it that's worrying you? If it's any consolation my rescue Beardie took about 3 years to get over some of his problems There were days when I despaired and was reduced to tears but kept going and now he is a nice boy to live with. Hang in there
What issues are you actually facing? Ppl say my boy is spoilt, he is. But I don't think thats an issue tbh. Maybe if your more specific about the issues your facing and what methods etc you have been trying, we can help you out a bit more.
Just love this post, sounds like my boy and he's five too Sometimes I think its his whole world that revolves around me but more often the whole world revolves around him
ha ha ha ha, yes that sounds slightly familiar!!!!! he is a very cheeky boy!!!! ours is too!!! the deafness until you raise your voice sounds very familiar!!! one that we are struggling with although seeing marked improvement is pushyness, now this doesnt sound too bad but initally he was pushy with EVERYTHING, he pushed through door ways tried to force us to give him attention, he demands, we initally thought he had separation anxiety but it he is usually fine when left alone in the house, if he knows people are in and he is a alone in a room we have massive creating, spoilt isnt necessarily a bad thing per say, its when his every whim has been granted or given to him if he has exerted his voice or pushed, which from what we saw from his last home they did (we were fortunate enough to be able to meet him in his previous environment, we rehomed him instead of him going to rescue) we have spoken with canine behaviourist and she has seen his demanding behaviour, we do clicker training with him, he has to walk through the house especially up and downstairs (he caused one of my sisters to fall down the stairs when he ploughed down) he has often charged through the house and has caused my other halfs nose to bleed, caught her across the face on another such occasion. with all this we made a lot of head way his recall is really really good, he is great out and about he doesnt pull much at all now on his lead, he loves other dogs (sometimes too much ) mostly we are dealing with problems very well and he is a real star in so many ways, was having a low day yesterday when i came in and discovered he had got my kindle and chewed it . . . . . . his name was decidedly mud i can tell you!! he is very goofy and very much a clown love him to pieces dont think i could swap him for the world, he sort of has these mad fits where he feels the need to scrub the carpet with his back and eventually makes his way round the who;e room rolling round he also loves the hamster and has tried playing with her on a couple of occasions
Sounds as though your problems are less with the breed of dog but peripheral issues Environmental management - then stuff cannot be chewed Lack of attention - dogs have to be taught to be alone, ie to be "alone" or "settle" whilst you are IN the room either on a bed or in a crate. Jumping - teaching him that 4 feet on the floor = good stuff, 2 feet = 0. You have 3 different dogs with 3 different "attitudes" so you may find your Dobe a bit more boisterous than you are used to? Good luck
Wot she said but apart from that it all sounds pretty typical Dobermann to me, they do like to push boundaries but you have to stand firm and remind them your boundaries are set for a reason, persevere and you will get there eventually. Which is what I keep telling myself when finding Milan my rehome yet again with her head in the sink having a rummage . They are also extremely vocal dogs, they have an opinion on everything and they insist on being heard. Their vocal range is amazing and they like to talk whether you want to listen or not. The one thing I always warn anyone thinking of getting a Dobie about is there vocals and they don't improve on that score with age, quite the opposite ime, as they get older they have more to say, gawd help us
I agree with both Smokey and Trouble. I also did find with my male, that the age yours is atm, was the hardest! Sometimes, instead of concentrating only on getting him to be quiet, its worth "listening" to want he's saying too. Sometimes, loui only wants to have his ball when its rolled some where he's not allowed to go and get it on his own. If I ignore that, then he's seen as bad for moaning at me, then bad for not settling, then bad for stepping on my craft stuff....when he only wants his ball back. give him his ball and send him off and he's fine Im not saying you should give in to every single whim, like Smokey said, you need to teach him to settle, but they don't call them velcro dogs for nothing either!
oh he settles beautifully in his crate or bed if we are with him!! if we are on the other side of a door how ever creating occurs, he will literally settle for hours at a time when he has things the way he wants. however we had a massive breakthrough through today when he settled for nearly an hour happily by himself outside our lounge (with dog gate) whilst we were in it chatting to a friend who had come over we couldnt believe it he played with treat toy initially then just curled up!! such a huge breakthrough even though it sounds like such a small thing!!!! yes following through with 4 paws attention, 2 paws nothing, we are at the stage of him not jumping up even when excited now he only jumps up when very excited so playing with his toys with us but we put it away when he jumps up gets it back when good and he is doing really well with that too!! my kindle fell off the wardrobe and onto the floor and to be honest i didnt blame him for a second it was totally my fault. i just had a cry and shortly after he got his tea. he had a fab play today with a chunky whippet type and when called came straight back, really chuffed with him yes we are dealing with the three issues separately rather than thinking oh its just his breed, we did research the breed as they were on our list for at least a year prior to buddy boy turning up and when informed separation anxiety was his problem we didnt have an issue as we have delt with that before quite few times, one of our dogs now had it so we felt quite confident in being able to deal with it. we havent found him too vocal to be honest- although 'yet' sounds like it should go in there!!!- i love the way he talks to you or groans at you when he lies down, or is REALLY comfy and feels the need to tell you all about how good this is he had the biggest zoomies round the garden today and learned how to dig too, he had a marvellous time excavating the hole the rabbits had originally started all in all a good day and we are back on track with him and buoyed by a very good day, thank you for all your suggestions, they are gratefully received and fully appreciated, its really good to know we are travelling in the right direction with him. just wanted to hear from other dobe owners to see what difficulties have been experienced and how typical our case seems to be? i suspected quite to be honest though!!
I don't think you need to apologise for going on at length about your dog. (However a few paragraph breaks would be good lol!) I've never owned a Doberman but have known and do know people who do and if I lived where I could have one I wouldn't hesitate. They have been some of the best trained dogs I've known, friendly and all that. I liked what was said about 4 legs good 2 legs BAD! I don't think I'd better say what I was told to do by 'trainers' some 30 yrs ago to stop a huge dog 'jumping up at you' because there were no dog behavourists I heard of then apart from blerdy B. Woodhouse. But what I was told to do WORKED and it worked quickly too. And was sure better than me training my little kids to duck down as we came in the front door so she went over the top of them lol!
