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Finding the right Dobermann | |||||||
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Finding | Rescue Contacts | Dobes Needing Homes | Success Stories | To help you make a decision, select the following articles: Evaluating the Dobermann puppy How to select a working-dog pup
FINDING THE RIGHT DOBERMANN Should you be looking for a Dobermann? Before you start on the hunt for the perfect Dobermann, you should first understand enough about the breed to make sure that the Dobermann is actually the dog for you. As the Coordinators of the Rescue Schemes, I and others throughout the country re-home more than a hundred Dobermanns every year, probably half of which were bought by people who should have chosen another breed. As a breed Dobermanns are poorly suited to backyard life. If you have a busy life and are out and about in a way that does not include the dog, please don’t get one. They are highly energetic and need exercise and stimulation. Having a large garden is not enough, and if you do not take them out for regular exercise and a run they will invent all sorts of activities for themselves: landscaping, rearranging and ingesting bits of the irrigation system, helping you get the laundry off the line (in your absence, and then destroying it), ruining all neighbourhood relations with their barking. Dobermanns are on the whole excellent watch dogs. The same qualities that make them the highly alert dogs that they are can also make them difficult to live with. They bark. Sometimes they bark a lot. While not aggressive, they are also not as a rule dogs which strangers should be allowed to handle without supervision. Many Dobermanns not raised with children will be intolerant of small children. They want to be right with you, and while for some people this is just what they want, for others it becomes an irritation. One woman returned a lovely Dobermann back to me with the comment: “How can people stand this? If I wanted that much attention I’d have another baby!” (For those of us who love them, we think they’re even better than babies! No nappies, that sort of thing.) Puppy or Older Dog Puppies are awfully cute, aren’t they? They also take a huge amount of time and energy. They require firm boundaries and they can really try your patience. And your Dobermann will still be very much of a puppy when it already weighs 30 or 35 kgs. Someone once told me that Dobermann jaws are as strong as those of a Great White Shark; while this might not be truly the case, I’ve seen chomped chairs, garden hoses, doors and innumerable smaller objects which would indicate that this is true. They can dig. Boy, can they dig. My friend’s dog George in Grahamstown once dug a hole so big his owner thought he was coming to visit me in Cape Town. Make sure you are ready for this. Old dogs, new tricks. It is “absolute nonsense” that you can’t train an older dog to fit into your household or that you won’t love one as much as one you raise from a puppy. Dobermanns are very people-affiliated, and adjust to a new home in days or at most weeks. The dogs we get in our rehoming schemes are much-loved family dogs; check our rescue section for more information. Choosing a Puppy When choosing a puppy you have the choice of getting one which is registered (eg registered with the Kennel Union of South Africa) or one which is not registered. KUSA registered breeders are listed on this site, and we accept adverts from breeders of both registered and unregistered litters. We do not make recommendations, but rather want to inform you so that you can make the best choice. You will find lovely Dobermanns whether registered and unregistered. Unregistered dogs will be unlikely to have had health checks done. The parents of KUSA registered dogs will have had to be tested for hip dysplasia but nothing else at present; fortunately hip dysplasia does not seem to be an issue in Dobermanns to the extent that it is in other breeds. Dobermanns are a relatively young breed from a relatively small gene pool, and there are health problems. Some can be life-threatening, such as cancer, gastric torsion (stomach twisting), von Willebrands Disease (a bleeding disorder) and Dilated Cardiomyopathy (a heart problem). Others such as Wobblers Disease (Cervical Vertebral Instability, a degenerative neck problem) can bring on tremendous pain and eventually paralysis. Some, like thyroid disorders, need to be managed. Some of these can be tested for, but not all. Some are genetic, some hereditary, some not. Please see our section on Available Health Tests. If you are choosing a registered dog, discuss these diseases and tests with your breeder. Just because the parents are registered doesn’t guarantee you a healthier dog than one you might get from an unregistered litter – make sure the breeder has done their homework and bred thoughtfully. |