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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on May 5, 2009 at 5:02pm

We gained a doberman this past year. She was/is our grand dog but when our son decided to sell his house and go back to college we invited them to move in here. She is 6 and still a bit of an airhead. Since my son works and goes full time to college she is basically my dog. She is the sweetest velcro dog ever. I do wish she had been trained a little better because she is still hard to walk. It takes a while for her to "get" stuff. The corgis are much more clued into anything we try to train them and they have never met anyone they didn't like. She is not aggressive but is very standoffish with strangers. I have to admit that when I go for long walks in the woods I feel a lot safer. This is definitely a breed that needs to come from a good breeder and be trained in obediance! They also need a lot of excersise. This is an athelete. With all that she is a great dog, wonderful when she has been introduced to someone and grat with our two year old grandson. She plays well with the corgis too. But you have to know what your getting into and they can be adolescents for a long time. Good luck with your decision!

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on May 5, 2009 at 5:41pm

We have owned two doberman's in the past a male and female. Our female was the sweetest and gentelist dog that we have ever had. She passed away last year but up until the end she treated our corgi Yuki like her baby. Our male was a bit more of a problem you had to keep him away from small children but he never hurt anyone. We got him after he was already a year old and had a disslike for children I’m sure if we’d had him as a puppy that he would have been fine. They both trained easily and would bark when people approached our fence or front door, they even chased someone out of our back yard once so I think they make good guard dogs. The only problem was that once both of them got older like 8 or 9 they started to have joint problems that the cold winters here in Idaho made a lot worse. I love my corgi’s best but our dobermans were really great dogs too I think that they would be a good dog for you.

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Permalink Reply by Ross on May 5, 2009 at 5:51pm

What was someone doing in your backyard that caused the dog to chase them?

One thing that we are ever vigilant about is dog theft, I've heard too many sad stories about small pure-bred dogs getting snatched up from their yards when their owners weren't looking, even in "good" neighborhoods. It's not an issue now, because we don't have a fenced in yard.
But one day when I do have a fenced in backyard it would be nice to know I could let Atlas outside for a few hours, and he would have a 80lb doberman playmate that would deter any would-be dog theives.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on May 5, 2009 at 5:50pm

I grew up with 2 :) Awesome dog, great watch dog, ours protected our family home in Hong Kong. They really can sense visitors before seeing them, ours were not guard dog, they were never trained to be aggressive, village kids often come by our house to hand feed them :( Very gentle, respectful to my clan, all my younger cousins can climb, ride and and handle them with ease, as long as they see and understand you are within my circle of trust, they are back to their watch dog duty. Shedding is awful especially during the summer.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on May 5, 2009 at 7:40pm

Your right about the shedding! I thought corgis were bad for shedding but those little short black hairs are harder to pick up. Dobes were bred for protection and they do take that seriously. It is actually a good combo with our corgis because they don't miss any outside activity and the dobe can back it up!

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Permalink Reply by Jayne Wagner on May 22, 2009 at 2:26pm

They are a great breed - can be sweet, gentle and are sometimes big babies! They are good watch dogs and can be very intimidating to outsiders though. One of our neighbors adopted through a doberman rescue and got the best behaved dog I've ever witnessed. I strongly urge you to check with a rescue organization as they can determine the behavior while they are fostering. It's always good to save a dog too :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lauren + Winston on May 22, 2009 at 7:41pm

I know someone with a Doberman. He's a sweetheart, very nice. You should check out Great Pyrenees, too! Love the breed :)

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Permalink Reply by Amanda & Tuck on May 23, 2009 at 11:32am

Tucker made friends with a Doberman at the park yesterday. They got along well and played with each other for about an hour.

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