Let me start off by saying that I have been researching dobermans for months now from: breeders with most champions, genetics, titles, history, and such. I have talked to breeders, read books, combed the internet, visited breeders, been to shows, and talked to scientist. PLEASE do not fill my thread up with posts about how people don't do there research and are ignorant because having all the information that I do, I probably know more than many people on here, but I know that there are people with more knowledge than I so that is why I am posting this thread. Please keep your comments on topic and factual with links or pictures for reference if possible. I am not saying I agree one way or another I am just saying I have done lots of research and am giving my opinion.
I would like to start with the white doberman. I would agree with the theory that a lot of white dobermans have health or temperament problems, but I could also say that about a lot of the "accepted" colors as well. Few reputable, knowledgeable breeders breed white dobermans right now, so we have people who have no clue what they are doing not knowing what they are breeding. This happens with all the colors though this is part of the reason dobermans have a reputation for being aggressive. My friend was allowed to have her white doberman at an apartment complex but not her black or red. This is because people associate the black and red as dobermans mostly. People have not done knowledgeable breeding and have produced unhealthy, bad temperamented dobermans of all colors.
Having said that I have talked to and read a couple of white doberman breeder's sites. The information and testing they have done is extensive. They are working with colleges and scientist all over the world. They do health test and hair test on all of their dogs and not just the white ones. They breed with knowledge and are about further the breed. Yes they are breeding white dobermans but they are breeding for health and conformation. I can see no fault in them. There are "outstanding, reputable" breeders that only breed reds or blacks that don't do as many health tests as these breeders do. The breeders have said that they themselves have experienced white dobermans with the ailments that people say they have but have never had those issues in any whites that they have breed. I have backed this information up with owners of their puppies.
One of the main things people say is that dobermans have poor eyesight and squint in the sunlight. I would like to point out that people with blue eyes squint more in the sunlight than people with other color eyes. Yet I am sure that there are people on this forum with blue eyes that have children. Why is it ok to let your kid have to squint more than someone with brown eyes but it isn't ok for a doberman. Some owners of white dobermans have even stated that their white doberman squints no more than their dobermans of other colors. Eye exams have been done on white dobermans that have been carefully bred to check for issues. Very few of them have actually had any eye problems and the scientist performing the exams said that part of the ones with them could be from the eye problems that can be in dobermans of any color.
To say that a white doberman is an albino is yet a factual claim. It may come to that it is proven to be but the closest it has come so far is to be considered a partial albino which no scientist has said for sure that is true. They are still unsure of where the gene comes from. One scientist referred to the hair as blond because it did have pigment in it. All the hairs so far have had some amounts of pigment in them. Albino is considered the absence of pigment. Hard to say an animal is an albino if sciences has shown that they do have pigment. Time may prove them to be albino but time may also prove that they are not.
People say that dobermans are genetic defects. If you would like to say that then you have to say that about fawns and Isabellas as well. They were originally "genetic defects" that people now consider acceptable. I don't see anyone refusing to breed or show dogs that carry for or show the dilute gene. Science has shown that the dilute gene is a genetic anomaly which in layman terms would be genetic defect.
People also love pointing out that all white dobermans go back to a single dog, but what about champion bloodlines that go back just as far to a single dog. We don't say anything about that because it is considered acceptable because it is what people feel is ok.
One thing I do have a huge problem with is dogs that have the Z in their name and are discriminated against even thought it many generations away from a white. The white gene more than likely has been bred out by that point.
If we want to talk about genetic defects, we should really talk about blues and fawns and the problems with loss of hair. This has proven to be a problem but once again it is something that with careful breeding and proper diet can be pretty much stopped. We still have "outstanding, reputable" breeders breeding fawns and blues even though there is a chance that they could have this issue.
Now to close my first run on this thread I would like to bring up the dominant black doberman. I have found very little information on them and would really like as much information as possible. I do know from research that melanism is most times occurring in animals as a heightened immune system.
Thanks for reading and I hope that this thread can stay civil and factual and that we all can learn a lot from it.
I would like to start with the white doberman. I would agree with the theory that a lot of white dobermans have health or temperament problems, but I could also say that about a lot of the "accepted" colors as well. Few reputable, knowledgeable breeders breed white dobermans right now, so we have people who have no clue what they are doing not knowing what they are breeding. This happens with all the colors though this is part of the reason dobermans have a reputation for being aggressive. My friend was allowed to have her white doberman at an apartment complex but not her black or red. This is because people associate the black and red as dobermans mostly. People have not done knowledgeable breeding and have produced unhealthy, bad temperamented dobermans of all colors.
Having said that I have talked to and read a couple of white doberman breeder's sites. The information and testing they have done is extensive. They are working with colleges and scientist all over the world. They do health test and hair test on all of their dogs and not just the white ones. They breed with knowledge and are about further the breed. Yes they are breeding white dobermans but they are breeding for health and conformation. I can see no fault in them. There are "outstanding, reputable" breeders that only breed reds or blacks that don't do as many health tests as these breeders do. The breeders have said that they themselves have experienced white dobermans with the ailments that people say they have but have never had those issues in any whites that they have breed. I have backed this information up with owners of their puppies.
One of the main things people say is that dobermans have poor eyesight and squint in the sunlight. I would like to point out that people with blue eyes squint more in the sunlight than people with other color eyes. Yet I am sure that there are people on this forum with blue eyes that have children. Why is it ok to let your kid have to squint more than someone with brown eyes but it isn't ok for a doberman. Some owners of white dobermans have even stated that their white doberman squints no more than their dobermans of other colors. Eye exams have been done on white dobermans that have been carefully bred to check for issues. Very few of them have actually had any eye problems and the scientist performing the exams said that part of the ones with them could be from the eye problems that can be in dobermans of any color.
To say that a white doberman is an albino is yet a factual claim. It may come to that it is proven to be but the closest it has come so far is to be considered a partial albino which no scientist has said for sure that is true. They are still unsure of where the gene comes from. One scientist referred to the hair as blond because it did have pigment in it. All the hairs so far have had some amounts of pigment in them. Albino is considered the absence of pigment. Hard to say an animal is an albino if sciences has shown that they do have pigment. Time may prove them to be albino but time may also prove that they are not.
People say that dobermans are genetic defects. If you would like to say that then you have to say that about fawns and Isabellas as well. They were originally "genetic defects" that people now consider acceptable. I don't see anyone refusing to breed or show dogs that carry for or show the dilute gene. Science has shown that the dilute gene is a genetic anomaly which in layman terms would be genetic defect.
People also love pointing out that all white dobermans go back to a single dog, but what about champion bloodlines that go back just as far to a single dog. We don't say anything about that because it is considered acceptable because it is what people feel is ok.
One thing I do have a huge problem with is dogs that have the Z in their name and are discriminated against even thought it many generations away from a white. The white gene more than likely has been bred out by that point.
If we want to talk about genetic defects, we should really talk about blues and fawns and the problems with loss of hair. This has proven to be a problem but once again it is something that with careful breeding and proper diet can be pretty much stopped. We still have "outstanding, reputable" breeders breeding fawns and blues even though there is a chance that they could have this issue.
Now to close my first run on this thread I would like to bring up the dominant black doberman. I have found very little information on them and would really like as much information as possible. I do know from research that melanism is most times occurring in animals as a heightened immune system.
Thanks for reading and I hope that this thread can stay civil and factual and that we all can learn a lot from it.