Kekly

We don't have a dog park here and so we take the Dobies to the people park and turn them loose in the enclosed baseball diamonds. Well, most people will hide behind trees or turn around and walk the other way or cross the street when they see us just walking our dobies. We all know how vicious they are lol Well this lady is walking two small dogs ( like the size of a bichon (sp?)) and our dobes are playing, snarling, standing on their hind legs kind of thing and she askes if her little ones can come in play. We were dumbfounded! We told her sure, but they can get a little rough. She said no problem. Our dogs fell in love with the little furry ones and just followed them around and did play pounces all around them. I was proud of my dogs and happy to meet someone who was not terrified of my big bad dobies. What an awesome experience.

MaxsMom

Isn't it great when things like that happen? Max loves to play with the smaller dogs, he tries to be more gentle with them.

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Nickyb

If it were me, I would've asked you "Can I come in and play with your dobies?"
Always nice to see people view these breeds in a nice way.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickyb210/

Zoey- Adopted Maligator on 4/29/12
Princess- PB WGSD 3/15/01-9/21/11
Forever would've been to short...

sky14

niceeeee
riko plays with pugs poms and other small pups all the time

Kekly

We took them for a walk to today over to a friends house that was having construction done buy my Uncles company, so just wanted to see how things were going. An elderly couple pulled up into the driveway next door and asked if my dogs were dobermans. I said yes and the little old lady gets out of her car and comes over and asks if she can pet them. So now I have found 2 people in my neighborhood who love/like Dobies.

ZeldaRules

That's awesome that the little dog owner was not scared, but to play devil's advocate here, things could have potentially gone very wrong had your dobes accidentally hurt or seriously injured the little one by running around or playing. It sounds like a cute idea for them all to play and get along, but when you really start to dissect the variables involved, you become more skeptical and cautious in that situation.

People will be nice to your face one day and then want to sue your pants off the next. People will sue for anything these days. When I was looking up greyhound muzzling information for pdub's recent thread, I came across an article that mentioned one group of grey owners who regularly got together for playdates. Most of the people were volunteers for a greyhound rescue or has adopted from one. Well, on one fateful day they got their dogs together like normal but a bad pack fight broke out. Some dogs were severely injured and others were not. One owner of a badly injured dog decided to put the blame on the owner of one dog that she thought riled the others to and started it. She actually sued the owner of that dog, who was her friend, AND the greyhound rescue that adopted that dog out. I can post the link if you would like to read the story. It's terrible.

So, yeah, it all seems cute, but keep in mind that the small dog is a dog your dobes have never met or played with before and the owner is a complete stranger that you really don't know. No matter how great the dogs get along or how ok the owner seems with it, the size difference alone would be cause for concern as an accident can happen in a split second and the owner might change keys when it's their baby that gets hurt....some of us here have been taken out by our own dobes during play or running and it hurts like a *channeling my ESP people here on this one* when a big dog going really fast slams into you. All a Dobe has to do with a small dog is land on it the wrong way and it's paralyzed.

You can make your own decisions of course, but next time you might want to say that you are not liable if your dogs accidentally injure hers during play. I see little dogs get ran over often when their idiot owners bring them into the big dog sides. Sorry for my rant, I just wanted to post this perspective because sometimes we don't think of these things when we are caught up in a moment.

Kekly

ZR, thank you for your post. I had not thought of the "what if's". We had a small dog previously (RIP MAGGIE) so didn't think too much about it. But you are right. I have been taken off my feet once by each dog who was running full out. It hurts and it was not intentional or serious, although I was on crutches for 2 days following the last crash (i have a bad knee, which of course, was the one Sampson slammed into). I will keep this message in mind next time though. We do meet an older gentleman with a big dog that likes to play with ours because it tires the dog out and he doesn't have to walk as far. I do ask him to sit down and kind of guard him when the dogs are playing so he won't get accidently hurt. They play much rougher with big dogs then the little ones.

Fortheloveofadoberman

yea I can sympathize with the what if's. I don't have a dog park either, my family takes our dogs to a county park where it is off the beaten path, easy walking, ( for me) haha and lets the dogs get a good short run, smelling and exploring. We take treats and call them back periodically just to keep them close. They love it, and usually the park is quiet or we wouldn't let them off leash.

I am very cautious about letting people pet my dogs. Always seems like kids want to come and grab her face and get real close. My doberman just doesn't like this, never has, and I have a grandson who is now 8 yrs old. She tollerates it for a little while, but then I can tell when she is getting tired of the attention. She seems to like checking out the people first smelling them and nosing them then she is alot more willing to let them pet her. She even then just doesn't like the face thing. It makes me nervous so I let kids pet her for a moment then I politely send them off. LOL Adults isn't much of an issue so she is more accepting of that, but I don't want to be in that situation of someone gettin nipped. I am not sure why she is like that, she has been very well socialized since she was a puppy, and I have taken her to alot of places with people.

I was put on the spot a few yrs back when a lady came to my door knowing I had a doberman, her little girl had gotten attacked by a pitt bull and was scared of big dogs now. Her arm was still bandaged even. They came with her little brother too. I asked them to sit down, guess they didn't hear me and followed me into the kitchen. My dogs rushed the door and of course everyone was scared to death ! I took my schnauzer away as she is not social just barks and runs. Anyway, I told them to ignore her, to let her nose them, and when she settles down, I would give them some dog treats to give to her. It worked great, she was leery of the boy for some reason took her awhile to warm up to him. I gave her the command of sit and wait for treat which she did, and she very nicely took ea treat from them. I was pleased with my girl, she was on the spot and did a great job in making up with that little girl and she soon relaxed and was smiling again. Pheww' My dogs have been around little dogs alot and they do well with small and big dogs but guess that is just taking them around my friends who have alot of dogs, different breeds too. anyway, that was my story, sorry for rambling lol