hmlewis84

I am new to Doberman ownership. Mr. Jones is 17 months old and has already been in two homes, both abusive. I have always wanted a Doberman, but was waiting until I could afford the best obedience training, but Mr. Jones kind of fell into my lap. The previous owners were obviously not dog people and kept a shock collar on him at all times. If he moved wrong they would shock him, he had burns all over his neck when we convinced them to sell him to us. I can tell he is smart and eager to please, but he is stubborn as a mule. I have a 9 year old hound that I never had to train so I don’t have much experience in that department. His biggest problems are jumping up on me, plowing through whoever he has to, to get to my husband, and failing to listen to commands when he wants something ie. a neighbor kid, deer, or whatever. Any advise on dealing with the stubbornness or training methods would be greatly appreciated.

Jonesy'sMom

1. Thank you for removing him from a bad situation.
2. Great name Fan of the Jones
3. I would enroll you and him in a training class. Sounds like he has a strong prey drive with not listening when something that is moving. I would get yourself a clicker, and learn a clicker method. Dobes always aim to please, so training him shouldn't be too difficult as soon as he gets what you are trying to do.

Kikopup on youtube has some great videos. Here is one on clicker training and how to introduce it. How to start clicker training your dog- clicker dog training tricks - YouTube

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Jynx

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dobermama

Is he neutered? How long has he been with you? Dobermans must bond to their people before training is really successful- so if he is very new, then I would not expect much from him until he does bond. Also, the fact that all of his prior training was not only wrong, but likely has completely desensitized him means that you are going to have to quite literally start over from scratch.

If he were mine, I would immediately seek out an experienced trainer/behaviorist to evaluate him and come up with a new training protocol. Since you do not really have any prior dog training experience, a juvenile Doberman is NOT the best choice to start out with and a professional is really your best bet.

VZ-Doberman

I don't believe it is a matter of being stubborn. Considering his past experiences he could be untrained at this point. Start over like he was a baby puppy. Be calm and consistent. He will pick it up. Neutering would be good. Keep whatever training sessions you do short and happy. Lots of praise, treats, calm, consistent and remember his history. He is an abuse victim.

Anton-Caesar

you have to be patient, he isnt going to do everything you tell him straight away especially after mistreating and 2 homes in such short time

KevinK

Alot of dogs from these situations simply haven't had any training, and the basic things that we take for granted with dogs from more "normal" situations need to go out the window. I would treat him as a puppy, starting with initial training, socialization, that kind of stuff. Don't assume he knows anything at all, and truly start from scratch. I just had 2 different foster dogs come through, neither knew or responded to any command, didn't know their names, nothing. But they really do pick things up quickly, and they seem to do it more willingly because they are just so happy to be treated well. Your attention is more of a reward than they have possibly ever gotten in their life. When we had our foster Abe a few months back, he would do ANYTHING for some ear scritches. Plus, you have a blank canvas, that can be trained the way you like, minus the short attention span of an 8 week old pup. Once you get the dog to focus, (may take a few days or weeks to settle in) you can work a little harder, they learn quicker, many times are more willing to please, and once you earn their trust, they will do anything you ask, assuming you show them propperly.

hmlewis84

Wow. I am so glad I found this forum thank you for being so helpful and concerned. Yes, he has been neutered. He was our neighbors dog and from the first moment we met him he wanted to be here. He started by having play dates with my hound mix Duke. They put up an electric fence to keep him in the yard, and he would pace back and forth and run as fast as he could to our house yelping all the way. Then he stayed here while they went out of town for a month and it was very hard to give him back. We begged and pleaded to buy him, they decided to sell him (for three times what they paid) to us the very day I contacted my friend at an animal rescue .

Like I said we weren't ready for him, but I am so glad he came into our life. We have actually owned him for maybe 3 months, but he has been coming here and spending time with us for about 8 months total. I do want to go to training with him I just have no idea what it costs or how to find one who knows about Dobes. He is an extremely smart and loving dog the main thing is getting him to listen so he doesn’t scare people when he wants to play: roflmao:

hmlewis84

My sweet boys.

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Adara

Is your hound a male by chance? If so, please read up on male/male aggression issues in the Dobe breed. keep a close eye out for any signs of possible trouble.

For scaring people, sometimes I say out loud "to Flirt" (really to the adults who might be scared) Flirtie not everybody realizes you are playing, not everybody loves a Doberman, your a big doofus dog so slow yourself down....something of that nature usually makes people relax a tiny bit.

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Flirt, ADAMAS All the Girls Do It, OA, NAJ, CL2-F, CL2-H
Gabby, Ch Gold Run's Token of Rumor, JH, NA, OAJ, NF, NJP, CL2,CL3-H, CL3-F Vizsla
Havoc, GCh HRQ Guess Who's In Trouble, JH, OA, OAJ, CL2-H, CL2-S, CL2-F Vizsla
Envy, Kizmar's Bailey HotShot of Adara, Vizsla

hmlewis84

Yes, my hound is a male. They are very close and neither dog has ever showed any aggression towards each other, or any other animal or human for that matter. He only wants to play and he thinks everyone wants to meet him. Honestly if I can get him to listen to me he really will be a perfect dog. I will read up on male/male aggression just so I can be aware of warning signs. Thanks for the suggestion

KevinK

^^ Just something to be careful of, this is something that many, many people say, as there is often no warning signs, and I have read of several people coming home one day to a hurt or dead dog. It's a very, very serious thing, and not something to take lightly. Good breeders typically won't sell a dobe to a home that has a same-sex dog, and good rescues will usually do the same.

Many times when there is an incident, a common thing to hear is "But they got along so great". So just saying, please, never let your guard down, and I would strongly urge you to not leave them alone together for any amount of time, even if they seem to get along perfectly fine.

hmlewis84

As for positive reinforcement, what kind of treat should I use?

KevinK

whatever he thinks is the best For my girl, a tug rope is better than a treat, and a bite wedge is better than a tug rope. So, if I were to limit myself to treats, I wouldn't get the progress that I get. You want to find what your dog BEST responds to, and make that the reward.

alys

Can't believe the name,I had an idea to call my new pup Mr Rover Jones. But the family hate it! But he ho it's my dog. Well done for changing this lucky boys life.

MeadowCat

I would definitely find a good trainer to work with - this is my "go-to" list for qualified trainers: Search for Professionals

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Adara

Just be sure to read up on it. He's also young. His personality may change as far as not tolerating male dogs etc later in life as he reaches adulthood. And I meant to say thank you for taking him in also

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Colleen
Flirt, ADAMAS All the Girls Do It, OA, NAJ, CL2-F, CL2-H
Gabby, Ch Gold Run's Token of Rumor, JH, NA, OAJ, NF, NJP, CL2,CL3-H, CL3-F Vizsla
Havoc, GCh HRQ Guess Who's In Trouble, JH, OA, OAJ, CL2-H, CL2-S, CL2-F Vizsla
Envy, Kizmar's Bailey HotShot of Adara, Vizsla

Jazi

Perfect post.

I also recently adopted an abused dober and his issues are much the same; he gets so focused on something sometimes that I cannot distract him and I must haul him away if I don't want him to have an outburst, and sometimes I wish I could magically make him understand English so he understands why I get upset when he chases/barks at my cat (butbutbut! It MOVED!!), but I have to remember that his history wasn't ideal and while he's got some basics down he's essentially an untrained puppy wearing the body of a near 3 year old.

Stay strong, stay consistent, and you will see improvement. These are baby steps, because he is practically a big baby himself. I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration the first couple days because he absolutely refused to go up my steps, refused to stop barking at every person he saw, refused to stop charging every dog he saw, refused to stop being so "into" my cat... until I realized I was expecting an essentially untrained abused dog to act like a well trained, well raised dog. I see his progress now. It's not to the point I want it yet, but I remember that it will be slow going for a long time, possibly forever.

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hmlewis84

I tried to name him Amadeus but he wouldn't listen, my husband said Mr. Jones! And he ran right to him. We laughed and it kind of stuck. People usually laugh but everyone agrees it fits him. :-) love Mr rover jones!

hmlewis84

Thanks for the info, I wouldn't have been able to find them so easy in one place!

KissNme

Welcome to DT from Kansas. Thank you for helping this boy out. He certainly is a nice looking guy. Lots of good advice here. Good luck on finding a trainer.

dragonflyz

Thank you for taking an abuse case on. He looks like a handsome fella. I think a professional trainer would be alot of help in this situation. As previously stated you will probably need to start from scratch and progress may be slow. Good luck with your new pup.

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dax0402

Hi and welcome to the forum and so glad you found DT. Thank you so much for taking Mr. Jones from that horrible situation. Everyone's information is right on target. I love clicker training and also look up NILF (nothing in life is free) training. Best of luck and keep us updated.

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