My name is John, and I am a first time dog owner. I adopted this pup from my girlfriend's parents, who have been breeding dobermans for quite some time now.
Dino is a blue male doberman with rust on his paws and face. I chose him because of his beautiful deep color, his size (he was the biggest of the litter), and his high levels of curiosity and energy.
He is a smart pup, taught him how to sit and stay when he was just 6 weeks old, and it only took about an hour to do so. I just took him outside for the first time after he received his 9 week vaccine. He is now about to be 10 weeks old, and he already weighs 25 pounds! His paws are also large for his age.
Does anyone have any advice or tips for me? Again, this is my first pup! I just graduated college last year, and I now have time to devote to raising a good, loyal dog like Dino. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Dobermans are a medium sized breed. Bigger is not always better with this breed. Please don't get hung up on having a huge Doberman. Generally breeding for a larger size comes with a slew of health problems, so I'd make sure he's on a high quality food and make sure you're measuring out his portions to keep him at a good weight.
He is a smart pup, taught him how to sit and stay when he was just 6 weeks old, and it only took about an hour to do so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Since you mentioned teaching your dog to sit at 6 weeks, it sounds like he may have left his mom and litter prior to age 8 weeks. If so, I would recommend reading up on teaching bite inhibition. Pups should stay with their litter until at least 8 weeks and learn very valuable bite inhibition during this time. If he did leave the litter earlier, you may need to work on teaching him greater bite inhibition skills that he lost out on from not being around his littermates as long.
Google bite inhibition and you should find some useful articles. I know there are some threads on here about it too. I believe Ian Dunbar has some good articles on the subject too.
Thanks for the tip. He does like to play bite and bite his bed, I've been trying to show him biting his toys and the tug rope is ok, but his bed, leash, and especially human hands are a "no no". Some techniques I've heard of are to give him his toy or rope, maybe a wet towel that was put in the freezer. Also one is to leave the room for a while if he bites you. Any other good techniques/practices?
Since this is your first dog, I think there are two things you should start with. First, pick up a copy of this book: Puppy Start Right. It's great book that will give you good information on development, training, veterinary information...it's one of the best books for new puppy owners I've ever read.
Second, find a good, positive reinforcement trainer and get your pup into a puppy kindergarten/socialization class. I would look for trainers on this list: Search for Professionals. Having a great trainer as a resource for questions is invaluable.
As far as the biting goes, this is one of the best write ups I've seen on how to teach bite inhibition: Sirius Dog Training. Follow the instructions in it and you'll be doing great.
Finally, I would really recommend you do some reading on health issues in our breed. Color Dilution Alopecia (CDA) is pretty common in blues and fawns, so you will want to be ready for that with your pup as he gets older. Dilute puppies usually have good coats, but a lot of them end up bald. Other health issues include stuff like von Willebrands, a bleeding disorder. Do you know your pup's status? That's an inherited condition, so if you don't know whether his parents are clear, you will want to do the simple, inexpensive genetic test for that to be aware of whether you need to worry about it. Sadly, our breed isn't the healthiest, so you'll want to do some reading on DCM (a heart condition that kills about 50% of Dobermans), Wobblers, thyroid issues...there's great information on all of that here: DPCA | The Doberman | Health
Please tell them to stop breeding. I am sure I seen a few of their dogs in rescue. Just because they have breed for a long time does not mean they know what to do.
Not trying to be too negative here- but VERY GOOD breeders do not allow puppies to leave for new homes before they are at least 8 weeks old. They also perform all recommended health testing for their breed of choice (in Dobermans, that is a lengthy list and includes Vwd, thyroid and cardio). Most also have the ears cropped before the pups leave for their new home (one of the reasons I adopted from a rescue rather than purchase- I prefer my Dobies with natural ears). The best of them also show and title each dog BEFORE it is bred. They also follow each and every pup born to their kennel for the lifetime of that dog- offering support to the new owners, and taking back to rehome any which do not work out (their contracts normally require the dogs be returned to them).
Based on the little we know about your pup's breeder so far (his age when you got him, the natural ears, the dilute color (esp if one of his parents is a dilute also), the likelihood that they are in fact what many of us would consider reputable breeders is unlikely. And dogs that come from unreputable breeders DO wind up in rescue, pretty darn often in fact. Especially if they sell puppies with unlimited registrations (allowing those pups to be bred).
All that being said, he IS a lovely little guy and I am sure he will be a beloved member of your family.
The breeders are my long-time girlfriend's parents. I've cared for Dino since his birth really, he just stayed at home with the other pups and his mom until I had to move to Dallas and bring him with me when he was 6 weeks old. His mother is black/brown, so is his father. All shots were up to date for him and his brothers and sisters, they didn't re-home the other pups until this week at 8-9 weeks old, they just made the exception in my case. Dino's tail was docked near birth, as well as the other pups. My gf's parents crop ears when about 10 weeks old, so most are re-homed before that. They aren't professionals by your standards you mention, but they aren't careless a******* breeding pups as fast as they can to turn a profit. They love and take care of these pups and always take back the ones that don't work out with their new owners. But trust me, these pups get a very good start from them and all wind up being good, loyal companions.
Dino is so cute! He has really pretty eyes, too. You've come to the right place to learn all about the breed and how you can best care for Dino! Congrats on your addition!
Welcome to the forum. As you can see we are pretty passionate about our breed so the more knowledgeable you become about the breed the better. I have had 2 blue females. My first had a gorgeous if thin coat. My second girl had a great coat until she was 1 then her coat started thinning out as she aged. When she passed away last February, she had patches of thick coat around her shoulders and head, but her haunches were nearly hairless. It is just a condition of being a dilute. I would feed your boy a raw diet (chicken wings, chicken legs) with ground up raw vegetables such as broccoli, kale, zucchini with a cup or so of a grain free dry to be sure he gets the nutrients sometimes missing in raw. You can give fish oil after he is around 6 months. Be careful of commercial dog biscuits as they have lots of fillers. My Stella was allergic to a lot of commercial "treats" other than smoked pig ears which she devoured every night.
He is a gorgeous boy..feel free to ask me anything!
This thread was just to introduce Dino... not to debate about what constitutes an excellent breeder or not, I was only addressing the guy that was making it seem like the people I got this pup from are carelessly breeding puppies that are ending up in shelters. I'm just grateful they gave me Dino for free to raise and keep me company. Whatever his beginnings may have been, which in my opinion was favorable compared to many pups out there, he came to me as a blank slate and I'm going to do what is in my power from now on to make sure he grows up to be a healthy and happy dog. I appreciate the concern and info provided here nonetheless.
I just had to respond to this part; puppies aren't a blank slate. They are a combination of genetics and early experiences. Take a read through this: “It’s all in how they’re raised.” | Paws Abilities
Regardless, you have him now. I do hope you stick around and do some reading here on DT. There's a ton of stuff to learn if you are open to learning it. I, too, made a mistake with my first dog and got Shanoa from a nice person who should not have been breeding Dobermans. I know better now, and I did better with finding a great breeder to get Richter from. It doesn't mean I love Shanoa any less, it just means I've learned since then.
I am as much for educating people about good breeders as well but since the "breeders" of his puppy are the parents of his long time girlfriend I think asking him to say whether he thinks they are reputable on a public forum could cause him problems. If his girlfriend or parents were to see this and think he was "bashing" them then education will never go any farther. He said he was open to education and positive suggestions. We should be his friend, help educate him as to how we believe breeding should be done and maybe piece by piece he can take the information back to his girlfriends parents and encourage them to start health testing, etc. But attacking him and his girlfriend's parents won't get us very far in this situation. Unlike most people who come on here with puppies from BYB, this man is personally involved with them, has known them well for years, and could very well be future family members.
MeadowCat, I wish I could hit THANK YOU more then once. I know exactly what you mean about friends or in my case family and the breeding deal.
Anyway, new member OP, welcome to DT from the Midwest. :boldblue:
Welcome to DT from Florida! There is a lot of information here for you. He is a real cutie. I look forward to more photos in the future. My boy was 13 lbs at 8 weeks, 17 lbs at 10 weeks. The best book I found for training was Pat Miller's "Positive Dog Training". Enjoy your little landshark. Stock up on bandaids, those teeth will be sharp for awhile.
I'd recommend taking him to a puppy socializing class and then a basic obedience class once he is about 6 months old. There are also manners classes that you could do before he is 6 months. Socializing is very important at his age - so once he has all his core vaccinations, get him out as much as possible.
One of my favorite books on puppy raising - it is the one I send home with all of my puppy families - is: "How to raise a puppy you can live with" by Rutherford and Neil you can find it on Amazon.
Nutrition is critical for any Doberman, but especially a dilute. There is a good website that is dedicated to the care of dilutes since at least 70% of them will experience coat loss to some extent by the time they are 4 years old. Storm's Regimen
Most important - this is a great forum and you will find so much information here. Stick around for the good of your puppy even though you are not hearing exactly what you want to hear about your breeder.
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