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Funny comments about my boy

5K views 52 replies 25 participants last post by  ECIN 
#1 · (Edited)
So...

McCoy is walked daily in public. Usually 2-3 times a day. He is well socialized and loves human interaction. He gets a lot of attention.

Usually, "What a handsome dog... Is he friendly". Often "Wow, that's a big dog... Can I pet him?

The other day we were on a walk and a woman stopped and asked "Is that a Doberman? Is he purebred ? He seems so small and short". I proceeded to tell her (in the nicest way), that he was pretty much spot on to Doberman standards.

He is an 85lb. intact male of average show line height and stature. He is very handsome and in perfect shape. I just had him lose 2-3 pounds of winter weight. She continues on, asking me if I was sure he was a purebred Doberman. I explained to her that his dam is a Grand Champion from a fine breeder and was the #6 Dobe bitch in the country when he was whelped. Also, that most of his siblings have either become Champions or Grand Champions.

She just looked at me, shook her head and said : "Well... I don't think so. He's too short and too small to be a pure bred Doberman".

I laughed and walked away.

People are funny in their ignorance!

John
Portland OR
 
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#40 ·
So my all time favorite:

15 or so years ago, I was walking our boy Butcher when he was just a puppy. A woman approached me and asked if I had any children. I said yes... One, he is 21 years old.

She said "Thank God! You must know that as Dobermans get older, their brain gets too big for their head, they go crazy and they will eat babies and little children".

Now... I knew about that bizarre urban myth, but to have somebody approach me and lecture me was pretty much weird.

I just nodded and walked away hoping not to see this "Doberman expert" again.

Just one of the many very unusual interactions I have had with random passers-by telling me about my dogs.

Let's not even get into the "cut ears" thing. LOL

John
Portland OR
 
#41 ·
At the beach down here, we see an extremely broad variety of dog breeds. It's one of my favorite parts of walking along the strand. I've gotten myriad responses to walking my Kady down there and I'm happy to report that the comments are overwhelmingly positive.

However, there will always be some who make the classic ears and tail comments, to which I always respond in a super-gracious fashion. It's just not worth trying to change someone's mind. I usually keep it along the lines of "Well she came this way from the breeder and they're very reputable in the community for their breed standards and care for their dogs. My dog is probably one of the most spoiled dogs you've ever met, and as you can see she's quite happy!"
0:)

The most difficult time to stay civil is when the person making the comments is dragging a scrunched-face dog along behind them (frenchies have been especially popular in the area in the last few years), and their dog is barely able to breathe at the pace they're walking. I mean, seriously? You're worried about my dog's ears and you're going to try and preach to me from your moral "high-ground" when your poor pooch can't even catch his breath on your morning walk? Breed-prejudiced much?
:bangin:

Like I said, it rarely happens that someone has anything negative to say, and so 99 times out of 100 we have wonderful walks and meet many new friends along the way!
:angel:

Here she is enjoying the sunset in Manhattan Beach on the strand!
 
#42 ·
Some of these stories are hilarious. Perhaps the most puzzling mistaken identity case I've gotten with Nadia was when a young boy asked me if she was a Golden Retriever as he is petting her. To this day I wonder if it's just because that was the only breed name he knew.

I get the size thing all the time, in spite of the fact Nadia is at the upper limit of standard height for a bitch. (We sticked her at 26 inches exactly!) I hear everything from "isn't she a little small" to "that's not fully grown right?"
Usually what I explain is that "no, she's actually tall for a female per the breed standard. But males can be a few inches taller... and unfortunately there are a lot of unethical breeders who try to breed oversized and overly large dobermans which is detrimental to their health". When I give the explanation about the unethical breeding practices, usually people seem to understand/the lightbulb turns on and it clicks in their mind. I find if you only mention the standard, they won't get 'how come' there are larger dobes.
 
#44 ·
OK...

One more bump just for the heck of it.

I am walking McCoy this morning and i was passing a woman who was obviously vision challenged. She was wearing what as kids were referred to a "coke bottle" glasses.

As she approaches, I say" Good morning", which is my habit.

She walks up to McCoy and puts her face about 2 feet from him. I am not concerned, because I know and trust my boy as he is used kinds of interactions. So, she stands up and says "He's a doberman pincher"

I say... yes he is. She asks if she can pet him. Inside, I am cracking up! she just had her face less than 2' from his He had already decided that she was a buddy for life.

So we talk. She is walking to catch a bus.

Then comes the QUESTION: Isn't he a little large for a Doberman Pincher?

LOL ... McCoy is so average. Maybe even on the smaller side.

So, she says that she sees a couple walking their Dobe with their kids in a stroller and he is much smaller.

I told her that that was our boy "The Sheriff" and yes he was fine and small for a Dobe senior male.

So the punch line: "So.. He must be a Min-Pin. i shook her hand and she caught her bus.

I love engaging people even if they haven't clue

John
Portland OR
 
#46 ·
What a fun thread! I had an incident once AT THE VET, when I brought my second boy, Thor, in for something or another. He had natural ears, and the receptionist listed him as a Labrador Retriever. I said, "Um, no, he's a Doberman." She said, "But he has floppy ears!" So any floppy-eared black dog is a Lab. OK, got it. ;) (But what about his stub? She never commented on why I cut off my Lab's tail, LOL!)
 
#48 ·
Lannie,

You may have hit the nail on the head--maybe she really thought that any floppy-eared black dog was a Lab--several years ago we kept getting puppies in that had been adopted at the Oregon Humane Society (which isn't far from the clinic and we see many of them because we offer a free first exam for adopted puppies. That summer it got to looking like they were identifying any black dog as a Lab X Rott cross. Most of them definitely were but the classic was the day a man came in with a cute little black and tan puppy--I looked at the paperwork that came with the puppy to see what they thought he was--Rott X Lab cross. I looked at the man and looked at the puppy and asked what sized dog he had wanted--turns out he was one of the lucky ones--he'd wanted a smaller dog but the puppy was so cute he just couldn't leave without him.

I said to the guy that I thought they might have mis-idendified what the pup was--and it looked like he might be not a cross at all but a purebred Cocker Spaniel--he was shocked--didn't know they even came in black and tan. So we laughed about it and I saw the puppy again when he was in for a rabies vaccine--he was a ball of black fur with tan markings. The man looked at me and said that his next door neighbor thought it might be a Cocker too and he had an appointment for grooming with a groomer who bred Cockers. I didn't see him again for almost a year but he came in that time freshly groomed--a very handsome black and tan Cocker Spaniel.

But I swear that everything that was black that we saw that summer that had been adopted from that facility was identified as a Rott X Lab cross.

dobebug
 
#47 ·
I have posted this before in the HT thread, but it's related to this topic:

Little over 2 years ago we made a visit to our vet's to weigh Eva on the lobby scale. To my surprise, she had ballooned up to 101 lbs.! (due to having hypo-thyroidism)
It was a slow gain over a five year period since we adopted her from HADR. Her weight had snuck up on us, even after cutting back big time on her daily diet.

One other dog owner was waiting in lobby when I brought Eva in and put her on the scale to weigh.
That person commented: "Oh is she a Rottie? She's so cute!" :2surprise::2surprise::2surprise:


That was our "Houston, we have a problem!" moment...
That day, we got Eva tested with a full Thyroid panel, then medicated and ordered a good pet scale off Amazon to weigh our pack (and owners) once/month.
She is now down to 77 lbs., fit and active. Our goal is around 70+ lbs. :2smile:



Eva Trimming Down - On Morning Squirrel Patrol





https://www.dobermantalk.com/doberman-health/283578-hypothyroidism.html#post3821497
 
#49 ·
Related to Spock’s dad and the scales , one night some friends stopped by , Chi was in there at that time and asked what she weighed , I said her vet trip is coming up but last year she came in around 73 , they couldn’t believe it , said she weighed lots more ,so what I’m most famous for , good ideas that are not , I got the bath room scales , wife told me it was ok btw ,

I came walking in with them and they were laughing , said she can’t get on them , I said just watch , I weighed myself first , then picked her up and weighed us both ! Well the scales didn’t go high enough and when I got off the scales there was 2 feet print in the lite weight metal , lmao , that is when the wife turned into a not to good of mood , you and your ideas , I think that’s how it went , I may have forgot a bad word or two in that exchange :grin2: anyway the scales went to the trash :grin2:
 
#51 ·
I'm surprised you could pick her up to weigh her! I couldn't lift Zipper, no way, no how. She was also just over 100 pounds because of thyroid malfunction, except she couldn't take the meds to correct it, so we just dealt with it the best we could. When I first got her, she was a svelte 61 pounds and looked fantastic (my avatar pic), but you know, you get old and you just start going to hell. ;)
 
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