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Dobermans living outside in the cold

27K views 51 replies 27 participants last post by  melbrod  
#1 ·
Want some expert opinions!!! There is a thread on another forum.

Anyway last winter I was getting very angry because he has this doberman outside 24/7 with zero to do except bark day and night...my 1st couple of months in the house I couldn't sleep because it barked non stop there's no way the guy didn't hear it. I tried talking to him a few times but i'll be nice and say he was a jerk who didnt' care. Last winter it was below zero with wind chill of -20 or more and that dog was outside all night barking at his back door. Early in the morning I peeked over the fence to find his food bowl filled with snow and water frozen and the poor dog curled up in his dog house. So I reported him. they came out and said there was nothing illegal with keeping his dog outside as long as it had food/water and shelter. they notified him to provide some insulation for the dog house and make sure he had access to food and non frozen water. I thought he got the hint and the dog was inside for the night the rest of the winter (just night still outside on freezing cold days) in the summer he brought it in when it was hot....now he's back the keeping the dog outside 24/7. we got 8inches of snow and poor dog has dug himself a hole to get to his dog house at LEAST the guy has been coming home every 5 hrs or so and putting water out.
I said this is abuse and keep reporting him. Dobermans were not bred to be outside. They were bred as personal protection. Can't be personal if they are outside. so they were not bred to have double coats like GSDs, or long hair like Collie's, who are bred to be outside in all temperatures to herd sheep.

Another person said they were bred to be working dogs so they shouldn't have a problem with being left outside.

Dobermans shed, so they have some undercoat. They originated in East Germany as a working dog, so I have a hard time believing that they cannot manage some temperatures. Also, they have been used as war dogs and police dogs. If they cannot manage snow wouldn't they be pretty useless in the trenches and as police dogs?
So I want to hear from the dobie owners/breeders/experts. Should these dogs be left out in extreme colds and extreme heats?
 
#11 ·
No dog, but especally short single coated dogs should be left outside. However, with the ****ty laws we have for animals, it is true that as long as there is food, water and shelter which could be a plastic sided vari-kennel, they cannot press charges nor remove the dog- he is doing everything required. That being said, i would steal the dog. I stole my friends cat actually for that reason and i dont regret it for one minute.
 
#14 ·
I wouldn't condone stealing, but can understand why. Would be nice if the guy could just be reasoned with, or at least talked into giving the dog up for rescue. It's not really doing him any good anyways as far as companionship, or protection, why keep an animal if you refuse to enjoy it?
 
#13 ·
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#15 ·
Caution, graphic story:

Talking to the grocery store cashier one day--she said she had an idiot neighbor who really shouldn't have had any pet, and that one cold day (in Texas) the neighbor came over and said she needed help because her dobe wouldn't come out from under the house crawl space. Turns out the dog had crawled under the house, to keep warm I guess, and had frozen to death during the night. I can hardly bear to think about it.

Dobes belong inside.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I wonder if the stupid *ss owner would notice if the dog's chain happened to break and he ran away... I don't condone stealing but that's just outright animal abuse. My girl runs back inside at break neck speeds after potty breaks in this weather. I can't imagine leaving a Dobe outside 24 hours a day in the winter. Very heart wrenching.

Melbrod - that truly makes my heart hurt. It's stories like these that make me hope against all hope that karma is real and these *ssholes will pay the price for what they've done.
 
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#20 ·
If the dog is stolen then he will just get another dog. If the neighbor keeps reporting him then hopefully he will get enough citations that maybe they can get the dog legally (by a relative buying him) and maybe it will deter him from getting another dog.

Unfortunately there is no cure for stupid.:doctor:
 
#21 ·
Unfortunately there is no cure for stupid.:doctor:
No...but it's too bad those idiots can't at least be sterilized to help strengthen the gene pool a little.
 
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#23 ·
Not that I think ANY dog should be outside most of the time, but as others have mentioned, Dobes are single coated breeds. I've never had a dog I had to buy a coat or jammies for before, but S has them now.

This photo shows how little protection they have. Look at his belly and chest. His armpits are as pink as his belly is, as well.
Image
 
#24 ·
Point me in the right direction and I will steal the dog and tie the dumbass outside in his place.

The laws HAVE to change!! I have no doubt they will eventually, but in the mean time, Im trying to abide by the ones already on the books, and not PTS some humans...

This stuff makes my cry and my blood boil at the same time.
 
#26 ·
I called a couple of days ago there is a dog on a chain about 10 ft long this dog is chained 24/7 365days a year even when we had the Ice Storm 2 years ago.I call almost every year about him get told as long as he has shelter food & water nothing can be done he is not a Doberman he is a mixed breed terrier of some kind.They even chain up a black toy poodle they have a large fenced yard makes me sick. The terrier use to bark all the time I think the poor old guy has given up does not bark that much any more.He has been on that stupid chain for years & years.
 
#27 ·
I don't care what breed it is, dogs want to be with their family, their pack. If people want a dog to be outside, (unless it lives with sheep, also their pack, or for some other working reason) than in my opinion, they shouldn't have dogs, period. I have had an assortment of breeds in my years of dog ownership, from Akitas, GSDs, Pyreneese, Dobies, Rotts, etc. and they ALL wanted to be in with my family, and they were. Drove my hubby crazy at first, cause he happens to come from the family that keeps all dogs outside. But I got my way. House is always full of kids and dogs.
 
#39 ·
I'd snatch the dog from his yard if I were anywhere close to you... If I would come across owners who do this to their dogs I'm not waiting for the law to step in or wait for the dog to die.

In these kind of situations usually the owners know exactly what the law says and they just don't care and justify their actions by telling themselves that if the law says it's ok, then it must be ok for them aswell.

This kind of thing makes me so angry, jeez.
 
#43 ·
dogx3 and okie-dobie ... just want to say that I would never let a dog live outside, but there are some who want to! Our GSD's refused to sleep indoors when we lived in NY in winter. I think because the heat was on, they were uncomfortable, and insisted on going out onto the porch at bedtime... but we had 2 igloo houses side by side, with multiple layers of insulating pads over them and blankets inside - I even crawled into them to check, and was cozy warm. It's where they chose to be.

But here in San Diego, our poor little Doberkids get so chilly in the mornings when it is all the way down to 45 or 50 degrees. The stories about ANY dogs left out in yards in snow and ice, and left out 24/7 - heck, I even get upset when they are left outside alone for 3 or 4 hours. I get so upset I can't think clearly - I just want to inflict suffering on the G..D...'d humans. We aren't going to be a fully civilized and evolved species until we absolutely do not tolerate cruelty and cavalier treatment of any living thing.

(except mosquitoes - sorry)
 
#44 ·
I don't condone stealing either but in some cases it can be classified as a "rescue".

When I was younger this little old lady came to our house while my sister and I were playing outside with our GSD. She talked to my mom and told her that she had a puppy that she had stolen from her neighbor and she couldn't keep him, and it looked like we had a happy dog that we took care of so she wanted us to take him. My mom said "No we already have 3 dogs we don't need another, especially one that has been stolen."

Then the lady told her the story behind the dog.
It was a Catahoula (sorry if I spelled that wrong) 6 months old and she took the dog because the guy had just cut his tail off (at home at 4 months old), there was no tail actually he cut it as short as he could get it. He had a scar down his back from his neck to his "tail" that was about and inch wide all the way down, she said the guy told her that he poured hot grease down his back for tearing up the couch. He was blind in one eye... was missing a toe... The lady said she couldn't bare to see the dog suffer and was afraid that if she reported him he would just be put down because he was ugly and no one would want him.

We ended up taking him and that was the BEST dog we have ever had. We lived in a HORRIBLE part of town at the time and we were putting up a new fence in the backyard, so he was on a chain at night while we ate... if we didn't put him out he would try to steal off of our plates while my mom and dad weren't looking. Anyway he was on his chain and we hear a fight going on outside and that dog had the biggest man you have ever seen held on the ground right under me and my little sister's bedroom window. So we moved. LOL nothing like having a man at your daughter's bedroom window.

So in the instance that "stealing" is really rescue I would agree, but stealing a dog just to do it... nope.

I would tell her to keep reporting until she is blue in the face... and then report a little more... then if that doesn't work... maybe a rescue.
Tell her the guy will eventually get tired of having to deal with them at his house all the time and maybe change his ways just to keep her from reporting, whether he does it for all the wrong reasons or not it is still better for the dog. Also tell her to do her research on the breed and print out as much stuff as she can find about Dobes not being able to stand the extreme whether and show that to the officers. Maybe she can convince them that is really IS abuse. Tell her to read up on the laws where she lives about animals and see if she can find ANYTHING that she can report to get the dog taken from him, even if it has nothing to do with him being outside in the cold.

That is just my opinion anyway.
 
#45 ·
I said this is abuse and keep reporting him. Dobermans were not bred to be outside. They were bred as personal protection. Can't be personal if they are outside. so they were not bred to have double coats like GSDs, or long hair like Collie's, who are bred to be outside in all temperatures to herd sheep.

Another person said they were bred to be working dogs so they shouldn't have a problem with being left outside.

So I want to hear from the dobie owners/breeders/experts. Should these dogs be left out in extreme colds and extreme heats?


I used to always keep dogs outside and I didn't believe in dogs coming in the house. This was before I got my first dobe. You posted a quote of a guy saying that dobes were used by the military and by law enforcement. The key word here is WERE, the reasoning behind them not being used for such work anymore is explained by this exact situation.

Dobes are not good at withstanding extreme temperatures as they do not posses that "double coat" you spoke of. Also dobes are extremely personal dogs they do not take well to the handler switching etc which is common in the military and police force today. The times of a soldier or officer owning the dog and providing it with a home outside of work are now gone. Now days they even transfer dogs seperately from their handlers and give the dog a new handler at the new duty station. Dobes don't do well under these conditions which are I believe the primary reasons for the switch to GSD and now to the malinois.

My very first dobe taught me that he would never be happy unless he was with his pack period. If left alone or with a stranger dobes become extremely upset and stressed. Second it's fairly obvious that they don't take to extreme temperatures very well, its plain to see if you know anything about dogs. Since I love the breed I made a decision to have all inside dogs from then on and learn how to have an inside dog. Dobes are great at the work part of police, military and personal protection work which is why they were the favorite for so long, but as things have changed they are no longer suited to the lifestyles that go with the government careers.
 
#47 ·
You posted a quote of a guy saying that dobes were used by the military and by law enforcement. The key word here is WERE, the reasoning behind them not being used for such work anymore is explained by this exact situation.
That's what I told her! Just because they were used for that doesn't mean that's what they were bred for! Thank you for your in-depth explanation!
 
#49 ·
It is 22* all day with a wind chill of 4* this morning later this week it is suppose to be alot colder 18* wind chill 0 or below.Usually Tulsa is about 47* in the day time Buddy has two coats Patches has two coat think I will be putting on both coats this week for potty breaks.No one wants to stay out side, not even the critters from the cement yard behind our house. So far the last three months 1.) chewed up stainless steel hose to my Dishwasher, three days ago 2.) chewed up black drain hose to my Dishwasher and 3.( last night chewed up electrical wire to my refrigerator.No power to it a repair guy came out spliced in another wire wrapped it in the black electrical tape charge $65.00 ???.Gee guess my stove will be next.Having a wild life guy come check the house for entry places he will be here all day.Old house but nothing like this has happened in the 35 years we have lived here. Do not want to meet up with what ever is chewing stuff up Patches & Buddy have been going crazy sniffing and looking in the Kitchen & Utility room.Glad Patches the hunting dog Dachshund has big back up Buddy the Doberman.
 
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