How did your dobe steal your heart?

Well I have yet to own a doberman, but here's my story of how I fell in love with them.

I never really knew much about dobes until 2 years ago. I had also liked them somewhat- thought they were big, smart, cool looking dogs. My neighbors had one but we rarely saw it. He was beautiful though. Until 2 years ago, when my co-worker brought her doberboy to work every sunday. His name was Lestat, which I thought was so weird, but I eventually really liked it. Her friends named her after a character in "interview with a vampire". I spent a lot of time with him and really loved the relationship he had with his owner. He was very smart and very affectionate with her. I really wanted that relationship, and I liked a lot of other things about him. She got him from a doberman rescue, and having gotten my dogs from shelters I was really impressed when she told me she trained him all herself and didnt even have him from a pup, but their bond was strong. I havnt been able to see him for a long time but I feel like ever since the last time I saw him I have only falleni in love more. I started researching the breed heavily and really fell in love with every one I met. I think what really made me love the breed was the conection they have with their owners.

I set my heart on some day owning one, hopefully from the same rescue that Lestat was from. I want a young, black and tan, cropped and docked male; but whatever I fall in love with is what I will get. So my doberman has not come along yet, and its crazy to think it, but years from now I could be doing something, wondering how much longer it will be until I get mine, and it could be at that very time that my doberboy is born. How crazy is that?

When I was married only around a year....this year will be 25, I wanted a Doberman, I was in love with the way they looked and the two that I knew were the sweetest dogs on earth. My father in law had a female and my favorite aunt had a male. I already had a Wolf Hybrid dog that I had gotten in college. He was a sweetheart and my soul mate of dogs. Hubby and I had moved to Maine and I wanted a companion for my Khan. I looked in the paper everyday hoping to find a Dobie. One day we were driving and saw a female Dobie in a yard, and then noticed there were puppies running all over the place, so we stopped. Hubby asked the man if they were for sale, he said no, they are free....take as many as you want! They were half Dobie and half Weim. Hubby chose a gray one, and he was already spoken for, so we chose this huge Red Male, the only Red pup in the litter. We named him Bigelow. He was the sweetest dog ever! He grew to be 110 pounds full of fun. Unfortunately we only had him 4.5 years. At the time we lost him, I started having human babies....so I decided not to get anymore dogs until my kids were older, because...I treat my dogs like babies....and didn't have the time with 4 sons born in 6 years. I never stopped thinking about getting my Dobie. When my youngest went to nursery school I started looking for a Male Red Dobie....I was looking to rescue a 18 month old. One of my friends was divorcing and she called me up and asked if I would take her 17 month old Weim....My family went nuts over the offer, so Uno came to live with us....so again I had to wait. Uno became my best buddy, but the longing for a Dobie continued. A couple of years later I wanted to get a companion for my Uno, and started the search for a Dobie again, and the rescues wouldn't give me a male, with another male dog in the house. I ended up rescuing another male Weim, Mason. I never stopped thinking about getting a Dobie. Well unexpectedly this fall I lost Uno to cancer and then in January Mason to his epilepsy. I was devastated...but immediately decided I can't live with out a dog...I started the search for a Male Red Dobie puppy. Petey was the only one I found with in driving distance from my home....so ten days after Mason's death I was holding this puppy....there was no way he wasn't coming home with me. It has been a dream come true finally having my Dobie! The breed is all that I imagined, and Petey is only 19 weeks today...in 11 short weeks he has become the center of our family. He was worth waiting 23 years for....I know I'll never get another breed now. I'd love another male next year, but hear that is never a good idea...so I'm thinking I may get my first female dog ever! I will do a rescue if one comes along.

Carol



First moments with my baby!

I have not long posted this but, we were burgled and at the time we had a Jack Russell Terrier and the no good chicken sh**s kicked the living daylights out of him so i vowed that if someone came into the house again they would not have a little guy to beat up,so really we had our first Dobiegirl for all the wrong reasons!!But boy oh boy was she some dog ,she lit up my life like a beacon,Juno was a brilliant example of what these dogs are about and to this day i still cry about her loss,she was quickly joined by my one and only Dobielad Max, who was the most loving,caring,patient dog i have ever had the pleasure to meet,that lad never lost his patience(well just the once,with a GSD who was going for Juno with bad intentions,didn't bite him but he charged him into the ground with his big hard chest and bowled him over so hard he just got up and run for his life)the rest is history i had the Doberbug real bad and at the moment i am managing to keep to 4, but who knows about the future .

I always had wanted a doberman. My mother told me when I grow up and have my own house I could have one. After Molly, the neo mastiff, she said no to puppies - and has actually stayed true to it suprisingly. She now has a rescue aussie mix that's about 2. So that's kinda how it happened. After I graduated from college & bought a house, I talked my husband (then boyfriend) into getting a puppy. We found Isabelle and now I want more of them. We got her when she was 8 weeks old (if I remember right :0) I am now trying to talk my husband into starting to look for a pup. Isabelle turned 7 January 24th. I'll see if I can find a baby picture of her to post.

Found a picture of Isabelle

My aunt and uncle always had two or three Dobes on the tobacco farm. They hired seasonal workers and since my aunt was in the house during the day with two small children, they were a built-in security system (circa 1967). Those Dobes were the most loyal and obedient dogs I had ever seen. Never vicious to strangers, but mindful of who belonged to their family and who didn't. Once when my Dad stopped in to visit mid-afternoon on the way from a business meeting, the dogs met him as he got out of the car, walked him to the house (one of each side) and didn't leave until my aunt answered the door and let him in, signalling to them that he was 'ok'.

My Dad used to take me to local CKC shows and the Dobes were always my favorite of all the breeds.

The first time I saw Java she was the only pup who wouldn't nap, and was trying to wake up her sibs. If there was mischief brewing, she seemed to be in the middle of it, and not afraid to take on her brothers. When I held her in my lap, she started chewing on my jean jacket cuff and eventually fell asleep. I was a goner!

My wife had grown up with Dobes and her dad was a K-9 officer. She had been pushing for a while to get one. We found an ad for an adult female that was black and rust. When we went to the farm to see the Dobe, they opened a 4 x 6 outdoor kennel (it was March of 96) inside of the kennel was a dog house about the size you would use for a cocker spaniel. This dark figure began to squeeze it's way out of the dog house and once out bolted through the kennel gate. It was dusk and we could not see too well but this figure streaked around the yard three times stopping on my left side in a sit and just leaned into me. That was all it took. This dog was not going back into that kennel EVER. We made the deal, took her papers and loaded up in the van. She layed down between the front captains chars in the front and down the road we went. We turned on the dome light to get a better look at her but we could not tell for sure what color she was. It was getting late and we had not had dinner yet so we stopped at an Arby's drive through. Natasha continued to lay between the seats not once begging as we ate and drove towards home. We gave her one fry and she chomped it down content.

When we arrived home we still had no clue on her color as she was filthy. I carried her up the stairs (She had never seen stairs) straight to the kids bathroom. She got a nice bath and did not seem to mind at all. After I was done I went downstairs for a moment and when I came back Natasha was still standing in the tub not trying to get out. I had to lift her out. Once all dried we could tell she was in fact a black and not dirt brown.

At bed time I made a bed for her on the floor on my wifes side. My wife was in bed watching this. Natasha watched too as I made this really nice cozy bed for her. She looked at the bed, looked at my wife, looked up at me, then back at the bed. In the next second she was up in the bed in the middle laying down. From that day til the last she slept with us right in the middle. Her favorite thing in this world was laying next to us either in bed or on the couch. She was a true lover and one of the best things to ever happen to us.

Natasha has been gone for six years this summer. And even today we miss her so very much. Another six weeks and Teak will be coming home to us. She will never replace Natasha, she is just the beginning of a new chapter of sharing our lives with these magnificent creatures.