newbie with a few questions

Dobies seem to get along with Boxers very well. My girl seems to make good friends with them. Here's a boxer friend she had in the past.





When she was at a doogy daycare, very early on, they would report to me she would claim a boxer playmate and wouldn't let any other dog play with him, but her.

chilingoober said:

but he also has a deformed knee, and i won't be able to take him hiking with me at all like i had planned when i got him as a puppy... but i am researching whether to get another doberman or a boxer. i've only been around my doberman, and was wondering if someone on here that has had both doberman and boxer, could tell me a little about them. comparing the personalities of both breeds. which gets along with people better. which is more intelligent? i absolutely LOVE how smart zane is. he has learned a lot from just watching my son train the beagle!!! is the boxer this smart???
also, i need to train zane to do some sort of job for me around here. but nothing that is too physical, because of his back knee. like sitting, his back leg splays out to the side, and i just hate it when he sits. but he does it on his own, because he learned it for treats before the deformity showed up.

does anyone geocache with their doberman??? we are just learning about geocaching. i just want a dog to go hiking with me that likes people. zane barks at people

shanna

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Hi Shanna,

I'm sorry to hear about the deformed knee. What exactly is wrong with it? Was it from an injury or was it something Zane was born with?

As far as Boxers vs Dobes goes I'll take a Dobe every time. My folks had Boxers and after I started to keep Dobes they had several. I'll admit I'm very predjudiced--I don't care for short muzzled dogs so even though Boxers and Dobes are similar in body types I don't like their looks and even though I know it's not true of ALL Boxers I think that they are generally much sillier dogs than Dobes. I also think that most of them are rather stupid.

I expect that Boxers are less intimidating for the general public and even though they have been used in the past as estate guards and protection dogs they don't have the reputation (nor looks) that a Dobe has and are probably a generally friendlier dog than a Dobe. I do think that Dobes are infinitely more intelligent.

Training tracking takes a fair amount of time but it isn't particularly physically demanding. How much does the deformed knee affect Zane.

Teaching him to fetch is also not very demanding either and would allow him to be useful.

As far as Zane barking at people goes you can teach a dog not to bark at people--I don't remember how old he is but often young dogs without much experience with strangers will bark unnecessarily--this behavior often disappears once they find that there is no need to bark at strangers just because they are strangers.

dobebug said:

Hi Shanna,

I'm sorry to hear about the deformed knee. What exactly is wrong with it? Was it from an injury or was it something Zane was born with?

As far as Boxers vs Dobes goes I'll take a Dobe every time. My folks had Boxers and after I started to keep Dobes they had several. I'll admit I'm very predjudiced--I don't care for short muzzled dogs so even though Boxers and Dobes are similar in body types I don't like their looks and even though I know it's not true of ALL Boxers I think that they are generally much sillier dogs than Dobes. I also think that most of them are rather stupid.

I expect that Boxers are less intimidating for the general public and even though they have been used in the past as estate guards and protection dogs they don't have the reputation (nor looks) that a Dobe has and are probably a generally friendlier dog than a Dobe. I do think that Dobes are infinitely more intelligent.

Training tracking takes a fair amount of time but it isn't particularly physically demanding. How much does the deformed knee affect Zane.

Teaching him to fetch is also not very demanding either and would allow him to be useful.

As far as Zane barking at people goes you can teach a dog not to bark at people--I don't remember how old he is but often young dogs without much experience with strangers will bark unnecessarily--this behavior often disappears once they find that there is no need to bark at strangers just because they are strangers.

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i really don't know how it came about. he was fine until he was about 3-4 months old and then he started sitting with it splayed out. originally we thought he had bone cancer, and i knew that by the time we had xrays done if it was cancer then he wouldn't have long. i had read that by the time it is noticed and xrayed, it has usually gone into the lungs. the vet said this was not her area and agreed with what i had read, and we would have to take him to oklahoma city to a vet there, but there is no way we can do that. it is too far and too expensive. she gave us pain pills, but he hasn't needed them very much. anyway, now i think it is just a deformity, instead of the cancer. and wondering if i can start doing more with him. he loves to fetch, carry things in his mouth. he can run and jump off the porch, just not for very long. so now, i'm thinking maybe i could find a job for him to do. the tracking sounds interesting. i have thought about taking him back out for hikes again, real slow at first, and just see, now that he is older ( he is a little over a year old), how he would do.

on the barking, i really need to get back to working with him. we just don't have company much, and i don't take him places anymore. i did buy the gentle leader which was much better than the choke collar. so how do you teach them not to bark?

and jumping up? he doesn't do it all the time, but he likes to jump up at us when he is excited that we are home. that is one of the big things i'm uncomfortable with with the boxer.

really, i am feeling like there is hope for him now. and would like to do something with him. he is so smart, and a wonderful dog.
thanks
s

chilingoober said:

i really don't know how it came about. he was fine until he was about 3-4 months old and then he started sitting with it splayed out. originally we thought he had bone cancer, and i knew that by the time we had xrays done if it was cancer then he wouldn't have long. i had read that by the time it is noticed and xrayed, it has usually gone into the lungs. the vet said this was not her area and agreed with what i had read, and we would have to take him to oklahoma city to a vet there, but there is no way we can do that. it is too far and too expensive.

anyway, now i think it is just a deformity, instead of the cancer.

i did buy the gentle leader which was much better than the choke collar. so how do you teach them not to bark?

and jumping up? he doesn't do it all the time, but he likes to jump up at us when he is excited that we are home. that is one of the big things i'm uncomfortable with with the boxer.

really, i am feeling like there is hope for him now. and would like to do something with him. he is so smart, and a wonderful dog.
thanks
s

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Boxers also make great play dates with my Dobes, but the ones with long nails tend to put marks on my Dobes coats because they “box” a lot, so I enjoy short nails on a Boxer when they play. But the Dobes also are very handsy when playing too, although not as much as the Boxers.

I tend to agree with Bug, in that Boxers are less "scary" to most people and also friendlier in general, and stay goofy for a long time. Most all puppies will jump up if you let them and will keep this bad habit if you let them. It is more a training issue, more so than a breed issue. Non-stop and barking at inappropriate things and not stopping usually decreases with Dobermans when properly socialized and training.

With all due respect, if you do not have enough money to take care of your current Doberman, getting another dog, a puppy at that, is a big mistake. It is very costly to raise two dogs, much more so than one, in both time and money. And what if the new dog has something wrong with her? What then?

Your Doberboy needs a proper diagnosis to see what is wrong with him, so by all means, focus on your current dog. Your Dobe is a young dog, you may be able to help him be what you wanted in a dog just yet if he gets the help he needs.

I can emphathize with you that your young dog does have issues, I have also gotten a dog that had issues that I was surprised about and had to spend more than I had at the time on vet bills. It happens sometimes.
But if that is not your vet’s area of expertise and she wants to you to drive out of the area, take out the phone book, call local vets within what you think is a reasonable driving distance, and see if you can find a vet nearby that can give you a better insight into what is going on with your dog. Some vets offer payment plans.

Have you taken an x-ray? What things have been done on the dog for you to conclude it is a deformity?