Sorry in advanced for such a long post.
I've been reading posts here and it looks like this is a great community for Doberman owners. I've been around Dobermans since I was a child and I am currently on numbers 4 and 5.
After losing our last dobe at age 14 (yes, 14!), we waited a year, then decided to get two puppies from a registered breeder; these are our first dobes from a breeder, the rest have been rescues.
We received two male puppies from the same litter; Zues and Apollo, now 19 months old. They are total opposites of each other, yet don't like to be away from each other even for a minute; they have never even fought, which we were concerned about when getting two males.
At 18 months, Apollo had to have his cruciate ligament (TPLO) removed (back leg). From what I understand it is a type of knee surgery similar to what athletes go through. Apollo is a very active (spastic) dog and we think he might have hurt it while chasing the ball. After a month of surgery and recuperation he is doing fine, but it seems like now he might have to have the same surgery on the other knee because of the same problem. Ugh!
At 8 months, Zues was diagnosed and treated for Demodex (twice). This is basically dog acne and it has left him with many scars on his cheeks. Since I had bad acne when I was a child, I just say this gives us both character.
Currently, at 19 months, Zues could no longer put weight on his right leg, so we took him to the vet. It turns out they found a four inch cyst in his right shoulder. Tomorrow they will be cutting out a piece of the cyst to test for cancer. Because of the size of the cyst the vet (a specialist) has already warned us of possible amputation of the leg. Zues is a more laid back dog, but loves to chase squirrels. He is a 100 pounds with a square head and overall just the biggest Doberman that I have had; he is not over-weight, just big.
Another issue with Zues is that you can feel his hips pop when you rest your hand on his hind end when he walks, so hip issues will be a given with him.
If you’ve made it this far, then I applaud you for listening to my ramblings.
My question is this: Are these just normal problems that I just have not run into before or are these problems because of poor breeding? I’ve never had these types of problems this early in life with any of my rescues. I’m wondering if the breeder is not up to par.
After 30+ years of owning Dobermans you get to know the breed and their health problems very well. I've never had these problems with any of our prior Dobermans; except for the usual hip issues that occur around age 10.
All opinions are welcomed. Thank you!
Joe
I've been reading posts here and it looks like this is a great community for Doberman owners. I've been around Dobermans since I was a child and I am currently on numbers 4 and 5.
After losing our last dobe at age 14 (yes, 14!), we waited a year, then decided to get two puppies from a registered breeder; these are our first dobes from a breeder, the rest have been rescues.
We received two male puppies from the same litter; Zues and Apollo, now 19 months old. They are total opposites of each other, yet don't like to be away from each other even for a minute; they have never even fought, which we were concerned about when getting two males.
At 18 months, Apollo had to have his cruciate ligament (TPLO) removed (back leg). From what I understand it is a type of knee surgery similar to what athletes go through. Apollo is a very active (spastic) dog and we think he might have hurt it while chasing the ball. After a month of surgery and recuperation he is doing fine, but it seems like now he might have to have the same surgery on the other knee because of the same problem. Ugh!
At 8 months, Zues was diagnosed and treated for Demodex (twice). This is basically dog acne and it has left him with many scars on his cheeks. Since I had bad acne when I was a child, I just say this gives us both character.
Currently, at 19 months, Zues could no longer put weight on his right leg, so we took him to the vet. It turns out they found a four inch cyst in his right shoulder. Tomorrow they will be cutting out a piece of the cyst to test for cancer. Because of the size of the cyst the vet (a specialist) has already warned us of possible amputation of the leg. Zues is a more laid back dog, but loves to chase squirrels. He is a 100 pounds with a square head and overall just the biggest Doberman that I have had; he is not over-weight, just big.
Another issue with Zues is that you can feel his hips pop when you rest your hand on his hind end when he walks, so hip issues will be a given with him.
If you’ve made it this far, then I applaud you for listening to my ramblings.
My question is this: Are these just normal problems that I just have not run into before or are these problems because of poor breeding? I’ve never had these types of problems this early in life with any of my rescues. I’m wondering if the breeder is not up to par.
After 30+ years of owning Dobermans you get to know the breed and their health problems very well. I've never had these problems with any of our prior Dobermans; except for the usual hip issues that occur around age 10.
All opinions are welcomed. Thank you!
Joe
