About a dog...

[PhoenixRising]

So, I talked in the other thread about the mysterious caller about considering another dog. I did a lot of thinking about it, and ending up settling on a Doberman puppy. I know its not protection NOW, but it can grow up more bonded to me than adopting an older dog, and it is a breed known for protection work with natural protection instincts. Plus, she'll look a lot more intimidating as she gets older than just any dog with a loud bark.
Mini road trip last night landed me with this girl. I'm absolutely in love with her already. My neighbor is helping me with letting her out during the day while I am at work, so the whole situation has worked out nicely.
The breeder says she is 10 weeks old yesterday, but she's pretty little right now. About the size I would have thought for an 8 week old. She says the whole litter was on the small side but a few siblings have hit growth spurts now and are catching up to what is more normal.
I'm having a hard time picking a name, so I'm trying to think on it for a few days. I want a strong name. A few up for consideration are Rogue, Nova, Nyx, and Jinx.

[Chisamba]

congratulations on your pup.

[Josette]

My what big toes she has! She is a beauty! Congratulations and enjoy your new girlfriend!

[Suzon]

I like the name Nova. She's definitely a cutie!

[boots-aregard]

Torch is what came to mind from the pictures. I don't actually like all those consonants in a name, but that's what came to mind!

She is a cutie!

(My sister has a Rottie that's the sweetest thing on 4 legs, but yeah, people give them space when they go out for a walk. I guess a Dobbie would have the same effect. I personally go for a poodle, and his sheer size does it for me.)

[WheresMyWhite]

She's lovely and personally, I *love* the natural, un-cropped ears

I had a breed that cropped ears for many years and my last 2 had un-cropped ears. Came to love the noise of the floppy ears when they shook their head.

Never had any issues with any of the problems I was warned about when I didn't want the ears done

[Code3]

What a cutie and yeah, love the uncropped ears. I thought of "Nyla" for a name. I also like "Nova". She looks like such a wonderful soul. Congratulations!

[Moutaineer]

Congratulations!

So nice to see this pup with uncropped ears. Maybe they'll break out and top docking tails next.

She's really cute, and will no doubt lick any intruders to death before she grows up into an intimidating beast!

On the naming thing, our rule is always "something you can yell at the top of your voice easily without sounding ridiculous." To me, that rules out Rogue for this little soul

[PhoenixRising]

Oh some/most of you are going to hate this.
She has an appointment to get her ears done, it was a stipulation with the breeder that I have to... It was in the puppy contract

I know ear cropping is a sensitive subject with most, I do hope this thread can continue to be a celebration of her and not become a cropping discussion. But I did feel I need to mention it so It's not a big question when I post pictures of her later in life

[fergusnc]

She is a sweetie.

What a shame about her breeder's demands re: the cropping of her ears.

[Chancellor]

Too bad about her ears. Most vets around here won't even do that anymore!

[PaulaO]

Congrats! She has a very sweet face. I like Nyla for a name also. Had you been looking for a Dobie?

[PhoenixRising]

I've wanted a Doberman for a few years now, ever since working with some client dogs when I was a trainer at a boarding facility. The creepy situation I'm in just gave me the push to go ahead and get one now.
At the moment, I'm leaning heavily towards Nova for her name. If she were a black/tan I think she might look like more of a Jinx or Nyx but I just don't feel like they fit.

[PhoenixRising]

So, an interesting story...
I had a gut feeling this was the right dog, I'm not really sure what it was.
I also knew that getting her was financially not a great idea, because all the money was coming from my savings account, and it was quite a bit.
I made the decision that I would sell one of my breeds of rabbits to help pay for her, but that was really a gamble because I've been having a hard time selling them so I wasn't really sure if it would help.
Last night, someone messaged another rabbit breeder friend of mine looking for this breed. She knew I really needed to sell them.
I just sold ALL of those rabbits to one person, and they sent half the money as a deposit.

[AirsAboveNC]

I love Nova for the name.

How serendipitous about the rabbits!

[Flight]

I'm no really into big dogs, but she is very cute!! Especially that first pic

[PaulaO]

Dumb question. Are Dobies naturally protective or will you have to do special training? Can Dobies do schatzhund (or however you spell it)?

[PhoenixRising]

Dumb question. Are Dobies naturally protective or will you have to do special training? Can Dobies do schatzhund (or however you spell it)?

Not a dumb question! Yes, they are naturally protective. However, I still want to look into actual protection training with her. I contacted a guy who is going to come out and do a free training consult sometime in the next week. I'm looking forward to meeting him and seeing what kind of training he recommends I do. He was recommended to me by another trainer I knew during my time teaching obedience classes.
Dobermans are often used in Schutzhund work, but I'm not sure if I will do that or not. It might be fun to learn about it, but I'm not sure if I have the time to go that far with the training. Maybe my schedule will free up a bit before she is old enough to start that kind of work.

[WheresMyWhite]

Sigh on the ears but also seems like she's a bit old for that?

What does the contract say if you don't crop the ears?

[PhoenixRising]

I think it depends on the vet. Some prefer to do them younger, some prefer to do them a little older.

It doesn't really say what would "happen" per se. But its an agreement/contract I had to enter with the breeder. I'm not one to sign something saying I will do something and then turn around and not do it.

[NancyP]

Love Dobes!
Especially red!
We've had three. Two females and a male. None were protective at all. Ever.

They do come with health issues......

[texsuze]

Very cute, pup, and one more 'darn' about the ear cropping. Maybe time, finance, etc. will "impede" your ability to have those ears cropped and maybe you just might not get around to it ....

Nova, IMHO sounds too close to "NO", in case you must use that word in your training. Best of luck!

[Woost2]

Puppy breath.

Interesting there are styles of ear cropping. 7-8 weeks per this site.

[PhoenixRising]

Nova, IMHO sounds too close to "NO", in case you must use that word in your training. Best of luck!

"NUH-UH" is "NO" in my house. Keeps things less confusing and they KNOW when I'm talking to them. She's already responding well to it. She's also getting good at sit and down already. She's doing fantastic, and has let me sleep a little more the last two nights.

[AmityBee]

Interesting there are styles of ear cropping. 7-8 weeks per this site.

...that picture on the bottom of that page though... poor pup.

[Chisamba]

I can't wait till the make it illegal to crop ears, its as bad as any kind of mutilation for the sake of appearance.

[orono]

I love dobies!! What a beautiful puppy!

[zevida]

She is gorgeous.

Please don't crop her ears. F*ck the contract. The animal's well-being is more important that your "word."

[capstone]

Guys, I'm assuming PhoenixRising wants to crop the ears. As she says herself, she would not have signed a contract she had no intention of following.

[Chisamba]

Guys, I'm assuming PhoenixRising wants to crop the ears. As she says herself, she would not have signed a contract she had no intention of following.

I agree. It does not stop me from being appalled.

[capstone]

Guys, I'm assuming PhoenixRising wants to crop the ears. As she says herself, she would not have signed a contract she had no intention of following.

I agree. It does not stop me from being appalled.

I agree, and I assume PhoenixRising will not return to comment on the thread with the way it's going. Or maybe she's able to just avoid the posts about the ears.

As a schnauzer owner, I'm familiar with the expectations for ear cropping even though I did not have my dogs' ears done.

[KathyK]

IMHO ear cropping is worse than declawing. While I would never declaw a cat, I understand the practical reason that people do it. I do not understand mutilating a dog for the sake of appearance.

[PaulaO]

I'm sorry this thread has derailed. I understand people's stance against cropping but that's not the point of this thread. I don't blame PhoenixRising if she doesn't come back.

[KathyK]

I'm sorry this thread has derailed. I understand people's stance against cropping but that's not the point of this thread. I don't blame PhoenixRising if she doesn't come back.

I understand too, but I'm not surprised that people here are taking a stand against ear cropping. I, too, hope it's made illegal soon.

[orono]

Can i ask a question about the cropping requirement? It seems to me that it would only be a requirement for a dog that is being shown, if it's still the breed standard (I'm pretty far out of the loop), which would mean that she can not be spayed either?

[redsoxluvr]

This is really going in an unkind direction. The point of the thread is to celebrate a new dog, not get b(*&&$ed at by strangers on the internet.
I would not blame the OP for not responding any more either.

[Rhianon]

This is really going in an unkind direction. The point of the thread is to celebrate a new dog, not get b(*&&$ed at by strangers on the internet.
I would not blame the OP for not responding any more either.

That's the thing about posting on a board. The person posts with expectations of certain responses. But one's perception of one's own actions aren't always the perception of others. Happens all the time to all of us.

[AmityBee]

This is really going in an unkind direction. The point of the thread is to celebrate a new dog, not get b(*&&$ed at by strangers on the internet.
I would not blame the OP for not responding any more either.

That's the thing about posting on a board. The person posts with expectations of certain responses. But one's perception of one's own actions aren't always the perception of others. Happens all the time to all of us.

That's right, besides, I think this board is actually really quite nice about it. Just imagine how this would have gone down on the old board...

[Chancellor]

I don't think this has gone badly. Yes, sure, it may not necessarily be what Phoenix was completely looking for. But, I think it is okay for those of us to say we don't agree with the ear cropping. No one is saying anything negative about HER. Just about the idea of ear cropping.
It's quite okay to not agree with that but let's not crucify her if she decides to go ahead and have it done.

The breed standard is "ears are usually cropped"

[Quelah]

I think ear cropping is fine as long as the owner's ears are done to match

[angela9823]

Lovely dog, PR! I am also in the band of no ear cropping. I had a Dobby - same coloring - that I got as a year old pup with one ear up and one ear down. I wanted the vet to "fix" the dog and fix that ear not standing up. My vet got pretty vicious about how these dogs are not made to have ears standing up. Unlike blue heelers (since I have one he used as an example) and horses, they don't have hair to protect the inside of their ears. So when the wind blows, or dust is carried around, it gets in these dogs ears. So, I asked if he could fix the ear instead that did stand up. Since that discussion with my vet I'm on the side that says not to do it. I met a lovely Dobby on the dog transport last weekend with her natural ears - just as lovely: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

And I'm starting to see more Dobbies showing with their ears uncropped. Across the seas they've wizened up and quit cropping.

Sorry, PR, to take in another direction but I can't help but add what my vet said to the conversation. It still doesn't detract from my congratulations to your new pup.