encouraging natural protective instinct

[fritz'mom]

Hello all,

I am a new member of this group. I read through a couple of the posts and was really impressed with the knowledge of some of the members. I am hoping to benefit from that myself!

I am a first time doberman owner, my boy is now 10 months old. He is what I would call a great big lovable goof ball. We have really fell in love with him. I have three young children and my husband works a swing shift job so he is gone different hours every week. I really wanted to get a doberman for protection but also wanted one that I knew was going to be good with my children. I got Fritz when he was a very young puppy and raised him in the house with my family. After speaking with breeders and a local trainer I made sure that he was socialized properly with strangers and other dogs, etc..

My concern now is this. He doesn't seem to have much natural protective instincts. He has strongly bonded with me, and is great with the kids, even my 2 year old. But he doesn't really bark much when someone comes to the door. He pretty much sleeps through the night and doesn't seem to even wake up most of the time at night when my husband comes in from work. I was explaining this away as maybe he just knows it's you. My husband says, "no, he was snoring when I came in."

If someone enters the home I will put him in the crate which is in the kitchen. He will bark aggressively until I allow him to greet the person on lead and he will immediately calm down and be friendly.

I am beginning to wonder if I am doing the right thing by allowing him to meet people in my home. Should I seperate him from visitors (maybe in another room) so that he is more protective? As I mentioned before he is only 10 months old, and although large he is still very much a puppy. Will he become more protective with age? Obviously he is first and foremost a family pet and has to be loving with my children, but I would also love to feel safe when at home alone knowing he will protect us if need be.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for any advice. I will post in the new member section later.

Jennifer in TN

[jelly8bean]

Let me say that without alot of training that you really don't want on your dog especially with children around, protection is not actually in the dog's description. Even dogs that have protection training are not 100% reliable without handler instruction (ie police dogs). What you need to think is that 90% of people with bad things in mind will go for the path of least resistance. If there is a large barking dog in the house (even if not barking just a large dog that has a stereotype of the dobie), it will deter most. If a person is not put off by the presence of the dog, they most likely will be prepared to kill the dog especially if it attacked them. So think thru exactly what you are wanting to have for you and your dog.

I think you should absolutely continue with your current plan and have a lovely fun family pet. Socialization with everything is key, and yes as he gets older and decides more things are "his stuff" he will get a bit more barky and possibly possessive about things. As I said before the presence of a large dog is a big deterrent.. if you really feel you need that much protection, invest in an alarm system. I worked very hard to make sure my dogs (2 dobies and a rottie) would never hurt anyone, it is just too much chance to take that they would hurt the meter reader, kids from next door etc. Not something I would even want to think about.

[magtie]

I agree, socialization is key. In the long run, you will want a dog that is part of your family. For protection, just the presence of a dob can be a deterrent. They don't have to know he's a big baby :)

[fritz'mom]

Thanks for the quick response!

I totally get what you are saying. As I said, first and foremost he is our family pet. He is such a great dog, I would never be able to live with myself if I did something to make him anything less than the perfect Dobe! A friend of mine and I were talking the other day about how much we love our Dobe's. I can't believe that these dogs aren't more popular than they are. At least in the area that I am in I hardly ever see one. I wish more people knew how great they are! I will continue with my current plan and keep him safe for everyone.

Wow, I am totally impressed with the speed of the response on this. I posted this same question to another doberman forum on Friday and have yet to receive a response.

Thanks again,

Jennifer in TN

[jelly8bean]

Hey.. we are here for you :)

[MLR]

You don't really have to worry about you dobe not being protective right now; he's still a puppy. When a doberman gets about a year old that will kick in all by itself. The main thing is to keep doing what you have been doing. Don't isolate him when there are others around or you will have a fearful dog who might just attack your friends. Dobermans are smart enough to know who is and who isn't allowed in your house. They take their que form you. As far as how he acts when your husband comes home from work, just ask yourself how he acts when you come into the house. You're his people, he knows that. Mine don't react when I come home or my grandkids come over. But now that they are older they both bark when someone knocks on the door, no matter who it is. If your husband isn't buying this I can tell you I have left my male dobe here with a service tech and run to the store before. The guy told me that Hercules knew I was coming back when my car was a half a block away. He got all excited and went to the door before I even pulled up to the house. Hope this helps.

[Sue J]

Our Jett is still a wee babe, but we had dobes in the past. All of them went through obedience training but none had any protection training. All of them were very social (2 were raised with children) and none were aggressive. Once they hit about 2, they showed ownership. If the dogs were outside, strangers were announced by barking and did not enter they yard unless invited by us and then most stepped lightly. Our dogs usually got between us and the stranger until commanded to heel/sit. They still sensed who was friendly or unknown strangers by the way we acted. Once we told the Dobes "okay" they would settle down and friendly visit with new people, no ok meant/felt "be watchful" and they didn't relax much. During the day, my dobes never barked at a knock on the door, they would alert me (as if I hadn't heard it) then quietly go to door and sit there waiting for my response. That in itself is scary to open a door and have a 100 lb. Dobe looking at you even if it was on a leash. At night though, they did bark at anyone unknown in the yard when they were in the house. They also knew the sound of vehicles and knew when it was us or someone who belonged to us. I believe Dobes are very intuitive to our reactions/feelings. They are usually very loyal to their family. In my opinion, you're handling things well with your little boy. Give him time to show how much he loves your family. He'll show others when it's time.

[DynamicDuo]

I agree with what everyone has been saying also. My Dobes RARELY bark at a knock at the door. They just seem to watch me and my reaction. If it's someone they don't know; they just make their presence known by standing somewhere back from the door. They are also very observant. If someone looking "strange" (kids dressed in black with hoodies, etc....) is walking by, they just seem to "lock on" and watch them. As if to say "this house is protected by Dobermans", LOL.
I also agree with the fact that you can't socialize them enough! Plus it's a great opportunity to educate people about how they actually are GREAT dogs!

Good Luck with your puppy!

[Sue J]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but Dynamic Duo did you train your dobe not to bark at the door or did they just do this ? I've never trained one not to bark at door, they just did it on their own. I often wondered about why.

[jelly8bean]

Geez.. I must be doing something wrong. Sara and Indigo bark alot when someone is at the door. Not me and those they know, but anyone else.. oh yeah. UPS guy even leaves dog biscuits because everyone knows they are there. Quite a ruckas. And the funny thing is that Sara is the huge bark and tiny body (about 46 lbs). My rottie who is the largest of the 3 hardly ever barks, but when she does it is a weeny little woof sound. Of course a 90lb rottie will back most folks off just smiling at them.. not to mention the dobies bouncing around.

[Sue J]

Jelly, I had to giggle about your rottie smiling. Our female Dobe did that and she scared the crap out of people when she did it. I can just imagine a stranger facing your group. Tell the UPS man to leave $ instead of treats maybe that will work better. LOL

[Slaboflab]

Dobs are very nice dogs, they are so pretty also, very good looking animals.

[DynamicDuo]

Sue J
To answer your question - no I didn't train them not to bark. My female Samantha is very laid back and she never did bark and still rarely barks. On the other hand we have one of her 9 mo old pups named Harley. Now she is the opposite, she would bark at everything! But I think thru repetition of kids and friends coming and going thru the door she has learned there is not a need to bark. They do "alert" me to the door by coming to get me and circling or trotting up & down the stairs to let me know. I think that they would bark though if they ever felt threatened. "Sam" did go crazy barking one time when a friend of ours showed up at 10:00 at night dressed in a big black coat and hat. We opened the door to let him in and I think she was half asleep and didn't recognize him.
I think that dogs learn to even recognize the sounds of certain people's footsteps, because our dogs rarely get up if it is one of our kid's friends at the door. Maybe they know that the softer footsteps are neighborhood kids....??? Just like people say their dogs can hear family cars coming down the road.