Bruce Update - He's growing up fast! (Pics)

[Boatman]

He looks AWESOME! I am so jealous right now. Congrats!

 

[Shell]

He looks AWESOME! I am so jealous right now. Congrats!

Thanks When we got him I had no idea how much I would bond with him. My last dog was my heart, I was devastated when I lost him, and while I was ready for another dog, and excited to train another one I was not expecting Bruce to impact me the way he has. He has, already at only 7 mths, far exceeded any expectations and hopes I had for him, plus I just love him so much it's ridiculous lol.

 

[The Snark]

Would you please allow me to pick your brain a bit since you obviously know what you are doing. Multiple problems:
-When we got our dogthing it had a hairless band around it's neck from a collar. It was obvious he spent his entire puppyhood tied and abused. Cringe was the only response from him. That apparently lasted until he reached young adulthood and escaped. He knew nothing but cringe and get beaten.
-He is EXTREMELY empathic. He picks up on any and all emotions from mammals around him. As one example, when someone was inside our house, crying and having a hard time with life, the dog went frantic outside. Whining, whimpering and dashing back and forth on the porch. When my wife goes outside, who is playful, it's bounce and party time. With me it's calm and reserved time and so on. Thus any form of training, he subconsciously picks up on the domination mindset and drops into obsequious mode and learns nothing but wait it out.
-I am strongly opposed to anthropomorphizing and disturbing the natural way of things. I've spent 3 months trying to bring myself to flood a spider burrow to see what the lurker looks like.

And so, just how in heck can we train the dogthing with some basics like stay out of the street?

PS Dogthing: We haven't given him a name. We call him by his genus, a zeedle, which he answers to.

 

[Shell]

Would you please allow me to pick your brain a bit since you obviously know what you are doing. Multiple problems:
-When we got our dogthing it had a hairless band around it's neck from a collar. It was obvious he spent his entire puppyhood tied and abused. Cringe was the only response from him. That apparently lasted until he reached young adulthood and escaped. He knew nothing but cringe and get beaten.
-He is EXTREMELY empathic. He picks up on any and all emotions from mammals around him. As one example, when someone was inside our house, crying and having a hard time with life, the dog went frantic outside. Whining, whimpering and dashing back and forth on the porch. When my wife goes outside, who is playful, it's bounce and party time. With me it's calm and reserved time and so on. Thus any form of training, he subconsciously picks up on the domination mindset and drops into obsequious mode and learns nothing but wait it out.
-I am strongly opposed to anthropomorphizing and disturbing the natural way of things. I've spent 3 months trying to bring myself to flood a spider burrow to see what the lurker looks like.

And so, just how in heck can we train the dogthing with some basics like stay out of the street?

PS Dogthing: We haven't given him a name. We call him by his genus, a zeedle, which he answers to.

Sent you a PM I'm certainly no expert though. I've worked with a lot of dogs, but I don't claim to be a pro. I just happened to get an extremely smart, eager dog with Bruce.

 

[akarikuragi]

Wow he is gorgeous! I absolutely adore dobermans, they're in my top three favorite breeds. :3 Where did you get him?

 

[Shell]

Wow he is gorgeous! I absolutely adore dobermans, they're in my top three favorite breeds. :3 Where did you get him?

Thanks They're an awesome breed. Certainly not "easy", but very smart so if you put in the time and training you get an incredible dog. He can be a lot of dog, but he loves to work for me. We got him from a breeder about 2ish hours North of Toronto.

It's funny, Bruce is starting to gain quite a reputation around our town (which is small ish, but certainly not tiny). You really don't see Dobes around here, and I've had numerous occasions now where someone I don't know has stopped me to comment on him, and then when told his name say something like "Oh this is Bruce?! I've heard all about the wonderful Dobe named Bruce". It makes me feel great, I've worked hard to get him this good, and everywhere he goes people fall in love with him. Today he "converted" an elderly lady who had spent her life terrified of the breed. She got brave enough to pet him, and ended up sitting with him for half an hour fussing over him, and rubbing his ears while he gave her kisses lol. She told me he was the first Dobe she had ever been brave enough to approach. I'm pretty proud of my boy

 

[akarikuragi]

lmfao I heard they can be a bit... Hrm... "What's in it for me?" type dogs. XD I'd like to get one after I get a German shepherd. They certainly aren't a breed you see every day around here. There was one guy who had the most gorgeous red dobe, I would see him walking occasionally. I can see why he would become so well known though. XD They seem to command attention... At least I always want to stop and stare when I see them. ^^;

Are you going to do any competing with him? Or just the therapy work and recreational obedience?

 

[The Snark]

In my vast experience with Doobies... (about 3 so far) if they are raised with a lot of love and affection and kindness they tend to become horrible pains in the tukus. Burrowing into bed with you, trying to play with the cat until it goes into a nervous decline, considers all surfaces and people in a house some place to walk in order to get up in your face for petting, gives you a major ZAP as it pokes that cold wet very hard nose on your bare tender places to get more attention and on and on. Highly athletic cuddle monsters best describes.

 

[Shell]

lmfao I heard they can be a bit... Hrm... "What's in it for me?" type dogs.

Are you going to do any competing with him? Or just the therapy work and recreational obedience?

They are a thinking breed, and extremely intelligent and sensitive. You have to be very consistent in how you train them, and you have to do it right or they won't forgive you. They don't handle corrections well, as I said theyre not an easy breed, but if you know the proper way to work with them, they are incredible dogs.

He will be primarily a certified therapy dog, as well as titled in obedience (obedience trials and stuff, he's into advanced stuff, not like basic classes at Petsmart :wall. I may do some agility, lure coursing, fly ball that sort of stuff with him once his growth plates are closed, but my main goals are obedience trials and therapy dog.

Highly athletic cuddle monsters best describes.

That sounds about right, although I have yet to meet one who was annoying about it. I could see how they could be if not properly trained, but these dogs are SMART, set boundaries and enforce them, and they will respect them.

 

[The Snark]

Certified Therapy dog. Are you going to enroll him in the companions program? The dogs that visit hospitals and rest homes???

 

[Shell]

Certified Therapy dog. Are you going to enroll him in the companions program? The dogs that visit hospitals and rest homes???

He will be certified to do all of that, but I won't really be taking him to places like that (once in a while). I don't believe it's called the companions program here, but yes he will be able to do all of that, and go those places if I choose to. My choices for having him be certified therapy dog are for the training it entails (ie I want him to have that training) since I have 2 kids with autism, plus being a breed that is considered "dangerous" I want him to have that certification. With being around so much autism so to speak it's something I want for him. I've certified my last few dogs as therapy dogs as well (chocolate lab, finished show dog/stud, and a female border collie mix). The training behind it is important to me, plus it's always nice to have the certification.

 

[The Snark]

My negativity towards 'overtrained' dogs waned considerably when I encountered patient visitor dogs at a hospital. The entire mood of the nursing floor, patients and staff alike, visibly became more cheerful upon a dog duet's arrival. The two most memorable moments were when one of the dogs saw a dour grumpy nurse behind the counter. It jumped onto the counter, put a paw on her shoulder and licked her face. "Don't be so sad!" The other dog, a border collie, had a routine it worked out. It would sit by a patients bed watching for receptive friendliness. If it got that it would jump on the end on the bed and primly sit. If that was well received it would worm along on it's side up against the patient and put it's head on the patients shoulder where it was contented to lie for hours on end.
And talk about pampered. Both of those dogs insisted on 2 baths a day, evening long cuddling and a bouncing romp at least once a week in a day care that left all the children screaming with laughter.

 

[Shell]

Just a pic of my handsome guy from the other day. In a nice down stay with lots of distractions around, so proud of him.

 

[Shell]

Just some new pics of my guy, and one I made of him at 8 weeks old and again at almost 8 mths. He's growing up so fast!

 

[Shell]

It's been a while since I posted pics of my boy, he is 14 mths old now, and such an awesome guy. We decorated for Christmas yesterday, and he was getting in the spirit with us

 

[pitbulllady]

That's such a handsome Dobie, Shell. It's not often that I see quality Dobes anymore. Makes me kinda sad, really, because one of my best friends bred Dobermans before her untimely death from a brain aneurism. I don't know what became of her dogs after that. They were great dogs, very "level-headed", like a working dog should be. They could be serious protectors or big goofballs, whichever the situation called for, and they knew the difference.

pitbulllady

 

[Shell]

That's such a handsome Dobie, Shell. It's not often that I see quality Dobes anymore. Makes me kinda sad, really, because one of my best friends bred Dobermans before her untimely death from a brain aneurism. I don't know what became of her dogs after that. They were great dogs, very "level-headed", like a working dog should be. They could be serious protectors or big goofballs, whichever the situation called for, and they knew the difference.

pitbulllady

Aw that's so sad They really are amazing dogs. Bruce is quite good already at knowing when to protect us, or when to wiggle and kiss someone to death...unless it's a squirrel, those he just wants to kill (thankfully his "leave it" is solid).

There are a few really amazing breeders near me, but also a TON of BYB's churning out dogs with some seriously unstable temperaments. Its sad, this breed needs all the good press, and responsible breeding (both for the temperament and for their health), that they can get.

 

[Shell]

I figured it was about time for a Bruce update He is 16 mths now, and still coming along incredibly. We are currently working towards some obedience titles, and he still amazes me daily with how smart he is, and how eager to work with me. I love this dog so much it's stupid, together we break down the barriers and myths regarding Dobermans on a daily basis. He is my heart dog in every way. I also included one of his "sister", Annie, my retired Canadian Champion Lab bitch, just because she's so pretty


Don't let the sleepy pics fool you, Bruce has a TON of energy, and is a VERY high drive dog. We do a 2 hr off leash run daily, plus at least an hour of active training so it tends to wear him out, and then I sneak out the camera.

 

[CitizenNumber9]

Whoa in that last pic he looks kind of like a lab

 

[Shell]

Whoa in that last pic he looks kind of like a lab

That's his Annie , his sister from another mother. I showed, co-owned Labs for years, so there is always a Lab in my house also. Didn't want to leave my girl out.