RealityBites

Sorry for the late reply, have been in Tassie for a few days! Ok Thanks for that, my female is already Vwd clear, and my boy is either clear or a carrier. I thought you had to see an eye specialist to get the eyes done, anyone know where in Melbourne to go? The place I am using for the vWd testing is called Genetic Technologies in Fitzroy. My male's breeder uses and recommended them. He is nearly two, so would assume he is old enough to get hips and elbows done. Will chat to my vet when I get back about the liver and thyroid. Was under the impression that that is something that has to be done annually? Or more than once at any rate!And can that be done at an earlier age? As for the teeth, I would assume they would be checking for correct amount, and no under/over bite? Which is something a vet can do? As for the cardio tests, will ask the vet about those as well, would assume that would be a specialists job as well? Thanks!

I will be posting this in the breeders section as soon as I am able to, but in the meantime in case anyone is browsing that knows........... What tests need to be done for the Doberman? I know vWd, and where and how to get that done. I think there is also liver and thyroid? Assume that's done through a vet? Do they also need hips and elbows done? And what about eye tests? And at what age do they need to be done? Thanks guys

Akron-Coppertop Caucha Out Valor- Bladedge Top Enforcer Hopefully with a few obedience and IPO titles after those names one day

This is not helpful in anyway whatsoever, but I used to have a Yorkshire Terrier and caught him one day desperately trying to kill a chook. He was on top of her, feathers in his mouth, grabbing as many feathers as he could and she was just wandering around, looking over her shoulder every so often giving him 'fowl' looks He would have had to have given that poor chook a red hot go for several days before doing any damage! I think the hens all laughed at him behind his back, he never did kill one, but god it was hilarious watching him try

I use liver treats you can buy at feed stores (Bit different from the supermarket style liver treats, they seem to be a bit thicker and chewier?) BUT have also used cat treats in the past. In most supermarkets you can buy little bags of dried fishies and the dogs LURVE them, they are easy to carry, don't smell bad and are cheap to buy. I use the nature's gift beef or chicken treats to teach tracking as they are soft and the dogs eat them quickly and keep going (Instead of standing chewing for 5 minutes!) But the dogs don't seem to get as excited about them as everyday training treats.

My boy will jump into anyone's car if the door is open! He thinks they are great! But again, the only time I have him in the car is when I am taking HIM somewhere, i.e beach, or park, or to friends places. He even LOVES the vets. so every car trip is great fun for him I live on property and he rides in the car while I go round feeding horses. He has even learnt to jump in through the open windows of my ute which I was NOT impressed th, but he certainly loves the car

I don't know if this would work on your guy because he is so big, but with the feet picking up thing, the method I use wth my babies requires a stirrup leather. (This is for babies that fight the initial methods, most learn really quickly but you get the odd one that thinks you are trying to kill them!) You pop the stirrup leather around the fetlock and and through the buckle to kind of make a noose, then strap the leg up around the knee. I have a sand roundyard with solid rubber walls that I use for this, and you do everything slowly and calmly, it is not a disciplinary thing, it should be a training thing. Once the leg is up, ask gently for a few forward steps. They quickly realise they can't put the leg down and they stand quietly. Once they have figured it out with the front legs, they usually don't stress about the back legs. This is also really good if you have a horse that is nervous as you can handle them all over. I hate it when they learn to pull their legs out of your hands and dive them to the ground, so I start early with the babies, and have used this method, and it doesn't stress them and seems to work quite well.

I have two stallions, and every year numerous youngsters and THE best thing that has worked for me when they start playing silly buggers is a smack across the forelegs with a whip when they are being stupid. I don't mean a massive thump, it's to take their mind of what they are doing, or about to do, and they usually look down, and it gives attention straight back to you. From that point I would ask them to back up a few steps and then continue walking forwrad. If they start surging, or prancing, another tap on the legs. I would be concerned about asking a horse to lunge that is already out of control. Making the legs move faster normally gets them more agitated, and if he is already rearing and pulling away, making him go faster is only going to exaggerate that. It also encourages them to run circles around you and when you already have a horse surging forwards, there is nothing more annoying than having one constantly running rings around you. I would try a tap on the legs, a bit in the mouth (If you use a rearing bit make sure the lead clip is attatched to the halter and the bit) and ask for him to back up, or stand still for a few seconds before moving forward. My boys are also a heavy breed and I can't afford to put up with any crap from them!

I am about to start trying the same thing, so have no advice will watch this thread with interest tho. I found this site: http://www.callicoma.com.au/ They have dumbells AND scent discrimination articles. Hope that helps!

LOL! I was thinking the exact same thing! No more tug of war games with your dog, or it will be declared dangerous! What is the world coming too......................... ;)

Ditto! And Erny has met my dobe, I think he's about as likely to bite someone as a sheep is If I were you I would be very mad at both the parents and the bf for putting me in that situation and then doing nothing about it to fix it! And it does show that those people not only have no control over their dog, but that the dog is stressed, as Erny said, and doesn't know it's plack in the pack

I am a member of a schutzhund club and hope to be able to train my boy and eventually compete him. Erny has seen him and I doubt she would ever consider him dangerous In fact he's the biggest sook I have ever had! But the amount of time and effort and responsibility that goes into training a dog up in the levels is enormous!! There is obedience, agility, retrieval work, tracking and bitework. It is a combination of so many different things that I am impressed by anyone that can title their dogs! I am currently training to be a vet nurse, and eventually want to trial and breed dobermans specifically for shutzhund and IPO work. Maybe I shouldn't make that statement , but I would like the australian dobermans to be more competative here, and I will refuse to breed with anything that CAN'T get titled, I would like to show as well, but to me, if a dog can prove itself to be obedient and calm in this field, then it is worth continuing and I wish the general public could see that!

If I had the time I would be a DSW!!! Unfortunately I have all these grandiose plans, but no time to implement them! My dog was going to have his CCD title by the time he was 12 months old. He's 14 months old and has never seen the inside of a ring yet I want to do schutzhund with him, but to do that I have to do tracking, obedience, agility, plus drive work, so I suppose schutzhund by itself is going to be hard enough! I have taken a dog to sydney for a weekend seminar (From Vic) and have travelled a couple of hours to get to trainers, so I am dedicated, just short on time. Probably a good thing for the dog!

I don't know if this is exactly what you need, but found this site http://www.callicoma.com.au/training1.htm#Plastic_dumbbells

The way they taught me at the SCH club was to trample down a square in the grass with your feet, probably about a metre by a metre, and just lay treats in that square. Give your dog the command you are going to use , i.e "find" ad allow it to sniff around that square finding the treats, if his nose goes outside the square, just gently pull him back to the square and repeat find. Once the dog has figured this out, it was amazing watching how their nose would go straight along the edge of a square but never outside it. Then once they have figured that out, make the square at the start of your track and stomp out some footprints in a straight line for about 10 to 15 metres, laying a treat at the toepoint. Then you start the dog at the square and tell him to "find' and encourage him along the track. They do pick it up quickly, and that's about as far as I have gotten with mine at the moment, I am assuming you would eventually lengthen the track and only lay food sporadically, and eventually only at the end etc etc and swap articles for food

It's not so much a drive issue as it is his distraction level for other dogs. What you need to do is work on making other dogs not as interesting or important to him, so that they become a neutral thing when he's out and about. And to do that you are going to need the help of another dog who is completely switched off to other dogs, so you will probably need the help of a trainer. I neutralised my puppy by using other dogs that were not interested in playing with him, or being friends with him, and then made ME the best thing on earth by having balls and tug toys and food etc, so got other dog to completely ignore my puppy, even with him jumping on them, then I had a big play with him, so eventually he didn't see other dogs as a fun thing, I was a fun thing! It's different if it's aggression that he is showing to other dogs, in which case you will need to find out what type of aggression it is, and then work with a trainer on that, again just trying to see the threat of another dog as neutralised. Good luck! I have had dog aggressive GSD in the past and it's not much fun when out and about BUT you can fix it with time

I once had 4 dogs at the same time, which was a nightmare BUT I never allowed them to run toghether, they had seperate yards and had seperate runs at different times of the day. On once occasion, my yorkshire terrier decided to escape and got out while my bullmastiff was out, and the bullmastiff chomped him. 100 odd stitches later he was fine, but it just reconfirmed in my mind that dogs should be kept seperate for their own good. A friend of mine turned up here last night, she was supposed to come and see me on the weekend but didn't turn up. It turns out she was comforting her sister because her sisters two dogs (Dalmation and a foxhound) had a scrap and the foxhound tore into the dalmation, ripping off an ear, his genitals and opening up his jugular. He had to have over 300 stitches and it cost them $1800! I currently have two dogs, A 14 month old entire doberman and an 8 year old desexed Malamute. Both have different yards, are never allowed out at the same time, and both dogs are quite happy It's not worth the stress, especially as your dobe gets older too, they do not get along well with other boys.

Ok reviving this again as I now have a query on something the boy did yesterday. His heel work is nearly perfect now! No more tripping over him and I am running backwards and forwards past him in his sit stays! I am SOOO impressed! BUT yesterday when I asked him to drop he just sat there and looked at me. I asked again and he didn't do it, so I ended up pulling his front legs out and making him drop. Now he KNOWS how to drop, in fact he usually THROWS himself to the ground at a million miles an hour, but yesterday I had to MAKE him drop about 4 times before he went, "Fine! I'll drop then!" My question is, is this a disobedience thing? Or is it because I am doing so many more things with him now, he 'forgot' what drop is?? I am leaning towards disobedience but just in case I am doing something wrong, thought I'd better ask

Awesome photography! What a great example of prey drive being used effectively and for a job! Definately not a dog to be sitting in a backyard

Well I had my first lesson with Erny today and it was great! LOADS to work on (Mind you I kinda knew that! :D ) But she was brilliant at explaining and has given us lots of homework to practice. So here's to hoping my canine companion becomes alot more fun to live with shortly!

That would be my dream but not neccesarily my goal. I did want to compete in schutzhund as I think it would be alot of fun, and I KNOW he would love it! *biting stuff! My favourite thing!* But I would be happy with him heeling, NOT leaping all over everyone, not stealing shoes, and being able to tell sit from drop!

Oh yeah! Forgot about Erny! Hey Erny! You were such a good help with my old shepherd, however he is NOTHING compared to the pyscho domberman that I have raised carefully and correctly since puppyhood.................. Feel like a challenge??!!

Should also mention we joined a schutzhund club, but learnt absolutely nothing in the whole time we went there, except that they like having other people watch their already perfectly trained dogs!Grrrrrr

Ok I have been to see K9 Force several times and he is brilliant with dogs. However he lives in the wrong state! I am looking for a good dog trainer to help me with a 14 month old entire doberman. I do not want to go to classes just yet, until I get a handle on his energy as it would be pointless at the moment. He'd be like "Oh look! Other dogs! My favourite thing!" Oh look! Other people! My favourite thing!" Oh look toys! My favourite thing!" 'Oh boy! A car ride! My favourite thing!" We would learn nothing and I would just get frustrated with him! We have a prong collar and an e collar and are not afraid of using either I just want to learn how to teach him properly in the comfort of my own home, before (If ever) venturing out to join the general populace! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. He is great with kids, people, other dogs, cats etc etc etc, unfortunately also great with shoe thieving, destroying anything not tied down, biting, barking and general mayhem and destruction Help!

I decided what I wanted to do with a dog first and THEN picked breed. Have had German Shepherds (Picked them because wanted to compete in obedience) and then decided wanted to do obedience and agilty amd wanted something with an easy care coat, so was a toss up between Kelpie and Dobe for next dog, and picked Dobe!! Which was a great choice................I'm hooked now