Ok i need some advice here.
My partner and i have 2 dogs. We’ve had dogs for years, and currently have a 24 week old Doberman and a 3 year old Springer Spaniel.
Molly (The doberman) has been housetrained perfectly from just under 12 weeks, and very well behaved, however the past week or so she has taken to using the bathroom in the house, hanging off Tobys (the Springers) tail, biting, jumping up and snappng at strangers (never been something shes been allowed to do), getting very aggresive around food, even if it is not hers, attacking our other dog if he goes too near (He is the calmest dog you would ever meet, does little more than sleep and agility once a week), barking and growling during the night… Shes just being a nightmare. I know she is a pup, and ive had 8 dogs from pups already, but this is going much too far.
She was a ‘present’ from a friend of the family, who has now left the country. What would you suggest? I have had her checked out by the vet, with a clean bill of health, and been to 3 different trainers, all of which have been stumped by her behaviour.
IF she was to be rehomed, she would be spayed first so she could not be bred from, but im just wondering if this would be the best course of action – Its placing a huge strain on my relationship, and Toby hates it now! He loved her until this all started.
She has not had anything at all changed, no different foods, no change of routine, nothing at all.
Yes Toby is neutered, and Molly is booked in for the end of next week.
She is my 3rd Doberman, and i’ve had them all from pups, so i knew what i was taking on.
She is crate trained, even knowing what Bed Time means and going in herself. She gets all the attention she could ever want, Toby even went to stay with a friend for a week to see if it was him that was the problem, but this made things worse
I would rehome her if any one will take her, maybe she is jealous or something my dogs will act up like that if they dont get enough attention, find her a home were some one can give her enough attention
dont know hope you sort it
Talk with your nearest Doberman Rescue, and maybe contact your nearest Doberman club as well, to see if they have suggestions for you.
A doberman is a big commitment especially a puppy. They arn’t easy breeds to raise. LOTS of mental, physical stimulation and obedience classes are a must!!!! has she been through puppy classes? If so she needs to be on the next level of classes and the one after that. She needs to be crate trained and crated when unsupervised. Look up NILIF and start using it.
IF you have to give her up, call a breed rescue group. What state are you in?
Maybe having her spayed would help her behavior? Do you have her cage-trained? This would help limit her activity and help you control her. Watch the trainer on Animal Planet – the British one. She is really good. You might get some useful information from her. Is Toby neutered?
Your female is an alpha dog! She requires more attention then the others. You must take control of all her moves. Show her you are the boss. Offer more training on your behalf. Make her obey and listen to you. Sit means sit, stay means stay! If your don;t like the actions of your pet correct them!
My opinion… It’s too soon to re-home her. (but i’m not living in your home and can’t see exactly how she’s behaving. I only have your description).
I think it’s back to basics. Feed her in her crate. She goes to obedience school. She’s worked with every day. The nothing in life is free mantra would probably help. (NILF) She has to learn that you are the top dog and to respect the other dog. She’s never left unattended. I’d have her on leash when she’s out of her crate and correct her for the undesirable behavior.
To me, it sounds like a teenager dog testing her boundaries with you and your other dog. I may be right, I may be totally off base and it’s worse than that. Just guessing.
In generally I’d work harder with her before I’d give up.
I’m just not one to give up on a dog at that age. Too many variables and too many of the behaviors sound correctable.
Good luck with her no matter what you decide. Puppies are brats. They are hard work and can challenge even the most experienced dog owner at times.
I think puberty has set in, and the word ***** has a bad connotation for a reason. Neuter her. She is asserting her dominance over everyone and everything. To re-home her would to be just passing problems to others. Maybe you can’t train her, and another home would be better. She can be trained, though, and her training should start NOW. Find a trainer experienced with dobes, and do it right away!
you have to remember she’s just a pup, and she’s been rehomed, and that can mess a puppy up for a while, going from one home to another isn’t good for them especially when there puppy’s. I have a german shepherd that did the same thing, but she grew out of it when she turned about one. When she did all the naughty behavior my mom and i showed her it was not tolerated, we clapped our hands together really loudly and said JOSIE! we say her name and it got her attention, and when she’d look at us we’d say no no no! This took alot of time but eventually it workd
Please don’t spay her before she’s at least six months old.
I have never had a Doberman before, but it sounds like she has decided that SHE wants to be the pack leader here. Spaying is probably not the answer to this problem.
If she’s really ripping the family apart like this, then probably rehoming her would be the best for everyone… I highly doubt she’s having all that great a time with all this disaster. But, if you do rehome her, as I said before, please don’t spay her before she’s at least six months.
Sounds like you have a very dominant doberman on your hand but I’m sure with the right training and owner, this dog can grow up to be a very great dog! I know, because my doberman was also very dominant and started challenging me at around the same time as your dog. (growling by it’s food bowl, being mouthy, etc.)
It sounds like the trainers you were talking to were either lazy/ignorant or just plain stupid to not tell you what was wrong with your dog. I will tell you that most normal people cannot handle a truly dominant doberman, especially if they never had a dominant dog before.
If you do wish to rehome, I would talk to doberman rescues around your area. They would understand your situation and hopefully find an experience owner who can work with the dog.
But please, don’t give up! The dog is obviously intelligent (housebroken by 12 weeks) and going through a rebellious stage. The dog is challenging you and your other dog and testing it’s limits. DON’T LET IT WIN.
I would talk to schutzhund trainers aroud your area about your problems NOT some local dog behaviorist. They know what they are talking about in dominance aggression. I took my dominant doberman to a petsmart trainer, only for the trainer to tell me that she couldn’t handle the dog. But she referred me to a schutzhund trainer and I haven’t looked back.
l used to breed dobermans and one of the main conditions any puppy was sold was that they HAD to take the puppy to Obedience School no matter what.She is going through the teens and this is a difficult time for a doberman as you may have thought you had her under control but in fact she is testing you to see how far she can go .l cannot understandif you took her to reputable Trainers they could not re-train or give you some solid advice as to what to do as this is not an uncommon issue with dobermans who must be correctly socialized,go to Obedience and walked for at least an hour every day.They are a very active,highly inteligent breed and if not stimulated will and do test ones patience and nerve.If you decide to keep her you will have to up the exercise and go to Obedience that is one point and the other is joining tthe local Doberman Club as they have these issues happening all the time and are the best to give you more hands on advice as l cannot as l doubt if l am in your country.The more intelligent and highly energetic the dog like the doberman,standard schnauzer and like breeds the more you have to let them know that you will not accept bad behaviour and you have to nip it in the bud the first moment it starts and if you do not it esculates to what you have now.if you would feel happier re-homing her by all means contact the nearest Doberman rescue but make sure as you said to have her de-sexed before handing her over to anyone.Food aggression is not uncommon and you may not really have been aware of it but she was leading up to it quite awhile ago.l never feed my dogs anywhere near each other so l do not have this issue as l make sure it does not hapen although l do have a female who is food protective and will guard her food but not eat it and does not want anyone else to have it either but she calms down and eats as she knows they have a time limit and when that is reached food disappears till the next day.Basically you have to decide after talking to the Doberman people and there will be someone there who will advise you as what to do whether you are prepared to do the work necessary to get her back to being an obedient,member of your pack which is you,partner and the other dog,meaning you are the pack leader and what you say goes and forget this nonsense she is trying.Up to you,l do realize how upsetting this can be and can split a family so you are the only ones who can decide what to do.Just read your added notes.If this is the thierd Doberman you have had l am surprised that something went wrong and you do not know how to fix it as you obviously know how manipulative and intelligent they are.One final point and it is the only thing l can think of if her behacviour has changed that drastically and l **** to say this but she may have a brain tumur or something physically wrong wit her that is causing this change in a up to now normal,healthy,obedient dog.If you have had her to Obedience and have walked her every day as l suggested than l would look at a medical problem that she may have.
I agree with Cindy (the first one, we seem to have two here?) – she’s pushing the boundaries. Spaying is a good idea in any case with her (because if there is a kink in her temperament, you don’t want her having puppies to pass this on to) but just know neutering is no substitute for training. This one is dominant. She needs to know you are the boss.
As for rehoming her. Frankly if she being aggressive, would you want to hand her over to another possibly unsuspecting family to deal with? It could well be that if she goes into Rescue, she’ll get worse, and will end up being put down.
Did you get her from a breeder (or is this the person who has left the country)? If so, have a word with them about what’s going on. If they are experienced with their breed/bloodlines, they may have some pointers for you.
Firstly great of your relative to buy a puppy as a present. Noone should do that without proper consultation first. Then leaving the country. Well.
Secondly ask yourself Do you want to keep her? If yes then you need to work out and solve the problem. You CANNOT pass on a problem dog to someone else. That is not right as the dog may be pushed from home to home to shelter as noone will want to deal with her problems.
Maybe she just finding her feet. We have had Dobes over 20 years and I find particularly with males ( we not had a female puppy). At around 6 months they start to push the bounderies to try and be dominant. You have to be firm and kind. When they do wrong make sure she knows it wrong and put her away for a while.
It may be that the other dog is too ********** and she is being a bully. Eventually though he will have enough and hit back at her. Maybe then she will stop.
If you really cant cope. try Top dog security 08007835534. My friend owns it and he has bred and kept dobes much longer than I have and they offer problem advice and training for dog and owners. They look at the psycological side of things.
I am puzzled that all those trainers could not help as your description is very clear and the answer seems simple to me. Your dog is getting too much attention and consequently thinks she rules the roost. Make her work hard for your attention by ignoring bad behaviour, playing retrieving games with her and doing plenty of recall, sit, stay exercises with food rewards. This way her mind is busy earing rewards rather than getting everything free. Also, at 24 weeks she is an adolescent and so rebellion is the expected thing!
Make sure you are not giving her the wrong idea about her position in the house at feeding times, sleeping, playing, walking etc. You are an experienced dobe owner so you will already know to feed her last, not let her on sofas, beds etc. When she behaves badly remove her from the room or ignore her without shouting etc. Don’t intimidate her as it leads to other insecurity problems which will manifest later on. This may be the cause of her snapping at visitors by the way.
Perservere! It sounds like you have a feisty puppy. With good firm handling these mature in to the best dogs!
Even if you have experience with the breed before, don’t forget that all dogs mature differently.
Don’t give up on her, try lots of alternative things. Sometimes a water spray (although frowned upon by some people) is a really great tool for stopping unwanted behaviour. Find out what floats her boat, is it food, toys, a particular toy, affection… whatever it is find it and use it. Apart from those things give her some time, as she might just grow out of it on her own. On top of that, look for something that really wears her out, like trotting alongside you on a bike or something. A tired pooch is a well behaved one… trust me I know from my Rhodesian Ridgeback who was a far worse behaved and trying puppy than my Doberman.
Best of luck, and I really hope you can help her overcome her little issues soon.