So now it is time for me to actually be a columnist like John and his dog Marley. Okay, so maybe this is not column writing, but a blog writer will do for now.
My Marley is named Gracie. She is a one-year-old red Doberman pincher. Not a miniature pincher, a red Doberman. She is more of a brown color than red, but Dobermen go by black, blue, and red. We have had the pleasure of having a black one, a blue one, and now Gracie.
Boy, is she a head case or what? When we first got her we noticed that when she got excited, she started to crouch down and then she would start dripping urine. When training a dog, you should not yell at them when they urinate on the ground because that will only make them more scared and nervous. Those feelings will then trigger either more urine or a scared puppy.
Another tip that we were told to teach her as part of obedience training was to make sure that she sits down before she goes through a door. It is important for her to realize that she cannot just run through doors and that she does not think that she owns the household. We are also supposed to go through a door before she does so that she knows that we are in charge. So, what we are supposed to do is tell her to sit, walk ourselves through the door, and then say “ok” to let her know that she can come through the door, too.
I cannot say that this training is going too well, but we are definitely trying! One of the biggest habits we are trying to break her out of is her love for tug-of-war. She will take anything from our house, put it in her mouth, and then start chewing it in our laps, begging us to grab a hold of the other end.
Gracie is a really sweet girl, but we have a lot of work to do with her! I will let you know what she is up to next time!
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Hello Madam.I am sylvestar and i am 10 years old.I would like to know how we should train a doberman.I have a doberman which is exactly similar to yours. But mine is a male doberman and it is very naughty.Without any training only it started to sit down before we provide it the pedigree meal.At times it acts very desperate to lick us because we leave it in the back yard all day.It is not at all ferocious but it is very innocent.It allows other puppies which unknowingly come into our back yard to share its meal.At the same time it doesn’t allow them them to play with it,but only allows to share the food.Please try and reply me as fast as you can so that i may know what to do with its training. I prefer it to be ferocious!!!!!!
Hi Sylvestar,
First of all, congrats on getting a doberman! They’re a great breed and very trainable. Whether you would like your doberman to be ferocious or lovable is really up to your family, but in either matter, training is key.
Loyalty is going to play a key role in this. If your dog grows to love your family and becomes protective of your family, you’ll have yourself a doberman who is ferocious when it needs to be.
Training your dog to be ferocious will require a lot of patience and balance. I’m assuming that you would like to be able to play with your dog as well right? Your dog has to learn when he should be “on duty”.
That’s interesting that your dog allows other to eat his food, but won’t play with them. Does he get snap at the dogs when they start to play with him? Your dog seems to be missing the “on-switch” that tells him “hey, this dog is going too far into my territory”.
Getting your dog to sit before you feed it is great, but there are a lot more tricks to teach your dog. Use treats as bribe, but your dog should be able to complete all of the tasks without treats too. It took us months to train Gracie to sit and come without a treat, and that was even with a class!
Unfortunately, I’m not well versed in how to train your dog to be ferocious. I just know that you’ll have to make sure that your dog knows the difference between play and the “real deal”. You should have complete control in the sense that your dog could be barking at the door when someone rings the doorbell, but as soon as you say “stop”, he’ll stop. As I mentioned before, getting your dog to love your family will make him more protective of you all.
Maybe you should invest in a class…