Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone give me info on proper training of the doberman? A timeline on potty training, living in his crate, use of slapping etc... I don't have a dobe but a friend does and am wondering if the training is going as well as it should be. Thanks!

If there is slapping going on and the pup is "living" in a crate I'd say that there are serious problems with the owner.

Get thee to a book store for a good book on puppy raising, or amazon.com for an even better selection. I recommend "How to raise a puppy you can live with" by Rutherford & Neil - you can find it on Amazon.com for about $12. You would hopefully be doing your "friend" a big favor if you bought them a good book on puppy raising.

Definitely get a book, and do some reading on the web. There should be no slapping involved - ever. Use only positive reinforcement and if it's absolutely necessary for biting or some similar situation you can use a spray bottle with some water. I know some people disagree with that but it doesn't hurt them or really scare them but it will startle them out of whatever they're doing.

As for potty training there should be a schedule set into place. You don't say how old the dog is. As a rule, you take the number of months old the puppy is and add one, and that's how many hours he can hold it (give or take a little). So if you or your friend only has a 12 week old puppy, he can probably only hold it for about 4 hours, so you should plan on taking him outside every 3 hours. The puppy should be able to hold it a little longer at night but will still need to go out once or probably twice.

If you never let too much time go by so that the puppy never has to go so badly he can't hold it any more, you'll have a potty trained puppy in no time (although if he's really young there will still probably be the occasional accident).

He should only be in his crate overnight, and at the most two or three hours during the day. More than that is too much and the puppy is not going to be getting the attention and stimulation he needs to develop into a well-balanced dog. At other times, if you can't watch the puppy consider tying his leash to something in the room where you are and giving him a stuffed kong and some other toys to keep him busy.

I can't list off all the things you need to do to raise a puppy correctly, but obedience training is one of them. Whether you learn how to do it yourself or take him to classes, the training is for both you and the dog and is probably the most important part of the human-dog relationship. And there isn't much need to get hung up on the fact that the puppy is a doberman, they're raised just like every other dog. Get used to whining and vocalizing though, because they're known to do that their entire lives.