Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Recently my husband and I decided to get another doberman puppy. She is my third dobe and she is so sweet, smart, and fantastic. There is one thing though...she is developing extremely long hair. Coco's ears are very fuzzy, the hair on her back is LONG, and there is a lot of fur growing between her toes now where there wasn't any before. Don't get me wrong, her coat is beautifully silky and wavy; it is just odd.

Has anyone ever seen this before? Here is her flickr photoset if you would like to see her. She was born on Jan 29, 07 and her most recent and telling photos are on page 2.

Thanks!

Beka

Hi! Thanks for sharing the photos... Coco is adorable! I don't have a Dobe so I can only relate to my own breed the Shba Inu. There are long haired Shibas and for the most part it is related to a gene some where in the breeding line. These dogs would not be show material but doesn't make them any less a purebred. In addition to Shibas, the long haired trait can also be found in German Shepherds and Rotties as well as other breeds. I think it makes them unique looking.
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Bob

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Thank you! She's definitely a sweetie and very brave. I'm not upset about her because I hadn't planned on showing her. If I had paid for breeding stock or a show dog, I might be having a fit right now.

We'll see how it goes. Her vet is hoping it will shed out. He thinks she looks silly...but I think the ear fluff is precious.

I don't think that it is unheard of in Dobermans to have a double coat, but it would be pretty rare. The only one I've seen was a rescue and I would suspect that there was something other than just Dobeman in that one. Your girl does look full Doberman from the pictures, but Doberman Rottie crosses can favor either side sometimes and Rotties have a double coat.

What does her breeder say? Do you have a pedigree for her?

I have her AKC registration and Daddy's DNA is on file. I don't know what, if anything, I can do with it. I haven't called her breeder yet, because I wanted to do plenty of research.

I'm not terribly upset because I bought a pet, not a show dog or a dog to breed. It would bother me quite a bit if she knew something had gone wrong or there was an issue in her bloodline that she didn't disclose to me and registered the litter anyway.

Oh well!

I would definitely let the breeder know and send some pictures. They really need to know what they are producing.

It is possible that she may shed a lot of it out when she grows her adult coat, but I'm betting she will always have a heavier coat than normal. If the furry ears bother you at all, you can use electric clippers and trim along the cut edge of the ear and along the inside of the ear. I do this anyway for all of my Dobermans even after they are retired from the show ring. I just like the clean clipped look.

although i applaud your "i don't care" attitude towards your affections to coco, others who purchased her litter mates might be planning on breeding or showing their pups and might not be aware of the strong possibility that they are not purebred. please contact your breeder ASAP and let her know about this anomaly. as a breeder of over 25 years i have never seen any pure bred dobe as fuzzy as coco.
while it is true that some dobes have a slightly thicker almost double coat in the neck area coco truly looks to be a rottwieler (or other breed) cross, and while she is the perfect companion and pet for your situation you should not have had to pay for a purebred and get a fuzzy wuzzy, although cutie pie pup.
she is a lucky girl in that you didn't purchase her to show or breed and you can still offer her a good and loving home. as a breeder i would have been forced to re-home her no matter how much i loved her.

As a breeder you would be forced to rehome her no matter how much you loved her? Why? That just doesn't make sense to me, because #1 your dogs shouldn't be just breeding free range as soon as one goes into heat, and #2, there is such a thing as spay and neuter.
Please, tell me why, as a breeder, no matter how much you loved this dog, if you had it why would you be forced to shuffle it off to someone else?
-Sara

i breed dogs. my home is already full of retired dogs and growing pups. i am not that person who is out to save the world, just my own little corner. it would be in a non showable/breedable pups best interest to have a home of her own where she is the center of attention (as she is now, by the way) and loved for the fact that she is a DOG not a possible show champion or breeder. i made my peace with rehoming the imperfect from my program dogs years ago.we can love them all we just can't house and care for all of them so the lesser dogs/pups are rehomed. just because they are not right for me doesn't make them any less special, loving,or inteligent house pets and obedience prospects. and to the breeder producing longhaired dobes, i can only hope it was an "ooppssiie""we didn't see the rott with her" and they are refunding the purchase prices of those pups. their new owners now adore them but they should not have had to pay for a purebred dobe and ended up with a "cute n fuzzy" mixed breed, NOT TO MENTION~ the purchasers who might be unaware of the mixed heritage and are now breeding their "purebred dog" ?? nice thought huh? you want to run right out and spend your hard earned money on the dog of your dreams and have it sprout fuzzy hair everywhere too? watch how fast the shoe falls on the other foot uhuh. nidia

I wasn't implying that the breeder of that dog shouldn't refund the money or stop breeding mixed breeds.
I am also not saying that a dog would be better off in a home where they didn't get enough attention.
I am saying that a person shouldn't breed so many dogs that they are in over their heads.
Also, I think that it should be the dog that comes first, not the ribbons and trophies.
I can understand rehoming an imperfect (or lesser as you called them) dog if you weren't attached. I can't see why if you have the funds and room for a bunch of purebreds, why a single dog that you LOVED (which you said it wouldn't matter how much you loved it) would have to go, just because it wasn't a purebred. That makes it seem like you no longer think about dogs as companions and friends at all, that they are only tools on your road to success and acknowledgement of greatness.

I get the mental image of a dozen or more dogs, all kenneled outside without hardly any contact with their owner, except when it comes time to breed or get ready for a show. It sickens me.

I purchased a "pet quality" puppy. If I had wanted a show dog, I'd have paid several times the amount that I paid for her. While the money we spent on her adoption into the family wasn't anything to laugh at, it's also nothing I'm going to lose sleep over.

The breeder has been notified, pictures sent, and we're all trying to decide on which DNA test to go through. Test all 3 of them independently or just test Coco since the sire's DNA is on file with the AKC.

The breeder is about an hour and a half away from us so it's not like I can just pop down the road one afternoon and swab a couple of dog's cheeks.

Thanks for the input.

You wouldn't have to go to the breeder and swab her dogs for a DNA test. If the dog she named as sire already has DNA on file with the AKC, your pup is the only one that needs to be swabbed.

If you didn't see a female with hangy boobs, then yeah, I'd have the named dam swabbed also. No dam is going to shrink back to her girly figure within 4 wks after weaning.

I know you keep saying you purchased a "pet" pup, but you paid for a "purebred Doberman". Pet or show quailty shouldn't matter. You and your dog's littermate owners need to make sure that is what you actually got!

Keep in mind there is such a thing as Multi-sired litters, meaning some pups could very well be purebred and the rest could be sired by another dog. Depends on who fertilized the eggs. Yes, it is clinically possible. Some breeders figure 'oh she's already tied with my male, no other dog can impregnant her', WRONG!

Have you ever heard of a multi-sired litter? Just because a female ties with another purebred doesn't mean another dog can't add to the litter while she is still receptive. If the breeder you bought Coco from is producing mixed breed pups and registering them with the AKC as purebred dogs and selling them as such, s/he is doing nothing but trashing the breed.

I agree with whoever said the breeder needs to know how this pup is developing and that these "mystery" long hairs are sprouting.

That one pedigree I'd love to see! Who sired this litter?

Yes, I understand the concept, but the breeder and I can't imagine how it could have happened. Their property is essentially sealed. The dogs' kennels have concrete walls with fencing on the back, top, and front. The only breed on the property are Dobermans and their yard is totally fenced.

If she is a mixed breed, her daddy was one athletic/brilliant dog.

I scanned her pedigree from the AKC. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bekabug/1252960787/

When I talked to the breeder she said that the sire's DNA is on file with the AKC and we're welcome to have her tested. My husband and I are trying to decide on if checking his DNA against Coco's is enough, or if we want to do an independent test on all three of them.

We found these little kits where you swab cheek cells from the dogs and send them off and you get a nice little parentage report. It's $38 per test. I'm curious to know what's going on with Coco, but not sure how curious.

We had a heated exchange recently with our vet over heartworm pills and Coco's parentage. They wouldn't give me a prescription for a generic pill because it had ivermectin (I think thats how you spell it) and if she had any collie/herding dog in her, she'd die.

Well, I did a little of my own research and the consensus is that there isn't a high enough dose in heartworm pills to bother ivermectin sensitive dogs. It is really only a concern when treating mites or the mange. I brought this up with the Dr and was told that may be so, but they still couldn't give me a prescription to an online pharmacy because they didn't have any prescription pads to write the script on.

Very educational. Also, time for a new vet.

I hope she was given to you as a pet and I certainly hope she came on Limited Registration. AKC papers/registration or pedigree does not mean quality, nor does it mean you are dealing with an ethical breeder.
Did this breeder provide you with contact information to others that have purchased pups from her, same litter your pup came from or previous litters? Are there any other pups exhibiting questionable fur growth?
Sorry, I'd be ordering the DNA kit! (as soon as the fuzzy hair sprouted).

Didn't see my last post go through, so trying again. If it doubles up, I apologize.

If the named sire already has DNA on file, your pup is the only one that needs to be swabbed.

If you did not see a female with hangy boobs (no female is going to shrink back to her girlish figure within 4 wks after weaning), then I would have the named dam swabbed also.

I understand the concept of "pet quality", but you paid for a PUREBRED Doberman (as did the families of your pup's littermates). There is such a thing as "Multi-sired litters". Just depends on which sire fertilizes the eggs. Some breeders feel just because 'she tied up with my male, so no other dog can impregnant her', WRONG.

Have the owners of your pup's littermates been aware of this development? Did this breeder even give you any of their contact info?

What if someone bought one of your pup's littermates for the purpose of showing and/or breeding? One that does not exhibit these fluffy ears or longer hair on the back, but gets bred (down the road) and produces pups that develop this trait? That's going to fall back on that owner. They need to be aware of this.

As a Doberman owner myself, I'd certainly want to know of any unusual develop with any of the littermates to any of my dogs especially questionable parentage and hereditary issues!

I looked at her pedigree, and she is pure back yard breeder. The comment about kennels made me curious so I looked at the pedigree.

There are very few reputable breeders of Dobermans out there who's dogs live in kennels.

The dogs don't live in the kennels. Just when they need to be...contained. Thanks tho