Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today my boyfriend and I took "Lilly" to a local park for a nice walk and some play time. We have taken her to the park before but this was the first time in North Texas as we have just recently moved from Corpus Christi. When we first entered the park area we were stopped by a police officer who seemed to be very intimidated by our happy, bouncy, puppy (he refused to get out of his car and made us approach the window), and demanded to see proof of rabbies vaccination. We never take her out in public without her tags so I had no problem showing the officer her proof which was obviously hanging from her collar. He still seemed very intimidated by her even though she was sitting calmly wagging her "knub" and actually questioned us as to why we were there. He questioned weather or not she was able to slip out of her collar even though she was also in a no pull walking harness which was fixed perfectly so there was no way she could slip out of it. Once he let us go for our walk I made sure to make sure there were no signs posted restricting dogs or "aggressive" breeds which many places in Texas consider Dobies. There was nothing posted so that leaves me to believe that we were given such a hard time strictly because the officer himself was scared of little Lilly.

I feel very strongly that this feeling about Dobies is causing millions of families around the US and especially in Texas to avoid the Dobie breed and I feel that this is very sad. Later at the same park Lilly spoted a little girl about 2 or 3 that was running towards her to pet her. She sat imediatly and waited for the litter girl to get there, and as soon as she got close enough I instructed the little girl to stick her hand out and let lilly smell her and Lilly greeted her with many kisses. Such a threat she is...

Breed bias is a cause for today's society whether it's warranted or not. I'm wondering if the officer just didn't recognize you as a regular in the park since you had just moved into the area? I'm guessing if dogs weren't allowed in the park he would have informed you. You're girl sounds like a real sweetheart!
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Bob

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

I know breed bias is a big part of the way things work, I just wish the proper information was out there and more redily avalible. Coming from a home where I was raised with Rotties I tend to turn my cheek to the bias because, well simply put, I know better.

I was fairly sure that there was no problems with dogs in the park because we were not the only dog owners there. A very nice older lady, and her very loving beagle (Buddah), visited with us for a good while while we were there and Lilly and Buddah played. We actually discussed what had happened with the officer and she told us that she has lived in the apartment complex right across the street for 15 years and she brings Buddah to the park every day for the last 5 years so he could potty and play. She told us that that particular officer had recently started coming to the park to eat lunch about 3 weeks before but that he had never said anything to her about Buddah or anything else and that she had never seen him even acknowledge any one else.

I do have to wonder if the way he acted was a combination of the fact that Lilly is very large (70 lbs at 8 months) and we are both fairly young. Also, my boyfriend and I have a few visible tattoos, and I am wondering if he was assuming that because we are young and have tattoos and a big dog that she may be trained to fight or just may be aggressive.

Either way Lilly is a very well trained lap puppy without a care in the world. I wish more people could meet her and other Dobies like her so that they too can see how harmless she really is to people.

I think you might be right about your assessment of the situation in your last paragraph. I have a friend who has a Dobe and she is also a very sweet dog. A breeder friend of mine raises Bostons as well as Rotties and the Rotties are just big clowns and very well tempered. While I can't meet Lilly in person I would still love to see a picture if you can post a couple. By being a registered member here you have access to a free 10mb photo account. Just click the tab at the top of the page that says Photo Gallery and follow the instructions.
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Bob

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

I went ahead and posted a picture for you. When I get the time to clean her up (we had some very bad storms last night and she went playing in it this morning) I will take some better ones Let me know what you think!

Hey!! Thanks for posting the picture!! Lillian is a real beauty! You can just see what a sweet temperment she has. Can't wait to see more picts!
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Bob

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

Just curious...do you think at 75 lbs at 8 months old she is big for a dobie? Some say she is HUGE seeing as how she is bigger then our German Shepard, Golden Retriver, and Aussie, but she seems small to me...alsmot too small

From the picture you posted I would say no. Usually the female of any breed is slightly smaller than the male. Maybe a comparison shot would tell better.
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Bob

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

I think that's pretty big for a doberman at 8 months, much less a female. My guy is direct from Germany, where they tend to be a bit bigger and thicker boned. He was about her size at 8 months and Dobie owners here in the States dropped their jaws at his size for that age.
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Just loving my first doberman, Drago (born 3/13/07)

I thought she seemed fairly large. I will measure her tonight to see how tall she actually is, since I don't have a male dobie to compare her to. I know she was bred in Texas by a good friend of mine and the bitch was fairly tall but was only 75 lbs at her largest pregnancy weight. I know Lilly is not fat and her tuck is very visible so I know that does not explain her weight. Also, one more question. The bitch was a red/rust and the stud was black/rust yet all the puppies came out red/rust except for 1 and he was fawn/rust. Is this common to not have any black/rust puppies out of that mix. They have bred the same pair 4 times and the same story always...12-13 red/rust and 1 fawn/rust. Or could this be a sign that the bitch is homogyzious for the red/rust gene?

Ok I got her measured this evening and standing at attenton she is just a hair over 30 inches at the shoulders.

Wow, she is big! The AKC standard calls for 25 1/2 inches to be the ideal for a female. My male isn't even that tall and he is 18 months old.

About your incident with the police officer: Do we really want every average Joe having a doberman? If you think about it, you really don't want them to be so popular that everyone has one, or we will not have the nice look of the dogs we have now. We will have poorly bred dogs that look nothing like the doberman is supposed to look like. Personally, I enjoy not having many dobermans in my area. I also feel much safer walking my male all by myself because I know people will not approach me, no matter how friendly my boy may be.

You have a very valid point. I do feel very safe walking her, even if she would just lick someone to death! But I am still quite torn. It hurts me to see something I love so much not respected and loved by others. She is such an amazing dog, and although I agree with you on the popularity, I just wish everyone else could see what we see in our dobies...that loyal, loving, overly forgiving, good natured, smart dog. As a child I was raised with a 200 lbs Rott and several more after he passed of old age, and I never incountered this problem. Our males were breed for protection and were very good at their jobs and I cold take them for walks and people would flock to pet the stand off-ish drooling dogs but will cross to the other side of the road for my eager, happy playful dobie. I just can't seem to grasp the logic.

I have a lot of people that ask if they can pet my dog and ask what kind he is and as soon as I say doberman, they get an odd look on their face as if "there is no way he can be a doberman because he is so friendly." Keep in mind, he is a red, and people don't realize there are more than just black dobes. I think part of the fear issue is that with cropped ears, people see the type of doberman that DID have problems back when they were extremely popular. It also doesn't help that companies like Alltel decide to use an "aggressive" doberman in one of their commercials featuring the wizard. Just my thoughts.