Doberman Pinscher

The Dobermann is a German guarding breed with a founder, a date and a purpose — a tax collector who wanted a dog to walk his rounds with.

History

Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann collected taxes in Apolda in the 1880s and also ran the town dog pound, which gave him both the motive and the material. He crossed the old German Pinscher with Rottweiler, Weimaraner and other stock to produce a fast, imposing protection dog, and it was named for him after his death. The breed was adopted widely for police and military work within a generation.

Temperament

The breed is known for being alert, intelligent and closely bonded to its family, watchful with strangers and far more sensitive than the reputation suggests. Modern lines are markedly less sharp than the early ones.

Care and training

It needs substantial exercise and real mental work, along with early socialising and consistent, fair training — it does badly with harshness. The short coat needs nothing and gives no protection from cold.

Health

Known tendencies are serious and well documented: dilated cardiomyopathy, which is common enough in the breed to be its central health concern, along with von Willebrand's disease and cervical spondylomyelopathy. These are known patterns for the breed and a matter for a breeder and a vet; the measured facts are in the panel.