Dobermann
The Dobermann is a German breed of medium-large working dog of pinscher type. It was originally bred in Thuringia in about 1890 by Louis Dobermann, a tax collector. It has a long muzzle and – ideally – an even and graceful gait. The ears were traditionally cropped and the tail docked, practices which are now illegal in many countries.
The Dobermann is intelligent, alert and tenaciously loyal; it is kept as a guard dog or as a companion animal. In Canada and the United States it is known as the Doberman Pinscher.
History
Dobermanns were first bred in the 1880s by Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann, a tax collector who ran a dog pound in Apolda in present-day Thuringia in central Germany. With access to dogs of many breeds, he got the idea to create a breed that would be ideal for protecting him. He set out to breed a new type of dog that would exhibit impressive stamina, strength, and intelligence. Five years after Dobermann's death, Otto Goeller, one of the earliest breeders, created the National Doberman Pinscher Club and is considered to have perfected the breed, breeding and refining them in the 1890s.The breed is believed to have been created from several different breeds of dogs that had the characteristics that Dobermann was looking for. The exact ratios of mixing, and even the exact breeds that were used, remain uncertain, although many experts believe that the Dobermann is a combination of several breeds including the Beauceron, German Pinscher, Rottweiler and Weimaraner. The single exception is the documented crossing with the Greyhound and Manchester Terrier. It is also widely believed that the old German Shepherd was the single largest contributor to the Dobermann breed. Philip Greunig's The Dobermann Pinscher describes the breed's early development by Otto Goeller, who helped to establish the breed. The American Kennel Club believes the breeds utilized to develop the Dobermann Pinscher may have included the old shorthaired shepherd, Rottweiler, Black and Tan Terrier and the German Pinscher.
After Dobermann's death in 1894, the Germans named the breed Dobermann-pinscher in his honor, but a half century later dropped the word 'pinscher' on the grounds that this German word for 'terrier' was no longer appropriate. The British did the same a few years later; now the US and Canada are the only countries who continue to use Pinscher and have dropped an "n" from Dobermann's surname.
During World War II, the United States Marine Corps adopted the Doberman Pinscher as its official war dog, although the Corps did not exclusively use this breed in the role.
In 2013 a list of breeds by annual number of registrations, based on a survey of member clubs of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, placed the Dobermann 26th, with new registrations per year. Statistics compiled by the AKC for 2009 placed the Doberman Pinscher 15th, with registrations in that year. In the fifteen years from 2009 to 2023 the average number of puppies whelped per year in Germany was approximately, representing just over of the average total number of births for all breeds, recorded at slightly more than per year.
Characteristics
The Dobermann is a medium-large dog of pinscher type. Dogs stand some at the withers, with a weight usually in the range ; bitches are considerably smaller, with height and weight ranges of and respectively. It is a working dog, and registration is subject to completion of a working trial.It was originally intended as a guard dog, so males typically have a muscular and intimidating appearance.
Color
Two different color genes exist in the Dobermann: one for black and one for color dilution. There are nine possible combinations of these alleles, which can result in four different color phenotypes: black, blue, red, and fawn. The traditional and most common color occurs when both the color and dilution genes have at least one dominant allele and is commonly referred to as black, black and rust, or black and tan. The red, red rust, or brown coloration occurs when the black gene has two recessive alleles but the dilution gene has at least one dominant allele. The blue Dobermann has the color gene with at least one dominant allele and the dilution gene with both recessive alleles. The fawn coloration is the least common, occurring only when both the color and dilution genes have two recessive alleles. Thus, the blue color is a diluted black, and the fawn color is a diluted red.Expression of the color dilution gene is a disorder called color dilution alopecia, a kind of canine follicular dysplasia. Although not life-threatening, these dogs can develop skin problems.
White Doberman are cream in color with blue eyes and pink noses, paw pads, and eye rims. The first white Doberman was born in 1976. White Doberman were identified as albino, and the condition is caused by a partial deletion in the SLC45A2 gene. Although albino Doberman are prone to suffer long term issues including photosensitivity/photophobia, skin lesions/tumors, and solar skin damage, there is no evidence suggesting this mutation causes deafness.
Tail
The Dobermann's natural tail is fairly long, but individual dogs often have a short tail as a result of docking, a procedure in which the majority of the tail is surgically removed shortly after birth.The practice of docking has been around for centuries and is older than the Dobermann as a breed. The historical reason for docking is to ensure that the tail does not get in the way of the dog's work. Docking and cropping have been written out of the Breed Standard by FCI and the International Dobermann Club, and dogs born after 2016 will not be allowed to participate in FCI or IDC shows without a full tail and natural ears. In the UK, dogs with docked tails have been banned from show for a number of years and the practice is now illegal for native born dogs. Docking is illegal in all European Union states, as well as Australia. The AKC standard for Doberman Pinschers includes a tail docked near the 2nd vertebra.
Ears
Some owners crop Dobermann's ears. The Doberman Pinscher Club of America requires that ears be "normally cropped and carried erect" for conformation. Like tail docking, ear cropping is illegal in many countries and has never been legal in some Commonwealth countries.Intelligence
is an umbrella term that encompasses the faculties involved in a wide range of mental tasks, such as learning, problem-solving, and communication. The Doberman Pinscher has been ranked amongst the most intelligent dog breeds in experimental studies and expert evaluations. Psychologist Stanley Coren ranks the Dobermann as the 5th most intelligent dog in the category of obedience command training, based on the selective surveys answered by experienced trainers. Additionally, in two studies, Hart and Hart ranked the Doberman Pinscher first in the same category, and Tortora gave the Dobermann the highest rank in general trainability.Temperament
Although they are considered to be working dogs, Dobermanns are often stereotyped as being ferocious and aggressive.There is some evidence that Doberman Pinschers in North America have a calmer and more even temperament than their European counterparts because of the breeding strategies employed by American breeders. Despite this, the American breed standard states that, for purposes of determining of conformation fault, aggression and belligerence by a Doberman toward other dogs is not counted as viciousness.
There is a great deal of scientific evidence that Doberman Pinschers have a number of stable psychological traits, such as certain personality factors and intelligence. As early as 1965, studies have shown that there are several broad behavioral traits that significantly predict behavior and are genetically determined. Subsequently, there have been numerous scientific attempts to quantify canine personality or temperament by using statistical techniques for assessing personality traits in humans. These studies often vary in terms of the personality factors they focus on and in terms of ranking breeds differently along these dimensions. One such study found that Doberman Pinschers, compared to other breeds, rank high in playfulness, average in curiosity/fearlessness, low on aggressiveness, and low on sociability. Another such study ranked Doberman Pinschers low on reactivity/surgence and high on aggression/disagreeableness and openness/trainability.
In addition to the studies of canine personality, there has been some research to determine whether there are breed differences in aggression. In a study published in 2008, aggression was divided into four categories: aggression directed at strangers, owner, strange dogs, and rivalry with other household dogs. This study found that the Doberman Pinscher ranked relatively high on stranger-directed aggression, but extremely low on owner-directed aggression. The Doberman Pinscher ranked as average on dog-directed aggression and dog rivalry. Looking only at bites and attempted bites, Doberman Pinschers rank as far less aggressive towards humans and show less aggression than many breeds without a reputation. This study concluded that aggression has a genetic basis, that the Dobermann shows a distinctive pattern of aggression depending on the situation and that contemporary Doberman Pinschers are not an aggressive breed overall.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1979 and 1998, the Doberman Pinscher was involved in attacks on humans resulting in fatalities less frequently than several other dog breeds such as Pit bulls, German Shepherd Dogs, Rottweilers, Husky-type dogs, wolf-dog hybrids and Alaskan Malamutes. According to this CDC study, one of the most important factors contributing to dog bites is the level of responsibility exercised by dog owners.