Doberman Pinscher

The Doberman Pinscher, also called Dobermann, is a much misunderstood dog. In the US and Canada, where the movies and television tend to go rabid over real or imagined dangers, Doberman Pinschers are often targets of cruel and largely unfair race-libel. True, the Doberman Pinscher breed was developed as a guard-dog breed. Many Dobermanns still guard homes and businesses. Yet compared with the thousands of thousands of Dobermanns alive today, the number of attacks against humans are relatively quite small--far fewer than human-on-human attacks. It is even rarer for a Doberman Pinscher dog to attack without a perceived provocation.

The Doberman Pinscher's Behavior

Recommended for: guard dogs, watch dogs, or police dogs, home pets

The Doberman Pinscher is a good companion dog and can be good with children. Healthy, well-trained Dobermanns will almost never attack except when they feel themselves, their families, or their families' properties in danger. As with any guard-dog breed, you should of course take care to train these animals well, and to take special care with young children.

Remember that breed only provides a general clue as to any individual dog's actual behavior. Make sure to get to know dogs well before bringing them into your home.

Doberman Pinscher's Physical Characteristics

Here are the characteristics of the Doberman Pinscher breed as determined by the American Kennel Club's published breed standard.

* Size: Males: 26-28 inches, Females: 24-26 inches
* Coat: Smooth-haired, short, hard, thick and close
* Color: Black, red, blue, and fawn (Isabella variety)
* Eyes: almond-shaped, moderately deep-set
* Ears: carried straight up
* Skull: flat top, turning with slight stop to bridge of muzzle.
* Muzzle: deep
* Nose: solid black on black dogs, dark brown on red ones, dark gray on blue ones, dark tan on fawn-colored dogs

Doberman Pinscher's Origins and History

Here are some fast facts on the Doberman Pinscher dog breed based on information from Wikipedia.

Country/Region of Origin: Germany

Original purpose: guard dog

Name: Commonly Known as Dobie

Historical notes: A tax collector named Louis Dobermann first bred the Dobermanns in Germany around 1890. The breed was developed further by Otto Goeller and Phillip Gruenig. The breed is believed to have been created from several different breeds of dogs that had the characteristics that Dobermann was looking for, including the Pinscher, the Rottweiler, the Thuringian Shepherd Dog, the black Greyhound, the Great Dane, the Weimaraner, the German Shorthaired Pointer, and the German Shepherd Dog. The single largest contributor to the Dobermann breed was believed to be the German Shepherd gene pool. (Source: Wikipedia.)