When should a Doberman Pinscher be put in obedience classes?
My family and I are planning to get a Doberman Pinscher. I do have a small child in the home, so I think it would be a good idea to have the dog be in obedience class to help train the dog. I've had dogs my whole life and I've done a lot of training with them, but I want some help with it. So I need to know what age a Doberman should be put in classes.
If you are obtaining the dog from a responsible, knowledgeable breeder, they should be more than willing and capable of answering all your questions about the pup and making recommendations. I always recommend that my pups be taken as soon as they are complete with their innoculations to obedience classes. I never place prior to nine weeks of age (usually more like twelve since it gives the ears time to heal and be on the way to standing well prior to the new owner getting them). So the pups are usually fully vetted or needing maybe one more series of innoculations and then they are set to go to a good obedience class! They should be motivational puppy classes where there is no real coersion done to the pup — they are great for socializing the pup which Dobermans need for a long time… I expect and my puppy owners adhere, that the pups will continue on into at least a couple of novice level obedience classes and then if the owners want to continue, and most do, they can go into more training and even trialing if they choose. If you aren’t getting the dog from a knowledgeable, responsible breeder, they need to go to classes anyway but be prepared to have a less than optimal dog… there are a lot of very poor breeders in all breeds but it seems like some of the popular breeds just have a huge amount .. there really are a ton of back yard greeders and puppy millers in Dobermans… Kimbertal, House of Hoytt, Amaris, JbarS, vonWolf, Prentice, heck, the list just goes on forever and with the advent of the internet these greeders/millers are having a boon … know that no responsible, knowledgeable breeder would offer their dogs for sale on the internet or in the newspaper classifieds. If you haven’t located a good breeder as of yet, check out the breeder referal on the DPCA site — know that not all DPCA members are good breeders but that is a decent place to start and if you want any input on any breeders you have found, don’t hesitate to contact me — I don’t breed much and wouldn’t be selling you a pup at all but I have been in the breed for over five decades and am honest about the breed, its issues and those in the breed that are just cranking out crappy puppies for profit and ego…
add: TLCTreec… for a dog trainer you are sorely lacking in knowledge about Dobermans. They are easily trained — VERY easily trained and they can easily train their person. Since I started training them when I was six years of age, I guess your theory about them not taking commands well from children is baseless as well…