The Doberman

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. Red is becoming a Doberman. Not that he wasn't before, but he's slowly but surely starting to actually ACT like one. Not in a bad way - not at all. A Doberman is sweet, obedient and loyal to his family and friends, yet watchful of his home and surroundings and is able to judge situations appropriately.

I have noticed him becoming more aware of noises around the house, and of cars pulling in the driveway. He will bark and or go on alert.

When he goes into the backyard, he does a quick perimeter check and then goes about his business as usual. When he is called into the house, he goes back out to the door of the deck, to give the yard one last inspection before coming into the house.

He completely ignores benign strangers, unless I specifically invite him to say hello. This is a change from the golden retriever-type greeting he used to give everyone he saw. Even for friendly and inviting strangers, he pokes them once in greeting but then has no use for them after that. He doesn't seem to want to stand for petting at all, sort of moving away to calmly wait for me to finish chatting, or continue to look around us. However, he is more tolerant for children to pet him, in which case he will stand there and receive pets and give the occasional lick up the side of the face.

While on walks, if he sees something he is unsure about, he automatically moves between me and whatever it is. He is confident and will approach whatever it is to check it out.

Of course, he is the same loveable and goofy Redders around family and friends, but its his attitude toward strangers that has changed. I've read that Dobermans should be aloof with strangers, but never thought of Red as acting that way until fairly recently. I guess he is losing that puppy-like trust of everyone and everything and is learning to watch strangers and surroundings more.

I am very much looking forward to putting him through the WAE in August this year. He was too young to take it last year, but I think that was a good thing because he has changed a lot in that amount of time. He is finally getting his brain, it seems!