Ah, the Doberman. Rarely in dogdom has a breed evoked such conflicting emotions in people. Many would use words like loyal, elegant, intelligent, obedient and loving, while others may say vicious, destructive, menacing and dangerous about the same dog. So how does a single breed give rise to such conflicting emotions? One reason may be the fact that the modern Doberman and the Doberman of yesteryear are not really the same dog. Sure they are the same species and they descended from the same canine ancestors, but the Dobe of today, through careful and selective breeding, has had many of it’s rougher edges softened over the years. Dobes have also been the unfortunate recipient of bad doggie press. Doberman's are physically powerful dogs and have been used as guard dogs since their beginnings. Naturally a guard dog must at times be aggressive and much of the origins of their bad reputation probably stem from these initial impressions. Add to this that the Doberman is an elegant looking dog with a physically large stature and it becomes the Hollywood equivalent of the perfect villain dog; handsome but dangerous. So it's not terribly surprising that the Doberman has maintained it's dubious reputation over the years, and while there certainly are instances of vicious or aggressive Dobes, largely this reputation is blown well out of proportion.

The History Of The Doberman

Louis Dobermann of Apolda, in the German province of Thuringen, is credited with the creation of the world's first Doberman. Dobermann was a door-to-door tax collector and night watchman in Germany in the 1890’s and found the need to have a dog that could act as both a companion and a guardian as he made his daily rounds. He thus began to experiment with breeding available dogs to achieve this result. Fortunately for Dobermann he was also in charge of his local dog pound and as a result had access to several different breeds of dogs for his experiments. It is unknown exactly which dogs were bred to make the first real Doberman but it is thought that Dobermann may have used some sort of combination of Rottweilers, Weimaraners, Black and Tan Terriers and the German Pinscher. In 1894 Dobermann died, with his dog creation in existence, but not yet perfected. His protégé, Otto Goeller, picked up where Dobermann left off and is often credited as the true creator of the breed. Goeller assembled the National Dobermann Pinscher Club in Germany in 1899 and shortly afterward he and his committee members wrote the first breed standard for this new, carefully engineered, canine.



In World War 2 the United States Marine Corps (USMC) enlisted Dobermans (because of their obedience, loyalty and high intelligence) to accompany their soldiers in many situations, including combat. At the conclusion of the Second World War the popularity of Dobermans began to rise as people saw the value of the Doberman as a great protector as well as a good family pet. In 1977 the Doberman grew to become the second-most popular breed in America (today it ranks more modestly at #22 according to AKC recognized breed popularity).



Around half a century after the first Doberman came into existence the word Pinscher (German for terrier) was dropped in many countries since it was determined that the Dobe no longer fit into the terrier class. The American Kennel Club, however, still recognizes the name of Doberman Pinscher on their website and both Doberman and Doberman Pinscher seem to be widely accepted as a suitable name for the breed. The Dobe of today officially belongs to the Mastiff group of dogs and is considered a working class dog.