I lost my Doberman, Jack, to old age a month ago. That left me with only my female, Darcy, who is slightly over 2 years old.
It just doesn’t feel right, not having that second dog. Some people need to wait, to get another dog, but not me. My female is “mugging” me whenever I come home; I didn’t realize how much having that second dog took the “edge” off of her energy. Or maybe, she’s just incredibly lonely. Like I am.
In the past, it hasn’t mattered how old/young the dog was. Now, however, I’ve been looking for an older Doberman. Six months ago, I started competitive obedience training with a woman 90 miles away. Her methods are effective (she has gotten perfect 200 scores and OTCHs) but are VERY different from all the previous dog training I have done.
Because this training is “new” to me, I can’t see me able to train two dogs. (At one time, I had FOUR Dobermans in training at the same time.) What I would like right now is an older Doberman, with good ‘home’ manners, but nothing I would consider serious training with.
I even considered other breeds and dogs, too, as long as they ‘fit’ the requirements. I did look at a 10 year old Pointer, who was displaced due to his elderly owner’s relocation to assisted living.
But here’s the rub. Although THAT dog fit most of my requirements, he didn’t show any real active interest in me. I wanted a “Take me home, PLEASE!” from him. Now, that is strange, because I’ve never required that from ANY of my Dobermans. Except for my FIRST Doberman, my Dobermans (from both shelters and private homes) had to learn to love me. My current girl, Darcy, came from a shelter a year ago and was neutrally friendly, and that was fine with me.
Now, The local shelter has a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, a Cocker Spaniel, and a (too small, probably), Shi Tzu/PekeX that MIGHT work for me. They are anywhere from friendly to SUPER friendly but I feel that I am holding back because they are NOT the breed or A breed that I normally consider.
So, why is it that I will cut MY breed a break but not others?
But I digress.
There was an Aussie (love the breed) in the local shelter last week that was SO loving and WANTED to go home with me. However, she was female, and my female (I’m pretty sure) won’t tolerate another female. Plus, a normal Aussie is busier that I tend to be.
I’ve been searching Doberman Pinscher rescues, and I’ve found several dogs that could work. But it entails giving out the story of my life, investigation, in some cases the history of ALL the pets I have EVER owned, checking out my house, yard, etc. I am a “casual” housekeeper, and my fence is adequate but ugly. I have too many cats due to the fact that I’ve taken in cats who were abandoned by others. (The local cat rescues are overloaded and wouldn’t even consider taking the last stray I got. Second to last “rescue” was a mother cat with five kittens left in a vacant lot in a crate. I got all spayed/neutered, kitten shots, placed all but mother and one kitten.)
I feel sure that I would not be approved by any Doberman rescue group.
So, I’ve been looking at animal shelters with easier adoption. The shelter I got my Darcy from had an application form, called my vet, and I was approved within a half an hour. The shelter that had the Pointer had a similar application, but I didn’t find the right dog, I thought.
You know, if it were anyone but me, I would say, Yeah! Investigate that potential adopter! Whatever is best for the dog! But I hate when it’s ME they’re checking out.
- sigh *
