On a somewhat lighter note: I had, for many years a coonhound/shepherd mix. He was black and tan, tall and leggy, ears of fairly normal size. He was the friendliest goofiest dog on the planet. He did mostly have a shep. bark, the bay only came out now and then. But I lived in a city type neighborhood and when I walked him most people thought he was a dobie and stayed well away from him! I did not correct them on the notion;)
he is a lovely dobe, and the vizsla is nice looking to, hard to find a purebred one in a shelter
Just thought I’d add that I recently got a Doberman and consulted COTH when I first got him. What a wealth of knowledge! Anyway, my dobie is a total sweetheart with everyone. I can’t imagine him actually guarding anything :lol: They always say though that a dog can tell what kind of situation they are in and my puppy has never been in a situation where he felt the need to guard, so maybe he would actually guard if he had to. I would definitely recommend a dobie 
[QUOTE=Cluck;6126415]
Alarms are pretty useless on a remote farm. How quickly will the police arrive??[/QUOTE]
all the OP said about location was PA. Could be remote or not so much.
[QUOTE=SaveTheOtters;6116050]
Hmm if you are serious about a dobe do a lot a lot of research about breeders first! There are lots of dobe specific websites and forums out there with experienced owners who can give you ideas of good breeders as well as some tips on owning a dobe. If look into it though, I think you’ll find kimbertal is not a very reputable breeder, especially in the doberman community.
good luck with your search![/QUOTE]
I personally do not like the looks/conformation of these dogs, and quickly washed them from my consideration. I have no further experience with this kennel, other than it is in PA (which the OP was asking for, guess I’m more hindrance than help LOL). Luckily I have found a wonderful breeder that has really awesome dogs, they are quite a ways away from me, but I think their dogs are worth it!
Dobes… Have 25 years of various Dobes. When young, they are very high energy chewing machines. Be prepared to sacrifice many chew toys and raw hides. Your shoes and furniture will still have Dobe signs from when you were too tired to play.
High energy also means long walks and room to run. Their Zoomies still give me, great big smiles. 
[QUOTE=hosspuller;6130206]
Dobes… When young, they are very high energy chewing machines. Be prepared to sacrifice many chew toys and raw hides. Your shoes and furniture will still have Dobe signs from when you were too tired to play.
:D[/QUOTE]
Not ALL of them! My girl has never touched the furniture or my stuff (and I leave stuff everywhere!). Since she was less than a year I’ve left her loose in the house all day when I’m at work and she touches nothing. My boy on the other hand…different story
Rhodesian Ridgeback…spayed female.
They are totally awesome and I was thinking of them, but the OP wants a short-haired dog. Most Heelers have a double coat and DO shed.
Ditto GSDs…as in BIG TIME (ask me how I know…)
You want an alarm dog, right? Well, get a pair of miniature poodles or schnauzers …neither shed and neither EVER shut up…:no: They will bark if the wind blows…
Seriously though…I’ve never had a dog who DIDN’T guard (meaning bark at strangers or sounds outside the house)…98% of dogs will bark at that.
Dobermans…well we had our first wonderful doberman years ago. BART. He was “all the dog”. Guard dog, family dog, wonderful with all the children. He went to horse shows with us and guarded the tack room and its stuff, went back to the hotel and guarded us. Raise your hands around us and he might take your head off…the love of our lives. When he died I decided, after waiting a year, to TRY to replace him.
I went to a fancy breeder and got a fancy show doberman. His pedigree was to die for. He was to be shown, but of course our man objective was for him to follow in Bart’s footsteps and be our all around family, guard dog.
Never happened. He was just a little nose in your crotch dog. He wouldnt bark, or even look at a person without wanting to be petted. He threw up and had diarrhea when he was shown, so we never finished showing him ( our handler gave up)…so I took him home to the farm again.
I guess you need to know what the dobe is bred to do…meaning what the breeder had in mind with her pups. As much as we loved our first Doberman, we never duplicated him. I never felt safe with our second one. Food for thought.
Nothing is an intimindating as a well trained dog who works off voice and hand signals. The black lab/german shepard sitting under the tree that turns into Darth Vadar on the command “take it” and returns to you on “leave it” can still be a safe and fun family member. Ditto the larger terrier breeds.
A Ridgeback tried to take out one of my JRT’s, the Ridgeback decided my terrier needed killing. I can’t get past that memory of the attack out of no where.
For an in house alert system you can’t beat a pair of Chihuahuas. They make great footwarmers too.
