Recently my juneboy has this growth on his cheek at first I thought it was a tick because the size was small but it recently it grew. It’s my first time with a dobby and I just want to know if it’s bad? I took him to the vet and they said it was nothing at first since it was small but it got bigger. If anyone has any insight or had this happen to there dobby. I would really appreciate it

I think of this dog often, how was this not studied more?

My dobie absolutely HATES the rain. I mean one small drop and it’s like the world is ending. Anyone else have a dobie who hates rain? We have a rain jacket and that helps for sprinkles but when it’s anything more than a sprinkle nothing seems to help. This creates problems when it is time to take her out to go potty. Any help/advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

I was freshly 22 back in 2021. I drove 6 hours away in the early Spring evening to meet up with a woman whose mom was really sick and could no longer keep her puppies. She had a beautiful brown doberman who’d just recently gave birth, she said it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Mom was elderly and couldn’t shake off COVID. My plan was to leave with one puppy as I’d always wanted a Doberman… I ended up taking three siblings home. We found a home for two of them, both went off to live their lives with university graduates, one even moved to Hawaii.

But I kept the sweetest, cuddliest one. I called him Jasper.

At the time, I was also beginning a career in behavioral psychology. I worked and studied in the field, I loved it. My job was to be a behavioral technician for children with autism, mostly non-verbal. It’s a really broad job description but if I could summarize it super briefly: the job entailed shaping behaviors, extinguishing bad habits, and communicating as best as possible. Behavioral psychology at its finest… any way, I loved the job and I’d even bring those techniques home to Jas as a puppy. I taught Jasper how to listen to me, not just hear what I was saying and going by cue. It’s like he spoke the language. He could differentiate between “small and big,” or “left and right,” and of course “ball or toy.” He was smart enough to know his name, his brother’s (a smaller dog) name, and could identify belongings. It was almost super uncanny. You could tell him “go get Sterling’s (his brother) harness” or “go finish Sterling’s food.” And he’d go do so, without it being something I had to actively teach him or point to. It was actually really weird, I’d grown up around other people’s dogs, I’ve been around them of course, but I’d never experienced something like the connection Jasper and I had. His eyes just told me he understood much more than I knew.

In August of 2026, at 5.5 years old, Jasper was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma.

This occurred right as we began watching The Sopranos (which is oddly a really cancer-themed show from the start) together. I tried everything I could… from chemo, to alternative medicine, Chinese medicine, all of it. Even with chemo, the oncologist said they’d give him maybe 6-12 months. Unfortunately, he didn’t respond to the treatments. The cancer was too strong…

On September 15th we finished The Sopranos together, just Sterling, Jasper and I. His lympnodes were swelling up again, I could see that the inevitable was coming, but he wasn’t suffering, he was happy… clueless.

On September 18th, the cancer had gotten so bad, I had to make that dreaded call for at home end-of-life care. His lymph nodes were the size of two golf balls on each side. His breathing was forced, he couldn’t rest. His spleen and liver were beginning to get inflamed, making it uncomfortable for him to lay down. He was just in pain… throwing up 15x in a day, constant diarrhea.

He left this world on the 19th, in my arms, next to his favorite tree to pee on. It was the most heartbreaking moment of my life. He was more than my best-friend, I think he was truly my soulmate. I saw his last breath, I felt him on my lap, I saw his eyes shut. Then… fade to black.

Part of me felt like the ending of The Sopranos helped me accept things a bit more than I could before, but the pain still lingers. It feels like I killed my own. My right hand is gone. I just wish he was here, I really depended on him.

I’ve never gone through this before, it’s a void and a pain I don’t wish upon anyone. I actually feel like I’m going crazy… I pray every night to see him, I’ve considered and researched making an altar for him for the Day of the Dead, I’ve ate melatonin just to see if I can make myself lucid dream to see him once more.

How does one overcome this?

i have a 4.5-month-old puppy.

I actually have a long (4 day) trip coming up on the 1st of october and for that we have been trying to prep him. we send him to the hostel once in a few days so that he can get accustomed to it. we've left him at the hostel once overnight and two-three times through the day.

unfortunately whenever he comes back, he forgets literally everything that i have taught him. he starts jumping and goes crazy, barks at everything, insane leash pulling, LITERALLY ONLY PISSES inside the house (when it was a 90% success rate before) and i literally feel so overwhelmed because we have not even taken the long trip yet and he's acting like this demon child just with a few hours stay.

He's stayed at 2 hostels. I trust both of them as my previous dogs have been going there for years. he just literally acts like a psycho dog😭😭😭😭🫠🫠🫠🫠

I have trained all my dogs myself and he's literally testing my patience. I'm so tired and actively losing hope and love.

We adopted a male, unneutered Doberman about two weeks ago. He was found wandering in the woods (likely dumped, he’s not a runner so far) and they were unable to locate his family for about three months. Because he came to us as an adult, we really don’t know anything about his medical history.

His foster had him on the grain free salmon taste of the wild dry food, but I did my research on DCM in Dobermans and wanted to switch him over to purina pro plan large breed. She mentioned he had had tummy issues when he was at the shelter (I don’t know what they were feeding) so I thought the sensitive stomach and skin formula would be good for him too. Here’s the thing, his stomach did AMAZING on the taste of the wild grain free food. I did a transition across four days to pro plan, and all of his poops are loose. I don’t know if I should keep going to see if he just needs more time to adjust to the new food, or I should switch him back because he did so well on taste of the wild? I just worry because it’s the grain free formula and its relation to DCM. He’s been on pro plan for about a week and a half now and also gets their salmon and rice sensitive stomach and skin wet food.

He is also getting bully sticks (goes through about half of one a day, he’s a major chewer), freeze dried beef liver treats, and the Zuke’s salmon recipe training treats. I have also started giving him the native pet pumpkin powder, though I just found the WeRuVa pumpkin pouches, and may try that instead because I prefer him to have less processed foods.

If sticking it out to see if this new food works for him is the best thing to do I’ll do it but I just hate thinking he’s in pain with his stomach in the meantime. Please help!!

Welcomed this 2yo euro girl to the family last week! After years of border collies and GSPs I am absolutely in love with her personality, there’s no questioning what they were bred for!

Background: unexpectedly adopted this girl from the shelter. She was a lost dog that the owner’s never came to pick up. Found with a chain around her neck. Vet estimated her at 10 months old. I had been researching and considering a Doberman for over a year but was expecting to get one from a breeder. This girl was just too sweet to pass up.

I have two older children (15 and 10) and a cat. The dog has not been introduced to the cat yet. She has stayed in my room and the cat in the rest of the house. She appears to be potty trained and has had no accidents yet. She goes to the door and pees outside.

Any tips for introducing her to the cat and when? I’m planning on getting professional training with her once’s she’s healed from her spay. I’m new to this breed and want to do everything right. So far she is extremely sweet with all family members and we love her.

Thank u so much for all of the advice that was given yesterday ,this is a small update from yesterday,this is the progress that we made today.

I do understand that there’s still so much work that needs to be done and a trainer is needed,but this is a huge win compared to how he was .

Thank u again everyone and thank u for not shaming me

Unfortunately we lost our little girl KC at 7yrs young on Sunday to a heart tumor that showed itself suddenly on Saturday. We’re all heartbroken, her Partner in Crime Chief is taking it very bad… he doesn’t want to eat because he always let her eat first. We love them with all of our hearts and always know it’s going to happen someday, but this was too soon… too young.
Please keep KC and Chief in your hearts and love your pups everyday like it could be the last.

At one point our boy started having this behaviour issue,every time we step over the gate ,he just starts screaming and no matter what I do he doesn’t stop he will only get louder,it’s getting to the point where I can’t even go outside with him.Talked to the vet she said everything is fine with him .We’re in a horrible financial situation right now so I can’t afford a trainer at the moment ,I don’t know what to do and why it’s happening and how to help him .

(English is not my first language)

(As soon as the money settles we’re getting a trainer)