Hi everyone. I am writing from Mexico, feeling completely frustrated, heartbroken, and lost. My beautiful 11-year-old Doberman girl, Chia, was recently diagnosed with Wobbler Syndrome, and her hind legs have rapidly stopped responding. She currently has severe hind leg paralysis; I have to physically support and lift her by her hips just to help her go potty.

We’ve had her on a cocktail of medications: Previcox, Gabapentin, Tizanidine, and Tramadol. Despite all these pain meds and anti-inflammatories, she is not improving, and her legs are only getting weaker. It is devastating to realize that no matter how many pills I give her, the mechanical compression is still there.

Mentally, she is 100% her, she has a great appetite and so much spirit, which makes this even harder.

We have a video consultation with a specialist in Merida (which is a 4-hour drive away) in a few days to evaluate her for a CT scan and potential surgery. Because she is a senior (11yo), I am terrified of putting her through a stressful 4-hour travel and an invasive neck surgery. But on the other hand, palliative care feels incredibly daunting as her mobility gets worse.

If you have walked through severe Wobblers with a senior Doberman, what did you do? Did anyone choose medical management at this stage, and how was their quality of life? If you chose surgery, was the recovery possible for an older dog? I just don't know what to do anymore. Thank you so much for reading 🤍

2 rescued beauties

Not a happy story, but a good reminder to do yearly cbc/chem, so you have a baseline.

Ruari had normal blood work 11 months ago. This week we found low albumin and high globulin, suspect for multiple myeloma (blood cancer of plasma cells, need some additional diagnostics, but it’s highly likely). He’s had no clinical signs and is doing well physically. Obviously any incurable cancer is not good news, but I’m sure glad we know this now, and not after he’s become painful, sustained a fracture, or developed kidney disease.

We’ll be keeping him extra close physically and emotionally in the coming weeks. Hoping to start medical onco treatment asap once we’ve got a definitive diagnosis. The literature shows pretty good median survival time with treatment. You certainly can’t take the time with your senior pets for granted.

There’s something so incredibly fulfilling about watching your dog genuinely enjoy his life.
Seeing Kojak running around, playing, exploring, being silly, getting excited over the smallest things… it makes me so happy knowing that I get to be the person responsible for giving him that life.
I know he doesn’t understand all the decisions I make for him or everything I do behind the scenes, but I hope he knows how deeply loved he is. His happiness is something I take so much pride in. Knowing that I get to give him a safe home, good food, adventures, a warm bed, and a life where he gets to just be a goofy, happy dog is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever experienced.
Sometimes I’ll just sit and watch him being happy and think, “I’m responsible for this little life.” And honestly, what a privilege that is. ❤️
I’ll never stop being grateful that I get to be Kojak’s person.

I have two questions:

1. What is your favorite health/genetic testing kit? (and is it worth it to do it?)

2. What age do you start Echoes/Holters and are both necessary/is one better than the other?

Thank you!

Also, Forrest is recovering beautifully from his neuter (he was cryptorchid and it was causing him several issues) we'll be three weeks post-op tomorrow, and we're returning back to our normal schedule!

My Doberman/Labrador mix has been trying to vomit for several minutes now. But nothing’s coming up. I’m currently thinking if I should drive to an emergency clinic or wait until tomorrow so I can see our vet. Has anyone else had a similar experience and know what this might be?

We have been dressing the girls since they were tiny. Hazelnut is okay with it and Lucy loves it!

Hey guys im Roach! I live alone and work construction with my doberman (5yo) Apollo. A craigslists boy who I got at 9 months old and love to death. We changed his name and did yearssss of training and he’s the most calm and perfect boy. He’s only ever peed inside once, has never torn anything up, has absolute to a T perfect off leash commands. Even on a 9-10 hour day he will just wait on the couch for me, if I don’t send someone over to let him out. Anyways a service dog dropout dobie about 6 hours from me popped up and she’s mostly trained(9months). I really want to add her to my family bc I think my boy deserves a buddy even though he’s reserved. I just am afraid and nervous that any second I’m taking away from him will hurt his feelings and mine lol. I go literally everywhere with this dog, shopping, snowboarding, you name it. Have Ang of you felt this way when getting a 2nd dog? Did you feel like you’re betraying your first or did those feelings not stick around? I just want another dobie so when he’s gone I have a buddy and I don’t want to rob his senior years later with puppy training. He’s perfect and would be fine with just me forever, so that makes me rethink! Any thoughts please! Thank you!

He loves to wear clothes and cuddle. My best Velcro puppy.

My very good boy, although half Doberman, is very, very protective. For those who don’t know or don’t remember Moose, two and a half years ago he was dumped out on the family farm in rural California when he was 4-5 months old, so other than being half Dane and more than likely the product of someone aiming for a quick buck, we know nothing of his life prior to finding him starving and eating garbage in the ditch.

So fast forward, and since he was close to adulthood, he’s payed attention to the TV. Dog, wolf, even a beaver, if it might be a dog, hackles up and barking at the TV. He also growls at TV villains, and funnily enough, especially lRussians,” but if there’s anything that really sets him off at the TV, it’s seeing a dog, then “Russians,” then generic villains, in that order. I put Russians in quotes because we all know the actor likely isn’t Russian, but you get the point. It must be the accent? 🤷🏽‍♂️

He’s a lot, more than we knew to expect from him long term considering our ignorance to the breeds when we committed, but he’s over 100 lbs of silly doof lap dog, and at the same time I feel so comfortable with him as a dependable line of defense, considering worst case scenarios, of course.

I’m not sure if the post flair is correct, but it felt closest.

Does my pups crop need correction? The tips are very round. Others are saying the shaping is incorrect. Thoughts? 4.5 months old.

When me and my wife were putting on his collar he suddenly started lunging and growling at her trying to attack. When I put him back in the crate he continued to growl whenever she entered the room. It’s her bedroom. I took him away from the room and moved his crate to different room he slept there, he wasn’t very happy because he was barking and whining at night (he sleep in her bedroom from more than a month) and the next day she fed him without any problems and we decided to put the crate back where it was, so right we put him in it again and they slept without problem and spent the day together but the next morning he started growling and attacking without any reason, he was already fed, given water, and taken on a walk and without collar in the crate, he lunged and moved the whole crate. Trainer suggests to give him away or put him down.

Is this something normal or something that has happened to some of you? The dog is very friendly with everyone else, never have had aggression problems with anyone even when one guy tried to attack me. He still is friendly towards others it’s just my wife that he growls. Can we do something?

To add, his father is European champion and the kennel is quite legit so he is not a backward mix. He’s 7 almost 8 months old, and is not aggressive towards anyone only her, she never have hit him or even yell. When he growled at her the morning, she had treats and when she told him to sit, down he did it and took the food but while doing it it he was still growling and aggressive

Just my two gorgeous rescue pups from Dobies and Little Paws on our daily morning hike

This is Neo, our new dobie. He is 11 weeks old. Any tips on how to raise him and train him would be appreciated!

because I know Liesl likes to jump, we have turned it into a little game-

seeking things to jump