if the stars align, i will have a dobie sometime early 2024. i want to only go through ethical breeders, so the wait has been long, but it’s worth it. i’ve never had a dog before and i’m SO excited !!!

pic is of momma and one of her puppers from a previous litter, but we will be keeping the ears floppy :)

given that most pure breeds have health issues that only come from them being bred purely, i would argue that "ethical breeder" is somewhat of an oxymoron.

inb4 “you should be adopting not shopping” because people get very passionate about this topic.

you’re right. however, dobermans specifically are near and dear to my partner’s heart. he’s had a rescue before, but they’re rarely seen in shelters.

@tosensei ethical breeders are hard to come by because they do it for love of the dogs- which doesn’t make much money. they pay for testing to make sure health issues aren’t passed down (+ all their shots), and they don’t make the same pairs of dogs pop out babies constantly. this lady sells one litter of puppies a year and that’s it. she has a literal farm for the dogs to run around on.

your concerns are valid- i just wanted to share what i’ve learned from my interactions

@tosensei as a kid we had a collie that had some serious psychosis at times. I learned later in life that collies in that period of time were being bred in a lot of sketchy ways.

Every dog I have owned as an adult has been a mutt of some sort. Best dogs I have ever seen. The best and smartest mutt I have had was a border collie whippet mix. Fast and extremely smart.

@Demolishun i’ve only ever had cats, but i believe you

tangentially related: apparently the uk is starting to ban the breeding of flat-faced dogs. better late than never i guess. seeing those little gremlins struggle to exist hurts to watch

@Demolishun I was raised with Scottish collie. A perfect little lady. Used her as pillow many times. Loved her as a sister. What does a collie in a psychosis do? Would be worried a F. Heartbreaking

Congrats on your dog adoption. So much love ❤️❤️❤️

@retoor every once in a while the collie would get really upset and seemed to not recognize you. She would growl and seem to be mad at everything. Just didn't seem like the same dog anymore. Wait an hour and they would be normal again. Never hurt anyone thankfully. This is also the interpretation of an 8 year old. I just remember feeling this dog is no longer safe.

@sleepyObjobjobj > "i’ve only ever had cats"

Ditto. Attached is the little fella we got from a family friend's litter of barn kittens (likely in-bred x times) a couple of months ago.

Supposed to be an outside-only cat, but my daughter had other plans.

@PaperTrail the best cat I had was a female named Jack (like Jack from Riddick). She lived up to the name. She policed our property. My daughter watched a tom cat show up one day. Jack bee-lined to the cat and tore its ear off. If she was outside she was practically feral and "didn't know you". When she was inside she was an amazing house cat.

@PaperTrail outside cat only, that I understand. I know just for a few years inside cats exists. As a farmer girl I was like "wtf? Inside cat?". And then they showed me they walked a cat on a leash and my world stood upside down. I think they don't understand cat. They're fucking killers able to live anywhere. Indoor cat on a leash.. Dear lord

@retoor in the country cat outdoors, in town indoors. Vietnamese neighbors, indoors.

@Demolishun > "best cat I had was a female named Jack"

Oddest one was Buttons (my son named him, for being 'as cute as'). He was a ferrel cat from a neighboring farm that my son started to feed and ended up never leaving. Big, muscular tom, like over 20lbs of muscle. Meowed like a kitten. Sweet as could be. Never scratched, bit, and never a hint of aggression until one day another tom wondered into our back yard. Buttons *flew* into him (berserker mode). No warning growls, nothing. It kinda scared us. That other tom was big too and he never had a chance (there was bloody fur all over the place). Chased the other cat to exactly the fence line and let him go. After a bit, Buttons walked back to us, flopped on his back and wanted his belly rubbed like nothing had happened.

Neighbor had a lot of barn cats, and we'd see them sometimes on the back porch with missing ears, bitten off tails and we wonder if Buttons went full psycho.

The first Doberman I ever met was a huge lap dog. Loved the breed ever since. Early congrats on the future furry family member! I have technical discussions with our lab all the time ;-)

@xcodesucks i look forward to my new coding assistant lol

@PaperTrail that’s a spoiled child if i ever saw one. oh to be a housecat with no bills

@sleepyobjobjobj so what about photos of the new coding assistant? ☺️