Regarded as One of the most intelligent breeds, the Doberman is one of the most popular dogs in the world. And it is that this wonderful dog is also energetic, affectionate and very protective. However, he also has his weaknesses, such as impulsiveness. That is why it is important to educate a Doberman correctly from puppyhood.
From our site we are going to show you the most important steps you must take in the education of your puppy, or if your dog is already an adult, the best tips for training it. Read on and discover with us how to train a Doberman properly
The character of the Doberman
Before entering the adventure of learning to educate a Doberman, it is imperative to know his character and personality, since each dog is a world and we must adapt completely to it. In general, this canine breed is characterized by being friendly, peaceful, affectionate, family-oriented and sensitive All these traits tell us that we should act with caution during their training, using always loving words, effusive congratulations and avoid shouting, punishment or physical violence at all times.
On the other hand, the Doberman ranks 5th on Stanley Coren'sSmartest Dogs list, so We have before us a dog that does not present difficulties when it comes to internalizing commands. Of course, the fact of being so intelligent also tells us that his education must be a constant process, since a lack of mental stimulation can cause behavioral problems in the Doberman derived from boredom.
The importance of socializing
In addition to knowing our dog to establish an adequate work plan, we must socialize it properly to avoid altercations with other animals or people in a future. If we have just adopted a Doberman puppy, the task is much easier, and we must start this process immediately. But what is socialization? Very simple, a process that allows the animal to learn to relate correctly to all the factors in its environment: people, animals, objects, landscapes and noises.
To start with the socialization of the puppy, we will choose other well-socialized puppies or adult animals, since putting together the little one with an unstable dog, for example, can cause the adult to try to bite him and the puppy associates socialization with a negative experience. Likewise, we will take walks through various places, and we will allow you to interact with other people.
If the Doberman we have adopted is already an adult and has not been socialized, the task is more complicated. Here it is essential to look for stable and patient dogs, since our dog may bark at them and even try to attack them. During the encounter, we will try to find a safe distance, that is, a distance between the Doberman and the other dog in which our dog does not appear restless or excited. At this point, we will proceed to reward him while he observes the other dog and congratulate him, so that he understands that the calm and calm attitude is appropriate. Little by little we will shorten the safety distance, but we will never force the animal to interact.
Doberman Puppy Training
It is essential to understand that puppies do not have the same learning capacity as adult dogs, so we must have a lot of patience during their training and always use positive reinforcement This training technique consists of rewarding the puppy with treats, many caresses and congratulations when it obeys our commands or when it does something right, and ignore it when it does something wrong.
To begin with the training of the Doberman puppy, we must wait until our dog is three months old; trying to do exercises earlier is wasting time, since he is still very young. Once he is three months old or more, we can start slowly with the exercises, since training a Doberman puppyis not an easy task. Puppies only want to play, eat and sleep, so with a lot of patience and always using positive reinforcement we will start with the basic exercises for their training.
Teaching our Doberman puppy to sit
This exercise can be practiced both at home and in the street, it is advisable to do it in a place where our puppy does not have many distractions. We will only need to have at our disposal some dog biscuits or treats to use as prizes
It is essential to learn to give the commands correctly, for this we must always say the name of our dog followed by the command. If our dog is called "Toby", the correct thing will be to say: "Toby, sit down" or "Toby, sit". It doesn't matter what word we select to carry out the command, what is really important is that it does not coincide with other words in common use (such as another command) and that we always use the same one. In this way, it is also essential to inform the rest of the members who live in the home so that everyone uses the same language.
Now that we have the treats ready and we know the word we are going to use to teach our Doberman puppy to sit, it's time to get started! To do this, we will hide the prize in our hand, closing it completely, and bring our fist close to the puppy's snout so that it can smell it. Once their attention is captured, we will pass our arm over the little one, creating an imaginary line, so that they follow our hand and, by inertia, they sit down. As he makes the gesture to sit, we will say the command and reward the dog once he is seated. The first few times we will create this imaginary line with our hand to, little by little, begin to give the order without doing the route.
Does your puppy not sit automatically? Then you should do the following: let him smell the hidden prize, give the command and, a few seconds later, gently press your hand to the bottom of his spine (near where its tail begins), thus prompting it to sit down. When he sits down, praise him vigorously and pet him while giving him his treat
We must repeat the exercise every day, but without exceeding 15 minutes per day per session, since an excess of time could lead the puppy to get tired and bored.
Teaching our Doberman puppy to lie down
Once our puppy has mastered the sitting technique, we can start teaching him to lie down. To do this, we'll need to execute the sit command first, and once our little Doberman puppy is sitting, we won't give him the treat, we'll execute the lie down command: "Toby, lie down."
To get our dog to lie down, once he is seated, we will hold the prize biscuit in front of him, at ground level. We can put the biscuit near his snout but without him eating it, and lower it little by little so that he lies down naturally Once he is lying down, we will give him the cookie and we will congratulate you heartily. Most Doberman puppies pick up these exercises quickly, but if your puppy is a bit clueless, you can help him lie down by gently sliding his front legs forward to drop him.
It is very important to repeat this exercise daily, just like the sitting exercise, because dogs learn quickly through repetition exercises. So if we teach them but then don't continue practicing the exercises, they will forget them.
Teaching our little Doberman to come to the call
This is perhaps the easiest exercise of all, since we will play with what dogs like the most, food. The exercise itself is really simple, it will simply mean that we always carry with us a small box with cookies for our dog.
We will execute the command "Toby, here" or "Toby, come" while holding a cookie in our hand, making sure that our puppy sees it. When the puppy comes to us to eat it, we will give it to him and congratulate him enthusiastically.
By repeating this exercise several times a day we will ensure that our dog always comes to the call. With the passage of time and when he knows how to act correctly in response to the order, we will reduce the number of prizes (cookies), giving him only occasionally but always congratulating him when he obeys.
Other commands
These are the basic commands that every puppy must learn, once he is over six months old and knows how to perform all the order correctly, we can teach him to remain still in the place that we have indicated to sit or lie down with the same technique, positive reinforcement.
On the other hand, we must continue practicing socialization, bringing our puppy together with other dogs to play and interact. A dog park can be a great place to socialize your pup on a daily basis. Remember that he should also socialize with other humans, allowing himself to be touched and caressed naturally.
As the little one grows and internalizes the basic orders of education that, in addition to stimulating him mentally, will improve coexistence, we can begin to incorporate new, more advanced orders. Also, don't forget to get your puppy used to the collar and leash so that the walks are more and more comfortable.
Tips for training an adult Doberman
Dobermans are generally affectionate and good-natured, but very protective of their family. Imagine for a moment that there is a stressful situation where your Doberman starts barking at a stranger and ignores you. If he does not obey your orders he may even attack the stranger, causing a very dangerous situation. Dobermans are very athletic and strong dogs, if they are not well trained they can wreak havoc.
To avoid these possible situations, it is essential that our Doberman is well behaved from puppyhood, that he obeys our orders without hesitation. However, due to ignorance, there are many people who do not carry out a good socialization process, for example, or who adopt the little one before two months of age, something totally counterproductive because it is with his mother and siblings that he begins to learn the typical behavior of the species. On the other hand, more and more people are choosing to adopt an adult Doberman and give it a second chance. In any case, it is important to emphasize that it is never too late to train a dog, we just need to know the proper techniques and steps. In this way, to achieve good results, we must carry out the same steps that are carried out with puppies, but in a place where our adult dog cannot escape or cause damage to third parties, especially if it is an adopted dog with fear or, as we said, with certain aggressive behaviors.
Therefore, before beginning the process of training the adult Doberman, we must analyze the situationThat is, check if the dog is properly socialized, observe his behavior and know his character well. If, as we mentioned, he is aggressive due to a lack of socialization, without a doubt the first thing we will have to do is solve this problem. For this, it is essential to know why the animal acts that way. Once the cause is found, it will be much easier to work on it, with patience, perseverance and, always, using positive reinforcement.
Once the dog is properly socialized, we can proceed to practice the basic commands following the steps already described but, remember, in closed enclosures to later practice them in other environments.
On the other hand, we recommend taking into account the following tips when training an adult Doberman:
- Teach the dog to sit before putting the food bowl on it Once we put the food bowl down, we won't let him eat until he looks us in the eye. When he looks us in the eye, we give him verbal permission (example: "Toby, go ahead"). If we do not carry out this step and let the animal remain excited while we feed it, we are reinforcing that behavior, which can worsen in the future and enhance a possible picture of stress or anxiety if it sees that we do not give it its food.
- Set the rules for all family members to follow. Thus, we will decide whether or not the animal can get on the sofa, has access to all spaces, can sleep in our bed, etc.
- Being a large dog, if he tends to jump on people and we don't want this to happen, we should work with him to avoid it. To do this, we will avoid any gesture or word that could excite the animal even more, we will reward it when it is at rest or calm, and we will stop it with a simple "No", since pushing, shouting and punishment will not help us solve the problem. issue.
- If the Doberman suffers from food anxiety, we will control the amount and opt for anti-voracity feeders. If they don't work, we'll investigate the cause and treat it.
- In adopted dogs that are afraid of people, safety and trust should be worked on first. To do this, we will avoid any stimulus that causes fear, we will let him smell us first and, if he allows us, we will proceed to caress him with affection, even performing relaxing massages so that he understands that we are not a threat.
- Get the animal used to letting yourself be brushed, cut its nails and bathed without problems, little by little and with a lot of patience.
By following these tips we will make our dog adapt to his new home if we have just adopted him, or we will learn to guide him better, bearing in mind that we should never use aggressiveness, but rather positive reinforcement.
If our Doberman dog is very old and does not respond to instructions, we can always consult a professional trainer, who will give us the guidelines to follow based on their behavior.
