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Mike,
What great information, thank you. I would just like to say, the service you provide is immeasurable and I am truly grateful to you and the wider community – so thanks again!
It has been an emotional week where Zamina (my wife) and I have discussed at length whether or not Kaia is the right fit for our family! I would be absolutely gutted to lose her but we don’t want Kaia to be neglected.
We completely understand that the working line’s are not really suitable for young children.. Adopting Kaia was not taken light heatedly and we understood, to a point, what it meant to get a Doberman. In our research and talking to breeders we were convinced not to get a “full” working line breed. We were also convinced of a female.
I, in particular, did not want a “show/docile” breed and wanted to stay as true to type as possible. However, in speaking to working line breeders it became apparent that a “full” working line dog would not be suitable for our family so we rested with the decision of half-half, i guess you could say.
The breeder we chose was very informative and helpful in getting the best fit for our family dynamic. There were two litters to choose from and I had my heart set on one in particular…. Just a few days before we were to fly to the breeders, some 2000 kms away, i received a call and was told that she could not give us the puppy that was picked out for us as it was showing strong signs of dominance. I had my concerns from the begining as the genes were highly stacked on the working line side however i was still despondent. We were then offered the female she had chosen for herself for breeding from the other litter – now known as Kaia.
In reading your post my thoughts are, that no matter what temperament we thought we had from a genetic point of view, Kaia is now showing dominance from her working line genes which can switch on at any moment. Would this be correct?…. This is where Zamina was and we are extremely concerned.
With that in mind, we would be lying if we said we weren’t discouraged however, we are not willing to lose a family member without great effort. Reading about Earl’s girlfriend and the other incidents was rather discouraging but it punches the point not to be near or disturb a resting dog!
Coming to your management plan.
- Her outdoor bed has been moved along with her indoor crate. Unfortunately, the layout of our house makes it difficult to get her out of thoroughfares indoors but it is placed in the most out of the way corner we have – still probably not the best though. We are always educating/reminding that disturbing Kaia or any dog while resting is NEVER acceptable.
- We always have and continue to strictly enforce no hugging/kissing.
- We are supervising our children at all times when in the presence of Kaia or keeping them securely apart when unable to be supervised. Odessa is right on top of this… When talking to Odessa about the possibility of losing Kaia she is devastated which seems to be great motivation. Lucius being almost 3 is not so good at remembering so we are extra vigilant in our supervision of him.
- I am getting Kaia used to her muzzle/party hat which she is taking to quite well. The video was helpful here – thank you! I’ll post a photo.
I look forward to working on the exercises of making the kids approach to Kaia a positive perception and management being less restrictive. Is it possible that there will be a day where the kids can be left unsupervised with Kaia?
Thank you so much again Mike. I will go over the leadership section now and post shortly but want to get this one up before I accidentally close it again.
