I realized I haven’t spent nearly enough time in my life appreciating the beautiful Doberman!  I was just watching a PBS special on dogs, and they briefly mentioned the history of the breed.  I had always been intrigued (and maybe a little intimidated) by the Doberman’s strength and beauty so I decided to do a little bit of research.  As it turns out, the beginning of the Doberman is a pretty interesting story.

The Doberman was first realized in Germany by the breeding of a tax collector named Louis Dobermann.  Louis often traveled with money and wanted a dog for self protection.  He was also in charge of the local dog pound, so he began to try to breed his dream dog, a dog with a short smooth coat, average build, incredible stamina, intelligence, alertness, and if necessary, even aggression.  He meticulously chose the dogs whose genes would go into the making of the Doberman.  Unfortunately, he kept no record of his choices.

I’d love to see the different dogs that came between the intention and the animal.  Many sites speculate that the German Pinscher was the foundation breed that Louis Dobermann began with.  Other possible ancestors include the Rottweiler, the Manchester Terrier, and the Beauceron.

Herr Dobermann passed away in the late 1800’s, but the Doberman “patent” and dog were left in the care of Otto Goeller, who may have added the Greyhound to the mix.

In 1990, The German Kennel Club officially recognized the Doberman as a legitimate new breed.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 11:48 pm and is filed under K9Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.