Our Past Dobermans

Above:  this was the post I had about Ludo that was on the “Our Dobermans” page.  It has taken me over a year to get back to this site to report Ludo’s death.  Ludo was very dear to my heart.  Ludo and I bonded very strong and it was very sad to see him go—he was my baby (and he knew it).  He was named after the “rock monster” character in the movie The Labyrinth.  And, that is exactly what his personality ended up being like.  He was the warmest, loving cuddle bug yet, he made you feel safe and secure as he had a proud and confident demeanor.  He was persistent and steadfast.  Because he had such a great disposition, demeanor and body style (AKC standard and comparable to many of the show dogs in the rings we visited) we decided to start breeding him.  We kept him un-neutered while we considered that possibility but we did not want to go forward with that plan until we were sure Ludo would be a good Sire.  In Ludo’s fifth year, we began breeding him to Belle (shown on Our Dobermans page) and they produced two litters of 19 beautiful puppies (seen on our puppy pages).  The only thing that I would have liked to see out of Ludo was more longevity.  He died before his 8th birthday.  There was no indication that Ludo was going to be short-lived.  He always ran, played and had wonderful stamina.  Then, in months before his death, I noticed that he would “stumble” a bit coming up the stairs of the back deck into the house.  This happened a few times and I didn’t think much of it, I simply thought it was odd that he tired so easily and thought it was just the beginning of his senior years—I had no idea it meant the end of his life was near.  Then, one day, he started coughing and could not stop.  I had no idea what it could be so I de-wormed him thinking he may had gotten some lung worms from one of our sheep (who was also coughing).  With that treatment, the cough went away for a few days but, it quickly came back.  A few days later the cough was accompanied by laborious breathing so, we took Ludo to the vet.  The vet’s report was that Ludo’s lungs were full of fluid and that his heart was shutting down.  He said we could go through many tests and spend a lot of money to “possibly” attempt to keep Ludo alive for a little while longer or we could put him down.  It was a hard decision but I knew I was not going to keep a suffering dog alive for my own comfort no matter how painful it was.  The first thing the vet asks once you say you will be euthanizing is “what do you want to do with the body”, without a doubt, we said “he is coming home with us”.  My husband and I spent a few hours digging a hole while Ludo’s body laid in our car with the hatchback open.  The other dogs were able to sniff him and get an idea of what was going on.  When the hole was dug, we buried him and he now has a place in our front yard next to Blau (one of our other past Dobermans). 

 

Side note:  From a breeding stand-point, because of Ludo’s poor longevity, had I kept one of his puppies for breeding, this would not have been a good dog to breed.  However, all Ludo’s puppies were sold on a spay/neuter contract and none of them were kept for breeding.  I also spayed Belle since bitches should only be bred 2-3 times and we opted to breed her only twice.  I may breed again in the future but only if I come across two dogs that would produce exceptional pups.

Blau (from around 1996—2005)  - neutered and never bred

Blau was a blue Doberman and one of the, as you see advertised some-times, “over-sized” or “warlock” types.  He was a good dog but, unfortunately, we acquired him when we lived in a small suburban house with a small back-yard.  We took him to an open field to run at times but, after awhile that field was turned into another sub-division by developers.  I wanted one of the “diluted” dogs because my first Doberman was a fawn and I loved the color.  I thought “blue” would be cool.  However, I was quickly turned off from “dilutes” as Blau spent his last 3-4 years of his life half bald.  No matter what I fed him or what special shampoos I used, his coat always looked awful.  Since then, I vowed not to own another diluted color and to only obtain dogs from red or black dominant stock.  I also was not very happy with Blau’s size.  Again, all the “hype” about the “warlock” breed, in my opinion, is just not what it is cracked up to be.  At 105lbs, Blau looked more like a Great Dane stuck in a Doberman’s body and he acted like one too.  He was never very agile and just a big “loof”.  We loved him just the same but, when we decided to get into breeding, we knew the traits we “didn’t” want to breed because of some of our opinions (from a breeding stand-point) of Blau. 

Doobie (from around 1988-1990)  - neutered and never bred

This is a dog I acquired as a teen-ager with my boyfriend.  Doobie was a fawn Doberman.  I split up with my boyfriend and moved back to the United States (we were living in Puerto Rico which is also where I was born) leaving Doobie with my boyfriend as I could not take him with since I was going back home to live with my mom and she would not allow a “Doberman” in her Chicago apartment.  I later saw my x-boyfriend on a bus in Chicago and he handed me Doobie’s dog tags (I guess he had been carrying them around with him) and said he had to put the dog down.  He said the dog tried to grab his throat when he was giving him a bath one day.  From what I know, my boyfriend used to hit this dog to try to get him to “submit/obey”.  My thoughts on that is that any dog, any woman, any person in their right mind would go for the throat of anyone trying to beat them into submission.  It is unfortunate this dog had to pay with his life because he tried to defend himself.  Dobermans are very smart and should be treated with respect.  No, they should not “rule” the pack, but they should be loved and cherished which is how any responsible, decent person would treat them.   

Hershey (from around 1980-1994)  - neutered and never bred

This was my husband’s dog that he got when he was 10.  His neighbor’s dog had puppies and told my husband he could have a puppy since he came over every day after school and took care of the Dam of the litter and showed a special interest in the dogs.  Hershey was a black Doberman and lived to a very ripe age of 14.  My husband’s mother grew fond of the dog and kept him after David left home for college.  She called David to come back home and go to the vet with her to euthanize the dog after the dog showed such bad signs of arthritis that he could not get up to go to the bathroom without first being given an aspirin.  My husband and his mother have fond memories of Hershey.  Hershey was cremated and my husband’s mother kept his ashes in IL and says she plans to bring them to us so they can be buried on our farm with the other dogs in our “Doberman Cemetary”. 

 

 

 

  

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Side note: I met my husband before he left for college and his Hershey was still alive.  That was around the same time I lost my Doobie.  When we met and  learned of eachother’s fondness of the Doberman breed, that was the first things that kindled our romance that later led to our marriage.