I'll begin by saying I did not want a third dog. I also did not want a fourth dog, but that is all a part of Sadie's story. The pugs were and always have been more of my dogs. They require little exercise which suits my lifestyle fantastically. However, Joe wanted to get a dog that he could hike, wrestle and play with. He wanted a dog that could protect our home but also one that would adapt well to living with the pugs, and eventually, one that would do well with children.
A Doberman took a lot of convincing, and Joe was 100% right in his breed of choice. Dobermans are loving, loyal, playful and all-around wonderful animals. I don't have applicable life experience, but it appears they do well with children as well. They are nurturing and protective.
We went to a Doberman breeder just to "look" and walked away with Maximus. I got to pick which of the litter I wanted, but we knew that we wanted a male. Joe wanted a black Doberman, but I thought the reds were so beautiful. Maximus was the only dog that left the sleeping pile of puppies to play, and he was the only one that cried when the breeders took his momma dog out of the room. I was hooked.
If you've had a dog, then you probably recognize this toy. It's the little soccer ball toy you can get a all the Pet Stores and Target. He was an itty bitty thing, with really large paws.
The first night we got him he pooped in his kennel. Ants found their way in and he had ant bites all over his puppy belly. Poor Max. It usually takes me awhile to get used to have another dog, to get over the anxiety of more cleaning, more food, more love, more potty training etc. but the minute he got those little ant bites I just loved him completely and wanted to take care of him!
Such a proud little boy!
The pugs had no idea he would get to be so big. So, they let him do things like, oh- bite their faces! Brady was his constant playmate.
Best friends!
Here he is 10 days after his ear cropping surgery. His ears are "posted" meaning they are taped so they stand straight up. This continues until the cartilage hardens and the ears will stand naturally. There are many different opinions on ear cropping. In some countries, any kind of physical appearance alteration you can make to a dog is banned. I can assure you that we did a lot of research before deciding we wanted to crop his ears. One, it is breed standard. Would you be able to recognize a Doberman without the ear crops? Probably not. Second, it helps with hearing. The ears and tails are HUGE without the crop/dock. Third, in terms of a protection dog, a Doberman does not look fierce or menacing at all without the ear crop. I am not going to lie and say he probably did not feel pain as a result of the surgery. But the pain he felt would be comparable to a spay/neuter surgery. As anyone who has dogs knows, you can
tell if they are in pain. The only problem Max ever had with his surgery was having to wear the cone. It scared the pugs and they would not go near him for the 10 days he had it on. So, his biggest issue was lonliness until it came off :)
Here is Max after the first postings came out. His ears fell so we had to post longer then this, but it gives you a good idea of what they initially looked like. They were too big for his head, but they were done so he would grow into them.
Max is very unaware of his own size. When he was a puppy he basically stole the dog bed we had for Otis, so we gave Otis this bed. Naturally, Max then stole the new bed and claimed
it as his own. He is a lot bigger now then in this picture, and he still tries to sleep in it. There is no way to get his whole body in it now, so he kind of sits in it and pours out on all sides.
We do NOT allow this anymore. But Max is sad we don't. He loves sitting on the couch, the stairs, people's knees, people's shoulders, the pugs-- anything he can use as a stool, he will. Height wise, his rear end is taller then our couch. So, he likes to back up and try to sit on the laps of people sitting on the couch. This, apparently, he has decided does not classify as actually being on the couch, so he thinks it is okay.
Here he is more recently, much larger. Again always playing with Brady, though now he has Sadie who is a much more appropriate play mate. Brady's method of attacking Max is to run at full speed and JUMP in the air to bite his face. Any fear you may have of a Doberman hurting a Pug should be reversed. We do watch them carefully because Max is so unaware of his size, but he loves them.
Max peering over our gate.
We love Max so much. There is a different kind of love for big dogs and little dogs. Max can be a human pillow. He has the most loving demeanor, is ultra-sensitive and wants nothing more then to be loved. He requires a lot of work, has a lot of energy, is thick headed and sometimes difficult to handle, but I wouldn't trade him in for anything. It is hard to believe he is only 1 year old. He has a lot of growing up left to do (both mentally and physically) and will be a completely different dog this time next year. For starters, he'll be enormous, well over 100 pounds. Also, he will start to mellow out. He'll become more aware of his size and how to control his body. He will learn to respond better to commands in public spaces (focus is a big issue now) and he will learn to harness his energy a bit better. Overall, he is a wonderful dog who everybody loves and deserves all the big hugs and kisses that he gets and gives!
