Hi everyone,

Me and my partner are picking up our first Doberman puppy in October (approx. 5 weeks), his name will be Chief! I have been researching this breed for just over two years now and I’m under no illusion of the hard work and commitment that will need to go into this incredible breed. We’re planning 2x walks daily with at least 1 hour of training per day. I’m prepared with a crate, bed, loads of toys of different textures. We’re also considering feeding him raw which again I’ve researched extensively. I work from home permanently with only one day in the office where he will be alone for a max of 6 hours, we’ll be getting a dog walker in for this day.

I would love to hear any advice / tips you have. Especially when it comes to effective socialisation and what’s helped you most. I know critical socialisation is up to 16 weeks (sometimes less). We’re planning to do puppy training classes already.

I’d also like to know if any of you have heard about the rabies vaccine causing aggression in these dogs? We want to do a road trip at the end of next year and want to bring him with us but our breeder mentioned that there can be issues with the rabies vaccine (we live in the UK so we don’t have to get this unless travelling abroad) any advice would be much appreciated on this!