A Story About My First Doberman Pinscher

Of course every dog lover has their special breed and mine happens to be the Doberman Pinscher. I have been fortunate to own two of these magnificent canines. Both dogs were a little over a year old when we adopted them.

 

Delilah was my first Doberman. She was on the small end of the scale at about 70 lbs. Her ears had been cropped and her tail was docked at what appeared to be the correct length. The poor girl’s right front paw, at some point in her young life, had been broken. It was not set properly and healed with the paw turned to the right. She had no limp and the abnormality left no further signs of discomfort other than occasional joint pain in cold weather. She could dig a hole to compete with the best hole diggers anywhere.

 

It was 1979 when Delilah came into my life. At that point I knew nothing about Dobes and because Delilah had such a humble demeanor, I thought she was an “out of the ordinary version” of the dastardly Doberman. I came to realize that Doberman Pinscher’s

are not at all the way Hollywood depicts them in film. Don’t get me wrong. The Doberman is probably the most formidable watch and protection dog in the world however; there is another side to a Doberman Pinscher. Intelligence, loyalty and the eagerness to please is unsurpassed. I forgot to mention humility.

 

When my first daughter came along, Delilah seemed to know what she was and what she meant to us. She became very protective of my two daughters. Every time another dog or an unknown person approached, Delilah would position herself between my daughters and harms way.

 

Delilah loved to ride in my van and would sit shotgun in the passenger’s seat everywhere I went. People would make comments about my girlfriend in the front seat. When we reached our destination and got out of the van, she would stay right by my side. It was easy to teach her to fetch the morning paper, which she did for some years, every morning.

 

We lost Delilah in 1989 to cancer. She will always be remembered as a devoted companion and protector, but most importantly as the Doberman Pinscher that introduced me to the breed.