At first, we got a recommendation from the Doberman Club around here for a breeder in this area. We got in touch with her, went over all the specifics, and she put us on her list for a puppy with her breed due at the end of November. The puppies were born Thanksgiving day, and (apparently) due to the size of the litter (four puppies), she emailed to let us know that she would be "unable to provide a puppy for you at this time." Kind of a shock, but okay, whatever. She was kind enough to give us a list of other breeders in Arizona that she'd recommend, but we'd already been moving in another direction.
The first breeder had been rubbing the husband the wrong way for awhile, so we had already started looking for another breeder. We found one in a town north of here in early October. After chatting with her repeatedly, we grew to like her very much and decided to visit her. Today was the day.
All of us drove up to her ranch to meet her, her dogs, and figure out whether this was going to be a match for everyone involved. First, when we arrived, we found that her entire property is encircled by a fence, even the driveway. Excellent for dogs! Second, the sounds of the dogs barking and baying inside made me crack up. They didn't sound anything like I expected them to (I was expecting ferocious). Then, when we finally met her, the mom dog, and the dad dog, I was kind of overwhelmed by how slap-happy the dogs were. Seriously! As Dobermans, I expected tall, majestic, large, regal dogs that carried themselves with authority and exuded don't-f*-with-me vibes. These dogs? Were like giant Labs - super playful, bouncing everywhere, friendly as can be, and gigantic cuddle monsters. Both dogs were over the moon when they saw the girls, because I'm sure they were thinking "oh boy oh boy oh boy PLAYMATES!!!!!" The mom dog especially bounced all over the girls, to which L ran away from her and E giggled nonstop. She was a bit bigger than Belle, but I thought you know, this is a reasonable size, we could deal with this. Then, when the breeder brought out the dad dog, both the husband and I were shocked at how big he was! He actually jumped up to lean on my husband, and that showed that he was as tall as my husband's shoulders that way. HUGE. I don't think he'd fit through our current dog door, lol! He was red (mom was black), and his back end just looked like it was going to shake off the little nub of a tail he had from excitement. He licked the girls to death, wanted me to hold him and jump with him, and was so. incredibly. happy. Where is this "regal" Doberman I keep envisioning? These dogs are too happy, friendly, and sweet!
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| Grandma (the mom is her pup) |
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| Grandpa (the dad is his pup) |
We talked for 1+ hours about the dogs, raising them, the process, and what we planned for the puppy once we got home. She went over her contract with us, said that she would have no problem giving us an appropriate puppy (based on temperament testing she'll do), and so we signed the contract, paid our deposit, and are very happy with this deal. The mom dog should get knocked up in the next week or so, which means she'll have puppies in early February. Since we're not going to have the puppy have her ears cropped, she'll come home to us in early April. How exciting! Our ideal time to have a puppy home was June, but we knew that nothing would be perfect (in terms of timing). So, we've got four months to get everything in order for Her Doggie Princessness Strawberry Jello von Fancyschmancypants (as I'm calling her for now - the husband likes Jello for a dog name, and the breeder insists [based on her AKC registration scheme] that the dog have a S name, hence Strawberry). She'll probably be a black Doberman, which is fine, and the girls are excited to have her coming to us. Yay for a doggie-productive day!
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