The Doberman ranks amongst the most intelligent of dog breeds in experimental studies and expert evaluations regarding obedience and trainability, along with the Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Poodle, German Sheperd and Shetland Sheepdog breeds. They have been used as working dogs by the military and law enforcement for many years because of their superior mental ability.

The Doberman is compactly built, muscular and powerful, and can be a capable guardian if trained properly, always on alert and ready to protect its owner, family and household. Its physical skills have been widely popularized. The Doberman is a sleek, graceful, and powerful dog, with a very lean and powerful body.

As opposed to most other breeds, the Doberman requires very little grooming and the basic bathing, nail trimming, brushing tooth and coat, cleaning ears and removing eye boogers will be largely sufficient to have a great looking companion.

The Doberman exemplifies the concept of loyalty. When a Doberman has bonded to you, you can expect nothing less than a lifetime of complete devotion from the dog. Dobermans make wonderful family dogs. Contrary to the negative image popular media has imposed on the Doberman, they really are quite gentle and loving. When raised with love and attention, Dobermans will treat children with the utmost care. They are wonderful playmates and can be trusted to happily endure the playfulness of small children.

Although it has become one of the best all-around companion dogs and is great with children, the breed still deals with the fame it has acquired as a ferocious working dog up until shortly after World War II.

The risk associated with most of these can be considerably reduced by doing due diligence and double-checking the certified health testing when dealing with the breeders. If the new home does due diligence while buying a puppy, it is unlikely to have to deal with any of the health considerations generally associated with the Doberman breed.

It is a sensitive breed that gets attached to humans like no other, requires a lot of attention – mostly as a puppy – from its owner(s) and is very emotionally dependant. Most would say this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is worth mentioning in order to set the right expectations for future new homes.

While Dobermans can fairly easily put up with moderate freezing temperatures – for walking purposes, not living – resistance will exponentially decrease as it keeps descending beyond -10°C (14°F).