How to Make my Doberman Pinscher Aggressive?

she's country: How can I make my Doberman Pinscher aggressive?
I just bought a 3-month-old Doberman Pinscher and want him to be a fair watchdog. I don't want to make him really really mean, but all he does is sleep.

He doesn't even know the meaning of the play. I try to make him bite my hands like my pitbull Bullet used to, but even when I push him around he just sits there like "What are you doing?" and then he curls up under me and falls asleep....... What can I do?

Answers and Views:

Answer by ladystang
you're just asking for trouble. most dobes are good as most people are scared of them.

Photo Credit: Martin Hesketh/Flickr CC

Answer by bluebonnetgranny
It isn't anything you can do yourself. It takes a Professional Trainer that is also a Canine Behaviorist that understands canine aggression.

I would be willing to bet that if you took 5 or even 10 Dobermans that have been raised like any normal dog & did a temperament test on them (at the age of 18 months) there maybe 1 or 2 would show strong tendencies towards aggression. Just because the dog is a Doberman doesn't mean that the dog will be aggressive. It is the temperament of the individual dog, regardless of breed.

When you train a dog in aggression work you also have to train in controls so you have 100% control of its aggression. It takes several months to train a dog to that point.

Answer by JT

Wow the wack jobs are everywhere, pay them no mind. Here is how you train a Doberman.

1. First, You DO NOT want your animal to be aggressive toward you EVER. Unless you want to get hurt. a motivated adult Doberman could kill an adult human – since they are about a 2 year old mentally, the question of what might motivate them can be somewhat indeterminant.

2. Training to WATCH, LISTEN, BARK on command, SIT, STAY, DOWN, LEAVE IT, OFF, NO, WAIT, STOP, HEEL, CIRCLE LEFT, CIRCLE RIGHT, LEFT PAW, RIGHT PAW, TAKE ONE (one treat from a pile) and a whole bunch of other conditioning training MUST be drilled into your dog before you teach him ANY bite work.
Unless you want to get sued. Your dog needs to be taught patience, tolerance of everyone and everything that will be a part of his daily interactions (kids, cat, wife, mail man, neighbor)

3. Training happens on action / reward. Operant conditioning. He does what you want, you reward it, back the reward up with praise and affection; the dog learns that I do X and I get Y + Love + Affection. Discipline is the same thing, but NEVER WITH HITS, always use a disproving tone of voice, scolding voice (the dog will get it) and pick a suitable punishment – I do time outs in a place that she does not like for serious violations (which is mostly anywhere she can’t be with me or see me – Dobermans are Velcro dogs – they really want / NEED to be with their master at all times and she becomes inconsolable when she can’t be) I do treat denial (show her a treat that I might give her regularly, then remind her of the negative action (like chewing something or stealing – those were her biggies when I first got her) and then withhold the treat while chastising her verbally.

If she fails to follow / complete a command I just try again, encourage her and reward the success.
You want to be real careful of the punishment, pick your battles and shower with love and praise.

If your dog loves you they will crawl through glass to please you. If they fear you, they will wait for the opportune time to escape your draconian rule, and If they grow to hate you perhaps they might try to kill you and take your place (and no I am NOT kidding)

4. You don’t have to worry about your male Doberman being willing to attack, Dobermans are fearless animals I let my girl off chain after dark a few times when I first got her, but before I had good verbal control of her, I figured its a fenced yard, what could happen? She did fine for a few trips to the bathroom, I would walk along with her and look at the stars while she did her business, Then one night she let out a low growl that sent a chill up my spine and before I could do or say anything, headed off into the darkness at full gallop.

I didn’t see or hear ANYTHING. By the time I got my flashlight out of my pocket, my loving, playful girl had picked up a skunk by the nape of its neck and was shacking the life out of it. That was a night to remember for her and me – but she still looks for that skunk today in the daylight and given the chance…

She would not hesitate to have a rematch. If some one or someone thing that the dog has not been conditioned to tolerate violates your dogs territory or messes with the food/shelter/love giver (you) they will act swiftly and decisively, of that you can be sure. YOU MUST be able to control that action, or you will be cleaning up the carnage.

Dogs have the mentality of a 2 year old. They are very focused on pleasure and exploration, when they are young (under 1 year). When they becomes an adult (1.5-2 years), that will change to being what you teach them to be – WHAT you fail to teach them, they will figure out for themselves, maybe to your liking, maybe to your horror! So do them a favor and train them.

5. Bite work is fun work for a Doberman, they are assertive / aggressive by nature and they love to challenge people and roughhouse. My girl will growl at people just to see what they do, completely unprovoked. the day I got her I was holding her leash and talking to the person who was giving her up for adoption and she growled at a random person walking up the street just out of the blue. Dobermans are incredible judges of character.

They tend to sense bad people and they will often react appropriately – which in their mind is to warn the person to leave them alone and give then space.

MAKE SURE to teach the dog an OFF command and reward that heavily while teaching BITE work.
You need to be able to stop the dog in the middle of an attack (which can be either a game to the dog or life and death depending on what instigated the attack) and call them back to you. If you can’t do that, something or someone is going to get injured or killed.

6. You need a bite sleeve / suit for bite work – DO NOT teach your animal to bite your bare flesh, If the dog hurts you, it is your fault, you do not want they play biting – you want them full force biting on the bite command. once they learn something fun it is REAL hard to un learn it so don’t get them into chewing on you.

You can start with rough housing, playing, grabbing the muzzle and shacking gently while blending his attack word into the play, alternating with the OFF command which should make him stop and back off. All the while using a chew rope or rag to start. DO NOT TRAIN BITE WORK WITH TOYS! You do not want a stuffed animal associated with bite work. You do not want chew toys associated with bite work. Bite work is special play.

AGAIN DO NOT HAVE THE DOG BITING YOUR SKIN OR CLOTHING.

7. Make the animal aware that there is a time and place for the SPECIAL play that is bite work, and that there are rules to the play that he must adhere to get rewards. Use NO BITE – when he bites your skin or your clothing.
Reward / Praise when he attacks the target object during bite play.

8. NEVER, EVER hit your animal for discipline. Hitting and smacking should be part of bite work, and the dog will learn them as such. You can be increasingly rough with the dog (within reason and bearing in mind that the dog will give back as good as it gets) as your progress – he, in turn, will get into the rough play, and if he ever has to fight a human and they punch or kick him it will just bring him more into the fight.

9. Know that once you do all this. you don’t have a dog anymore. You have an animal that enjoys and is practiced at attacking, that is not a pet in the traditional sense – and it can’t be left to just anyone to handle. You have to treat the dog as a weapon ,which he will be. You would not give your child a loaded gun to go for a walk, the same applies to a dog that is trained to attack people.

Only a responsible adult that KNOWS the dog should be given permission to walk or handle it. My dog will not take food from a stranger, I have trained her that food offerings from strangers are suspect and to be seen as aggressive and met with a bite.

She has been trained to recognize my immediate neighbors and to not be aggressive when them. She has been trained to leave my chickens alone and to ignore, for the most part, other dogs. All that said, I still muzzle her when I take her to the vet, just in case. She is not aggressive in the least toward me, I can pull her food bowl in the middle of a meal and she will stand bediently waiting for the meal to resume. She is naturally wary of people in general which is a Dobermans breed standard; they tend to be standoffish and wary of strangers.

She has been trained that under the right circumstances, she will be rewarded for latching onto a target and shaking with all her might. Such activity might involve punching and kicking and scream and she will be rewarded for her perseverance. The use of her “Play” skills to kill or maim someone is a natural progression, a person would just need to give her a reason. Let's also remember she is a 2-year-old at heart, so I have to be ever vigilant that NO ONE accidentally gives her a reason.

10. Your dog will scare the bejesus out of the average person with NO BITE WORK, Dobermans are fierce and loyal dogs and they have no qualms about warning people just how nasty they can be. If an untrained dog goes after a person you can expect the dog to be unskilled at inflicting damage and the person might still be seriously hurt.

After you teach the dog where to bite (ARMS, ANKLES, NECK, FACE) and reinforce / reward/praise that behavior the dog will NOT MISS if they attack someone and you can expect serious injury to the attacked, you really need to consider just what that means for you, as their owner in terms of legal liability and MORE IMPORTANTLY what is means in consequence to the innocent 2 year old mind that you are training.

It is a permanent change and not to be taken lightly – if the dog attacks someone oftentimes there is a call for the dog to be put down. Not the ideal end for your best friend, just saying.

Photo Credit: YamaBSM/Pixabay

Answer by Hosam
My dobe is 6 months old he also sleeps … And it's very natural for a baby to sleep … He‘ll eat and sleep … take him out after some days he is a working dog make him run; swim with him and stop him from doing odds. I m sure he‘ll be your best companion And ‘ll be ready to face death for you. Don’t irritate him to make him aggressive then you‘ll be in danger yourself. Remember he’s a Doberman.

Answer by nervver
stop reading these stupid comments. what you first want to do is slap him softly not hard. this is gonna take some time to make him aggressive. i got a dog and all he did was sleep on the couch. he was still a puppy `but he didn't sleep because of that, it was because he was scared. he would look at me like what are you doing after some days he would stare opening his mouth and moving his head. I kept doing it until he actually was biting me. he doesn't bark yet but he bites. If you want to make it aggressive that's how you do it.

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Answer by Doberman
You are a jerk. Give the dog to a decent owner and desist from owning another dog. You don’t train your own dog to attack or bite you. This is plainly stupid. He will grow up with no respect for you and teach you what a dickhead you really are. If you had half a brain you could get help but clearly, you have no idea at all so you will get no help from me. Nervver and Alex are similarly retarded. You will end up with a dickhead dog that bites its handler and you will end up blaming the breed. Give the dog away you fool or learn how to train a real working dog. Hint: you don’t be the handler AND the aggressor. Though in Nerrvers case I think it will sort itself out.

Answer by Rayven ~ Here we Go
"but all he does is sleep. He doesn't even know the meaning of the play." BECAUSE HE'S A PUPPY.
What can you do? Return him to his breeder, you are CLEARLY not capable of being a good owner let alone an owner of a "watchdog"
WATCH DOGS ALERT. They bark that is what makes them WATCH dogs. GUARD DOGS bite attack etc and something tells me you wouldn't pony up the cash to have it properly trained anyways.

Sorry but who the hell complains that their puppy ISN'T biting them on the hands.

Answer by Valerie
Making your dog into guard dogs or aggressive dogs could make the risk of having them seriously injured, you or someone else, and then having him put down. Trust me, most of the time just by having a big dog, like a Doberman or pit bull is enough to keep people away.
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