All these years my understanding was that Dobies had been bred to be obedient to their master's commands. That did not necessarily include attacking people (although it might).
I have had three sitting shoulder to shoulder, all doing the "innocent look" with a word. Great breed.
They’re were cobbled together by a tax collector who had a lot of enemies.
One of the reasons that the police have stopped using them is that they are too independent.
Yes, they are very obedient..but not blindly so like other breeds.
You cannot tell one to run through a wall of fire just because you say so.
They “think” and if they think their owner is asking for something stupid or lethal, they won’t do it.
In a personal protection dog, independent thought is invaluable.
Suppose I think somebody is a good person but the dog knows otherwise?
What good is the dog if it only obeys my commands when I’m incapable of judging the true intentions of somebody ‘bad’?
I have had this exact scenario occur several times with my dogs.
The last was with Odin in WV and a dapper old man who, later, proved to be creepy and sinister.
I apologized for Odin’s ‘bad behavior’ at first but 5 minutes later, I understood why the dog was wanting to eat the old creep.
In 1980, I was sitting on the hood of my car eating fast food in a McD’s parking lot with my friend when a guy in a car pulled up.
All he said was “Hello, ladies” and my Dobe who was leashed to bumper lunged right into the guy’s window, snapping his pricey chrome martingale collar into pieces and going Cujo on him.
Totally freaked me out because the dog was highly trained and ‘bullet proof’.
The guy took off like a bat out of hell with the dog stull chasing him.
The next day, were talking to a local cop and found out that a guy matching his description was cruising the area, snatching girls out of parking lots and raping them.
I certainly didn’t know that about him...but the dog did.
They are the best breed, ever.
:)