The Dog You're Looking For Isn't Born Fully Trained: It's Built Over Time
“I want a dog that's calm at home, social, obedient, able to go everywhere with me, ignores other dogs, and stays focused on me even around distractions.”
These are the kinds of requests I'm hearing more and more often from prospective puppy owners.
And I completely understand. Who wouldn't want a well-balanced, enjoyable companion who can join us in our activities and adapt to our everyday lives?
But there's an important distinction I'd like to explain: a dog's temperament and its training are two different things, even though they're closely connected.
A breeder can work toward producing puppies with good genetic predispositions. They can also give those puppies an excellent start in life. But they cannot hand you an eight-week-old puppy that already possesses all the skills you hope to see in your future adult companion.
What Genetics Can Influence
Temperament has a significant hereditary component. That's one of the reasons why carefully selecting breeding dogs is so important.
As a breeder, I pay particular attention to several characteristics:
Emotional stability and the ability to recover from stress.
Confidence and reactions to new experiences.
Sensitivity and reactivity to stimuli.
Energy levels and natural working drives.
Motivation, persistence, and willingness to cooperate with humans.
Tendencies toward fearfulness, vigilance, or certain reactive behaviours.
These characteristics are influenced by genetics, but they aren't entirely determined by them. Development, experiences, and environment also play major roles.
A puppy can be born with excellent predispositions and still develop behavioural difficulties. On the other hand, good training can help a dog develop its abilities without necessarily eliminating all of its natural tendencies.
Genetics provides part of the foundation. It doesn't deliver the finished product.
What You Need to Build Through Training
Let's look at a few examples of requests I regularly receive.
“I want a dog I can take everywhere.”
Being comfortable in a restaurant, at an event, in a crowd, or in a noisy environment isn't simply a genetic trait.
A confident, stable temperament certainly makes things easier, but a dog still needs to gradually learn how to navigate these environments, manage stimulation, and remain responsive despite distractions.
“I want a social dog that gets along with every other dog.”
Sociability and tolerance toward other dogs vary from one individual to another and can also change as a dog matures.
Socialization isn't about having your puppy meet as many dogs as possible. It's primarily about teaching your puppy to remain comfortable and relaxed around other dogs without necessarily interacting with them.
And even with excellent socialization, not every adult dog will necessarily enjoy the company of every other dog.
“I want a dog that's calm in the house.”
Some dogs naturally have a greater ability to settle than others. But learning to manage excitement, wait patiently, tolerate frustration, and relax is also part of training.
Having a large yard and providing plenty of physical exercise doesn't replace teaching these skills.
“I want a dog that listens to me, even around distractions.”
Obedience isn't a temperament trait that comes pre-installed in your puppy.
A dog can be extremely intelligent, highly motivated to work with its owner, and a quick learner. That doesn't mean it will naturally have a reliable recall, walk politely on a leash, or stay focused when another dog walks by.
These skills require structured training, repetition, gradual progression, and consistency.
The Doberman: A Project in Itself
The Doberman is a breed I absolutely love, but I believe it's important to have realistic expectations.
People are often drawn to this breed because of its intelligence, loyalty, strong bond with humans, and versatility.
But simply getting a Doberman doesn't automatically give you all these qualities in the way you might imagine.
During the first few years, your Doberman won't simply be a dog that tags along on your adventures. Its development and training will be a major part of your daily activities.
You'll need to dedicate time, sometimes a great deal of it, to developing the behaviours and skills that will eventually allow your dog to become the enjoyable, versatile companion you're hoping for.
It's not just about teaching “sit,” “down,” and “stay.”
It's also about helping your dog learn to manage emotions, distractions, frustration, new environments, downtime, and interactions with the world around them.
And this work doesn't happen in a few weeks. It continues throughout adolescence and into maturity, with some stages being easier and others considerably more challenging.
A Breeder's Role Goes Beyond Genetics
At Schwarzer Stolz, we place great importance on selecting our breeding dogs for temperament, but also on the early development of our puppies.
From a young age, our puppies are regularly handled, socialized, and gradually introduced to different sounds, surfaces, objects, environments, and experiences.
We also begin introducing them to household routines, crate training, and the handling necessary for grooming and veterinary care.
We conduct temperament evaluations to help us better understand each puppy and guide our placement decisions.
However, these evaluations aren't foolproof predictions of what a puppy will be like as an adult.
Our goal is to give our puppies the best possible foundation and find the most suitable match between each puppy and its future family.
The work we begin at the kennel must then be continued and developed by their new owners.
At eight weeks old, a puppy has experienced only a tiny fraction of its life. An enormous amount of development still lies ahead.
Training Classes: An Investment, Not a Magic Solution
I strongly recommend that my puppy owners work with a qualified dog trainer, ideally even before bringing their puppy home, to develop a training plan.
But it's important to understand that one hour of training class per week isn't enough to raise a well-trained dog.
Classes are there to teach you how to work with your dog, provide guidance, and help you progress. Most of the actual learning happens afterward, in your everyday life.
And not all training approaches are created equal. Poor methods, unrealistic expectations, or poorly managed experiences can have lasting consequences on a dog's behaviour.
The goal isn't to endlessly repeat exercises without thinking. It's to understand what you're working on, why you're working on it, and how to progress at your dog's pace.
Choose a Puppy for Who They Are, Not Just Who You Hope They'll Become
When I speak with prospective puppy owners, I try to understand their lifestyle, experience, expectations, and what they hope to do with their dog.
This information is important in helping me select a puppy whose natural predispositions appear compatible with their family.
But it's equally important to accept that every dog is a living individual, with its own characteristics, strengths, limitations, and preferences.
A responsible breeder can work to reduce certain risks through careful selection, provide an excellent start in life, and support you throughout the process.
However, no breeder can guarantee that a puppy will grow into a dog that's perfectly social with every other dog, comfortable in absolutely every situation, or naturally equipped with every skill you want.
And even with excellent training, some goals may need to be adjusted to the individual dog you have in front of you.
The Real Question You Should Be Asking
Instead of simply asking yourself:
“Can this breeder give me the dog I'm looking for?”
I encourage you to also ask:
“Am I prepared to invest the time, effort, and consistency needed to help this puppy become the dog I hope to have?”
Because between the eight-week-old puppy and the adult companion you're imagining, there are hundreds of hours of learning, patience, experiences, and hard work.
A breeder has an enormous responsibility in providing puppies with a solid foundation.
But puppy owners have an equally important responsibility in shaping the dogs they help raise.
