The Best Doberman Breeder

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

By now it feels strange calling him only my breeder, because Steve Parsons has become a far greater part of my life as well as my mom’s. True we have known him for long enough that he has come into the friend category but to be honest he is even more like family. My mom feels like he is one of her kids and I feel like he is my big brother. Even though his place in our lives is much more significant than our doberman breeder, that is what our friendship and family ties were based on. So when I say he is the world’s best doberman breeder it isn’t just because he produces great pups but because of the soul he puts into his dogs and who he is outside of breeding dobermans.
Many people don’t know this but Steve actually went to college at Utah State University and graduated with a BS in animal sciences and was a vet tech for many years. Ok so fine, he doesn’t know everything, but he sure knows a lot about dogs, horses, cattle, and critters in general.
Since Bouff has been put down it was Steve who has taken it the hardest. Although my mom and I loved that little terror more than life itself, Steve has especially been heartbroken. Contrary to most people’s belief a good breeder is not a soulless puppy producing machine.
It was our choice to have Steve with us the day Bouff was put down and to be honest even if we had a Poodle we probably would have liked to have him there as our friend, son, and brother.
No where in the world could you have such a gift of friendship. So, in my opinion the more people who choose his pups the better the doberman world is. I promise you won’t find another human being who treats his dogs and career with more respect and dignity.
Dog breeding is not just about beautiful dogs and lines, the person who helps bring them into the world is equally as important. Now, I’m not saying he’s perfect, but I’ve never seen someone try so hard with such a good intention towards something most people might find just too damn hard. His job is exactly that, but he loves it and this is why, regardless of what happened to my first puppy, there isn’t another doberman breeder alive who could tempt me.
So if you are looking to buy a doberman and you have a lick of sense and a good heart (both of which you will need to own a doberman) I would suggest you make a trip to Payson, where this man will sit down with you and ask, “What does your perfect doberman look like?” and from there I guarantee he can make it happen.

Posted in Best Doberman Breeder, Doberman Training | Leave a comment

Bye Bye Miss American Pie

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin

There is something profound one can seek in a loss. It might be the empty space you feel or how you adapted to having a certain comfort there. Love doesn’t take long to settle under the right circumstances, granted if both participants are open to accepting it.
There is a certain amount of grace that accompanies grief, but even that can’t help to explain this heartache. How do I even begin to explain or express this? I don’t know…
Why, is question I will probably never have an answer to, and to be frank does it matter? People like to place blame, on a person, a god or science. Answers can only do so much and I’ve heard enough to understand that my puppy was going to be in excruciating pain, blind, and afraid.
It is a tough lesson. Every genetic test in the book can be performed to prevent disease or mutation and there are still those moments where a specialist looks at you and says, “I don’t know how or why, but this is the situation.” Sometimes you can’t out-plan nature.
I knew what I had to do as his owner, best friend, and caregiver. There was only one choice. Even as the thought tortures me today, “Isn’t it a sin to kill something so perfect and so beautiful?” Sometimes there isn’t right or wrong, sometimes it’s more complicated than that.
I have never mentioned it on my blog before but once upon a time I was studying to be an opera singer. For years I did this, and the devastation I felt after the loss of my voice was insurmountable. I am still trying to find myself in its absence.
When you love music the way I did, there are moments in life that are so beautiful you can actually hear music. It might make no sense at all, but in that moment as I held my puppy while he left me I heard the music for the first time in years. Perhaps I was so stricken with grief I lost my mind, maybe I just returned to the self I was years before out of comfort, or maybe it was god’s grace just tapping me on the shoulder.

Posted in Best Doberman Breeder, Doberman Health, Puppy things! | 2 Comments

And the barking begins…

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Bouff is at that adolescent phase which means he likes to bark… a lot. More or less it is like a little kid playing with different sounds they can make. It can get quite loud and obnoxious particularly when he is very vocal about wanting something.
Bouff barks when he wants food, when he wants to go outside, when he wants another dog to play, when his toys just lie on the ground, when he heads into a different room. He barks when he wants you to play or when you are not playing the way he wants to play. The only time he is quiet is when he is in his kennel oddly enough, until he has to pee of course.
He also has a very adult bark for something as small as he is.
This barking is just a phase. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s quite time to learn when to bark because he is just exploring right now and as obnoxious as that may be he needs to be encouraged to engage his world. That said I don’t encourage the barking I just don’t acknowledge it. He never gets what he wants from barking. He is free to do it but he isn’t gaining anything from it if that makes sense, unless of course I tell him to “speak”.
From the ages of 13-16 weeks puppies are going to make lots of noise. Don’t get mad just let them test their lungs.
The funny thing is if you are playing with him or introducing him to a new thing he doesn’t bark anymore. So keep them busy and encourage lots of playing. With any luck this will be over soon!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Having both a doberman and a small yard

Posted on July 5, 2011 by admin

I actually got this idea from a search term that was used and somehow ended up at my blog! So to whomever gave me this idea thank you, you are brilliant.
I have in fact both a doberman and a space problem. Our yard is the size of your living room. enough space to do the doodoo but that’s pretty much all she wrote. I want to discuss the two core issues with having a very active young doberman and a small yard, exercise and poop.
While he is still young, it is perfect for Bouff to run around and get enough exercise, but soon he is going to be needing more space to really run around. To compensate for our lack of yard we have three dog friendly parks close by. One is actually a dog park! When Bouff is leash trained I can’t wait to take him for walks to these parks so we can romp around and he can check some pee mail and do some good old fashioned butt sniffing!
The second things I have for Bouff is training club! He get’s plenty of exercise there.
So my two points are
1. For day to day, take your dog on walks or drive to a dog friendly park where he can get some exercise
2. Join some sort of group that meet weekly for rigorous training, be it schutzhund, agility, or AKC obedience. Something that uses the dobermans two greatest qualities: his brain and his athletic ability.

The other key to having a small yard is the cleanup. We don’t have a dog door or anyway for Bouff to go do his business without us, why? Simple, poop is disgusting and rather than having that fun filled hour of searching for Fido’s treasured gold, I would rather see where it is from the beginning and clean it up then. We have a poop-bag dispenser hanging on our fence by the stairs for easy access.
Another bonus about cleaning it up at the time is it keeps down the smell for your neighbors. Let’s be honest it is just courteous to have a clean yard, plus I never have to worry about land mines!
So those are just some thoughts and ideas. It is possible to have a big dog and a small yard you just have to make sure the needs of all involved are met and done so politely.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The best way to socialize a doberman

Posted on July 4, 2011 by admin

At our house we are unorthodox at best outlandashly strange at worst so when it comes to introducing our dog to things, that poor little bugger doesn’t stand a chance. It is total immersion of weird and nine times out of ten we end up with a very amusing dog because of it.
Dobermans are very human like and I believe they have their own set of characteristics but much of what they do reflects your personality as a pack leader. When it comes to socializing a puppy that basically means presenting everyday things in such a way the dog does not become fearful or aggressive but naturally curious and then indifferent. This leads me to a story…
My mom and I feed our puppy Orijen dog food which can only be found at a very select few dog food stores. Petsmart is not included…. The pet store we went to also has a business from training dogs. They have a billion different doggy classes you can take and one happens to be a puppy class which has two parts to it, the obedience class itself and then the doggy playdate. Even though we have weekly training we attend and a breeder just a phone call away, my mom thought it could be good for Bouff to have another source of play time and socialization especially because we don’t always have other dogs at our house. When she asked we were informed that our puppy (nine weeks at the time) was already too old for a lot of the vital parts of the class and we were being negligent.
Now as I have discussed before, there is a time period you have to wait before you can take your puppy into a public setting because they have no immunity like a new-born baby. At nine weeks Bouff had just barely gotten his second shot and needed to wait 3 more weeks before he could get the third and be fully immunized and able to socialize with dogs we don’t personally know. A puppy class is prime for parvo, especially if an owner opts out of immunizing his puppy. Then I have a very tragic situation on my hands… No thank you.
Also, Bouff had his ears cropped literally days before and that is not really a good time to let other dogs chew on his ears and he probably would have had a painful encounter with another puppy… bad news bears in a fear stage.
We were informed that our puppy would basically become a vicious monster and fear bite if not properly socialized even though we already go to training once a week. Needless to say we did not return.
One thing that stuck in my mind is that the woman said that a puppy needs to be introduced to 12 different things before 12 weeks. So 12 different types of entrances into places, 12 different kinds of dog, 12 different toys, 12 different people ect ect ect.
So because we are different all together, Bouff was introduced to things even though he wasn’t 12 weeks.
For example he was never fearful of stairs because they were introduced to a carpeted set of four steps when he first came home. Warning this video might make you buy a family dobes doberman! He was so stinking cute. I watch it and just crumble.
At nine weeks he was walking the a-frame and he has been going up and down them with no problems . Bouff goes all kinds of places sees all kinds of things and even though I didn’t go to a specific puppy class, my puppy is extremely socialized. He loves anyone and everything and greets it all with the same kind of enthusiasm.
How we socialized Bouff is not exactly orthodox. Anywhere we can take Bouff we do. So for example, the Home Depot by our house is just fine with having dogs. We make tons of trips to the hardware store just because! People stop and pet him and talk to us, one woman even had a baby and wanted Bouff to lick his face. The two got along famously. We take Bouff to the farmers market to meet people and dogs. The smells and sounds are the best for having a well-balanced dog. Somehow I don’t think that classroom would have the same sensory overload that farmers markets do. There is also petsmart. Bouff rather enjoys shopping.
So you see, I believe the best way to socialize a Doberman is to take them with you and give them guidance and support so when something is frightening the know you have their back. Sitting in a room with other dogs and people you don’t know can only do so much. I have the perfect set up to be a great pet owner and everyone who meets my puppy says two things, “he is gorgeous” and “he has the best personality”. They generally conclude with how much do you want for him?
He is of course, priceless.

Posted in Doberman Training, Puppy things! | Leave a comment

Perhaps Bouff likes chicken a little too much…

Posted on July 4, 2011 by admin

For the 4th Steve invited us up to Payson for a BBQ and fireworks! We got rained out so fireworks were a bust, but the food was great and the best news is, Utah’s independence day is a mere 20 days away, so the light show is only postponed for a little bit.
It was great fun. Bouff played with his sister Quirina . For a puppy as big a he is, she sure took him down!
Bouff loves playing with other puppies and it was sure nice to see him interact with another doberman who can relate to his crazy! I am convinced it is a good thing to have him with other dogs who have as much energy as he does. I think it keeps his drive up. And when we came home he was tugging like a pro again. He is just as crazy as ever.
However, at the party Bouff showed his only food drive, which is inevitably for chicken.
This was a BBQ and little kids tend to leave food around quick as a flash bouff swallowed a little drumstick whole. He isn’t very big and kids do leave plates lying around. I thought I was being responsible but it was a valuable lesson. Bouff doesn’t get to be out of that crate when food is around period. I feel horrible! I was a very bad Doberman owner today. I just hope my puppy doesn’t pay the price for my negligence.
Because of the size of the chicken drum stick and Bouff’s age, I was told to just keep him monitored and watch for any changes in appetite or bowel movements. If there are any signs of vomiting I am to take him to the Pet ER immediately. He swallowed it whole and there is less of a concern about it piercing his intestine because the bone is smooth on both ends. Hopefully he will pass it in the morning.
When we got home he did go poop and drank water. He is acting fine but the next 24 hours are critical. I don’t know what to expect. Is there going to be a bone in my puppy’s bowel movement? How will I know it has “passed”?
We call him the tiny terrorist. He does seem to enjoy hijacking my peace of mind on a daily basis…

Posted in Doberman Health, For your amusement, Puppy things! | Leave a comment

Bouffon Update: 13 Weeks old

Posted on July 3, 2011 by admin

"13-week old puppies are still very possessive of just about everything, so if you have multiple pets or children in the home, you’ll spend a lot of time breaking up little squabbles. "


Bouff is now 13 weeks old at a whopping 38lbs. His ears are turning out as well as can be expected. Unfortunately his leathers are not as long as his fathers so I fear I am going to have a massive Doberman with tiny elf ears! Dr. Pew can’t fight genetics unfortunately.
Recently a friend of mine came to visit and bouff was quite fond of him. He was more than ecstatic to have a guest in the house who wanted to play with him all the time.

Bouff rather enjoys sneaking a nibble in with those kisses


Unfortunately his tugging isn’t quite as strong as it was two weeks ago. I think it was a combination of my lack of attention to it and people who are not familiar or conscious of how to properly tug with him were the ones playing the game. He seems to be bouncing back quite nicely but I am still a tad bit worried his drive has/is being squashed.
As he is maturing he is very in love with all people and dogs. He has that typical Doberman prance down to a science.
Yesterday my mom and I went to the Farmer’s Market in Salt Lake. I got many nasty looks because Bouff who is now the size of a medium dog prefers to be carried and it is easier than trying to distract him from all of the dogs and people passing by, whom he believes are all here to see him. He had the time of his life playing with other puppies and huge Newfoundlands, licking every child he could find, and jumping on every passer-by. I’m not sure the other people were too thrilled but he wasn’t aggressive, just overly friendly. It was nice to see him able to still have that high energy I was worried might be missing.
Another of Bouff’s favorite hobbies is to “read” with you. Imagine a Sunday morning with your newspaper or favorite magazine. Your mom decides to bring the puppy on the bed for “snuggle time”. The morning is off to a pleasant start; birds are chirping, your cute puppy is nestled onto your chest and then you turn the page. He grabs that top left corner and begins to tear it from your hand, looking at you the entire time to gage your level of frustration. When you hit your peak he seems to raise his brow in way that suggests he is enjoying this immensely. I suppose he was at least courteous enough to let you finish it before it was his turn to “read”. I no longer have any need for a shredder Bouff enjoys educating himself with all of our junk mail. His favorite are the crinkly envelopes….

The more I have a Doberman puppy the more I realize it is so vital to switch your mood on a dime. Even when Bouff is chewing on my favorite pair of underwear (true story… i need a hamper with a permaseal lid) the second he comes to me when I call he is rewarded, because he A. Has left my dismembered underwear on the floor B. He shifted his focus to me and C. he came when he was called. These are all good things, even if I am still fuming from the fact my lingerie has been dismembered.
I am not sure if it is a good thing for training purposes but at this point in time when Bouff is in trouble and hears “the Mr. Hyde” voice he come galloping happily to meet me.
This dog doesn’t take anything seriously. He is very much a happy, healthy, tiny terrorist demon spawn that we have all come to love.

Posted in Puppy things! | Leave a comment

Schutzhund and protection dogs in real practice

Posted on June 30, 2011 by admin

Recently, I had quite a scare which has caused me to reanalyze much of my traumatic past and my connection and absolute need for a protection dog. I have mentioned that I was physically abused in the past as well as emotionally. I am for the most part very good at covering my large insecurity and fear of my world, but there are those things that still can really get under my skin. A few days ago I received a call in the middle of the night from a blocked number.
My mom has a tendency of blocking her cell phone number and because I am downstairs and she is upstairs we can’t hear each other call, so we use our cell phones. Even though it was 2 a.m. I assumed my mom needed something, so I answered the phone with the inflection of, “this had better be an emergency”.

To my shock a dude replied, “Is this Jillian?”. I didn’t recognize his voice, I should have hung up the phone. I am a moron and instead I said, “Yes, who is this?”. I knew better but hindsight is 20/20. The voice identified himself as Jason, and continued to spew forth some very graphic fantasies of what he was going to do to me, including raping me.
Recently, I had a falling out with a friend, who by all accounts was no friend at all. She was very immature and utterly clueless as to the emotional needs of others other to exploit them for her own benefit. She knew I had a violent past and I was sexually abused, and men who spoke in a degrading way really frightened me. At one point in the conversation I asked ‘Jason’ if she had been the one to give my number to him. He stalled and asked, “why would you think it was her?” and promptly returned to his pornographic and violent ideas. I had an inkling she was behind this.

Even if this was a stupid prank by someone, it obviously brings back a lot of horrible things for me and as if the call wasn’t enough these people had the audacity to come through my backyard and knock on my bedroom window.

You would think that this would be enough to send me into hysterics, but that is actually where I am really screwed up. For whatever reason when something truly dangerous happens the fight or flight part of my brain just shuts off. Instead of feeling frightened at the time or angry, I feel absolutely nothing. My brain just goes completly numb. I’m not stunned I just don’t care.
As these people where knocking on my window I literally rolled over and went to sleep. I wondered if I should go get someone for a split second and then I just went into brain comatose. This same phenomenon began when I was younger.
The next day all of the emotions I should have had the night before came rolling on down the turnpike, by the time my emotions catch up to me I could be dead! These psychos could have had a gun and I would have done nothing to stop them.

We called Steve and told him about what happened. We drove down to Payson and picked up Tom, the SCH III shepherd. Even if I never hear from these people again, my ability to protect myself is quite low, Tom’s ability to do so however is rather high. He hears and sees things much quicker than I do. I know for certain when people are in the yard I would only need to give the command and send him, and that would give me the panic enough to call 911. As the saying goes when one has a dog in the fight, you work a whole heck of a lot harder to win… literally. I don’t expect Tom or any dog to win or fight my battles for me but I need someone to teach me how.

As crazy as this all may seem, things like this happen every day. If they have never happened to you, then thank the lord you are so blessed, but don’t assume for a second they never will happen to you. When you trusted pet is also a trained protection dog they truly are a service animal. I take Tom everywhere with me and hopefully one day Bouff will be able to do the same. This crazy week really makes one miss the ultimate protection dog, Diablo. He may have been a little over-zealous in his protecting, but I never slept better in my life. I knew he would take someone down for just looking at me the wrong way. I liked it.
I’m looking forward to teaching myself to be a little more independent from my protection dog but I will never doubt if I need one again!

Posted in Best Doberman Breeder | Leave a comment

Saturday June 11 2011: Bittersweet and the Bite-sleeve

Posted on June 11, 2011 by admin

Club today was a complete mixed bag. I think every type of moment was happening all at once: accomplishments, surprises, sorrow, laughter, and great friendship. I always complement our club because first and foremost we are a very tight group of people who passionately train dogs but we all really value our families and our friendships with one another. There isn’t a more supportive group in the world. I know if I decided I wanted to make a career out of basket weaving tomorrow these people would support me 100%.
Berm and I were discussing on the way home how healing our group has been, particularly for us in the past year. I in particular really needed friends of the caliber I find there, but once in a while a couple will join and often times one partner will not be as receptive of the experience. When I asked what it was that made this happen my very sage mother said, “Well, what we have to offer is more than just dog training. It is a gift, but you have to be open to receiving it. If not, it’s like anything else. It is a matter of mindset.”
Sometimes in life we are dealt a difficult hand. One of our club members, like so many other people in this economy, is loosing her house. She is forced to sell her dogs and try to cope with the loss of more than just pets. As friends how is it we find a way to help her? monetarily there isn’t much we can do but money never has made someone happy. It is just a fun ticket. The important things can’t be bought everyone says this. As devastating as it is it was nice to see her there, and I hope it was good for her to be amongst people who truly love her and perhaps just let her sit with her emotion for a while.
We all just watched some dogs perform some great obedience today. Steve just got a new dog from the Ukraine name Lorraine or Lola. She is quite a looker with a bright future. Smart as anything and quick as a flash she is a knock-out.
I worked on some bite-work with Texas. I still have not been able to remain standing during a pursuit. If I went to a helper Seminar I would be the laughing-stock, to my credit I go down like a champ. There is no grace involved, just a good old-fashioned smack down. Texas: 3 million – Jill: ZERO. Steve told me the secret to remaining upright and hopefully next week I will be able to keep myself in the upright and locked position, and if I do enough work I can get certified as a helper, something I honestly didn’t think I was capable of. As I get stronger and understand the limits and as Steve says, learn to dance with the dog more and more, I see bite-work and schutzhund as less of an intimidating and unachievable talent. I really would like to be able to take on Uragan full speed and without landing on my tuckus… At that point I will be satisfied.

Bouff is literally the most amazing dog on the planet. Have I expressed my undying love for this dog lately? If not allow me to do so now. Today, my 11 week old puppy yes ELEVEN WEEKS, bit the puppy sleeve. He isn’t strong enough to carry it quite yet but with a little help we did a victory lap for around 10-15 minutes. It was unbelievable. Like father like son I am hoping. My hopes for Bouff are ambitious but I would really love to see him as a SCH III. If my lack of experience doesn’t get in the way, I think he really might have the god given talent to just go for it. Honestly, what do I know? He is my first puppy and of course I am enamored. I am in love! He is nothing short of stunning in my eyes.
It is clear he has the genetic predisposition, now I just have to let it grow, listen to the advise I am given on training and let him fly.

"A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down." - Robert Benchley

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The first five steps

Posted on June 9, 2011 by admin

Tracking isn’t my favorite part in schutzhund. I hope no one shoots me but I am bored.
With that said I do love to watch SAR dogs go to work. That is a completely different style all together. One I enjoy! Because I want to compete with Bouff I have to do all of the aspects of schutzhund including tracking. Thus far we have started him on the most elementary level by doing scatter searches to just get his nose working.
In our training club, Steve said that after roughly a week of scatter searches I could begin bouff with five step searches doubling back and putting no space between the steps.

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them...
Phil Pastoret


I am pleased to announce that Bouff has completed his first track! He was such a good little tracker I was quite pleased. He did get turned around once but for a two month old puppy I can’t complain. The fact that he tried at all was awesome! Generally the best time to track is first thing in the morning, however I am just a silly girl with a doberman puppy and I decided to do it at six in the evening. Why not!?
As I was laying the track I noticed the wind pick up a slight breeze to the east, I was laying my track to the north and when I set Bouff on it he in fact followed the curve a little farther east than I had laid it and had to double back. Perhaps not prime conditions but it was AMAZING that he actually got it. Further prove my puppy is brilliant!

Posted in Doberman Training | 1 Comment