Xanadu, Senior of the week, with Illinois Doberman Rescue

This is Xanadu. I couldn't look at that face and not blog about her. She's the Senior of the Week with Special Needs Dobermans.

Ruthie, with Special Needs Dobermans

Ruthie is one of Special Needs Dobermans' newest general funds cases. She was found in Ohio, dumped at the intersection of two county roads (yes, in THIS weather, which I'm sure is similarly frigid throughout the country) [hush, Florida]. She's with a foster home through Southwest Ohio Doberman Rescue, and they speculate she could be between 8 and 10.

(picture is from Special Needs Dobermans Facebook page)

"It's All in How You Raise Them"

I'm sure you've heard many a breed advocate utter this phrase: It's all in how you raise them. Meaning, vicious dogs are made, not born.

As an obvious Doberman advocate, you might be a little confused when you read my answer: That isn't necessarily true.

When trying to educate on dog message boards (warning, .gif post)

We've had a spate of new (and some not so new) users on Doberman Talk who have bought their puppies from less than reputable breeders and are being very public about how it was their choice, they're going to love their dogs anyway, we're all meany butts, etc. etc.

Okay. Fair point, it is their choice. And at least one of them is a troll, more likely than not. It doesn't take a lot of Doberman Talk browsing to learn what the hot buttons are: taking a puppy home too soon, bringing a male puppy into a house where there are other males, ear crop issues when a natural eared puppy was purchased from a backyard breeder and the new owner is searching for or has found a less than optimal cropping vet.

I'm not the most knowledgeable of members on Doberman Talk. There are many people there who have been in Dobermans for longer than I've been alive. There are people there who have been picking up the pieces from bad breeders for years and years, working with rescues, getting puppies shoved at them, almost anything you can imagine.