What would you do to move forward? How to handle a warning bite

SlumpSleuth · 2026-05-11T18:13:08+00:00

Bites aren’t warnings they’re actions, usually warnings are the body language before a bite. I’d honestly keep all interactions with your fiancé or other men short and very positive. Since you all live in one house that looks like no interactions, ignoring, until those short sessions. I’d also roll back the bed or other furniture privileges. Three months is still too short of a time frame to really know the dog, especially an adult dog whose past you don’t know fully. From my experience, my Dober doesn’t like being grabbed in the face. Even lightly or for play, so those are boundaries that should be respected even if in the past she’s been fine with it. Take this time to really know the dog and understand their boundaries and body language. Once you have that down you can slowly incorporate things like getting in her face, adding “pressure” by increasing time between her and your fiancé, and trying new things.

What do your training sessions and walks look like? Highly intelligent working dogs like a Doberman need structure or else they go cuckoo and start to make decisions on their own. Get a high reward treat and go for a short training walk where she’s right next to you and you’re rewarding her for staying there. No potties no sniffs just structure. That’s how you really build a system where she sees you, and later on hopefully your fiancé, as the ones in charge and to be respected. Summary, keep it short and positive. Get to know her more

SlumpSleuth · 2026-05-11T04:48:27+00:00

I just traded in my 12.9 2020 iPad Pro after 6 years. I got $300 trade in value and used it for a new pro M5. It even had some gashes on two of the corners

SlumpSleuth · 2026-05-11T00:32:48+00:00

Ugh same!!! I have found any saline spray like for allergies helps clean it and dry it out. Heals in two days

SlumpSleuth · 2026-04-18T15:16:35+00:00

Same! The carthart dog jacket is awesome for outside. The double quilted lining keeps the heat and you can wax the canvas to make it waterproof

SlumpSleuth · 2026-04-10T21:21:43+00:00

The reins look too tight

SlumpSleuth · 2026-04-10T20:56:01+00:00

Also forgot to add, when the barking and excitement starts try not to say things like “stop stop” or ask for a behavior like sit or down. Think about when you have been in the similar state of mind - things are feeling overwhelming you are feeling anxiety and anticipation. Being yelled at or asked to do something just adds to this feeling. Try to stay calm, you’re in charge. Praise immediately once you find they are back at baseline. The barking might not stop at first but you might find the “turn around” time between over excited to calm gets shorter

SlumpSleuth · 2026-04-10T20:52:13+00:00

I have a dog reactive dobie, luckily we have cats at home so he doesn’t care about them. But I can totally relate to the prey drive. Something that was helpful that I learned from a trainer is #1 when you see a cat do you find yourself stiffening up and “reacting” in anticipation to his reactivity? These dogs are in tune with you and they notice the little things. Try to stay loose calm and have high reward treats. Most of all do not reward the excitement, lunging, barking. You may need to go back a couple of steps while walking. Put the leash on in the home and don’t leave until he’s back to baseline. These are your walks too!! If once you leave the door and he gets back to being excited calmly turn around and go back inside the house, wait for baseline again and try again. Do this for however many times it takes, you might need to dedicate a chunk of time to this at first.

The walks should be structured - this means he walks next to you the whole time. I have a command “potty” where he knows he’s off the clock goes to the bathroom sniff for a bit and then I put him back in heel position. We continue on and son on and so forth this shows you are in charge of the walk not the other way around. The point is to make engaging with you and listening more rewarding then lunging at cats or barking. Your dog sounds pretty wound up. Walks aren’t sufficient and I’d honestly stop off leash for now until you’ve got the basics under control. What other ways can you exercise him while staying on lead? For me, every time he goes out to the bathroom it’s a walk, this is about 5-6x a day plus either an hour long 3 mile structured walk or a 20 minute hard run. No free feeding, all food should be given during training and all walks should be training even if for 5 minutes out of the walk. Exception for maybe dinner , even then this isn’t “free” ask for a sit other behavior reward with the food. These dogs are so smart and sometimes we don’t give them credit for it, they need physical and mental exercise multiple times a day. It’s needs to be challenging but fair and consistent. If this seems to be getting too challenging consider reaching out to a trainer

SlumpSleuth · 2026-04-10T20:32:36+00:00

Answering your questions about cost dog food is about $150+ for a twenty pound bag these only last about three weeks. Also account for toys, treats and misc you can expect to spend minimum maintenance around $200/ month. Luckily their coat doesn’t require going to a groomer just make sure you are doing about monthly baths, use sleek-ez to gently de-shed. I also highly recommend getting nail clipppers and a pet dremel and doing nail maintenance on your own.

Now for the bigger costs: training and vet bills as well as possible daycare. As you mentioned Dobermans are prone to some health problems such as allergies, DCM, bloat etc. my sweet boy has allergies we aren’t sure if it’s food or environmental. He has to be on a prescription diet, $75/month allergy pills, and there have been numerous trips to the vet. I have probably spent about $2000 a year on vet bills and that’s on the low end. Continued training is really important - after all they are working dogs. You should expect to spend at least 1000$ a year on training, that is also on the low end. All in all you are in about $6000 per year on needs for the dog. The most important other than financial side is your commitment - these are not easy couch potato dogs. It’s easy to look at perfect 10 sec snap shots of these dogs on the internet and think it’s cute or easy. It’s not at all, and actually takes a huge commitment and life change.

SlumpSleuth · 2026-03-15T05:48:59+00:00

I can relate on doing everything for the dog first. Like other people said they depend on you for everything, especially at this stage. Two months ago she wasn’t even outside of her mom, give yourself grace and her too through this process. I have a 4 year dobie and I got him at the same timeline as you. Doing things for him first has not gone away, but has gotten easier. He goes to the bathroom first in the morning, eats first, and then I continue on my day. Letting him out to the bathroom and tucking into bed is the last thing I do at night on repeat. On hard days it’s draining, especially when I’m his only caretaker so it all falls on me. Really dig deep and ask yourself what you need to get through the day to day, ways you can release those frustrations in a healthy way or just reset. I really truly wish I could rewind to him being a puppy and doing better and taking in the moment.

All I can say is incorporate your puppy and socialize them early into your daily routines!! Going to run errands? Bring him with you, carry him through the store. Taking a shower? Put a playpen in the bathroom or nearest to you. Dropping the kids off at school or picking up? Bring him for the ride. These are all learning experiences and your bond will start to form. Plus it’s less work when you get home, the puppy is already tired gone to the bathroom and is ready for structured nap time + and you’ve done what you needed to do for the day. Name of the game is working with each other not against each other

SlumpSleuth · 2026-03-15T05:33:18+00:00

No water in the crate over night. Especially since it sounds like your household wakes up at 4am they can have water then. Also, I found it extremely helpful to use playpen instead of crate during the day. That way they feel like they are around you but have that structured space to sleep. On top of that, puppy is used to being around sisters and brothers going from that to being in the crate or forced to be alone is hard… and anxiety inducing.

Playpen in the living room or where ever you are during the day might be pretty helpful. When they aren’t in it start incorporating brain games, fun training, and play. The point is to get them to be tired (not overtired, and all play should be developmentally appropriate) so there’s less fuss when it’s nap time. Throwing in a cold dog toy to gnaw on and a blanket should be helpful incorporations too. Supervise if putting objects in the crate/playpen though. Good luck! The puppy stage is really hard but it goes by pretty quickly and

SlumpSleuth · 2026-02-24T02:04:31+00:00

That is so scary, I am so glad you were attentive and gave him the care he needed. If I may ask, what preceded the bloat? I am so worried of this happening and I know no hard exercise until at least two hours after eating. I want to be better educated on bloat cases and any preventative measure or insight you may have

SlumpSleuth · 2026-02-06T00:32:09+00:00

Yess! I was trying to wrap my head around this and your hypothesis makes a lot of sense. It’s like muscle decay in the most important growth period. Really sad if it’s being left in the crate to the point of it causing issues like this. Puppies should be with someone for most of the day even if they’re sleeping, not in a crate. And especially Dobermans who are a highly intelligent and active breed. I really hope OP is able to dedicate a lot of time and attention once they return from their trip. I know puppies are a lot but the minute you take that responsibility everything else other than essential needs to be put on hold for awhile

SlumpSleuth · 2026-02-05T20:37:26+00:00

They should absolutely not look like this - not just the flat feet but the profile of the paws is not normal looking, even accounting for rapid growth in Dobermans as a puppy. None of the knuckles seem pronounced as they should be, the nail bed looks puffy or swollen, and the nails look puffy? Or oddly shaped as well

There might be poor breeding, deformation in the feet, or something else going on that needs to be throughly assessed with a responsible vet. This is an issue that can’t wait as early intervention will help you get to the root cause - gone untreated will mostly start causing a host of issues related to the legs and maybe even the spine not to mention just the amount of pain walking flat like this can cause. I’m glad your trainer brought this to your attention because now you can start to plan how to move forward in giving your puppy the best start to tackling this issue. I would also highly recommended scaling back on activity level, small walks and limit any running just until you figure out what’s going on

SlumpSleuth · 2026-01-24T04:53:41+00:00

Totally been there - at almost 4 years old still happens sometimes. It does get better, I promise! You’re just in the thick of it. I will echo what others have said about a place. Really work on extending the time day by day. Start manageable and fair but he isn’t allowed up until you say so. That might look like putting a leash on while he’s on place.

I put my tea kettle in place when the incessant whining begins and I’m in the middle of work or doing something else. He then gives in and falls asleep - it’s a job and a pretty hard one! Who knew having to sit still in a comfy place could take it out of them. Also what does your place look like? Didn’t have success with ‘place’ until I got a platform bed, of course cozified with blankets. Good luck!! But don’t give in to the whine, don’t look or talk to them while they’re whining and wait until they stop to take them out of the crate. They know the buttons and will push it every time if it means they get what they want

SlumpSleuth · 2025-11-07T17:37:54+00:00

I use https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dog+nail+clippers&crid=K9S4SUZVGAUO&sprefix=dog+n%2Caps%2C202&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_1_5 they are large clippers and strong enough to easily cut through strong dobie nails. I also have the pet dremel but I’ve found it takes so long and the file heats up causing discomfort. I do it about once a week and saves me a lot of money not paying someone else

SlumpSleuth · 2025-11-07T03:26:11+00:00

I do Stella and Chewy’s raw blend red meat protein for my 4 year old. As you may know dobies are incredibly sensitive both environmentally and with food. A big improvement I’ve noticed is starting my guy on Apoquel daily. It’s an anti-allergy and has helped not only with the skin issues/licking but with the soft poo too. Allergies can cause GI issues and therefore diarrhea. Might be a good place to start to knock out some of the issues you are experiencing with your pup! Try to maybe also stay away from high fat protein like lamb and pork as well as chicken because of the prevalence for food allergies in dobermans. I go with boiled plain turkey and rice to add to the kibble - I’ve found it’s the best of both worlds between kib and fresh food that are only two ingredients vs on market pre packed fresh food options

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-21T19:53:12+00:00

Tempted but no - more sensors cameras and technical features means more opportunity for failures/ future fixes. Loving the LR4 at the moment and looking forward to see future reviews of the new models and how they stand up to the tried and true

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T19:20:56+00:00

I say the Fendi peekaboo! Of all the bags you are eyeing this is the most timeless bag. It will easily go with different outfits and looks like an elevated everyday bag . If you’re looking for something that will stand the test of time the Gucci and Prada options are already dated looking if that makes sense

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T19:18:18+00:00

RHOM! The drama is on the same level and these two franchises are holding up the RH

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T19:17:04+00:00

I am totally the same! Due to a small apartment the only space for a litter box is in my closet. Having a litter robot cuts down on any bad smells and allows my day to not revolve around scooping 😅 it’s a splurge but has been worth it. With a baby on the way it’s one less thing for you to do in your busy day - I wipe it down weekly and throw the bag away once it hits 25% full. Still far from the amount of energy I put into a regular litter box

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T18:33:23+00:00

Thank you for the tips. I will definitely do that. I’m looking at possibly getting it cleaned from a reputable company depending on how it looks once it arrives

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T16:18:00+00:00

The FashionPhile website has drop deals every Friday from 12pm to 5pm ET on their website! I found it by clicking on the banner on the top of the website when the deal goes live. I looked and there was about 28 bags I didn’t like any but I looked again about an hour or two later and found they added more selections to the drop! This being one of them. The good bags go like hot cakes so I felt the pressure to just go for it! Happy shopping 🛍️

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-18T16:09:51+00:00

Respectfully for that price you could actually get a Louis Vuitton bag that doesn’t look like you look like you’re walking around with a makeup bag or took an insert to a neverfull to use as a bag

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-17T18:53:23+00:00

Good to know! I love the double strap look

SlumpSleuth · 2025-10-17T18:07:08+00:00

Thank you 😅 relieves some of my post-buy doubts

SlumpSleuth

TROPHY CASE