‘AN ORDINARY DOBERMAN’

A Male pup was bought with papers from a regular breeder. Things did not go as planned. He had ‘monorchidism’. The breeder offered to replace him, but by this time he had already endeared himself to the family. They had no plans to trial or show him, he was bought purely as a pet.
He grew to be a well proportioned large male dobe, with a placid nature but still a male dobe. One day taking him for a walk on lead at the beach, he was attacked by a large dog who soon learnt the folly of his ways. You don’t attack male Dobermans!
He had trouble with his pancreas and was put on a special diet for the rest of his life.
A little girl was born in the family. They were a little concerned how he would take moving down the family hierarchy to number four. He loved the little baby and would lay by her cot. When she could crawl sometimes you would find them asleep together in the family room. When she could walk she would lead him around by the collar, although I am not sure who was leading who!
He was not a noisy dog, only barking when someone was at the door, including me! He learnt to make a whining noise if the phone rang even if we were in the backyard...his hearing was much better than ours.
Then TRADGEDY struck. He developed the dreaded wobbles. His back end gave way. We had to form a type of sling to take the weight off his back legs so we could take him to the toilet. Thanks to the skill of surgeons at Murdoch Vet hospital accompanied by medication he was able to function well again. We had to restrict his running, as you know, dobes like to run.
In my experience dobes are not good swimmers and Mason was no exception. One time my wife jumped in the pool fully clothed to rescue him!
Several years went by and age started to catch up with him. His back end was giving him trouble and he had started to become incontinent. He tended to lay down not wanting to walk around much. The family seriously had to think about the quality of his life. They did not want to have to make a decision but new the time was close. They got up one morning, thought he was sleeping but he had passed away. The decision had been made for them. After 11 and a half years with their boy, the family were devastated. They had him cremated and his ashes sealed in an urn with his name engraved. He is now resting in his favourite place, ‘the family room’.
Vale Mason
A loving, loyal and faithful Doberman.

TONY LUCAS (Life Member)
October 2010