Can Dobermans Live With Small Dogs?
Photo: Sir Francis Drake & Dusty at Winterfall, our Floridian estate. ©Dr. Schilling Photography
Take it from us, the answer to this question is they can, and they may become designated alibis, as we now have witnessed twice from the jury bench. Sir Francis Drake, our first Doberman, spent his entire 11.5 years communing with a Pomeranian, a Mini-Aussie, a Prague Ratter, and a Mini Poodle, all of whom were senior to him. His best friend, you guessed it, was the Pomeranian because Pomeranians think and act like Napoleon did- bigger, better, louder- so a Doberman is just another overrated dog to them.
Persephone has shared part of her life with the same wise bandits, and later got introduced to another Pomeranian we brought into our den as a tiny 3 pound puppy, an adult Maltese mix, a, now, senior Prague Ratter, and a roughly 8 months older Husky mix, who thinks Persephone is his chocolate croissant and he is just a tiny innocent country mouse who gets to nibble at her cheeks every once in a while. Given these dog pack constellations between big and many small pups, let us tell you our story and why we think that Dobermans can be the greatest big siblings to small dogs, that is, if you understand some of the simple ground rules to foster their relationships.
Sir Francis Drake & His Small Dog Club
Sir Francis Drake, our first Doberman, came into our home as a puppy when Henker, a.k.a Hank, our 8-pound Pomeranian, was, at least in his mind, about the height of the Little Corporal at two years old. At the time, our pack also consisted of our one-year-old Dusty, a 30-pound Mini Australian Shepherd, and a 30-pound Wheaten Terrier mix named Wendy. When Drake entered the house, he immediately made it abundantly clear that being already almost the height of Dusty and towering Hank left him rather unimpressed by Hank’s ‘I am the Emperor, this is my Château, and my brother, who is the real life, “My name is Jeffy, and I like to eat apples“ and I, shall send you to Elba’ antics.
So what did Drake do? What every well-bred puppy does, he tried to play and make friends instead of creating a Waterloo. Drake was a gentle soul, but the typical Doberaptor as a puppy, all teeth and goofy attitude that seemingly never ends. I remember thinking, ‘We may have taken a bigger bite than we can chew with a Doberman’. Funny enough, our then-long-time German friend and veterinarian, who had established the connection to Drake’s handler and breeder, told us that when she visited the litter, Drake was actually the least bullish of them all. In fact, she called him a ‘pushover’ in comparison to his brothers. My thoughts about that were, ‘I don’t even want to know what the others were like’. 12 years later, we should find out what a Doberman with more fire in her veins would look like, but more on that later.
Sir Francis Drake & Hank. © Dr. Schilling Photography
Socialization
With Drake still being a puppy, we had the advantage of him being small and Hank being used to Dusty’s size already. While Drake was less gentle than Dusty and less of a bully than his brothers, he needed guidance to not push Hank around like a tennis ball sometimes. Oddly enough, Hank, in his off-time, also known as soccer player Diego Maradona, did not seem to mind turning into a ball much. However, what they mostly did was play chase and knock grandpa off his chair, with Drake misjudging his size when he followed Hank as he ran through the chairs.
Hank also loved playing bitey face and mooning Drake, which is the polite form of ‘let's throw my butt into Drake’s face’, while Drake just just laid there yawning. Not because he was stressed, but because he was bored. That type of play was their favorite until Drake died, and Hank was left with Dusty and the rest of the gang. When Drake left us, Hank went back to his second love: playing soccer, because that’s what you do when your best friend makes his way off to the other side, you pick up an old hobby and treat every other species bro, such as the 9-pound Prague Ratter we took in when my German aunt died, as servant but nothing more.
Persephone & The Mixed Size Club
Hank also did not mistake Persephone for Drake's reincarnation, despite their shared supermodel qualities stemming from the same breeder. Persephone also came into our family as an itty-bitty puppy. Given that Hank was almost 14 years old by the time Drake died, he wasn’t too keen on dealing with Persephone’s spitfire puppy attitude shortly after we all quite literally suffered his loss.
Later, when Persephone was about 18 months old, Hank found her less demanding, but still fiery ‘let’s start a revolution ’ requests admirable, but he did not give in to them. Apparently, tending to his ball instead of pretending she was Drake made him happier, so we never forced more than Hank, or anyone else in the pack for that matter, wanted for interaction. The Prague Ratter -Quincy- who lived alongside Drake for 7 years as the uncle no one understands, but who is family still, also was not too keen on Pepper’s spice, so he kept with Hank. Together, they simply growled a middle finger at Persephone when she was too far up their heinies.
Persephone’s species fun, at the time, came mostly from Theodore, our Husky mix, whom we adopted a few months after Dusty kicked off his running shoes forever at age 14. Teddy is about 9 months older than Persephone, and we pulled him and his big head out of a local shelter when Persephone was about 8 months old.
By now, you might have figured it out yourself, but in case you have not: we strongly believe in the importance of pack life, meaning dogs having a species-appropriate family to discuss their humans’ lack of brainsers. Since I am, unlike my ‘I think 2 dogs are plenty’ husband, not a dog party pooper, our pack has consisted of 5 dogs for almost 16 years.
Socialization
After Farrah, the Viking mini poodle girl we adopted from a rescue who had told us she won’t get older than 8 because of an irreparable heart issue, also decided it was time to leave for Valhalla at 13 years of age, we adopted 5-year-old Miss Sabrina a.k.a Dorothea, a white 12-pound Maltese mix. She is a loving tripod girl, meaning she only has three legs due to a suspected predator attack, and she is a cancer survivor. At the time, Persephone and Theodore were fully grown and knew smaller dogs as family, even though they never truly played with them.
That’s when we had to guide the introduction between Dorothea and Persephone (and Teddy) a bit more. We started with a physical barrier, an acrylic, translucent dog fence in our living room. The living room is very large, so it was easy to separate Sabrina and the other littles from Persephone and Teddy for a few days without boxing them in. Persephone was very excited over the new arrival and keen to recruit Dore into her Amazon warrior army. However, Sabrina was not sure about that big, very animated shadow demanding that she change her name to Antiope, at first.
After a while, we introduced Teddy to Sabrina first, and they hit it off like Bonnie and Clyde immediately. Teddy thought it was fun to spin Sabrina on the floor like a tornado, and Sabrina chased Teddy for more. Persephone joined the fun a few days later, playbowing and screaming in feverish delight, while Sabrina Dorothea gave her the stink eye of Antiope when it got too loud. That’s what they mostly do to this day, although now they also whisper things we cannot understand into each other's ears and then chuckle. We don’t ask.
When Hank crossed the rainbow bridge at 15.5 years old, we decided that ‘The King is dead, long live the King’ is once again a solid motto, so we brought home Lord Henry Fitzroy, a 3 month old merle Pomeranian and boy oh boy, now fully grown Persephone must have gotten a call from uncle Drake in heaven telling her she should make friends with him pronto because mini floof ball Poms are the bestest of friends for a Doberman.
We started the Lord and Lady out on our King bed, instructing Persephone to lie down to play with Henny, and that’s what she did. Henry was not shy at all. He has the same personality as Persephone: all energy, all attitude, all in. He attacked Persephone with so much playful gusto that even the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, was stunned for a second. We did not need to do more than make her lie down and sometimes offer Henry a safe lap to retreat to, only to then strike and attack again. Ever since these early interactions, Henry has earned the blue-collar nickname Henny Bamm-Bamm. He’s hands-on.
Henry Fitzroy as a Baby, Persephone and Theodore at Cloudfall, our Georgia Mountain Home.
Today, Henry weighs a whopping 8 pounds, challenges everyone, and does not care whether they have three legs, are standing, sitting, running, or wrestling. He is here for all the fun he can get, always in the middle of the action, and he enjoys every second of the game ‘who can scream the loudest during bitey face with Persephone’. Yes, you read that right: the 8-pound Lord plays bitey face with the 70-pound Queen of the Damned while he is standing on the sofa, crawling all over her when he has defeated her, or she tries to get some well-deserved rest. We do not need to moderate; they moderate themselves. We just talk to them when they get too loud.
What’s The Final Answer?
I cannot speak for every situation, breed constellation, or background. However, I often see exceptionally elaborate explanations on how to introduce big and small dogs, and, in fact, Michael is currently writing his own guide to be published on ADW soon. For my part, I simply hope my account of two Dobermans living with several small dogs of different breeds, ages, and sizes shows you that getting dogs to live and enjoy life together is usually not that hard. Obviously, it requires some judgment and timing, but, maybe more importantly, it also requires trust in them.
On average, I think people overthink, hover, and conduct too much. I truly get it; they are afraid. But I believe that 'fear’ is a problem that can often delay or even impede the process of dogs figuring it out on their own. From experience, I can honestly say, dogs are really good at doing just that: being with their species, no matter the size, and they usually only require a bit of guidance, patience, and trust. If you do not trust your Doberman, that’s a different conversation to be had, and one to have before you bring home another dog.
As for the question of whether a well-bred (because breeding and temperament matter) Doberman can live with a small dog, the answer is a resounding yes. Under the right circumstances, they may even become the Jelly to the Peanut Butter and share a life full of adventures, showing us humans that differences can make life much more exciting, fun, and a little bit nuts.
In Loving Memory. Sir Francis Drake, Florida Estate 2021. ©Dr. Schilling Photography
