Doberman Pinscher

The Doberman Pinscher is a medium sized, squarely built dog with a compact, muscular body. The head is long and when viewed from the side, looks like a blunt wedge. The top of the skull is flat, and turns into the muzzle with a slight stop. The color of the nose depends on the color of the dog’s coat; black on black dogs, dark brown on red dogs, dark gray on blue dogs, dark tan on fawn dogs and pink on white dogs. The teeth meet in a scissors bite. The color of the almond-shaped eyes is various shades of brown, depending on the coat color of the dog. The ears are usually cropped to stand erect (cut at the age of about 12 weeks). The pup’s ears have to be taped for a couple of months to make them stand up. A lot of breeders are starting to leave the pup’s ears natural. If left natural they develop ears somewhat like a hound. The tail is usually docked at the age of 3 days. If the tail is not docked it grows a tail somewhat like a hound. Note: cropping ears and docking tails is illegal in Europe. The chest is broad and the legs are perfectly straight. Dewclaws are sometimes removed. The short, hard, thick coat lies flat. Sometimes there is an invisible gray undercoat on the neck. The coat comes in black, black with tan markings, blue-gray, red, fawn and white. When markings appear they are above each eye, on the muzzle, throat, forechest, legs, feet and on the tail. There is also a solid white color. While white markings are considered a fault in some clubs, in others they are accepted.