(Note: this article was written for a magazine called Dobe Capers during a period when I was the consulting behaviourist for the Dobermann Club of the Cape, so it refers a lot to problems training Dobermanns.  The theory which it attempts to explain is, however, completely relevant to other breeds, and in fact other species!)

If you are reading this article, you have probably trained (or tried to train) a Dobermann at some stage in your life.  Perhaps it was easy and enjoyable.  On the other hand, perhaps it was a constant battle of wills, a battle between you and a powerful, intelligent, strong-willed animal who loved you, but did not particularly want to do what you wanted him to, and resisted all (or most) of your efforts to make him.  Anyone who has been towed along by a Dobe supposedly obeying the command to “heel” will, I think, recognise himself or herself in this description.