u/Imaginary_Ad_4340

Let me start by saying I know little about this breed, which is why I’m asking here, for the experience of those who know more.

From what I’ve read, CKCs have reached a point where serious health issues will eventually develop in nearly 100% of dogs in the breed. According to studies on US CKCs genetic health by NC State, nearly 100% of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are estimated to develop Mitral Valve Disease (MVD) by age 10. Additionally, over 70% develop Syringomyelia (SM)—a painful neurological condition due to skull malformation. Other prevalent conditions include hip dysplasia (up to 25%) and dental disease (affecting 9.5% in primary care) along with frequent GI issues, patellar luxation, and ear infections.

Obviously, some of these conditions can be screened for using genetic testing and radiography by ethical breeders, but how effective can those tests be when basically 100% of breed is effective with heart conditions? Even if screening was 100% accurate which it rarely is for cardiac conditions, the gene pool of unaffected dogs would be minuscule. All breeds have their health issues, but even “unhealthy” breeds like Dobermans have only about a 60% rate of cardiac issues, not on par with Cavs.

I understand that there are many people who love this breed and that they are lovely dogs but is it really possible to breed healthy cavs? Is breeding them ethically possible if they are likely destined for a life of pain and discomfort? For those in the know, what do you see as the future of the breed?

I've noticed a recent trend in posts here where instead of posting videos or stories about service dogs that are obviously misbehaving/poorly trained, people will post a photo of a normal seeming service dog and then say that the tasks the dog does are invalid for one reason or another.

Here are some tasks I have seen called invalid/fake for various reasons:
- blood sugar alert/heart rate alert (technology can do a better job and/or dogs can’t really be trained to alert to this)
- crowd control/blocking (unethical because it puts the public at risk of at least inconveniences them)
- bracing/stability/balance/tethering (unethical because it harms your dog and/or mobility devices are a better option)
- medication reminders (unnecessary)
- anxiety alert (unnecessary)
- DPT (doesn't actually provide any benefits)
- sighted guide (unnecessary and/or dogs can't actually do this effectively)
- get help (unethical for both the dog and public)

I'm not trying to make a statement on these tasks either being valid or invalid, just listing critiques I frequently read here. It also seems like people make a judgement on whether a service dog is valid based on the disability of the handler eg. alert for POTS is fake, but alert for idiopathic vasovagal syncope is real even if the tasks are very similar.

What service dog tasks (if any) do you see as genuinely beneficial to the handler to the point that getting a service dog to do them makes sense? Is there any one task or disability alone that makes a service dog “valid” or only some combination of tasks you see as necessitating an SD? This is of course assuming the dog is well-trained and cut out for service work.

Recently, I've started seeing tons of ads before and during YouTube videos for what I'm 99% sure are puppy mills/brokers for bybs. Crockett Doodles, Pawrade, and a few others I can't recall. Some are just videos of puppies stumbling around in grass but others are fully scripted high-production-value projects with actors and voice-over tracks. The worst one even suggests that getting a doodle puppy is a good way to get your grandkids off their phones—absolutely awful.

Personally, I've never seen puppy mills produce expensive paid ads like this and it's SUPER concerning. Paying for sponsored search results is one thing, but the budgets they must have to be producing full commercials and pushing them out is scary. Apparently Crockett Doodles even ran a Super Bowl ad this year?? I already hate the Good Dog ads about getting your puppy from a “trusted breeder”, but this is even worse.

I wish there was something I could do!

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Before I decided on a Doberman as my first IGP/bitesport dog, I listened to all the concerns of people I met through the sport. “Dobies are slow to mature” “they're not drivey enough” “they're not stable enough/too nervy/too sharp” “you’ll struggle”. Honestly, I appreciated that experienced people were willing to level with me and warn me of the real challenges I might face if I didn't get a GSD or a Dutchie or a Mal. I took all the possibilities into account and decided that with my lifestyle (apartment living, small dog at home, new to bitesports) I would rather run the risk of an overly gentle underconfident dog who would be better off in AKC obedience than potentially getting an overpowered dominant monster of a dog and deal with resource guarding, redirection, and more energy than I could ever handle.

And all their advice was pretty accurate. Despite being from the best possible lines, my sweet boy is slower to progress and mature than the shepherds, he’s less focused than the mals, and his confidence is a work in progress. But for our age and inexperience we’re doing perfectly well as a team. Every week at club, people tell me how much better, stronger, more confident, and more focused he looks than the last time they saw him. He’s not perfect (nor am I), but he's not the problem.

The problem is that what I thought was genuine well-meaning warnings about Dobermans, is just a constant conversation about how much they suck. This weekend at training, practically the only thing anyone talked about was how their health is bad, how they used to be good but now they can't work, how they can't ever be successful in IGP and on and on and on. They say this right in front of me like I'm not the only person with a Doberman that trains there. I was excited this week because my boys relative earned basically the highest accomplishment for a Dobie in this sport. I thought other people would be excited too since the dog and her breeder had trained in our group for a while. But instead someone told me “well there’s only like 8 dogs competing there anyway” which is not true at all and needlessly dismissive of her big accomplishment.

Then after training I get on Reddit, excited to share a picture of my boy doing his cutie little thing, and someone wants to tell me how dobermans “aren't good at anything”, they aren't real working dogs because they're not used for police work, yada yada. Meanwhile, other people are telling me how I'm awful for choosing a breed “prone to violence” and encouraging that through bitesports. They insist that dogs like this are too powerful for small women to handle. So which is it? Half the time people are telling me he's too dangerous, too scary, too much for me to possibly own responsibly and fulfill appropriately and the other half—the people in the dog sports world who I expect to understand a little better—are telling me he isn't serious or dangerous or capable enough.

I've got pretty thick skin so I'm not concerned about my choices and I'm happy with my boy, I just wish people would stop with the constant negativity towards a breed that I clearly already own and love. I'm not necessarily even disagreeing—yes they have health problems, yes they are often not as driven as other breeds for protection, yes they aren't usually outcompeting GSDs at the highest levels in a sport created for GSDs. Do they think they're sharing some new insight about dobermans that I haven't heard before? Do they think telling me dobermans suck at everything is going make me stop enjoying IGP with my gentle boy?

It seems like almost every other breed gets to fill a specific niche and be respected for it. When you see giant schnauzers compete in IGP, people aren't there talking shit about how they're not real working dogs and they're not good enough. They're excited to see an off-breed competing and impressed that someone is taking on a more difficult training challenge. For some reason the very same people who want to tell you “not everyone can handle a dutchie or mal, they're only suited for a few people” act like it's insane to want a less crazy dog. Like they can't comprehend that I would rather have a pet that can compete at a club level and hike with me and lay on the grass outside than the most drivey dog I can possibly find. On a basic level, I don't understand why they want to talk about it so damn much. Why do they constantly need to reinforce that dobermans suck when they don't give other breeds the time of day?

My boy is only a few months old and he's doing fine. Why can't people just let us grow and see how it goes like every other dog on the field?

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Like most people on Reddit, I spend my time in niche communities about my real life hobbies—for me mostly dog training and dog sports—and while I fully avoid any name-calling shit-hurling all out fights, sometimes I’ll disagree with a post in the comments and end up in a little back and forth thread.

These usually aren’t about any hard-hitting emotional topics, stuff like whether a certain dog breeder is a good one to buy from or if a certain breed gets along well with kids. Worthy of discussion perhaps, but not worthy of serious emotional involvement and acting like an anonymous idiot in a public forum. Yet, people do get emotionally involved. They block you, they go back and delete their comments, maybe they even report you to the mods (to no avail when you’ve done nothing but disagree with a point of fact). But sometimes they take the most annoying move of all: they report a concern about your wellbeing to Reddit.

Why do people do this? What do they think it accomplishes?? Is it meant as some sort of insult, like “your point is so stupid I’m genuinely concerned for you mentally” or is it just a way for people to feel like they accomplished some small win? Honestly, it just makes it seem like you’re way way too upset about a Reddit comment that had nothing to do with you personally. It’s technically anonymous, but I feel like you always know exactly who did it and it’s not a good look for them.

Please tell me I’m not the only person who gets these “concerned” messages every once in a while or this will be a super embarrassing post.

I have a six-month-old male Doberman from IGP3 parents and grandparents. He has been going to weekly bite club and basic puppy obedience classes from day one and excels at all the basic “pet” dog stuff, but shows no real interest or enthusiasm for formal obedience training or “working”. My older dog is a dachshund, but she is highly food motivated and handler-focused so a dog who is just disinterested is new to me. I have been working with both a trainer and his breeder, and have been rewarding for any engagement, but I haven’t had any success getting him to offer effort towards focused heeling. I know he’s just a baby so I don’t expect much, but I want him to be pushing me for his high value treats, and instead he’d rather lay in the grass and watch the birds go by. When I try to lure a focused heel, he immediately drops his head, and leaves to go eat grass or chase his tail.

STSK9 continues to advertise their heeling course to me on Facebook and it looks like exactly what I need—help teaching a distracted unmotivated dog a flashy focused heel. However, I’m extremely doubtful of online courses with “too good to be true claims” and expensive price tags. Has anyone had an experience using their courses specifically for heeling? Or should I just keep trying to get 0.1 seconds of effort and paying to train in-person?