like you say... it really depends on bloodlines, good breeders, genetics, and individual temperaments.... both my dobies came from the same breeder, unrelated bloodlines, and it showed. we always joked that our male didn't know he was a dobie, he thought he was a lab... loved everybody and everything, couldn't guard anything to save his life, he was a clown and a lover, bonded more with my (ex)hubby than me, even if i was the one who trained & groomed & fed him more, he was an excellent swimmer and loved the water, and despite tearing his cruciate at age 8 months and limping all his life, he was still the ultimate athlete. he was very easy to train and quite obedient, but we had our disputes along the way. he was beautiful and showed like a dream, he loved kids and parties, but he was never my soulmate.
my female came from working bloodlines and guarding her "property" came naturally to her. she was aloof with strangers but a velcro once she adopted someone, she was very obedient and had only one master, me... she was my girl, my best friend, my soulmate. her death at age 2.5 from hepatitis devastated me, i'm still not over it 11 years later :sad: Her obsession was chasing tennis balls, she wanted to swim but had to learn with a life-vest (sank like a stone, poor thing), and she was "skittish" like a young colt and didn't like kids, preferred to be around quiet people.
smiling... my boy grinned and smiled on command, my girl only a few times in her life... yes as mary said they always followed me to the bathroom - they figured out how to open the door - she would put her head on my lap, and he would put his bum on me, very weird! no privacy! LOL they both loved to sit on the couch like humans, and in the winter they had to wear hats because of their cropped ears, not to get frostbite in really cold weather. yep they needed coats for those cold wet days, too. ;
so... both dobies, but different as night and day, really... but both incredible dogs and i still miss them like hell.
