Name: Lucky
Breed:
Miniature Doberman Pinscher
Date of Birth:
November 18, 1994

Known Illnesses: None at the moment except for an allergy sufferer as we all are.

Weight: about 15 to 17 lbs.

Well the thought of having a dog was brought up one day by me.  My mom said "No!" at first.  It was one evening when I got home from school in April of 1995.  My mom, aunt, and grandma had gone to Memphis.  They returned extremely late say around 8pm to 9pm.  I heard the doorbell ring and got up.  I went to the door to turn on the light and my eyes went wide because my aunt was holding a puppy.  I was excited.  I asked what, how, why, when did you get him?  My mom told me that her friend, who is not much of a friend for various reasons, has a daughter who had this puppy with her.  She could not keep him any longer because both her and her husband had to work.  Well my mom said "Here you go."  She told me she paid $350.00 for him.  He came with his ears clipped and his tail clipped (cute little tail.)  His tail had the disposable stitches from where the tail had been clipped.  It looked like it was infected because the tail always bothered him to sit on or when anyone touches it.  We ended up taking him to the vet to get that fixed.  When we did his first vet check, he weighed 5 lbs.  He looked similar to a oversized New York rat the way he ran. 

His training habits were very difficult. He knew where to take care of his business at his former owner's house, but not at ours. A new environment means a strange place for him.  He "used it" everywhere in the house.  We had to potty train him.  We put vinegar in every spot he used it and would rub his nose in it to show him not to do it there again.   We resorted to tying him up in the utility room on a leash with a mat under him.  We did that in the mornings and evenings.  He stayed on it until he used the bathroom and when he did his job, we took him off.  He does it again somewhere else. Oh mom, my aunt, and I were just about ready to strangle this dog at times.  He is just doing what most male dogs do.  We finally got him trained on pad; he squats.  I think he got it from another dog, a female chiwawa who we dogsat for a few days.  That's funny.   He is thoroughly trained now.  However he can not stand to have anyone in the same space he's in.  We have to remain out of the utility room until after he's done his thing.

When we aren't at home, he will get in my aunt's recliner and look out the window.  Since we've gotten larger matresses for our beds, he no longer gets on them. He will sleep with my aunt more because I have such high matress and if he were to jump off my bed and break something, then we would have no choice but to put him down.  He hasn't been able to jump on my bed lately.  He loves staying warm, mostly will get in the recliner with my aunt or with me if I am in the livingroom most of the time. He loves being under the covers and he snores.

The dog energetic days are about over. He will run around occasionally when there is a visitor. When the person has left the house, he goes back and gets in a recliner on gets on top of the couch and sleeps there.  He will come to the door and bark when he sees me coming in.  He is like a shadow on my heels.  He follows me to the bedroom to where I change clothes.  He will stick his nose inside my shoes just to smell the scent of my feet. Now why this is, I don't know. I guess just to get the sense that I am home. He was like a alarm and protector but has begun losing his hearing. We can tell because we can sneak up on him and he would never know it until you nudge him in the back.  I think he barks more at vibrations. Sometimes he doesn't hear anything because he is really a deep  sleeper.  Oh when we get ready to leave, he does a hilarious thing. He turns in circles like crazy.  He wants to go too but we tell him to stay behind as always.

I have to say the funny things about him is that he runs like a little rat, but he's big.  I believe that if you look at his head, he almost has the shape of a bat's head. I usually play with his bone and throw to a fetching like game, he goes right after it.  He will bring his bone back to me and I would have to get it away and throw it again.  When I sat on the floor and run my hand around my back, he used to run after it in circles. Age has taken a lot out of him. He won't do it but probably one time.  Another thing, my aunt's phone has a certain ring to it that he doesn't like. When it rings, he howls. It is funny.  However I believe the ringer hurts his ears.  We cut the ringer off.

Oh he is a jealous type as well. If I sit next to my mom, you can bet he's going to know and hops out of my aunt's recliner and come to the couch we are sitting on and gets between us.  He wants his belly scratched when he comes over.  When playing with his bone,  he slings that bone back and forth in his mouth that it sometimes accidentally lets go. You don't believe that bone will go soaring through the air like a missile.  It hurts too when it hits you.  But he doesn't mean it.  He is just playing with it.  He is a funny pup to be around when you need a laugh.

Now who he likes?  Well he likes me, mom, and my aunt.  If my uncle, who used to live behind us in a trailer, visits, he goes nuts.  He barks and growls at him like he is ready to attack him.  He is so funny at doing that.  He doesn't like strangers that come around. He has to smell them of course to get used to them.

Well that was a little bit of background about my pup.