The color is called Isabella. It's fawn with tan markings. Dobes come in 4 recognized colors - black, red, blue and isabella.

Jan

Sylvia,

I recently read the story of a similarly colored Dobe on another Pet Forum. After he was first picked up, he was transferred to a Weim rescue because that's what the shelter thought he was. The Weim folks, however, knew he was a Dobe. I can't remember what they called his color, but it does apparently occasionally occur in Dobes. If I remember correctly, that particular color is often associated with a specific type of skin disease in Dobes, as well.

Sorry for the vaguery, but that's the best my memory can pull up at the moment. Take it for what it's worth.

Laurie

I don't think you have a fawn (Isabella). Fawns are a light brown color with tan markings. Sounds like you have a blue dobe. As said, Dobes have four AKC recognized colors  black, red, fawn and blue. The blue color is a recessive gene of black, fawn is a recessive gene of red. The blue color varies from washed out black to more grey.

Blue as well as fawns (in any breed) can develop color mutant alopecia which causes hair loss of the blue areas. Inflammation /irritation can typically occur, which may be treated with topicals, vitamins and supplements. The tan areas will keep their normal appearance.

Not all blues or fawns develop coat problems, but it is probably better to assume that it is a good probability that the dog will have a thin coat and hair loss. IÂm a black and tan girl, but IÂve fostered a couple of blues with CMA and they were happy and healthy and the while their coats were sparse compared to my blacks and had thin patches, it really wasnÂt that obvious and they werenÂt affected by it  other than they had to wear a stupid sweater when they went outside in the cold and they were not allowed to sun themselves for as long as they liked. While the dogs I had were normal looking, I have seen blues and fawns with huge bald patches and were not pretty looking  but it was cosmetic.

Color mutant alopecia is not associated with any other health problems as far as IÂm aware of. Sort of like balding in men Âits cosmetic. Dogs are healthy and happy despite a thin coat.

That's Max!
He was so shy at first that I was afraid he had some of the recessive traits of the albino/white Dobes, which also look somewhat Weimaraner-ish, but he must have been just scared:

Within 24 hours, he's settled in & has some sort of love affair going with my female Border Collie mix (non-consummated, she's not in the puppy business).

He runs with the "pack", goes along when they go outdoors, comes back inside without being dragged...
& knows to steer clear of the cats, especially when they're eating.

He was scared of leashes & collars at first, but today I put a collar on him & he's fine.

Although he isn't housetrained (aw, man, I thought those days were a dim memory), he is a very smart dog, & I bet he learns quickly.

DH and I rescued a fawn Dobie years back, and he had some skin problems. His coat, which was the color of a brown paper grocery bag, was thin, oily and smelly, and he would get follicular bumps(ingrown hairs?)that would sometimes get quite large. Some had to be removed surgically, but we would scrub his skin when bathing him(which we did a lot)and that helped. He needed(and liked) to wear a coat in very cold weather. The poor guy was so sweet, but very neurotic. We were his third owners, and we believed he started out as a neglected kennel dog. He was always starving, he didn't know how to play, was afraid of loud noises, and would give himself lick-granulomas on a regular basis. His ears were cropped way too short which made him look like a fighting dog(and scary), but he was the sweetest guy and we loved him. He developed over time some type of back problem that the doctors couldn't really diagnose, and at the age of 9 we had to make that "quality of life" decision. He'd gone lame in the back legs, and was in pain. We still miss him.
Good luck with your new guy and congratulations!

Sounds like a fawn. Noinwi it sounds as if your guy probably had wobblers syndrome. That and cardiomyopathy are the two biggest health problems in the breed.

Lisa

noinwi, it sounds like you were something of a guardian angel for that dog.
& 9 is a very good age for a large purebred dog, especially one whose start in life was so difficult, & one with so many health problems.

I'm glad this guy's ears haven't been cropped.
Just looking at cropped ears makes me flinch.

I looked at a nearby Dobe rescue site, & their adoption fees are something like $175 for a dog with natural ears, $300 for one with cropped ears.

Isn't that weird?

We're to go to the vet this afternoon.

Yesterday he started shivering, so I put a tee shirt on him.
He liked it for about 3 minutes, then he started eating it...

So I hefted him up onto the bed (he may look aerodynamic & sleek & flimsy, but he's a pretty densely packed critter, weighs a ton!) with 1 dog & 1 cat, & he liked that.
This morning, he hopped up there all by himself.

(Do I sound like a nut?)

wait, wrong question...

Would I sound like a nut anywhere but here???

snork!

Max has a thin dry coat, needs good nutrition, fish oil, & oatmeal shampoo.

His 2 center toes, which bear a lot of his weight & do a lot of work when he walks, have swollen & infected tissue between (if I remember this correctly) the nails & the thing that attaches the nails to the finger bone.
Is it a ligament?

Vet said it looks like a crushing injury, like being run over or stepped on, & that the reason he carries his leg is pure & simple pain from those infected toes.

It evidently happened some time ago, because he's been carrying that leg long enough that the big muscles in that hip have atrophied, while the ones in the other hip have gotten stronger & bigger.

The swelling higher up on that same leg & the abrasion on the inside of the leg were probably done later, & they've started healing.

There's also a place on that same leg where it looks like something was tied too tightly & it abraded the skin.

So Max has anti-biotics & pain pills for 10 days.

such a relief, I was afraid it'd be, "amputate the leg", or "it's a genetic condition, it'll deteriorate, put the dog to sleep".

He really enjoyed going to the vet:
there were a zillion dogs there, & he loved 'em all!

We had a very sweet red Dobie who lived to be 13 years old, a very long life for a big dog like that. He was friendly to everyone.

The only advice I would give you is that it is common for Dobermans to have problems digesting beef, so try to avoid giving him dog food that contains any beef or its by-products.

Thank you for taking such good care of your new buddy!

Max is a lot feeling better today, he slept like a log all night
(I think the pain tablet must have been a sleeping pill!)

Thanks to all!

I hope that Max heals up well. He sounds like a character.

I know that toe injuries can be difficult to heal for large dogs.

Did your vet indicate anything about his coat color genetics making him prone to other genetic problems? Not that I know anything about this, just curious based upon some of the posts here...?

Sylvia, it looks like Max has found the home(and family)of his dreams, and one he deserves. I hope he recovers from his injuries in record time.
Here is a(fuzzy)pic of our old sweetie, Ruger(the name he came with), AKA, 'Rooger Booger', or 'Roogie Badoogie', catching a nap with a buddy.
{{!gwi}}

The skin problems are the only ones that are linked to color.

Lisa

Noinwi, he's a beauty!
I love the pose, too:
big ole "wardog"-looking dog curled up with snoozing kitty!

Before I learned here that Max is a fawn, I looked at a rescue site with information about "white" Dobermans, which look to me like pale silvery dogs with blue eyes.

These dogs have problems associated with albino factors:

poor vision &
eyes ultra-sensitive to light
prone to sunburn & skin cancer
thin dry coats
foot or leg problems
unstable temperaments

The person who had the website, a Doberman lover, was adamantly opposed to the breeding of the "white" dogs because of the difficult lives they have & the misery their problems can cause for their owners.

She quoted people who had owned/adopted/fostered white Dobes, & it was just heartbreaking:

one poor guy had worked with his adopted white Dobe for years, & finally had him euthanized when the dog bit a family member badly (bit, as in attacked, involving an emergency room, as opposed to the "nipping" the owners had endured in the past.)

I was afraid Max was a "sort-of" white Dobe, maybe had some of the factors, since he had a problem with his foot & leg, & since he had the silvery coat, but he has amber eyes & he has the tan markings along the muzzle, eyebrows, legs, & chest, & thank goodness his bad leg turned out to be just an injury.

The vet said he's "absolutely" a purebred fawn Doberman, probably tossed out by a puppy mill owner or backyard breeder when his foot injury got so bad.

The albino dogs first appeared in the mid 1970's and all trace back to a single female named Sheeba. In AKC registered dogs any that desend from albinos have a registration number that has a Z in it. It is not a recognized color. It is a good example tho of why some colors are not allowed by some breeds standards. It's not a predjudice against the color but that the color may be related to health problems in that breed.

Lisa

Ruger definitely had leg and foot problems. He walked funny, kind of swinging his rear legs out, and his toes sort of turned up. His nails never reached the floor so we were constantly trimming them...but he didn't mind...he liked the attention. We were lucky with him in that he had such a sweet disposition. He would let friends' kids hang all over him and would actually lean against them...like he couldn't get close enough. He would literally blush when being petted.
Sylvia will you be able to post a pic of Max any time soon? He sounds beautiful! And don't you just love those amber eyes?

hi i'm getting what supposed to be a pure breed dobe pup. He's a beautiful puppy. only thing is he has a little white spot on his chest. the breeder says none of her other pups or litters have had it in the past, but the mother had it when she was a pup and it went away after couple of months. My question is how likely is that to happen? The breeder seems like a really nice person. she doesn't seem to be out to screw anyone. she even offered to return the money i've already put forth. but i'm just curous. can u help?

Silvery with tan markings is definately a blue, but sounds like a dilute meaning very light instead of the deeper grey. Blues and fawns are notorious for coat problems as they were colors "forced" by breeders years ago. I think blues have less coat problems than they used to have years ago when I raised Dobies. I've never heard of any genetic problems that go with coat color except the normal (?) skin problems.

It's so sad that someone allowed him to be in pain for so long that it's atrophied his muscles. Human stupidity and cruelty never ceases to amaze me. He's very lucky that you came along and could see the sweet dog that he is.

Have fun with your new buddy!
Jane and the Hole in the Wall Gang

update!

Man, I can't believe it's been nearly a year & a half!

Max is doing so well that I'd forgotten his atrophied muscles.

When the vet couldn't get the injury to respond to anti-biotics & anti-inflammatories, even after he tried several combinations, he amputated half of the toe.

The toe, or the, uh, myalin?, the insulation of the nerve sheath, had been so inflamed & infected that it was literally decaying; there was no way to salvage that toe.

When his toe stopped hurting him, Max's personality changed overnight;
he became playful, alert, interested in the world, he stopped looking haunted & fearful.

he's hilarious but I don't exactly know what it is he does that makes me laugh...

I think maybe it's that combination of physical refinement (the graceful head, aristocratic nose, & elegant body)...with goofiness.

This morning I awoke & couldn't get up;
I was "tucked in" all around!

"Max", I said, "move your big self off my comforter."

In reply, he slung himself onto my pillow, looked me in the eye, & heaved a mournful sigh.

I think I've told this here before, but it's classic "Max".

One day Max was standing on the bed, watching the cat as she sat on the dresser.

He gave a little "under-growl", that little sound that almost doesn't carry outside the throat.

"Max!", I said, "Leave that cat alone!"
(He's always been very good with the cats; I couldn't have kept him otherwise.)

He stopped.

& stood there, in his "alert" stance.

Then he did it again.

"Max!".....

& then I realized that he wasn't looking at the cat, he was looking in the mirror!

It's wonderful to hear that Max has become a healthy confident dog who knows he's loved.

I have a little pit bull who sometimes stops in the hall to "visit" with that dog in the mirror. Gloria was nearly beaten to death by a dog fighter and has brain damage, but she's not stupid. I have a hunch she knows that it is her in the mirror because she doesn't act like it is a strange dog. Personally I think she's checking out her new clothes (she gets cold easily and has to wear shirts.)

My Dobies were always so sweet and so confort loving. I came in once and Honey was on the bed completely tucked in and my son was sleeping on the floor! I had to run her out and tuck him him. She snuck back and in the morning they were cuddled together under the blankets. :)

We just recently adopted a 1 1/2 y/o female doberman. She is very friendly with my husband and I, when we take her for walks she doesn't bark at other dogs or people. She is very playful at home and when we take her in the backyard. She just recently met my two stepchildren (5, 9) and she seems to be very nervous around them. If she is in her cage and they walk by she growls at them-doesn't show her teeth just growls under her breath. What could be wrong? They ignore her but she still seems nervous around them. We have only had her for a week now. We get the kids the every other week. Do you think she will get used to them?