I was out actually walking my Dobe in the pouring rain
She loved it. Me? Not so much!
Chihiro is my first experience with a Dobe and what an experience she is turning out to be! She in incredibly smart, too smart sometimes
She has a telescopic neck (she can reach anything and everything she is not supposed to have). She is probably the most affectionate dog I've ever seen much less owned and has got tons of personality.
Our first dog was Storm, an American Pit Bull Terrier. With lots of early socialization and training, Storm turned out to be the best dog in the world. Fair or not, every dog we will ever have will in some way be compared to Storm. When we decided on a Dobe (and we did not do nearly as much research as we should have) I had it in my head that if I followed the same pattern with the pup as I did with Storm, everything would quickly fall into place. I'm finding there is a HUGE difference between Pits and Dobes (duh!). I don't think that Storm was a typical Pit though, she was quite content even in her younger years with a couple walks a week. Although she loved our family, she was content to be alone. Many times we would be in the living room watching TV and Storm would be upstairs in the bedroom snoozing. Chi is so different from that. She MUST have at least 2 good walks a day. The idea of her being in a room that I'm not in is just insane in her mind. She -like other have mentioned and I'm sure you have read - is a velcro dog. And when I say velcro, I don't mean she has to be in the same room or near me, she wants to be physically touching someone almost all the time.
She is happiest when she not only has physical excercise but mental as well. She's doing wonderfully with clicker training, mostly because it gives her the opportunity to "think". She's so much fun and has taught me an awful lot about myself in just a few months. But, she's a lot of work. Of course, she's 6 months old and I think all puppies are probably a lot of work at this age.
I personally prefer females to males, not sure why, I just do. I think a female Dobe would be easier for a first timer only because they are very protective by nature and I think a male may be more difficult to socialize. I could be VERY wrong on that though. I'm sure many owners of males could say the same thing about females.
There are tons of wonderful Dobes in rescues. I'm sure when you are ready, you will have little trouble finding your new best Doberfriend