American Kennel Club said:
The Toller is highly intelligent, alert, outgoing, and ready for action, though not to the point of nervousness or hyperactivity. He is affectionate and loving with family members and is good with children, showing patience. Some individuals may display reserved behavior in new situations, but this is not to be confused with shyness. Shyness in adult classes should be penalized. The Toller's strong retrieving desire coupled with his love of water, endurance and intense birdiness, is essential for his role as a tolling retriever.
Canadian Kennel Club said:
The Toller is highly intelligent, easy to train, and has great endurance. A strong and able swimmer, he is a natural and tenacious retriever on land and from water, setting himself for springy action the moment the slightest indication is given that retrieving is required. His strong retrieving desire and playfulness are qualities essential to his tolling ability. Loving and playful to his family, he can be reserved with strangers without being aggressive or overly shy. Aggression is not to be tolerated.
I've taken quotes from both the AKC and CKC standards, which both describe the temperament similarly but with slight differences so I figured I'd quote both.
Dance does match the descriptions for the most part. I have bolded everything she
is. She lives to play and to retrieve. She is not a strong retriever on water, though. She will do it, but she does not love it and only does it because I happened to throw her toy in the water and she has to rescue it. And even then, if I do it one too many times, she'll just let it float away. She adores her family and very, very rarely do "outsiders" get to see the real Dance. She is naturally reserved in new situations, but is very shy with strangers. It takes meeting her a few times usually to get her comfortable with somebody (whether or not they are kids or adults). Sometimes she just decides she loves someone without taking any time at all, but usually she barks or likes to just sniff and check the person out while the person pretends she does not exist. She is not aggressive, though I guess some people maybe think she is when she's barking out of fear. She likes to vocalize her feelings. Whether they're happy feelings, scared feelings, sad feelings, whatever. She is a very vocal dog.
She matches everything else I think though. She's energetic but not hyper and is quite easy to live with, playful, loves to retrieve, adores her family, is pretty easy to train (but headstrong), goes from doing nothing to being ready for action at the drop of a hat, she showed a lot of interest in birds when introduced, etc. If it wasn't for being shy and not loving the water all that much, she'd match spot on.
Doberman Pinscher Club of Canada said:
A Doberman either trains you, or is trained by you, and for most of us, it is a little of both. You can’t put a Doberman away, forget about him and take him out when you want to show him off. A Doberman isn’t built that way; he wants to be with you, to help you, torment you, love you and guard you. And he will work out ways to get what he wants.
A Doberman is an affectionate animal, but his affection is noble. You can’t bribe a Doberman with a pat on the head. He doesn’t enjoy “just being petted†the way other breeds do. He wants to be close to you, to have your hand on his head, to rest his head on your knee, or to sit on your shoe with his back to you. He won’t leave you for a stranger who offers to scratch his ear. Scratching an ear may be nice, but it isn’t as nice as resting his rump on your shoe.
Seldom do you find a “licking†Doberman. A single kiss—a touch of the tongue, a touch of his nose to your ear—that is his way of special greeting. To lick (unless you have a wound that needs healing) would be too undignified for most Dobermans. Yet, with his black eyes, short tail and graceful body he can tell you more plainly how special you are than could all the licking and rubbing or petting in the world.
A Doberman is an energetic dog with the firmness of the strong. He win let a baby teethe on his cars and nod with pleasure. He will take his six year old mistress walking to show her off and guide her with the mature judgment that knows it is well to let a six year old have her own way unless it is dangerous.
A Doberman is a sensitive dog, keenly alert to your feelings and wishes. If someone visits you whom you don’t like, watch the dog, for he will be watching your visitor.
American Kennel Club said:
Energetic, watchful, determined, alert, fearless, loyal and obedient.
The AKC standard for temperament of the Doberman is not overly descriptive, so I have also quoted something from the Doberman Pinscher Club of Canada. And again, I've tried to bold everything my dogs are, though it was a bit harder because I have two and both are different from one another slightly.
My dogs mostly match any description I have ever read of the breed. I wish mine were more fearless, but it is what it is. Their breeder does tend to have softer dogs, but I think if the need arose, my dogs would not show fear when it actually mattered. And I can't even say they are fearful... they just show some uncertainty at times in different situations.
They are velcro dogs to the extreme. My dogs like to think that they must be touching me or my mom at all times, and they're literally be happy if all we did was keep a hand on them all day. They don't care about being petted in the traditional sense of the word. They just like to be touched and to be close.
My dogs are reserved with strangers. Ripley especially showed that side this Christmas weekend. When he was younger he thought he was an "I love everybody" Lab, but with maturity he's shown that he really could not care less about anyone but myself and my mom will do when I am not around. He does not often seek out affection from those he does not live with. He is not shy, and he is friendly, but strangers or family and friends whom he doesn't live with just do not mean anything to him. Keira is a little more needy as far as attention sometimes and she will rest her head on a stranger's or visitor's lap, but it doesn't mean the same to her as it would if that lap belonged to my mom or to me when mom isn't around. When out in public, people like to stop and say hello, and the dogs often don't even look at the person. They'll stand there and let the person touch them, but they're really just waiting for it to be over to carry on on their walk with us.
Ripley is a licker, but is a little OCD about it. It's a soothing behaviour for him and one that I discourage. Keira very rarely licks. Both show affection through nose poking, Keira especially so.
Both dogs are very energetic, but with maturity are easier to live with now. They definitely need exercise and a good run to be fully content and more tolerable/less active in the house, but they aren't non-stop on the go like they once were thank goodness. Although my mom shares a different story when I am not home, haha.
My dogs do not show thoughtful very often. They regularly do things on impulse without thinking first. They do show a lot of patience and thought when it matters, though. Like when they are around children. I do supervise, but over all I don't really worry about my dogs knocking them over or pulling them around should the kid grab their collar or something. They are incredibly tolerant of things. They show far more tolerance and dignity when it comes to different things than any other dog I've ever had. They trust that if we're doing something to them, or allowing something to be done to them, that it's ok.
They are extremely sensitive to human emotion, much more so than any other dog I've ever had. This can be a good thing and a bad thing.
They definitely are very observant and watchful of people. They stare at us adoringly and pleadingly for affection, but they watch other people to make sure they're behaving themselves I guess. They are not aggressive, and it is not even an intense stare, but they like to know what's going on and a couple of my non-dog savvy relatives are a little weirded out by how the Dobermans watch them.
They are very determined, headstrong and manipulative. They are obedient, but it took a lot of time and effort to make them that way. And they are not at all obedient for other people. They rarely even so much as twitch an ear when a visitor says their name, even if it is somebody they see constantly and love.
Overall I think they match the standards well. I just wish they were a little bit more bold sometimes, and I do think with more exposure to different things that make him uncomfortable, Ripley would be a lot more bold and brave than he is. He just doesn't know how to treat certain situations as they aren't ones he sees often. Keira I don't know. She's more apt just to ignore something she doesn't like than face it. Which is good also I think, just different.
