Growing up, we had several Dobes that were wonderful dogs, which is why I'm partial to Nero, the neighbor's Dobe.
My dad was a marine engineer, he began working for a company that had ships all over the world, and their home port was Puerto Rico, so we moved there. There was a twofold reason for this decision. 1. We were able to see my dad more often, since the home port was there, and my mother didn't care what time of day, or night his ship was coming in, we were going to be there to greet the ship, and see him. 2. The political climate in foreign countries can change quickly at times, making it difficult to get to the US. Puerto Rico is not a state, but a commonwealth of the US, so if/when any travel bans went out, they never included Puerto Rico, making it easier for him to always be able to get home.
While most of Puerto Rico was very safe for women, and children at any hour of the day, or night there are a few places that are not overly safe for anyone. The seaport, and dock areas were not safe areas at night. Remember I said we would go greet my dad's ship, no matter the hour? Well, we had a poodle, and a 10 month old Dobe. The Dobe had been well socialized, and was not really aggressive. When dad's ship would come in, we would load both dogs in the car with us, and go greet the ship. The reason we had to load both dogs was that the Poodle didn't like anyone close to, or touching our car. He would bark, and growl. The Dobe thought it was his job to protect the Poodle, so when the Poodle would get upset, the Dobe would bark, and growl at whoever was upsetting the Poodle. Of course, a stranger would not know that the Dobe was carrying on, because the Poodle was upset.
When the Dobe got more mature, he realized his job was to protect us when he was in the car, and to protect the home when we were gone. We had friends over all the time, and he never showed any aggression towards anyone when we were home. He was a great dog.
