The Dogs of War

          ANCIENT EUROPEANS GUARDED against demons by erecting gargoyles, the theory being that the gargoyles would out-scare the demons. That same premise led Herr Ludwig Dobermann to develop, through crossbreeding, the Doberman Pinscher; the fiercest looking, pointiest eared, demon-eyed guard dog there could be. And they do look scary--very scary. Somehow, though, 900 of them together in a ballroom look a lot less scary. Maybe it was the chandeliers, or maybe it was the way they didn't bark at each other. Maybe it was because the dogs were more on display than on the attack last week as part of the 71st Annual National Show of the Doberman Pinscher Society of America at the Bloomington Radisson South.

          The air is full of language that sounds problematic. "The DPCA must prevent the breeders of 'white' Dobermans from further contaminating our gene pool... the danger lies in the colored littermates. The prospect of having to cull 'whites' from our litters has been unheard of in the history of our breed. When the novelty has worn off, DPCA members will be left to clean up the yet unpredictable genetic problems..." warns a pamphlet, directed at albino Doberman owners who might be tempted to crossbreed and create new species. Between the shades of eugenics and the sleek, sinister dogs, the hotel brims with danger.

          But Peggy Adamson says it's all an illusion. "Dobermans have gotten a very bad reputation over the years from the movies and television, because when they want to show a dog that is what they call a 'killer dog,' that will strike terror into everybody, they always use a big black Doberman showing his teeth." With that, Peggy bares her own teeth--which are small, and perfect, and peek out between the coral lipstick that is particular to women of a certain age and a certain class who held court at country-clubs since World War II. Which is when Peggy fell in love with the dogs.

          "My husband was a Marine Captain, and I watched some of the first platoons of Dobermans being trained to go overseas to the Pacific. They used them to search out land mines, and search caves and forests. The amount of things they were able to teach them was just amazing." Soon Peggy and her husband drove from California to Ohio to get a purebred red Doberman, Dictator, who won the club show in 1943. Peggy's been professionally judging, and in love with, Dobermans ever since. However, whether this fondness is despite or due to their reputation is unclear.

          "Macy's used them in their store in New York," says Peggy enthusiastically, her face lighting up with the mischief of the idea. "At night they let Dobermans loose in the building, so nobody dared to come in. Then a movie came out called 'They Only Kill Their Masters' [in which a Doberman is unjustly accused of murder]. Unfortunately they showed a black Doberman showing his teeth and that's how this reputation of fierceness got established and why, whenever, even today, in the movies or TV they want to show a dog that will strike fear in everybody, they always use a black Doberman. And this is so crazy, but it's also very useful." She whispers conspiratorially: "The Doberman people don't feel too badly about it because we can afford to have nice, sweet, wonderful dogs and even my postman, who has never been inside my house and can only hear my Dobermans when he comes up, is terrified. In fact, I don't even lock my door at night." Peggy raises her voice again: "In the Marine Corps they called them Devil Dogs."