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REFERENCE FOR KRIS & TONIA KOTSOPOULOS -
VON FORELL AUSTRALIA
I write this reference for Kris & Tonia Kotsopoulos of Von Forell,
Australia, to provide to people who are considering purchasing a Doberman from
them as a family pet.
Since I was child I had always wanted to have a Doberman. I was drawn to the breed for numerous reasons with intelligence, loyalty and protective instincts being the most alluring. In my late twenties I found myself in a position where I could finally get the dog I had always been wanting and thus set about searching for the top breeders of Dobermans in Australia (although I also searched the internet for breeders world wide).
After an exhaustive search of the internet, one breeder continued to ‘pop up on the radar’. That breeder was Von Forell of Melbourne, Australia. I also spoke to a couple of close friends of mine who were K9 handlers in a certain Australian Police Agency and asked them if they knew of any good breeders of Dobermans that they could recommend (they had German Shepherds and Labradors as working dogs so I was unsure whether they would know any Doberman breeders). Without hesitation their response was “Yes, Von Forell in Melbourne. We get some of our Shepherds from them and their dogs are exceptional. They also breed Dobermans and we have heard good things”.
That was the final confirmation I had been looking for and I then contacted Kris Kotsopoulos of Von Forell. I had a lengthy discussion with Kris about what I was looking for and the conversation further confirmed in my mind that these were the breeders I wanted to deal with. I stated to Kris that my girlfriend and I wanted a family companion that had good protective instincts but that was not overly dominant (it was going to be the first time my girlfriend was going to have a large dog). My girlfriend had a preference for a brown female Doberman although I didn’t mind either way and I relayed that to Kris. Kris informed me that he would not make any guarantees about sex or colour as he based his decision on what pup we would get on the individual personality that best suited what we were looking for and that even an entire litter may not be suitable. This was one of many statements made by Kris that confirmed in my mind that he was a professional and someone who I should be dealing with.
A few months later my girlfriend and I were the proud new parents of a black male Dobbie. From the moment that Tonia brought him out, Harvey (the name we had settled on), impressed me with his confident and stable demeanour and the ease with which he adapted to his new environment with us. From the beginning he was extremely affectionate and loving to family members whilst at the same time displaying protective instincts. I found it an amazing sight to see an 8 week old puppy barking at strangers walking past the front of our house.
I think its important to stress as this time that Harvey never, ever, displayed any aggression to his immediate family. He displayed plenty of controlled aggression towards strangers knocking on my door, walking past my car or oddly approaching us when we were out walking but he only ever displayed love, affection and loyalty towards his immediate family. Harvey displayed the exact traits I had been looking for in a Doberman and Kris and Tonia had provided us with the exact dog we had requested.
One thing I will stress for prospective parents to be aware of is that you are purchasing a dog from working dog bloodlines. They are not a little toy lap dog and cannot be treated like one. That does not mean that you have to treat them harshly but you will have to be firm and consistent with them and you will have to provide sufficient exercise for them. They are incredibly intelligent dogs and I described Harvey as being half human. As long as you are firm and the dog knows who is boss, you will have an incredibly satisfying relationship and bond with your dog. If you are not firm and consistent then be prepared for the dog to manipulate you to the point where either they get their way on almost everything or you give the dog away to a home that can deal with them.
You shouldn’t let this deter you from getting a dog from Von Forell, merely I write this information so that you are aware of what you are getting yourself in to. Kris and Tonia are the true experts and will be able to give you much better advice than I can. I’m writing this from the layman’s perspective as information for other people about to embark down this road.
As a young puppy, Harvey was either playing or sleeping. Once Harvey was old enough to be taken to dog parks and taken on walks (somewhere between 4-5 months of age) he required exercise twice a day to curb his energy levels. I will once again stress that these dogs are from working dog bloodlines. Harvey had an incredible appetite for play that could almost not be satisfied until about 18 months of age when he started to settle down and we slowly reduced his exercise to once per day (30 mins – 1 hour). He would still be happy to play at every opportunity but he was now also happy to lounge around with us and watch TV or movies etc. I won’t lie, there were times when Harvey was between 12-18 months, where he drove me crazy with his constant need to play and these are the times where you must be firm and consistent.
At about the age of 2, Harvey had grown up to be the most exceptional dog I have ever had significant contact with. He was highly intelligent with many human personality traits and the ability to display many different emotions. He had a depth of character not commonly found in your ‘average’ dog and it was the little out of the norm personality traits that made Harvey so special. He was not just another dog but an individual with his own personality, just like a human. Many of you will probably be reading this saying that all dogs display individual personalities. Whilst that is true, your average dog really will act like every other dog, with only a limited number of slight variances in personality. For those of you reading this who have owned an exceptional dog you will understand exactly what I am describing and attempting to convey.
An easy example I can provide of this is when Harvey was of the opinion that I wasn’t providing him with enough attention. In order to gain my attention he would take a sock out of the cloths basket and parade around in front of me until I either chased him in play or told him in no uncertain terms to drop the sock and lie on his bed. As background to this example, when Harvey was a puppy we were always stopping him from chewing on our socks as his baby teeth would put holes in them. He learned quickly that he wasn’t allowed to chew on socks and he stopped. This of course didn’t stop him from simply holding a sock in his mouth without damaging it to use as a bargaining tool. When he paraded with the sock, I truly mean paraded. Harvey would walk back and forth in clear view of me (whether I was standing, seating or somewhere else), clearly displaying the sock with a little smirk on his face and the very tip of his tail slightly wagging.
Harvey displayed the perfect balance between being a loving, affectionate and loyal dog to his family whilst at the same time being aggressive and intimidating to strangers coming to my house and around my car. Whilst out on walks or runs, Harvey would not display aggression to passers by unless there was something odd about their demeanour. If he was going to bark at a passer by then I would know in advance, as I would be looking at the same person with the same concerns in my mind. This is an example of the bond that I mentioned earlier where Harvey and I would be thinking and acting as one and where I knew how he was going to act and he knew how he was suppose to act.
You may have been asking yourself why have I written this in a past tense and it is because Harvey was hit and killed by a car after escaping from a friends house during an extreme thunder storm in Brisbane at the beginning of 2014. Unfortunately I was in the USA at the time and my friend was helping me out by looking after him.
Apart from his death being devastating to me, the event was totally out of character as in the 4.5 years that I had the pleasure of owning Harvey, he had never shown any interest at all in escaping from home or running away, nor had he shown any significant nervousness during thunder storms. His main desire in life was to be with his family and even on the few occasions that the back gate had been left open, we would open the door to find him seating there waiting to be let inside the house. In hindsight, it was Harvey’s extraordinary intelligence, personality and stable character that stopped me from thinking of him as just a dog and forgetting that in extreme circumstances even the most remarkable dogs may still act like dogs and make decisions that humans would say are irrational.
As a final testament on my thoughts on whether I would recommend Kris and Tonia of Von Forell to perspective dog owners I say this, when I am ready for another Doberman I will be getting my new puppy from Kris and Tonia and I’m not even considering looking else where. After 4.5 years I have had plenty of time to evaluate the quality of the dogs they produce and I can say that I have no hesitation in recommending them.
Andrew Gore - Australia
Since I was child I had always wanted to have a Doberman. I was drawn to the breed for numerous reasons with intelligence, loyalty and protective instincts being the most alluring. In my late twenties I found myself in a position where I could finally get the dog I had always been wanting and thus set about searching for the top breeders of Dobermans in Australia (although I also searched the internet for breeders world wide).
After an exhaustive search of the internet, one breeder continued to ‘pop up on the radar’. That breeder was Von Forell of Melbourne, Australia. I also spoke to a couple of close friends of mine who were K9 handlers in a certain Australian Police Agency and asked them if they knew of any good breeders of Dobermans that they could recommend (they had German Shepherds and Labradors as working dogs so I was unsure whether they would know any Doberman breeders). Without hesitation their response was “Yes, Von Forell in Melbourne. We get some of our Shepherds from them and their dogs are exceptional. They also breed Dobermans and we have heard good things”.
That was the final confirmation I had been looking for and I then contacted Kris Kotsopoulos of Von Forell. I had a lengthy discussion with Kris about what I was looking for and the conversation further confirmed in my mind that these were the breeders I wanted to deal with. I stated to Kris that my girlfriend and I wanted a family companion that had good protective instincts but that was not overly dominant (it was going to be the first time my girlfriend was going to have a large dog). My girlfriend had a preference for a brown female Doberman although I didn’t mind either way and I relayed that to Kris. Kris informed me that he would not make any guarantees about sex or colour as he based his decision on what pup we would get on the individual personality that best suited what we were looking for and that even an entire litter may not be suitable. This was one of many statements made by Kris that confirmed in my mind that he was a professional and someone who I should be dealing with.
A few months later my girlfriend and I were the proud new parents of a black male Dobbie. From the moment that Tonia brought him out, Harvey (the name we had settled on), impressed me with his confident and stable demeanour and the ease with which he adapted to his new environment with us. From the beginning he was extremely affectionate and loving to family members whilst at the same time displaying protective instincts. I found it an amazing sight to see an 8 week old puppy barking at strangers walking past the front of our house.
I think its important to stress as this time that Harvey never, ever, displayed any aggression to his immediate family. He displayed plenty of controlled aggression towards strangers knocking on my door, walking past my car or oddly approaching us when we were out walking but he only ever displayed love, affection and loyalty towards his immediate family. Harvey displayed the exact traits I had been looking for in a Doberman and Kris and Tonia had provided us with the exact dog we had requested.
One thing I will stress for prospective parents to be aware of is that you are purchasing a dog from working dog bloodlines. They are not a little toy lap dog and cannot be treated like one. That does not mean that you have to treat them harshly but you will have to be firm and consistent with them and you will have to provide sufficient exercise for them. They are incredibly intelligent dogs and I described Harvey as being half human. As long as you are firm and the dog knows who is boss, you will have an incredibly satisfying relationship and bond with your dog. If you are not firm and consistent then be prepared for the dog to manipulate you to the point where either they get their way on almost everything or you give the dog away to a home that can deal with them.
You shouldn’t let this deter you from getting a dog from Von Forell, merely I write this information so that you are aware of what you are getting yourself in to. Kris and Tonia are the true experts and will be able to give you much better advice than I can. I’m writing this from the layman’s perspective as information for other people about to embark down this road.
As a young puppy, Harvey was either playing or sleeping. Once Harvey was old enough to be taken to dog parks and taken on walks (somewhere between 4-5 months of age) he required exercise twice a day to curb his energy levels. I will once again stress that these dogs are from working dog bloodlines. Harvey had an incredible appetite for play that could almost not be satisfied until about 18 months of age when he started to settle down and we slowly reduced his exercise to once per day (30 mins – 1 hour). He would still be happy to play at every opportunity but he was now also happy to lounge around with us and watch TV or movies etc. I won’t lie, there were times when Harvey was between 12-18 months, where he drove me crazy with his constant need to play and these are the times where you must be firm and consistent.
At about the age of 2, Harvey had grown up to be the most exceptional dog I have ever had significant contact with. He was highly intelligent with many human personality traits and the ability to display many different emotions. He had a depth of character not commonly found in your ‘average’ dog and it was the little out of the norm personality traits that made Harvey so special. He was not just another dog but an individual with his own personality, just like a human. Many of you will probably be reading this saying that all dogs display individual personalities. Whilst that is true, your average dog really will act like every other dog, with only a limited number of slight variances in personality. For those of you reading this who have owned an exceptional dog you will understand exactly what I am describing and attempting to convey.
An easy example I can provide of this is when Harvey was of the opinion that I wasn’t providing him with enough attention. In order to gain my attention he would take a sock out of the cloths basket and parade around in front of me until I either chased him in play or told him in no uncertain terms to drop the sock and lie on his bed. As background to this example, when Harvey was a puppy we were always stopping him from chewing on our socks as his baby teeth would put holes in them. He learned quickly that he wasn’t allowed to chew on socks and he stopped. This of course didn’t stop him from simply holding a sock in his mouth without damaging it to use as a bargaining tool. When he paraded with the sock, I truly mean paraded. Harvey would walk back and forth in clear view of me (whether I was standing, seating or somewhere else), clearly displaying the sock with a little smirk on his face and the very tip of his tail slightly wagging.
Harvey displayed the perfect balance between being a loving, affectionate and loyal dog to his family whilst at the same time being aggressive and intimidating to strangers coming to my house and around my car. Whilst out on walks or runs, Harvey would not display aggression to passers by unless there was something odd about their demeanour. If he was going to bark at a passer by then I would know in advance, as I would be looking at the same person with the same concerns in my mind. This is an example of the bond that I mentioned earlier where Harvey and I would be thinking and acting as one and where I knew how he was going to act and he knew how he was suppose to act.
You may have been asking yourself why have I written this in a past tense and it is because Harvey was hit and killed by a car after escaping from a friends house during an extreme thunder storm in Brisbane at the beginning of 2014. Unfortunately I was in the USA at the time and my friend was helping me out by looking after him.
Apart from his death being devastating to me, the event was totally out of character as in the 4.5 years that I had the pleasure of owning Harvey, he had never shown any interest at all in escaping from home or running away, nor had he shown any significant nervousness during thunder storms. His main desire in life was to be with his family and even on the few occasions that the back gate had been left open, we would open the door to find him seating there waiting to be let inside the house. In hindsight, it was Harvey’s extraordinary intelligence, personality and stable character that stopped me from thinking of him as just a dog and forgetting that in extreme circumstances even the most remarkable dogs may still act like dogs and make decisions that humans would say are irrational.
As a final testament on my thoughts on whether I would recommend Kris and Tonia of Von Forell to perspective dog owners I say this, when I am ready for another Doberman I will be getting my new puppy from Kris and Tonia and I’m not even considering looking else where. After 4.5 years I have had plenty of time to evaluate the quality of the dogs they produce and I can say that I have no hesitation in recommending them.
Andrew Gore - Australia
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