Coat, Ears & Tail

AKC Working Group · No. 15 in 2025

How to identify a Doberman Pinscher

The Doberman Pinscher is a sleek working dog with a square build, ranked No. 15 by the AKC in 2025. The head is long and dry, like a blunt wedge. Colors are black, red, blue or fawn, always with sharply defined rust markings.

Photo of a Doberman Pinscher
Photo: Miroslav Cacik · Copyrighted free use · Wikimedia Commons

Field marks

These four marks are the ones the game gives you as clues. They paraphrase or briefly quote the AKC Doberman Pinscher standard.

  1. Square body, with height equal to length
  2. Head “long and dry, resembling a blunt wedge”
  3. Black, red, blue, or fawn (Isabella), with sharply defined rust markings
  4. Ears normally cropped and erect; tail docked at about the second joint

Tell them apart

Doberman Pinscher or Rottweiler?

Check the build and the ears. A Doberman is square and racy, with a long, wedge-shaped head and usually cropped, erect ears. A Rottweiler is heavier, with a broad head and triangular ears that hang. A Rottweiler is always black and rust, while a Doberman can also be red, blue or fawn.

Doberman Pinscher

Doberman Pinscher

  1. Square body, with height equal to length
  2. Head “long and dry, resembling a blunt wedge”
  3. Black, red, blue, or fawn (Isabella), with sharply defined rust markings
  4. Ears normally cropped and erect; tail docked at about the second joint
Rottweiler

Rottweiler

  1. “Always black with rust to mahogany markings”
  2. Rust spot over each eye, rust on cheeks, a strip on each side of the muzzle, and triangles on the chest
  3. Pendant, triangular ears and a broad head
  4. Docked tail (“one or two tail vertebrae”) or natural

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