Are dobermans good for a first dog?

I have had many different breeds of dogs before I discovered Dobies. In my opinion they are definitely the "Cadillac" of all breeds. As any dog they do require consistent methods of training, but compared to the other breeds of dogs that I have had, I think that Dobies are in a lot of ways the easiest of breeds to train. They are extremely intelligent, constantly willing to please, and will do anything for the people they love. This includes trying to do what is expected of them. Don't think that Dobies don't shed because they do, but not as bad as other dogs. As far as the taping of the ears, my red/rust Dobie's ears were not that big of a problem. We had them cropped at about 3 months and tapped them for about 2 weeks after that, and they stood up perfectly; My vet believes that the earlier you have them cropped, the easier it is to get them to stand. I wouldn't trade my Dobies for another dog. As I tell everyone, "once you have a Dobie in your family, you will never be satisfied with another breed of dog again".