ABOUT NOBOLIS

Nobolis Farms consists of 35 acres with 5 acres of oak wood. Along with the regular farm animals of Horses, chickens, turkeys, peafowl and doves; there are many sightings of wildlife each day. Wildlife frequently seen are; wild turkey, coyote, fox, deer, weasels, great horned owl, kestrels, red tailed hawks, star-nosed shrew, eastern painted turtles, muskrats and eastern cotton tails. To see the birds that are free ranged on Nobolis Farms CLICK HERE.

How Nobolis Miniature Horses Reg'd got started

Being raised with horses, Diana has experience training, competing, and racing horses in many disciplines. Both Gord and Diana still enjoy horses but concerns of work, risk and costs grow with age. A compromise was to invest in miniature horses These little guys have the horse disposition in a small package. It was quickly calculated the feed for one riding horse per month could support up to 6 miniature during the same period. Labour is greatly reduced as cleaning out stalls are fast and easy while these little guys do not destroy their pastures and their turnout pastures are greatly reduced in area. The risk of being injured by these miniatures is minimal and if injuries occur would most likely be limited to cuts or bruising.

Once obtaining our first three miniatures and a cart, we never looked back. As we grow the herd we are sharing the experiences with local kids by teaching them how to care, training and show these beautiful equines. We are enjoying our herd and interact with them daily. All horses are trained with "hands on" method. Students are taught leadership skills to manage all horses on the farm from week old foals to senior stallion.

How Nobolis Dobermans Reg'd got started

Nobolis Doberman's got it's start when we encountered a situation when we required a dog to alert us to intruders. We had a Pyrenees mix breed that would not bark to alert us when visitors drove onto our farm. With one person on night shift, it was disconcerting to be alone at night, on an isolated farm, without a sense of protection. A dog trainer/behaviorist consultant was contacted to test our mix breed Oscar. After Oscar failed every test, the consultant suggest I find a good family with children for him, he would never fulfill our requirements. He then suggested what breed would meet our requirements; a Rotteweiler, German Shepard or a Doberman. His explanation for each breed follows:

Rotteweiler: You are asleep in your bed at night, your Rotteweiler is sleeping on the floor beside your bed. He hears a sound and quietly gets up to investigate. He sees an intruder outside and patiently waits. You are suddenly awaked by screams and find the intruder pinned against the wall with the Rottewieler growling or holding him in a vice like grip with his teeth. {personally, having the intruder in my house was not a favorable idea}

German Shepard: You are asleep in your bed at night, your German Shepard is sleeping on the floor beside your bed. He hears a sound and quietly gets up to investigate. He sees an intruder outside and and starts barking. You get up in time to see the intruder withdrawing from the property. {I have a farm with the barn away from the house, I'd rather have an earlier response}

Doberman: You are asleep in your bed at night, your Doberman is asleep in the bed with you (maybe under the blankets). Suddenly you are shocked awake when your Doberman jumps up and down and barking. You regain your senses and start looking around for what alarmed your dog. After half an hour of investigation, you finally conclude a leaf blew across the end of your quarter mile driveway and your Doberman thought he heard something!! This is the definition is an alarm dog.

I have been involved in different kennels and breeds over the years including: Breeding and Trialing Beagles, Newfoundlanders, Siberian Huskies (sled and show) and even Pomeranians. When we adopted our first Doberman, we realized the high intelligence and ability to easily learn. We started with obedience and soon learned Tracking, Carting, Shutzhund, Agility and Herding were also capabilities Dobermans excelled at. Our first Doberman was not as versatile as the breed should display. It was with Cerberus we discovered that various breeders did not have the Total Doberman in mind when breeding. There are confirmation breeders who never work or test their dogs' versatility or courage. The majority of these dogs lack some or all these traits. Other breeders only work their dog and compromise on the confirmation and sometimes the temperament. Thankfully most professional breeders perform health tests which has definitely improved the breed with an average life span expectancy of 13 years. With my desire to have the Total Dobe (Confirmation & Functionality), I searched 3 years for Athena, who proved herself in the confirmation Ring, Obedience Ring, Tracking competition and SARs training, Shutzhund field and even Free Style Dance. It took 4 years to prove Athena's functionality and confirmation along with health testing. It also took 4 years to locate a potential stud that would provide the same qualities for Athena's pups. The one dog I found that would have been a perfect sire had low sperm count and breeding was unsuccessful. The second selection was a dog with great functionality but confirmation was not as impressive as I was looking for. I hoped Athena's confirmation would dominate in the litter while the sire's higher drive and courage would dominate. I was very please on the outcome of this breeding and I kept 2 exceptional pups from this litter. I monitor all the pups that were adopted and am satisfied that Athena's litter does improve the breed over their parents. I now have Angel and Matrix who have proven themselves in the Confirmation ring & Agility competitions and in the preparation for the competition rings of herding, Obedience, Tracking and Free Style Dance. Angel has been bred to an Italian registered stud with good qualities. We hope this litter will surpass their parents abilities yet again. It takes 2 years to verify the quality of a litter and therefore breedings are usually not scheduled any sooner than 2 years after a litter.

We like to keep in touch with our pups and make ourselves available to adopters for behavior and training advice, training, boarding our pups (conditional to un-neutered males over 1yr old), or just give the families a place to visit and let their pups run and play with their mom and interact with the farm animals. Our pups are only placed in permanent homes with the highest quality of life. Our pups are tested for temperament, focus, intensity, scenting and tracking before they are placed with their new families. We take the opportunity to re-test these pups throughout their life. Each family must agree to socialize the pups properly and attend a 6 week publicly offered obedience course to help socialize the pup and increase the bond between the pup and his family. The potential of the pups is only potential if you don't use it. The nice thing about these pups is their ability to perform if a situation arises (read about Zack & Xena from Athena's 2003 litter ).

Doberman's are alarm dogs, not guard dogs. An Alarm dog will always react the same way to the same situation unless trained to do otherwise. They will approach a strange situation and bark to inform his family there is something amiss. A Doberman should always place itself between his owner and a threat and bark (only after maturity). All Dobermans have separation anxiety which means they have a need to be with you at all times - although they are good with routine. A guard dog, on the other hand, may react with 3 different behaviors to the same situation; alarm, attack, wait. A guard dog, although some may display separation anxiety, were breed to guard alone or with a companion dog. They do not feel abandonment when left to guard a property. Dobermans have high emotional awareness and will feel abandoned if used as a guard dog.