From my own experience, dobes tend to go to extremes on both sides.

There are the working dobes wihich I prefer -- I have yet to meet one, but Visa's breeder used to breed them (well, they were show/working) and she said she hasn't come across dogs like these since they stopped breeding them. They were smart, high energy, high drive, aggressive, wonderful guard dogs, very protective and great working dogs. They needed to be careful in same-sex households. They had the drive for schutzhund, ring sport, etc. When they were breeding these they of course came across quite a few dobes like these.

Since her dobe breeding days however, she hasn't met any dobes like this -- now it's just the oppisite. We sometimes get dobies in at work, and they are shy, sensitive, submissive, not good guard dogs, with low drive and not alot of working ability. They are playful and goofy rather than strong and alert. These dogs do fine in same-sex households.

So it seems to me that dobies have their extremeties. I think that alot of breeders are ruining the breed, as the only ones I've met have had terrible temperments. I'd like to see more breeders breeding the smart, driven, able to work dogs. Visa's breeder did show the dogs, but they worked as well. She said though that dobies act more aggressive than they really are. She did schutzhund with both dobies and belgians and says the difference between a dobe and a belgian is that if an offender punches the dog in the nose, a dobe will run off whimpering, and it would just piss a Belgian off LOL.