Dobër

The local economy relies mainly on agriculture with approximately four small shops within the village as of 2017. The agricultural economy relies on small subsistence farming by small landholders. Farming activity mainly relies on cash crops and is used to both generate small incomes as well as for the provision of food stuffs for the grower and the family. Animal husbandry is rare as of 2017 with only one or two individuals still owning large flocks of sheep. Labour prices per day are around 1000 lek per day per labourer but can be as high as 1500 lek as of 2017. There are also two to five minivans that operate from Dober itself (depending on time of year). However, these are privately owned and operated mostly in the route from Koplik to Shkodër so use of this transport is dependent on walking a short distance to the main highway linking the village to other population centres.

Local residents have also made use of fishing due to the proximity of the lake Scutari. Due to depleting fish stocks from the illegal usage of electricity in fishing methods, fishing is now economically untenable.

In the early 2000s, Dober was at the forefront of a general wave of farming mechanization that has included the importing and use of various farming machinery from Italy and Montenegro. This has helped to greatly increase and maintain productivity in the face of a continuous exodus of young men who choose to immigrant either abroad or into the cities in order to seek economic advancement in none-farming industry. The use of pesticides is also very common in agriculture within the village.

As a result of emigration, -as of 2017 and years ago- the local economy benefits from a stream of income and hard currencies from emigrates. The extent of the emigrant contribution is unknown but is thought to makes up a sizeable part of the local economy since all large households currently have or have had at least one family member either abroad or in the large cities earning a good comparative income and contributing to the household maintenance. The village also benefits economically from the return of immigrants during the summer months with at least 15 to 25 people returning from the European Union and the United States every summer boosting the local economy. The impact of emigration has also meant that there are virtually no young men left in the village with the vast majority having left. This has contributed to a labour shortage and a reduction in the amount of land being cultivated much to the benefit of wildlife which has seen a rebound in recent years.

Many houses in the village (as of 2017) remain empty during most of the year and are used as summer homes by returning expats. These houses are generally in good condition and are maintained during the year by relatives or individuals paid to do so. A number of homes have recently been constructed by emigrants and wealthier individuals and are used as summer holiday homes thereby boosting the local construction industry.

There are many indications of a long history of settlement. The earliest known mention of the village is in a map dating from early 1700.^[4]

Old ruins are visible in a number of locations, including at the local Catholic cemetery where the ruins of a church are visible. It is rumored that the church may contain hidden buried religious icons of precious metals buried during the incursion of the Ottomans in the 14th and 15th century. Locals have searched but found nothing.

More recent history can be seen, with an abundance of defensive bunkers and pillboxes scattered throughout the village and beyond. These were constructed from the 1960s onwards during periods of intense communist paranoia of a feared invasion from neighboring Yugoslavia. On the southern edge of the village lies a dried up artificial lake which was once used for irrigation. Close to the lake lie a number of clay hills, upon which is an old army base littered with pill boxes, bunkers and various tunnels and large underground rooms that remains abandoned, waterlogged and now largely unexplored.