Rottweiler

Bulky and with muscles of steel, the Rottweiler can be a tender creature or a frightful brute, depending on its individuality and its master. Originally bred to drive livestock to market, it’s also known as earliest police dog and has almost legendary fame as a guard dog. Generally speaking, this breed doesn’t deserve its somewhat nasty reputation for aggressiveness and can make a loyal, affectionate and playful family pet when correctly handled and trained.

The Rottweiler emerged from Rottweil, Germany. There is a theory that it stemmed from Italian Mastiff, which accompanied Romans during their attempt to conquer Europe. The dog was used as a guard for the cattle and camp. The Romans concluded their raid in what is now Southern Germany and the town of Rottweil. The Rottweiler was used there to drive livestock to and from the market in the city. These dogs also delivered carts with meat and milk to clients. Local butchers loved the breed and begun breeding selection to create a perfect dog, one that reveals superb herding skills as well as being a devoted and trustworthy guard.

During Dark Ages, the Rotweiler became truly versatile and served as a herder, as a guard, messenger and draught dog. The XIX century was marked with widespread railroads and cattle driving by dogs was permanently prohibited. Subsequently, the breeding of Rottweiler was abandoned and it led to its near extinction. In 1905 only one female Rottweiler existed in Rottweil, Germany. Up to that point locals bred it mostly for the purpose of private and home protection. Only after encountering of its talents as a police dog re-establishing process for this wonderful breed has spurred.

After World War II, the popularity of the Rottweiler has started to expand. At that time, it was mainly praised as a first-class obedience dog. The breed was first acknowledged by the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1931. The peak of its fame was in the mid-1990s when more than 100,000 were put on a record with the AKC.

The Rotweiler is famous for its nasty reputation as being wicked and overall aggressive. Frankly speaking, it’s hard to draw any certain conclusion about the character of the dog all in all since so many discreditable or ignorant masters have brought up lots of short-tempered and ill-behaved dogs. Most Rotweilers come to be perilous only as a consequence of its owner’s carelessness or purposeful maliciousness.

It’s also worth considering the simple fact that it has been developed as a guard dog for a long time and acquired a very powerful protective instinct. Majority of the Rotweilers are well fit for being trustworthy and observant defender provided they were properly trained and socialized. It might seem strange for lots of the breed’s slanderers, but the Rottweiler tends extremely cling to a human being. It’s affectionate and mischievous with those it knows well. Highly devoted and fearless, the dog would sacrifice its life for the sake of its beloved housemates.

The Rottweiler expresses aggressiveness towards strangers due to its strong protective instinct and natural suspiciousness. The dog will welcome the stranger with proper respect and politeness when the owner is around but won’t stand it on its domain when it’s alone even if it’s a friend of the family. The Rottweiler is very mistrustful when it concerns new people in the household though majority of breed members will finally acknowledge them and shape tight relationship with them.

The Rottweilers’ behaviour varies greatly when it comes to children handling. When they are brought up together it’s essentially ok with a child although due to its massiveness and untamed power it can hurt him or her unintentionally during the play. It is advisable to wait until children are 6 or older before acquiring such a serious dog.

The Rottweiler is known as a small animals’ chaser, so keeping other home pets with it may pose a problem. The dog possesses a powerful prey drive and it may never tolerate even a home pet with which it has been raised. Some issues can as well arise with dog’s attitude towards other canines. Specifically, the Rottweiler is harsh with strange dogs intruding its domain. The breed gets along best with its fellow of opposite sex or an offspring, which it knows all its life.

On the whole, the Rottweiler can be recommended for a family life with great caution and certain stipulations. If you are prepared to invest substantial amount of time and efforts in obedience training and socialization you can raise an exceptionally loyal friend and fearless guardian.

The most common problems for the breed include:

• canine hip dysplasia;
• elbow dysplasia;
• skeletal growth abnormalities;
• arthritis;
• ACL damage;
• osteochondritis dissecans;
• heart issues;
• eye problems;
• cancer;
• gastric torsion;
• obesity.

The short hair of the Rottweiler requires very little attendance. It should be brushed only once or twice a week. Other usual maintaining procedures as teeth brushing or nail clipping are essential for keeping the dog in good condition and well-attended. It’s reasonable to introduce these practices from a young age and perform it as gentle as you can. It may become a daunting task to trim nails of 50 kilogram Rottweiler that is scared of scissors.

The Rottweiler is both smart and trainable. Researches of dog’s intelligence usually rank the breed among 10 most intelligent breeds. The Rottweiler is obedient to its master with outmost eagerness to please. There is virtually no trick that the dog can’t learn with diligent and persistent trainer.

Though two admonitions should be made concerning the dog’s trainability. The first one is that the Rottweiler will not obey a person that is lower it in a social hierarchy. The master should control the situation all the time and allege its dominance regularly. The second warning concerns pressing need for Rottweiler to be correctly socialized. The owner must put additional time to work on the dog’s behaviour and manners. It also should be taken into account, that, despite training, the Rottweiler’s actions can be quite unpredictable outside the presence of its master.

The Rottweiler represents an active vigorous dog. The master should reserve at least an hour of his time for a brisk walk with it. It carries great significance to give the dog chance to relieve its superfluous energy otherwise the Rottweiler can develop destructive and aggressive behaviour, excessive barking habit and become overexcited. The dog is always eager to play and especially favours fetch games.

The Rottweiler requires constant mental stimulations and is most satisfied when engaged with activities, which entail mental efforts. Taking into consideration fear it can provoke in other humans as well as possible aggressiveness it’s advisable not to let your dog off the leash until you are in a safely fenced area. However, a well-mannered Rottweiler will never run away.