[laurlitt]

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the AKC classifications for pure bred dogs. Rottweilers of course, belonging to the working class. The history of the Rottweiler suggests that it has been a working breed, but in present time what constitutes that a Rottweiler is 'working'? Is it obedience, CGC, tracking, schtuzhund, personal protection... I realize these days working is very rarely anything but for sport. I recall someone stating that they were working on their conformation exercises and required their dog to pay attention to them and said that the dog just loves to work... Is that working? I think that sort of attention is required from any breed... even the non-working breeds and I personally don't call that 'working'. Is a working dog one that is trained to heel in a ring by repetition and retrieve a dumbbell? Or a dog who gets the newspaper for the owner in the morning? A dog who passes the CGC or TT? A dog who can compete successfully in all three phases of Schutzhund? A dog who can herd sheep/cattle thru a gate?

Food for thought...