[Judi W]

I believe that people do not realize how very important the elbows truly are. In many respects they are more important than the hips as they carry the majority of the dog's weight, and must absorb all the landing pressure even when just moving, and especially when any jumping is involved. A dog can shift weight forward to compensate for a lesser rear end, but they cannot shift weight to the back. The Rottweiler is a heavy-bodied dog and those elbows must be able to do a lot of work. In the process I also read the OFA Q&A's. They did a very good job on the subject.

I was investigating a "family" this week as I had been asked to look at possible mating matches for them and I was shocked at the very poor representation in regard to elbows in this entire family! They were busy worrying about heads and pigmentation and all I could think was that I wasn't convinced any of them should be bred at all.