Sadly enough what Mick stated at the end of his excellent posting is very true. Indiscriminate breeding has diluted the true traits of the Rottweilers. In some cases, totally ruining the breed.
The problem is that some people breed Rottweilers thinking of "show beauty" as the main purpose for breeding, thus making showing conformation in the ring their first priority, although at the expense of blatantly disregarding the desired temperament and working abilities in the breed. That's why there are many "show dogs" that look beautiful and all, but they are worthless as working dogs. Other breeders want you to believe that the Rottweiler's true working ability is herding!... Well, they are wrong, herding is just ONE of the many working traits of the breed. The truth of the matter is that the Rottweiler is a multi talented dog capable to perform different tasks in different areas.
However, due to random wanton breeding practices even though many Rottweilers are black with tan markings, they do not resemble the true noble Rottweiler. Why? Because, unfortunately, they lack the expected temperament, character, drives and nerves, that make this great breed so awesome. As many people are aware of, the majority of Rottweilers in the United States come from backyard irresponsible breeding, which in turn has hurt the breed tremendously, transforming it, in some cases, into a vicious unpredictable dog or sometimes into a plain wimp!
The true Rottweiler is a working dog capable to perform in different fields, such as tracking, scent discrimination, guarding, herding, therapy, agility, schutzhund, police patrol, military service, pet companion & protection, etc. That is what the Rottweiler breed is all about! If we want to save this noble breed, we need to learn more about it, in an attempt to preserve the traditional Rottweiler, or else this breed is doomed to become one of those breeds that people nowadays refer to by saying
"They used to, but bad breeding destroyed the standards of the breed. You hardly can find one that truly characterizes the old type" :( It has happened to other breeds, trust me
Let's hope we can do better.