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Originally Posted by Ostory

The Rottweiler is a working mainly due to it's history. The dog has changed greatly over the past few years. It now is much larger than it was even 20 years ago. The bigger dogs win shows, so it is only natural that the breed is getting bigger.

It is extremely difficult for a 95lbs male Rottweiler to win a show.

But this is a much better size dog to do "work". Schutzhund is the sport that the breed is test with in it's country of origin. This has been the sport which measure the dog's ability to work according to the breed club of the country of origin.

I can appreciate differing views on what "work" is. Regardless of the activity, once any breed's size goes over 100lbs it's ability to "work" will become restricted.

The temperament is another issue, but mainly the Rottweiler is a show dog with a history of work. In today's world not many are used by Police or Military, there are a few exceptions.

I don't agree that today's successful work/show rotts are much larger than (the successful work/show rotts) were 20 years ago. A lot of the top male rotts from 20 years were toward the upper part of the standard. I'm totally against those breeders nowadays that are REALLY breeding oversized, unhealthy rotts, but I've seen many rotts that are towards the upper end of the standard that I don't feel are restricted. Restricted how? In what particular area? Not for any kind of protection work...at least not the good ones. In what area would a lighter rott be an advantage? For speed? Even a very slow dog can catch a very fast person pretty quick.