We NEED advice from experienced Rotti owners!

[Tinybear]

Sounds like your Rottie girl is being trained very well and you are doing everything right. Your Rottie and your baby will be the best of friends--I'm sure of it!!!!

[Tia Maria]

Thank you very much Tinybear. That's very sweet of you! We are definitely working on making our Tia the best she can be. She can be a little bugger sometimes ;) but we love her still! :D

[princesskaty]

My rott knows that kids are smaller than she is and she can't be rough at all with them. She is great around kids and my family. My family had a bunch of negative feelings about me getting a Rott but now they love her to death and pay her more attention than me. To introduce your dog to a new member of the family you can get a doll or a stuffed animal and wash it with your clothes and hold it around the dog and just get her used to having someone else around that smells just like you. It worked with my nephew and now the dogs act real calm around him and also let him pet them (he's 1 yr old now). Good Luck

[Deborah Reid]

I got my first rottweiler in 1988, and at the time I got pregnant in 1997 I had at that time 2 females, Ciera who was 4 and Kinseigh who was 2.
Having had rotties for so long, I didn't get any grief from my family (either side thank goodness), but we did start doing certain things with the girls.
Once we set up the nursury, they were not allowed to go in there (we used a baby gate). We started to teach them how to "be quiet", and got them used to the basinet, swing, etc before we had the baby.
I made sure to introduce them to all of my friends babies of various ages, but they had both been around newborns before too.
Oh and I also taught them to stay down! Yes, we were "doggy parents" and the girls would sit with us in our chairs or on the couch, in bed LOL, jump up on us when we played with them etc, and I had taught them to jump up on me as a "good ending" when ever we had done any formal training, obedience or conformation.. so that was a big part of training while I was pregnant, no jumping up!
We used lots of praise and rewards, and would cuddle with them on the floor rather than in the chair. They adjusted very well, Ciera was the hardest to train to stay off our laps, but overall she got used to it, and we just made sure to pay her special attention on a different level.
When we brought our son home, the girls were staying with my parents while we were in the hospital, and we brought them home the next day.
I was probably extraordinarily lucky, but my girls took our new baby right in stride. They came up and sniffed him, and Kinseigh gave him a kiss (her nickname is Kiss, her tongue is notorious LOL).
They were still our girls, and followed us all over the house still, always concerned whenever he would cry, curious when we changed him or bathed him.
I had always been very firm about teaching my family and friends never to leave any dog unsupervised with children, so that was, and is, a given.
When our son got to crawling and then walking, I made sure that the girls had a place they could go to get away from him (which was our bedroom), but I taught them from the begining that they had to move away from him, not the other way around and NO growling was allowed, ever!
As my son got older (he is now 4), I taught him to be gentle with the dogs and taught him how to play fetch with them. I taught him how to leave them alone, and how not to bug them etc.
He is never been allowed to hit them, pull their ears, poke their eyes, or lay, jump or step on them.
He can sit beside them on the floor and pet them, but if they get up and move away from him, he is not allowed to pester them.
They have been taught to get up and move if they do not want his attention, to never growl or show any inclination of getting upset with him, to take things from him gently and to not knock him down charging through the door or playing fetch (though I have to say it did happen a couple times, it all takes time and constant SUPERVISION).
I hope this helps some :)

[winniecnm]

My father-in-law has a four year old son and another two year old son. Recently, after we bought our home, him and his wife were nice enough to inform us not to EVER expect a visit from them since we own three "DANGEROUS" rottweilers. That is UNLESS we BOARDED our dogs.

I am not missing any sleep.:D:D

Frankly, when someone expresses prejudice against a breed, or race of human it speaks volumes to me about WHAT KIND of person they are.

My husband and I have decided that we don't care to surround ourselves with narrowminded, prejudiced people (even if they ARE family).:D Needless to say, my dogs are part of my family and will never see the inside of a boarding kennel, or be left behind when we go to visit our family. If we are not invited because of the dogs, then fine, oh well, no big deal.

Anyway- sorry to ramble here- congratulations on the upcoming baby, and just remember to keep training Tia and everything will work out fine. Owning a dog is a lifelong commitment just like having a baby. Both need to know the rules of interacting with each other and of course, never leave a large dog of ANY breed alone with a child, even for a moment.

[TrishB]

This is my first post on the forums and I feel genuinely lucky to have found you all! :D

I too will be in the same boat this coming Spring. After 16 years of admiring this wonderful breed, I'm finally getting my first Rottie. I've found a breeder who I'm thrilled with, have met both parents and THEIR parents! I can't wait!

I've already been getting the comments: "Why do you want one of THOSE?!", and "If you have children, you'll have to get rid of it."

It's heartbreaking. I've loved this breed for years. I know what they are capable of (both wonderous and bad). I have years of experience with dogs (I was in the veterinary industry for 9 years) and am well aware of the responsibility I am taking on.

How do I intend to tangle with the comments? I plan to take my little girl to obedience training and concentrate on socialization. I also hope to work on getting titles on her such as RTD and CGC. I'd love for her to be an ambassador of our breed! I really believe that the more I have her 'out there' and people learn about our wonderful breed - we'll all be better off.

I'll be posting here quite a bit to let you know how we're doing! :)

[Tinybear]

TrishB, Congrats on getting a Rottie baby! My last Rottie, Bear (who has passed on) changed so many people's minds about Rotties, he was the sweetest dog ever. Everyone bragged on his personality when they met him. Most Rotties if trained and socialized well make wonderful pets.

I now have a three month old Rottie boy, Rascal, and already he loves everyone and we are training him (they are SO easy to train) and socialing him well. We have been working on the 'no bite' thing --as all puppies love to do! Now he will play with my seven year old son, and he is already so gentle with him and if he bites too hard my son says 'no bite' and he settles right down. In my personal opinion I think Rotties and kids make a great combination (again, if well trained)!

When you get your new girl please post and tell us all about her.

[Wyldhrt]

If you think convincing your family that having and "owning" one Rottweiler is difficult. Try explaining to them that you've helped to form a rescue and now house 3 adults and 6 pups right along side of your own personal female and your 3 children.

My mother thinks I'm insane, my dad thinks what I do is an awesome thing. You can't convert everyone into thinking Rotties are as wonderful as we know they can be, especially if the Rotties you are coming into contact with are already full grown adults who have to be evaluated and some of which do truly turn out to be undesireable. I do the best I can, my children are more educated about what and what not to do around any dogs(my nine yr old taught my mother how to train her Boston Terrier X not to jump up on people..grinnnnnnnnn), and my mother has been told in a loving manner that this is who I am and what I choose to do, thank you for your concern it's been duly noted :)

Silent proof is the best kind, train Tia, properly socialize her and prove them wrong. That is the best statement you can make for her, pushing the issue and having it cause stress to everyone concerned by taking her with you to family functions when she is more than not welcome only hurts you and your companion.

Good luck with Tia! She sounds as if she's made a friend for life ;)