Is it really a Rottweiler?

[otis]

First off, I would like to make it perfectly clear that I know very little about breeding Rottweilers. But I have trained them for over 30 years and would like to give you some info that may help you throughout your journey. I will start with the breed itself.
The Rottweiler is a magnificent dog. If and I do mean if, it fits the breed standard of all the good things it should have, it is an all around dog capable of doing amazing things.

The two main problems that the average owner makes(notice I say their problems, not his), is that they try to change the breed into something it is not, and they do not spend enough time with him.

Your Rottweiler is genetically programed to be a Rottweiler. You can't change him into a Golden Retriever.
Every breed is programmed by genes that give him certain behaviors. You can enhance, or possibly redirect some of these behaviors, but you CAN'T eliminate them. Trying to do so will give you a very dangerous and unpredictable animal.

Some Rottweilers have a higher "tracking" ability, or "herding ability" etc. But the standard of the breed is always there. He WILL be protective, he Will be wary of strangers, he WILL want to be with you every minute. ITS HIM.

The breed is what it is!

Have you ever seen a jaguar, cheetah, leopard in a circus act? NO. It is because it isn't in their genetic makeup. They are unpredictable. Ever give a cat orders and have it obey? No, because they are solitary animals and not pack animals. You can't change what nature has imprinted in your breeds DNA. But people are always trying to make their Rottweiler into Lassie, or whatever. It won't work! Ever!

Rottweilers LOVE their families and giving them lots of attention is important. You have to cement that bond between you. Rottweilers NEED that closeness with you and your family. I can't stress this concept enough. Some dogs can be left alone with little social contact. A Rottweiler can not. If you feel that he shouldn't be a member of the family, he is not the dog for you.

Your Rottweiler considers himself/herself as part of your household. If you make him an outsider, you will have pro lems. Bonding is an important need for him.

Now lets look at the breed. (from MY perspective).
We hear lots of things about Rottweilers,-medium size, intelligent-powerful, etc. But what does that really mean?
Is powerful the same for an elderly 98lb woman as it is for a 240lb athlete. EVERYTHING is relative.

POWERFUL-Hands down, this is the strongest dog that I have ever encountered. Pound for pound I don't think they have an equal. Low center of gravity,very thick bones, massive muscle (and in the right places). One can easily run over a 250lb man like a freight train.
(my wife went to visit her sister and took Otis with her. She tied him to the children's swing set because of her sisters beagle. Twenty minutes later Otis was standing at the back door with the swing set in tow. He pulled it out of the ground, concrete posts and all, and dragged it 50ft to the door.).

INTELLIGENT- They are thinkers and problem solvers. Although they can't reason, their brains tend to work like a computer. They add on to the things they learn.If he learns how to open the fridge door he sees hot dogs. Hot dogs are in a compartment, so he figures out how to open the compartment. Then he gets the hot dogs. So to get the hot dogs- he has to open the frig, open the compartment, and then he gets the hot dogs. DON"T underestimate their intelligence. They are very quick learners.

TEMPERAMENT-This trait greatly depends on you. This is the one trait that you can have a great impact on. He can be a lover or a fighter. Some Rottweilers are extremely protective and unless tempered can cause major problems. Keep in mind that this dog is easily capable of crushing bones with ease. And if he ever get an individual off his feet-the guy is toast. Socialization at an early age is a must. More about that in a later post.

Since this post is getting too long, let me sum it all up.

If you want a "whatever" dog, please get THAT one. Rottweilers are what they are. People put them in situations that they are not able to grasp.
Before getting a Rottweiler, read everything you can find about the breed. It might not be the dog for you.

I get physically ill when I think of all the Rottweilers destroyed because of bad "people" choices. Wonderful dogs that had the bad luck of being owned by the wrong individuals.
Now I'm not saying that these people are "bad" people. For whatever reason, they got the wrong breed and then proceeded to change its nature. IT DOESN'T WORK.

[Skip]

"He WILL be protective, he Will be wary of strangers, he WILL want to be with you every minute. ITS HIM."

Not necessarily. Since you've been training them for 30 years, what all training titles have you put on these dogs?

[rottcrazed]

"He WILL be protective, he Will be wary of strangers, he WILL want to be with you every minute. ITS HIM."

To add to Skip's post, I have to disagree to the above statement here to a point.

My dogs are around strangers at every single dog show we are at, some asking if they can pet my dogs. They have NEVER backed off, growled, snarled, or acted wary at ALL of these perfect strangers. In the obedience and conformation rings, they have to readily accept a perfect stranger (aka the judge) examining them .... to which they have never had a problem with. They do not act like perfect idiots looking for love like some Goldens do, but they are accepting of strangers who are not at all threatening them or me.

Part of my socializing is to take my dogs to different places, which I continue to do throughout their lives. They meet new people, they have to, reality is, they are in a human world and they need to be in control.

No, I don't want a Golden, and my dogs do not act like Goldens, but they are certainly not standoffish, wary or unfriendly at all in situations where they have learned that they are safe.

Should a situation come up where they are potentially threatened, I would expect a different reaction, but that is not the norm.

Kristi

[rottielover2004]

HAHAHAHA, I think someone should then tell harley he is supposed to be a rottweiler. He is not protective nor is he weary of strangers. He welcomes everybody with open paws as long as they pay attention to him

[damp]

Originally Posted by otis

Your Rottweiler is genetically programed to be a Rottweiler. You can't change him into a Golden Retriever.
Every breed is programmed by genes that give him certain behaviors. You can enhance, or possibly redirect some of these behaviors, but you CAN'T eliminate them. Trying to do so will give you a very dangerous and unpredictable animal..

I believe you, when you say:

I know very little about breeding!!!!

Originally Posted by otis

TEMPERAMENT-This trait greatly depends on you.

TEMPERAMENT is all in the breeding!

Originally Posted by otis

Before getting a Rottweiler, read everything you can find about the breed.

...any books to recommend or links to share with us, from where you get/got your informations and education about THE ROTTWEILER????

[otis]

WOW!

I guess I really ruffled feathers here.

You say that your Rottweilers AREN'T protective, aren't wary of strangers, don't care if they are with you or not, and welcomes everyone with open arms? WOW again.

Apparently you have some really watered down Rots. Let me guess now, all of you are from the United States. You take good German stock, breed it with inferior stock (but they look pretty) and come out with a totally different dog.
Wonderful. You have Lassie in dark and tan.

I was referring to the GERMAN standard. NOT the American standard. The GERMAN standard can be found in almost any Rottweiler publication. It has performance standards.

There are a lot of Paris Hilton rottweilers in the U>S> They look pretty, prance pretty, and take greatttt photos. But that is where it ends. They receive awards because of the way they LOOK. And of course someone breeds this animal, and guess what? We get another pretty rottweiler that lacks all of the qualities of the breed.

Your Rottweilers are not protective, not wary of strangers, don't care if they are with you, and best of all, "welcomes everyone"??????????????????? Pathetic

For the individual that asked about my 30 years experience and "titles". I trained WORKING military and security dogs. Dobermans & Rottweilers. Titles? You must be joking.

[JoJo]

You can't change what nature has imprinted in your breeds DNA. But people are always trying to make their Rottweiler into Lassie, or whatever. It won't work! Ever!

Yeah, but Lassie always protected Timmy! Lassie was also very obedient and strong and most definitely intelligent. So why can't our Rotties be like Lassie? Good solid proper breeding will be the foundation to a good solid temperament.

[JoJo]

Apparently you have some really watered down Rots. Let me guess now, all of you are from the United States.

Ah, Mr. Otis, no, not really. Damp is from Denmark. And her Rottweiler is far from being watered down. But I'm sure she will tell you herself.

I was referring to the GERMAN standard. NOT the American standard. The GERMAN standard can be found in almost any Rottweiler publication. It has performance standards.

Could you please post this GERMAN standard you speak of.

I trained WORKING military and security dogs. Dobermans & Rottweilers.

I'd like to know more about these MWD you speak of. Especially all those Dobies and Rotties that our military uses.

[moondog]

Originally Posted by JoJo

Could you please post this GERMAN standard you speak of.

I would ask that otis post BOTH standards he's referring to, both the American and the German, so we can better understand what he's trying to say.

[AlphaLeader]

Originally Posted by otis

WOW!

IApparently you have some really watered down Rots. Let me guess now, all of you are from the United States. You take good German stock, breed it with inferior stock (but they look pretty) and come out with a totally different dog.
Wonderful. You have Lassie in dark and tan.

I was referring to the GERMAN standard. NOT the American standard. The GERMAN standard can be found in almost any Rottweiler publication. It has performance standards.



.

All I could think when I read this was uh oh... there be a can of worms... I am not qualified to comment though... I am sure others will. I will say though... that a good breeder doesnt breed for, "pretty" but for temperment...

[JoJo]

You're absolutely right Moondog, what was I thinking. How can we possibly learn anything if we don't have BOTH those standards for comparison. I need to understand what performance standards us Americans are missing.

[Canula2000]

before this post turns ugly, I wanted to comment on the strength portion of the post, it made me giggle...

(my wife went to visit her sister and took Otis with her. She tied him to the children's swing set because of her sisters beagle. Twenty minutes later Otis was standing at the back door with the swing set in tow. He pulled it out of the ground, concrete posts and all, and dragged it 50ft to the door.).

Not long ago I got a dumb thought in my head to tie up gus to the kids trampoline while I went inside to take care of some business (can't remember now what dumb thing I had to do that gus needed to be tied up) anyway, I came back out 10 minutes later and gus had that tramp moved a couple feet just enough so he could get his ball that rolled out of his reach.

[IJF1]

Well, I'd like to add my 2p to this...

Some Rottweilers are more protective than others. IME many people describe a dog as 'protective' when in reality it has either poor nerves or lacks training.

Some Rottweilers are more wary of strangers than others. Some very hard dogs are quite social (others are not). Some dogs that are wary of strangers, just have bad nerves.

As for the German and Americans standards....this should be good!

[targonrotts]

i agree with some of the points the OP made.
not a dog for everyone.
is/must be part of the family.
nedds socialization.
is a smart breed.
is a powerful dog.
too any people get them and don't know anything about the breed and usually the dog looses.
what i don't agree with is the protective part.
not all are. some are too protective(usually untrained or undersocialized or just a hard dog) and some are too friendly(maybe they are soft,or just watered down). temperament is an important part of our breed, but in this day and age- everyone is just lawsuit happy or wanting to ban your breed.-but i would trust more to have a gun for protection. i wouldn't want my dog involved anyways.

[princessmom]

What in the world is going on here? I've been very busy educating myself on the rottweiler breed, only to find out that I have to know different standards for the exact same breed? What? Is it just me or does this not sound right?
Trust me, I am not bashing Otis here. For all I know he is what he says he is, and knows things that I don't. I'm not a breeder though I am very interested in the rottweiler breed. I think temperment is both nature AND nurture. In other words, not only the genetics but the training and socializing the dog recieves. Certainly you can take nervous, suspicious dogs and breed them with other like-minded dogs and then don't socialize them and they will definately be scared of strangers and nervous when you are not in sight. Isn't this why rotties have a bad rep though? Or is it just GERMAN rotties you gotta look out for?
I'm sorry if I am ignorant on this matter. I would certainly like to hear more.
Maybe I'm just taking what Otis said and thinking in extremes. I guess as a breed, rotties ARE strong, loyal, intelligent and protective. So in retrospect maybe I don't disagree so much. I just can not understand the 2 different breed standards.