The Rottweiler dog breed is one of the most popular in the world. Its characteristics include its large size and strength. Although it may seem otherwise, its character makes them very familiar, friendly and peaceful. But yes, it distrusts strangers and that makes them an excellent guard and defence dog. At Petlifey, we explain everything about the Rottweiler breed.
Rottweiler breed character
The rottweiler, or “rottie” as it is affectionately known, has a friendly and peaceful nature. It is a kind dog with children, very affectionate, obedient, docile and with a good disposition for work. Confident of themselves, it is not nervous or skittish and reacts to its surroundings with great attention.
In principle, thanks to its temperament, it loves to spend as much time as possible in the company of its owners. It is not a kennel dog that can be left all day alone in a yard or garden.
It enjoys sharing its time with all the members of its family nucleus, with whom it establishes a daily relationship based on affection and respect. Something basic when building a balanced hierarchical pyramid, which the animal will strictly respect.
An individual suitably trained and subject to the authority of its owners becomes a dog with a behaviour that is easy to live with, with which it can go anywhere.
Their relationship with children is very good, although they should never be left alone with them without the supervision of a responsible adult. Especially if the smallest of the house do not know the characteristics of their dog, nor have they been instructed about how they should treat it.
It is important to make children understand that a dog is not a stuffed animal, but a living being that has feelings, that it is sensitive and that it deserves respectful and dignified treatment.
Only from that starting point can you build a solid relationship in which you don’t have to regret unpleasant future situations.
The Rottweiler usually interacts with other dogs without problems, especially if it has been used since childhood. And, if altercations between individuals of the same sex or hierarchical conflicts do not arise that can lead to an open confrontation.
Something similar happens with pets of other specie, with which it can live without problem in a home. Although it should be noted that this breed of dog, with few exceptions, does not usually have the cat among its best friends.
In relation to people outside the home, the intelligence of this dog leads themselves to immediately know who frequents the house and, even more, to discern if strangers are well received or, on the contrary, they are totally unexpected.
With the former, those who come as friends, the dog maintains a friendly and close attitude, although without ever devoting the attention and affection to their owners.
With those who try to enter the house with bad intentions, it displays all its protective instincts and shows the reason for its reputation as a fierce and incorruptible guardian.
In short, it can be said that, taking into account that it is a guard and defence dog, the sociability of this breed is acceptable, and it also adapts without problems to living in the city as long as exercise and suitable activity.
Among these sports practices, you can choose to use it for agility, tracking, sports obedience, different defence and protection disciplines, kart shooting, human rescue, drug and explosives detection and even therapy dog work.
It is, as you can see, a very active, versatile and versatile animal, so its owners do not have to have any problem finding an activity that may interest and entertain their pet.
- Energy: medium / high level. Daily walks are essential, as well as some outdoor activity from time to time.
- Temperament: balanced, self-confident, strong, obedient and hard-working, in family it is docile, cheerful, peaceful and affectionate.
- Adaptability: high. It adapts to living in the city as long as it has free space and access to the exercise it needs.
- Sociability: medium / High. Very affectionate with its family, it does not usually raise problems with other animals, but it does not get along with cats and distrusts strangers, with whom it can even be aggressive.
- Health: good. You can suffer from some diseases associated with large breeds, like this one
- Longevity: medium. Live between 10 and 12 years.
- Utility: very versatile. Guard and defence dog, it is also a great companion animal. It is good at tracking, herding, therapy, drug detection, etc.
- Utilization: guard, defence, service and company.
Rottweiler characteristics
Among all the characteristics of the Rottwiler, it stands out that it is a large, robust dog, neither coarse nor light, and with its limbs not too high. From its strong, compact and well-proportioned figure it is inferred that it is a very powerful, agile and resistant animal.
Let’s see below what the Rottweiler is like and what the breed standard is like :
- General appearance: large, robust and strong, it is a dog with a compact, proportionate and very muscular figure. Agile and powerful, it is resistant.
- Size: very large.
- Height at the withers: between 61 and 68 cm for males and between 56 and 63 cm for females.
- Weight: between 45 and 50 kg for males and between 38 and 42 kg for females.
- Origin: Germany.
- Body: it is a large dog, with strong bones and a very muscular body whose appearance reveals its original robustness. Its body structure is rather square, since the length of the trunk is similar, or perhaps slightly greater, than its height at the withers.
- Head: broad, robust and forceful, it is broad at the top, with a well marked stop, a strong and powerful muzzle, and a broad black nose, with wide nostrils.
- Skull: broad between the ears, the forehead is moderately raised and the occipital protuberance is well developed, without being too conspicuous.
- Muzzle: almost the same length as the skull, it has a casal reces, wide at the insertion and narrower as it approaches the nose. the corners.
- Nose: black and well developed, it is broad rather than round and has relatively large nostrils.
- Eyes: dark brown or pigmented black. They are not very large, medium in size. They are oval in shape and show firm eyelids that are well attached to the eyeball.
- Ears: They are shaped like a “V” and fall on both sides of the head. The point of insertion is located very high on the skull, they are medium and triangular, They are widely separated from each other at the base, they lie close to the head and are positioned forward, so that the area of the skull gives the impression of being wider.
- Nose-frontal depression (stop): it is very evident.
- Jaws: the jaws are very strong and broad, with generally dark gums and strong and complete teeth, with a scissor bite.
- Neck: strong, moderately long and very muscular. A little arched at the top, it does not present a double chin or loose skin.
- Chest: spacious, broad and deep, it is well developed in the front part and has a bulging rib.
- Back: straight and strong, with a short and deep lumbar region. The rump, slightly rounded, is broad.
- Forelimbs: seen from the front they are straight and not very close together. The shoulders are well placed. The forearms are straight when viewed from the side, they are powerfully developed and well muscled, while the arms run close to the trunk.
- Hind limbs: seen from behind they are straight, parallel and not very close together. The angles of the hip, knee and hock, in natural position, are quite open. Their legs are long, strong, with a lot of muscles and tendinous, they have a wide, long and powerful thigh. The knees have open angles and the hocks are powerful and well angulated, they are not steep.
- Feet: They are rather rounded, and the toes form a good curve. They have robust and hard footpads, and black, short and hard nails. Round, although the rear ones are perhaps a little less so, they have the toes together and bulging. They have hard pads and short, black, strong nails.
- Tail: short but robust, the dog usually wears it horizontally, as an extension of the upper line of the body, but sometimes, when it is at rest, it can also be worn by hanging.
- Skin: on the head the skin appears tight, but when the dog is alert, small wrinkles form on the forehead.
- Hair: the coat is double, it has an outer coat whose hair is of medium length, hard, thick and tight, and an undercoat made up of undercoat that does not protrude from the outer hair. In the hind limbs the coat is a little longer.
- Color: The Rottweiler is black, with well-defined tan markings on the cheeks, muzzle, throat, chest and limbs, as well as above the eyes and below the tail.
- Movement: it is a trotter that advances with a firm back and with a harmonious, safe, strong and free movement, taking wide steps.
- FCI Classification: FCI No. 147 GROUP 2 – Pinscher and Schnauzer, Molossian, and Swiss Mountain and Cattle Dogs – Section 2 Molossian.
Rottweiler puppy
If you are thinking of adopting or buying a Rottweiler puppy, there are a number of things to keep in mind.
You should know that with a dog of this strength and size it is essential to do an intense work of early socialization.
Ideally, this should begin at the kennel and continue with the puppy’s arrival at home, between seven and ten weeks old. The more situations the small animal is exposed to, the greater its ability to discern in the future when facing any event.
In this sense, a well-managed specimen becomes an excellent, hard-working and dedicated animal that lives with its family in a calm and non-shrill way.
A well-educated pet, socialized and with the proper care and attention, will avoid possible problems in the future.
Rottweiler education and training
The Rottweiler is a calm and very balanced dog, with an extraordinary courage and a faithfulness to its family to all tests.
This loyalty and dedication to its masters is legendary and if the occasion arises it is able to defend them to the death, displaying an insensitivity to pain that is truly astonishing.
Likewise, it is a very malleable animal, easy to educate and that responds very well to training, although, due to its strong temperament, it needs a firm and very secure hand to guide it.
Thus, the ideal owner of a dog of this breed is someone who has some experience in handling dogs and who knows well how the mechanisms of canine behavior work.
Strong dog that likes to serve a stronger leader than themselves, if you want to avoid temperamental disorders and rebellious situations that are difficult to solve.
The potential owner of this animal should know that, from the first day that its puppy arrives home, it will be undergoing a continuous examination and daily scrutiny by its dog. It will dedicate all its attention, respect and affection to you, but will not forgive you for any sign of weakness, inconsistency or injustice in the treatment.
In fact, many of the myths and false beliefs that exist about this breed come from the negative impact that fashion has on dogs.
It was precisely the great demand for specimens that occurred at a certain time that brought with it an uncontrolled breeding and an approach by breeders who were only interested in the economic benefits they could obtain. So they did not properly control the suitability of the dogs intended for breeding.
In this sense, it is always very interesting to include the Rottweiler in a training or organized work group. Since there, you can share experiences with other owners and get advice from trained professionals. This will always end up having a positive impact on the welfare of the animal and on living with it.
Rottweiler feeding
Regarding the diet of the Rottweiler, this is a very gluttonous dog that tends to gain weight easily if care is not taken with its diet and food is left freely available, so it is very convenient to divide the daily intake into several intakes, to thereby also avoid stomach torsion.
In this sense, you must also be careful not to give them a lot of water immediately after exercising or when returning from a walk in the middle of summer.
The obesity is now almost a pandemic among all breeds. Its appearance is often the origin and trigger of other much more serious conditions.
Therefore, the weight of the animal must be closely controlled, especially in the stages of development and old age, when the joint system and the cardiovascular system are weaker and susceptible to irreversible damage.
Rottweiler breed health and diseases
Strong, robust and vigorous, the Rottweiler is a generally healthy dog, although, as with many other breeds, it has a tendency to suffer from certain pathologies and diseases.
For example, the special sensitivity that puppies of this breed have to the virus that causes parvovirus is very peculiar. This disease is very serious and has a fairly high mortality, so it is essential to take extreme care of the puppy and its vaccination program. Perhaps even following a different routine than the usual for other races.
On the other hand, its large size and its peculiar body structure favour the appearance of hip dysplasia to a similar extent to that of other breeds of the same size. And, the particular conformation of your skull is responsible for the cases of eye conditions being relatively frequent.
Despite all this, you should not be under the false impression that the Rottweiler is a weak breed. On the contrary, it is healthy, strong and has an average longevity similar to that of other dogs of its size, easily exceeding 10 and even 12 years of ag.
Estimates about the longevity of an animal must always be taken with a statistical and estimative character, since there are many factors that influence the duration of a dog’s life.
Unfortunately, not all of them are under the control of the owners. Although, many others do, so it is very important to advocate for them to try to provide the animal with a good quality of life. Thus, to ensure as far as possible that you live the maximum number of years.
The best action that can be carried out in this regard is to establish a preventive health program. Therefore, it is very important to have the advice and support of a trusted veterinarian from the beginning.
In addition to going to them to resolve any questions that may arise about the care and maintenance of the puppy, it will advise you about the best living conditions for each puppy. And, it will solve the problems that originate around the animal.
This professional should be in charge of designing a standardized vaccination program and another for internal and external deworming. Also, make an evolutionary monitoring of the growth and weight of the dog in its different stages. As well as, systematically control the state of the eyes, mouth, ears, skin, mucous membranes and hair, the main indicators of the general state of the dog’s health.
Specific care of the Rottweiler breed
In addition to being in good health and being physically exercised and active, the Rottweiler should also have beautiful aesthetics.
This is something quite easy to achieve, since it is enough to subject it to occasional brushing using a suede glove or a natural bristle brush.
Regarding how often the Rottweiler should be bathed, it is enough to give it a good bath when the dog is very dirty. Always use a shampoo that does not alter the natural pH of your skin and hair. And, rinsing it very well so as not to leave any trace of soap.
In summary, the owners of this breed, if they care about educating their dog correctly and providing it with all the care and attention it demands, which is not many, they have at their disposal a serious, thoughtful and calm animal.
At the same time, it is a brave companion with a high dose of self-confidence. You will be able to live very peacefully and calmly at home while defending it with absolute loyalty.