Description

The Rottweiler is a medium-large, robust, powerful dog. The build of a Rottweiler denotes its great strength, agility and endurance. The Rottweiler is a working dog, Rottweiler are the happiest when there is a job to do whether it is herding, competing in obedience, tracking, search and rescue or retrieving the newspaper. The is an effective guard dog, but needs firm handling and proper training. A Rottweiler will defend his family and property to the end, but they do have a tendency to become loyal to one person. An inexperienced owner should not consider this breed.

Size of Male: Height: 24-27 inches Weight: 85-135 pounds

Size of Female: Height: 22-25 inches Weight: 80-100 pounds

Temperament

The Rottweiler is calm, trainable, courageous, and devoted to their owner and family. Rottweiler has a reliable temperament. Protective, Rottweiler will defend their family fiercely. These are strong fighters that seem immune to pain. Serious, steady and confident. Firm and careful training is essential for this breed, otherwise you may end up with a very powerful and overly aggressive dog. Yet they can, with proper handling, also be loyal, loving and very rewarding companions. They require owners who can handle their massive size. The Rottweiler is a natural guard dog with a mellow temperament. They are highly intelligent and have proven their worth beyond question in police, military, and customs work over many centuries. Because of their size, training should begin fairly young – while the dog is still small, and great care should be taken to ensure that the dog is not made vicious. This breed needs a lot of companionship and socialization to be truly happy. They can be aggressive with other dogs and should be kept on leashes in public places. When the Rottweiler is consistently brought up and trained, it will be a good playmate for the children. It will accept cats and other household pets as long as the dog has had a positive experience with them while it was young. Friends and relatives of the family are normally enthusiastically welcomed. Strangers can get no further than the sidewalk. The breed does well in competitive obedience and tracking.

Living Conditions

The Rottweiler will do okay in an apartment if it is sufficiently exercised. Rottweiler is relatively inactive indoors and a small yard will be sufficient. However, do ensure you bring the Rottweiler out for daily exercise and train from young to prevent accidents from happening. Also do ensure you socialize your Rottweiler enough so that it is not people and other dog aggressive.

Upkeep

The Rottweiler needs daily physical and mental activity, either in the form of long walks or jogs, or a vigorous game in a safe area, as well as obedience lessons. Rottweiler enjoys cold weather and may become overheated in hot weather. Rottweiler can live outdoors in temperate to cool climates, as long as plenty of shelter is available. It needs to spend significant time inside with its human family, however, so that proper bonding can occur. Coat care is minimal, consisting only of occasional brushing to remove dead hair.

Health

Major concerns: hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, sub-aortic stenosis, osteosarcoma, gastric torsion

Minor concerns: osteochondritis dessicans, entropion, ectropion, von willebrand’s disease, panosteitis

Life expectancy: 8 – 11 years