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So You Want to Buy a RottweilerInterested in buying a Rottweiler?
You must be or you wouldn't be reading this. You've already heard how
wonderful Rottweilers are. Well, I think you should also hear, before
it's too late, that Rottweilers ARE NOT THE PERFECT BREED FOR EVERYONE.
As a breed they have a few features that some people find charming, but
that some people find mildly unpleasant and some people find downright
intolerable. While a Rottweiler is a large,
impressive breed, true protection is only obtained through a lifetime of
training. Even if you do not choose to train in protection, a Rottweiler
requires many hours of obedience training and socialization, and can be
expected at some point in his/her life to challenge it's owner. Some
Rottweilers are also slow to bark, coming into their voice at two to
three years of age - do not expect your Rottweiler puppy to
instinctively warn you of an approaching stranger. There are many other
breeds whose "watch dog" capabilities far exceed that of the Rottweiler.
If all you are seeking is a dog that will bark at strangers approaching
your home, you may want to look at the Labrador, the Standard Poodle, or
some terrier breeds. Rottweilers were bred to share in
many aspects of a family's daily life, as protective guardians, willing
workers, and happy playmates. They thrive on companionship and they want
to be wherever you are. They are happiest living with you in your house
and going with you when you go out. While they usually tolerate being
kenneled for periods of time, or crated inside the house by themselves,
they need human contact and socialization in order to remain
well-rounded. A Rottweiler who does not receive adequate socialization
and attention is likely to grow up to be unsociable (fearful and/or
unprovokedly aggressive), unruly, and unhappy. He may well develop
pastimes, such as digging or barking, that will displease you and/or
your neighbors. An adult so exiled will be miserable too. If you don't
strongly prefer to have your dog's companionship as much as possible,
enjoy having him sleep in your bedroom at night and sharing many of your
activities by day, you should choose a breed less oriented to human
companionship. Likewise, if your job or other obligations prevent you
from spending much time with your dog. No dog is really happy without
companionship but the pack hounds are more tolerant of being kenneled or
yarded so long as it is in groups of 2 or more. A better choice would be
a cat, as they are solitary by nature. Basic obedience and household rules
training is NOT optional for the Rottweiler. As an absolute minimum, you
must teach him to reliably respond to commands to come, to lie down, to
stay, and to walk at your side, on or off leash and regardless of
temptations. You must also teach him to respect your household rules:
e.g. is he allowed to get on the furniture? is he allowed to beg at the
table? What you allow or forbid is unimportant; but it is *critical*
that you, not the dog, make these choices and that you enforce your
rules consistently. You must commit yourself to attending an 8 to 10
week series of weekly lessons at a local obedience club or professional
trainer and to doing one or two short (5 to 20 minutes) homework
sessions per day. As commands are learned, they must be integrated into
your daily life by being used whenever appropriate and enforced
consistently. Young Rottweiler puppies are relatively easy to train:
they are eager to please, intelligent, and calm-natured, with a
relatively good attention span. Once a Rottweiler has learned something,
he tends to retain it well. Your cute, sweet little Rottweiler puppy
will grow up to be a large, powerful dog with a highly self-assertive
personality, and the determination to finish whatever he starts. If he
has grown up respecting you and your rules, then all his physical and
mental strength will work for you. But if he has grown up without rules
and guidance from you, surely he will make his own rules and his
physical and mental powers will often act in opposition to your needs
and desires. For example: he may tow you down the street as if
competing in a sled-dog race; he may grab food off the table; he may
forbid your guests entry to his home. This training cannot be delegated
to someone else, e.g. by sending the dog away to "boarding school",
because the relationship of respect and obedience is personal between
the dog and the individual who does the training. This is true of all
dogs to a greater or lesser degree, but definitely to a very great
degree in Rottweilers. While you definitely may want the help of an
experienced trainer to teach you how to train your dog, you yourself
must actually train your Rottweiler. As each lesson is well learned,
then the rest of the household (except very young children) must also
work with the dog, insisting he obey them as well. Dogs do not believe in social
equality. They live in a social hierarchy led by a pack-leader (Alpha).
The alpha dog is generally benevolent, affectionate, and non-bullying
towards his subordinates; but there is never any doubt in his mind or in
theirs that the alpha is the boss and makes the rules. Whatever the
breed, if you do not assume the leadership, the dog will do so sooner or
later and with more or less unpleasant consequences for the abdicating
owner. Like the untrained dog, the pack-leader dog makes his own rules
and enforces them against other members of the household by means of a
dominant physical posture and a hard-eyed stare, followed by a snarl,
then a knockdown blow or a bite. Breeds differ in tendencies towards
social dominance; and individuals within a breed differ considerably.
Rottweilers as a breed tend to be of a socially dominant personality.
You really cannot afford to let a Rottweiler become your boss. You do
not have to have the personality or mannerisms of a Marine boot camp
Sergeant, but you do have to have the calm, quiet self-assurance and
self-assertion of the successful parent ("Because I'm your mother,
that's why.") or successful grade-school teacher. If you think you might
have difficulty asserting yourself calmly and confidently to exercise
leadership, then choose a breed known for its socially subordinate
disposition, such as a Golden Retriever or a Shetland Sheepdog, and be
sure to ask the breeder to select one of the more submissive pups in the
litter for you. A Rottweiler becomes deeply attached
and devoted to his own family, and will show this affection in a variety
of ways. Some Rottweilers are noticeably reserved, however most are more
outgoing, and a few may be exuberantly demonstrative of their
affections. They like to be near you, usually in the same room, an
almost always with a head or paw in your lap. They will follow you from
room to room, and if you are standing still, will lean against your leg.
They have been known to upend morning coffee cups by deciding that it's
time your hand touched their heads. They are emotionally sensitive to
their favorite people: when you are joyful, proud, angry, or
grief-stricken, your Rott will immediately perceive it and may respond
to your mood. As puppies, of course, they will be more dependent,
clownish, and given to testing the limits of their surrounding. The Rottweiler's short coarse coat
and undercoat do shed . Generally shedding is confined to once or twice
per year, but Rottweiler females may "blow coat" during their heat
cycles, and some Rotties shed more than others. I don't mean to imply
that you must be a slob or slattern to live happily with a Rott, but you
do have to have the attitude that your dog's company means more to you
than does neatness and you do have to be comfortable with a less than
immaculate house. Rottweilers need exercise to maintain
the health of heart and lungs, and to maintain muscle tone. Because of
his mellow, laid-back, often lazy, disposition, your Rottweiler will not
give himself enough exercise unless you accompany him or play with him.
An adult Rottweiler should have a morning outing of a mile or more, as
you walk briskly, jog, or bicycle beside him, and a similar evening
outing. For puppies, shorter and slower walks, several times a day are
preferred for exercise and housebreaking. Whether you live in town or country,
no dog can safely be left to run "free" outside your fenced property and
without your direct supervision and control. The price of such "freedom"
is inevitably injury or death: from dogfights, from automobiles, from
the pound or from justifiably irate neighbors. Even though Rotts are
home-loving and less inclined to roam than most breeds, an unfenced Rott
is destined for disaster. Like other breeds developed for livestock
herding, most Rotts have inherited a substantial amount of "herding
instinct", which is a strengthened and slightly modified instinct to
chase and capture suitable large prey. The unfenced country-living Rott
will sooner or later discover the neighbor's livestock (sheep, cattle,
horses, poultry) and respond to his genetic urge to chase and harass
such stock. State law almost always gives the livestock owner the legal
right to kill any dog chasing or "worrying" his stock, and almost all
livestock owners are quick to act on this! The unfenced city Rott is
likely to exercise his inherited herding instinct on joggers,
bicyclists, and automobiles. A thoroughly obedience-trained Rottweiler
can enjoy the limited and supervised freedom of off-leash walks with you
in appropriately chosen environments. Rottweilers are not a cheap breed to
buy, as running a careful breeding program with due regard for
temperament, trainability, and physical soundness (hips especially)
cannot be done cheaply. The time the breeder should put into each
puppy's "pre-school" and socialization is also costly. The "bargain"
puppy from a "back-yard breeder" who unselectively mates any two Rotts
who happen to be of opposite sex may well prove to be extremely costly
in terms of bad temperament, bad health, and lack of essential
socialization. In contrast, the occasional adult or older pup is
available at modest price from a disenchanted owner or from a breeder,
shelter, or rescuer to whom the dog was abandoned; most of these "used"
Rottweilers, after evaluation by an experienced handler and vet check,
are capable of becoming a marvelous dog for you if you can provide
training, leadership, and understanding. Whatever the initial cost of
your Rottweiler, the upkeep will not be cheap. Being large dogs, Rotts
eat relatively large meals. (Need I add that what goes in one end must
eventually come out the other?) Large dogs tend to have larger
veterinary bills, as the amount of anesthesia and of most medications is
proportional to body weight. Spaying or neutering, which costs more for
larger dogs, is an essential expense for virtually all pet Rottweilers,
as it "takes the worry out of being close", prevents serious health
problems in later life, and makes the dog a more pleasant companion. Although the Rottweiler's capability
as a personal protection dog and as a police dog have been justifiably
well publicized, and occasionally dramatically over-stated, the
Rottweiler is not any more capable in these respects than are half a
dozen other protection breeds. Nor are all Rottweilers equally capable:
some are highly so and some moderately so, but many have insufficient
natural capacity for such work. Due to his laid-back disposition, the
Rottweiler is, if anything, a bit slower to respond aggressively to a
threat than are most other protection breeds. For the same reason,
however, the Rottie is perhaps somewhat more amenable to control by the
handler and somewhat more willing to follow commands to refrain from
biting or to stop biting when told to do so. Whatever the breed, before
the dog can be safely protection trained, he must have great respect for
the leadership of his handler and must be solidly trained in basic
obedience to that handler. Equally essential, he must have a
rock-solidly stable temperament and he must also have been "socialized"
out in the world enough to know that most people are friendly and
harmless, so that he can later learn to distinguish the bad guys from
the good guys. Even with such a dog, safe protection training demands
several hundred hours of dedicated work by the handler, much of it under
the direct supervision of a profoundly expert trainer. Please don't buy
any dog for protection training unless you are absolutely committed to
the extreme amount of work that will be required of you personally. Also
talk to your lawyer and your insurance agent first. Most Rottweilers have an assertive
and confident personality. When confronted with a threat, a proper
Rottweiler will be somewhat more ready to fight than to flee. Thus he
may respond aggressively in situations where many other breeds back
down. Most Rottweilers have some inclination to act aggressively to
repel intruders on their territory (i.e. your home) and to counter-act
assaults upon their pack mates (you and your family). Without training
and leadership from you to guide him, the dog cannot judge correctly
whom to repel and whom to tolerate. Without training and leadership,
sooner or later he may injure an innocent person who will successfully
sue you for more than you own. With good training and leadership from
you, he can be profoundly valuable as a defender of your home and
family. (See also remarks on stability and socialization above.) No dog deserves to be cast out
because his owners want to move to a no-pet apartment or because he is
no longer a cute puppy or didn't grow up to be a beauty contest winner
or because his owners through lack of leadership and training have
allowed him to become an unruly juvenile delinquent, with a repertoire
of undesirable behaviors. The prospects of a responsible and
affectionate second home for a "used" dog are never very bright, but
they are especially dim for a large, poorly mannered dog. A Rottweiler
dumped into a Pound or Shelter has almost no chance of survival --
unless he has the great good fortune to be spotted by someone dedicated
to Rottweiler Rescue. The prospects for adoption for a youngish,
well-trained, and well-groomed Rottweiler whose owner seeks the
assistance of the nearest Rottweiler Club or Rescue group are fairly
good; but an older Rott has diminishing prospects. Be sure to contact
your local Rottweiler club or Rescue group if you are diagnosed with a
chronic illness or have other equally valid reason for seeking an
adoptive home. Be sure to contact your local Rottweiler club if you are
beginning to have difficulties in training your Rottweiler, so these can
be resolved. Be sure to make arrangements in your will or with your
family to ensure continued care or adoptive home for your Rottweiler if
you should pre-decease him. An Afterward:
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