Rottweiler

Massive and muscled, the Rottweiler can be a gentle giant or a scary beast, depending on his personality and his owner.

Daily Care

Grooming Tips

Bathe the Rottie as you desire or only when he gets dirty. With the gentle dog shampoos available now, you can bathe a Rottie weekly if you want without harming his coat.
Clean the ears as needed with a solution recommended by your veterinarian. Don’t use cotton swabs inside the ear; they can push gunk further down into it. Wipe out the ear with a cotton ball, never going deeper than the first knuckle of your finger.
Histeethshould be brushed and nails trimmed weekly. The use of a grinding tool such as a Dremel is especially effective in trimming the nails.

Exercise Tips

Rotties are intelligent, high energy dogs and as such they need to be given lots of daily exercise and heaps of mental stimulation for them to be truly happy, well-rounded characters. They also need lots of space to move around being such large dogs. A minimum of 2 hours’ exercise a day is essential with as much time in a secure back garden as possible.
With this said, young Rottie puppies should not be given too much exercise because their joints and bones are still growing and too much pressure on them could result in causing a dog a few problems later on in their lives.

Feeding Tips

The Rottweiler has a fairly typical diet compared to many dogs its size – in males, adult Rottweilers can be over 100 pounds in weight. This corresponds with a fairly aggressive appetite. Rottweilers, like many dogs, often prefer meat as a treat but can find nutritional value in other dog foods as well as vegetables. The Rottweiler might have a reputation as a biter, so it’s generally a good idea to keep your dog properly exercised and fed. No one likes a grumpy Rottweiler.
If you get a Rottie puppy from a breeder, they would give you a feeding schedule and it’s important to stick to the same routine, feeding the same puppy food to avoid any tummy upsets. You can change a puppy’s diet, but this needs to be done very gradually always making sure they don’t develop any digestive upsets and if they do, it’s best to put them back on their original diet and to discuss things with the vet before attempting to change it again.
Older dogs are not known to be fussy or finicky eaters, but this does not mean you can feed them a lower quality diet. It’s best to feed a mature Rottweiler twice a day, once in the morning and then again in the evening, making sure it’s good quality food that meets all their nutritional requirements.
Treatscan be an important aid in training, but giving too many can cause obesity. Learn about whichhuman foodsare safe for dogs, and which are not. Check with your vet if you have any concerns about your dog’s weight or diet.Clean, fresh water should be available at all times.

Health Tips

The average life span of the Rottweiler is 10 to 12 years. Breed health concerns may includeallergies,cranial cruciate ligament injury,bloat (gastric dilatation and volvulus),cancer, elbow andhip dysplasia, epilepsy, congenital deafness,entropion, distichiasis, medial canthal pocket syndrome, iris cysts,progressive retinal atrophy, subaortic stenosis, follicular lipidosis, mucocutaneous hypopigmentation (on the lips and nose),parvoviral infection, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, enteritis and enterocolitis,hypothyroidism, osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD), paneosteitis andvon Willebrand disease.
David Waters, Ph.D., DVM, of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, has done research focused on cancer prevention funded by theRottweiler Health Foundation. Dr. Waters has discovered that cancer and longevity are linked to a careful vaccination regimen, thus strengthening the immune system, as well as keeping males and females intact until at least six years of age.

Trainability

The dominant nature of the Rottweiler makes it necessary that its trainer is calm, consistent, firm, and fair. Rottweilers are eager to learn, and obedience training is an absolute requirement. The Rottweiler is very intelligent and can excel at a variety of sports in addition to its capacity as a guard dog and watchdog.
Rottweilers, however, have also been used as messenger dogs and have even helped medical teams in the past. Rottweilers are more versatile than many people give them credit for – this is, again, thanks to their general obedience and responsiveness to working with humans.

History

The Rottweiler (affectionately called ‘Rottie’) originates in the Roman Empire, where it was used to herd cattle. The name derives from the small town of Rottweil, Germany. The Rottweiler nearly went extinct in the 1800’s, but today it has come back in popularity and is used as a police dog, guards dog, herds dog, and tracker. It is a very strong, courageous, seemingly invulnerable breed. Famous fictional Rottweilers include the puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog from The Conan O’ Brien Show and the family pet in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Today, the Rottweiler ranks 11th among the breeds registered by the American Kennel Club. That’s down quite a bit from the 1990s, when he was ranked No. 2 for two years in a row, but that’s just fine with Rottweiler people. They are satisfied to keep the breed as their own special secret.