Rottweiler Information & Dog Breed Facts

According to historians, several records have been found of ancient Rome which suggests that the Rottweiler comes from the drover (herding) dogs which were popular in Rome. The Roman legions went on long campaigns to conquer and protect many parts of the empire and they used the dogs to guard and herd the necessary animals which accompanied them on their trips, to provide food for their armies.

The ancestors marched to Germany with the Roman, driving the cattle that sustained them as they conquered the known world. When Germany repelled the Roman legion around 200 AD, some canine cattle drovers were left behind in Southern Germany. Those mated with dogs that were native to the areas and laid the foundation for new breeds. One of the areas which they passed through was Southern Germany, where Romans set up colonies to take advantage of the climate and soil that was suitable for agriculture. The German locals saw the potential of the large mastiff-like dogs and soon as the centuries went by, Rottweilers flourished as a market area for cattle. The German equivalent of a Texas Cowtown and the descendants of the Roman Molossus dogs drove the cattle to town for butchering. To keep their money safe from thieves after selling their livestock, the cattlemen put their filled purses around their Rottweiler’s neck when they returned home. Butchers in the area also used the dogs to pull carts loaded with meat.

However, eventually, as the technology developed, rail transport replaced cattle drives and the Rottweiler almost became extinct as their main job was not needed anymore. In 1882, at a dog show in Heilbronn, Germany, only one nondescript Rottweiler was exhibited. The situation only started to change around the beginning of the 1900s when the Rottweiler and Leonberger Club was founded and the first Rottweiler breed standard was written. However, the description of the breed’s appearance and character has changed a little since then.

In the 20^th century, Rottweilers were being used in police work for which they were well suited because of its nature of the mastiff-like dog as a guard dog. Several Rottweiler breed clubs were also formed over the years, but the most famous one was the Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler Klub (ADRK), which was founded in 1921. The ADRK survived the Second World War and has continued to promote good breeding programs in Germany and throughout the whole world. It is the main goal, of course, is to preserve the working ability of the Rottweiler. It is believed that the first type of this breed went to the USA with a German immigrant in the late 1920s. The first litter was whelped in 1930, and the first dog registered by the American Kennel Club was in 1931. After World War II, the breed started to become more and more popular in the USA as well as in other countries. At that time it was primarily known as an excellent obedience dog. In the mid-1900s more than 100,00 were registered with the American Kennel Club.

However, it is important to highlight that when a breed becomes popular it isn’t always a good thing because people take advantage of it and breeders start producing puppies without regard for health and temperament problems and this is what happened to this breed until the demand for them decreased. Overall, dedicated breeders made sure that the breed stayed true to what it was meant to be. Today they rank 17^th among the 155 breeds registered by the American Kennel Club.