Breed History of a Rottweiler.
The Rottweiler's hertiage is known as a working class dog, not a dog pampered by the upper class or royalty. The Rottweiler of today was created by centuries of dogs who had to earn their keep. In a sense, they were developed to be the blue workers of Europe.
The Rottweiler became as the second most popular dog registered by the American Kennel Club. The history of Europe had a lot to do with the creation of the dog we know as the Rottweiler. The habits of man also play an important part. During the Bronze Age, man left his gathering and huntung ways behind and began to settle in one place. He also started to keep flocks of sheep and herds of cattle for food and clothing needs. Man needed rather large dogs to protect these animals from predators and other humans. In ancient Rome, these dogs were know as the Mollosus. The Mollossers were large dogs, and their existence has been documented to before the birth of Christ. Their history traces to the Tibetan Mastiff and other dogs of western Asia that were brought back to Rome with traders and armies. Many breeds of stock guardians like the Rottweiler can be traced back through the Mollosus to the Tibetan Mastiff. Breeds such as the Great Pyrenees, Komondor, Marema, Kuvasz and Anatolian readily show this hertage. Although they share a common ancestry, the breeds developed differently according to the needs of man in the various regions of Europe where the dogs lived.
Because the major paths of travel followed alpine passes and rivers, trading centers and cities formed along them. One such South German city founded by the Romans on the Neckar River became known as Rottweil for its red-tiled roofs. Because Rottweil was a trading center, even a quartermaster depot for the Roman Army, their were many butchers in the area. During the Middle Ages, the dogs that accompanied the butchers became known as Rottweil Butcher's dogs and today are know as Rottweilers.
Butcher's Dog of Rottweil was the name he earned in a thriving marker center in Wurttemburg. Livestock dealers setting out to buy cattle in the countryside thwarted theives by tying their purses around his muscular neck. Later he would drive their new bought herds back to market. The Merchants harnessed the sturdy dogs to carts and posted him as guard.
Economics of the era would demand a very versatile animal, one that could courageously guard the farmers, his family and his livestock. One that could pull loads to market. One that could also help bring in the flocks and herds. One that possessed an undercoat to protect it from the damp cold. This is also the kind of dog that was useful to the local Rottweil butchers.
The city of Rottweil had many ties with Switzerland. It either sided with the Swiss in wars and battles or signed treatues of neutrality. In Switzerland, four breeds of farm dogs know as Sennenhund were developed. They are now known as the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, the Entlebucher and the Appenzeller. The foundation of these four breeds and that of the Rottweiler followed the same tracks. All five breeds had similar jobs. The cattlemen of Rottweil traveled into Switzerland to trade. It was easy to understand that interbreeding between these five breeds could have, and did, happen. The Swiss breeds are thought to have remained more pure because of their geographic isolation, whereas the Rottweiler, because of living in the midst of a trade route, was probably also crossed with outside breeds used for fighting and hunting wild boar.
With the outside infusion of fighting and hunting dogs, the Rottweiler became an even stronger
guardian. When the Rottweiler lost his main job as the butcher's dog with the advent of railroads to
take cattle to market and the banning of dogs used as draft animals, he was strong enough to character and
temperament to take on other chores, such as police and protection work. Legend clains there was only
one Rottweil in 1905. His charactwe and working ability had won favor with farmers and butchers ourside the town of Rottweil, or the breed have become extinct.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Rottweiler was descibed in various forms. Crosses to other then
Swiss Sennenhunds, all tri-colored breeds could be seen, because the Rottweiler was said to be black
and yellow, yellow with black spots, yellow with black mask and ash grey with black spots and yellow markings.
Establishing the breed in the U.S. was an attempt to found a national Rottweiler club failed in the 60s. There were, however three strong local clubs. The Colonial Rottweiler Club on the East Coast, The Medallion Rottweiler Club in the Midwest and the Golden State Rottweiler Club in California that tried to maintain the breed and educate others about it. In the early 70s, another attempt was made, and in 1973 the American Rottweiler Club, Inc. was founded. It held it first National Specialty in 1981. It became a member club of the American Kennel Club in 1991 with Mrs. Bernard Freeman named as it delegate. The American Rottweiler Club ARC revised the standard of their breed in 1979 and again in 1990. In 1931 Rottweilers were admitted to the AKC Stud Book, and gained full recognition by the AKC in 1935.
The Rottweiler started to gain in popularity in the mid
80s for his looks, his stong character, his easy keeping. Society was also creating a demand for guard
dogs. People moved out of the cities and into the suburbs, they had a place to keep a large dog
and, of course, the thieves followed them to suburbia. The Rottweiler was a fairly rare breed
and thus became some what fashinable for the yuppies of the 80s. Then there was and still is the greed factor. Many people decided to reproduce Rottweilers for cash. As this unique breed became easy to obtain
and people had more disposable income, its popularity soared even higher. His popularity rose, his purchase
price came down, and that allowed even more people to purchase the Rottweiler. The Rottweiler's surge
in popularity did not occur in the U.S. but internationally as well. The phenomenon has made
the Rottweiler one of the most popular breeds in the world.
The Rottweiler was about eightieth in popularity in 1980 and rose to number two by the early 90s. As bites and maulings by Rottweilers rose, their popularity stated to wane. Although Rottweilers are still number two, the last two years have seen a drop of about 20 percent in registrations. Going back to the bites and maulings, owners of any breed whose numbers go up also see a corresponding increase of bites. With increase in number of bites, insurance companies started refusing homeowner's insurance. This fact alone has scared people away from the large guard type breeds.
The Rottweiler of today still possesses the working, guarding and companion abilities so desired in the development of the breed. These characteristics can only be preserved through careful breeding of dogs who are allowed to work and who demonstrate the soundness, temperament and type of the utility dogs who became know as the Rottweiler.