ORIGIN OF THE BREED

The Rottweiler has an ancestry that goes all the way back to the ancient Roman times of the Roman drover, a Mastiff type dog. The drovers were used to herd cattle during the day while the army was traveling, and at night while the soldiers slept it protected the troops from surprise enemy attacks.

During Caesar's many travels and conquests some drovers were left behind in the areas of Germany where the natives bred the dogs to perform jobs that they wanted them to do.

In Rottweil, Germany, the town from which this breed derived its name, the breed emerged as the butcher's dog. It proved indispensable to the butcher--it herded the cattle, pulled the meat cart, and held the butcher's money purse.

Not many thieves were willing to steal from a Rottweiler, and they still aren't today! There have been cases that in some European countries teams of Rotts were used instead of horses to pull barges through the canals.

When the railroad replaced dogcarts, Rottweilers were out of a job and faced the same fate as many of the ancient breeds before them-extinction. Fortunately, peace officers discovered the usefulness of the breed as a police dog, and in 1910 Rotts were officially recognized as police dogs. Rotts also proved to be fine war dogs too, and they were used extensively by both the Allies and the Nazis during World War II.

In 1931 the first Rottweiler was admitted to the AKC Stud Book. The Rottweiler has become a very popular breed falling within the AKC's top ten breeds registered annually for nearly a decade now. In 2000 much to the relief of breed enthusiasts the Rottweiler slipped out of the top ten into 11th place.

The lineage and ancestors of the Rottweiler is not document on official record anywhere. Bearing this in mind, it is suspected and theorized that the Rottweiler is from the line of drover dogs that were native to the ancient Rome region. The drover dog has been depicted as have Mastiff-type traits such as dependability, ruggedness, hard working, extremely intelligent and profoundly strong guarding instincts.

The Rottweiler breed that we know today is not the same as the original Rottweilers. Roman Emperors had many, many conquests and invasions throughout Europe using extremely massive armies full of thousands of men. The ability to feed these men and protect the army supplies was of utmost importance for the success of the Roman armies.

During the time of the invasions, there was no method for refrigeration of meat to feed the soldiers. Armies had to rely on their food sources, such as cattle, staying alive and ‘on the hoof'. As a result, the Rottweiler became a very popular and liked dog because with it's Mastiff-type traits it could herd and lead the ‘on the hoof' food supplies as well as guard and protect the herds and supply divisions of the armies during the evening hours.

The breed is an ancient one, and its history stretches back to the Roman Empire. In those times, the legions traveled with their meat on the hoof -or having live cattle- and required the assistance of working dogs to herd the cattle. One route the army traveled was through Wattenberg and on to the small market town of Rottweil.The principal ancestor of the first Rottweilers during this time was supposed to be the Roman war dog, local sheepdog the army met on its travels, and dogs with molosser appearance coming from England and The Netherlands. During the Roman Empire, these Rottweilers and other war dogs even made up large dog-only platoons, which would be sent to attack enemy forces [citation needed].

This region eventually became an important cattle area, and the descendants of the Roman cattle dogs proved their worth in both driving and protecting the cattle from robbers and wild animals. It would be a brave villain who would try to remove the purse around the neck of a Rottweiler Metzgershund (Butcher's Dog of Rottweil).

However, by the end of the 19th Century, the breed had declined so much that in 1900 there was only one female to be found in the town of Rottweil. But the build up to the World War I saw a great demand for "police dogs," and that led to a revival in interest for the Rottweiler. Its enormous strength, its intelligence, and its ability to take orders made it a natural weapon of war.

From that time, it has become popular with dog owners, and in 1935 the breed was officially recognized by the American Kennel Club. In 1936, Rottweilers were exhibited in Britain at Crufts. In 1966, a separate register was opened for the breed.

The first Rottweiler club in Germany, named DRK ("Deutscher Rottweiler-Klub" � German Rottweiler Club) was created the 13 January 1907, and followed by the creation of the SDRK ("S�ddeutscher Rottweiler-Klub" � South German Rottweiler Club) on the 27 April 1907 and became the IRK (International Rottweiler Club). The DRK counted around 500 Rottweiler, the SDRK 3000 Rottweilers. The goal of the two clubs was different. The DRK want to produce working dogs and didn't take lot of care in the morphology of the Rottweiler. The main stud dog of this club was Lord von der Teck. The IRK tried to give an homogeneous morphology according to their standard. One of the main stud dogs of this club was Ralph von Neckar. One dog emerged and gave us the base of the actual Rottweiler type: Lord von der Teck son of Lord Remo vom Schifferstadt.

On 14 August 1921 the two clubs merged to become the ADRK (Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler Klub) which is now known as the official German Rottweiler club. The first currency of the ADRK was : "Die Rottweilerzucht ist und bleibt Gebrauchshundezucht" (The Rottweiler breeding is and remains the breeding of a working dog)

A popular misconception about the Rottweiler is the breed was used for dog fighting, when, in fact, it was neither bred nor used for dog fighting..