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HISTORY
OF THE BREED: We
owe the Rottweiler to Germany and German breeders who operated at a much later
date than Roman times. The Mastiff-type
dog, of which the Rottweiler is an example, originated in the Mediterranean-area
and spread from there into northern Europe.
It might have been there long before the Romans.
The
Rottweiler however has one link back to the Romans and that is in its name. The Rottweiler has taken its name from the town of Rottweil
in southern Germany. Cattle dealers from
as far away as France, Switzerland and Hungary bought and sold their stock in
the Rottweil cattle market. A need was
created for a dog that could not only drive and control cattle but could also
protect the cattle from predators (human and animal). The ability of the Rottweiler as a herding or droving
dog cannot be denied but Hans Korn (one of the great experts on the breed) wrote
in 1939 that the Rottweiler showed few of the characteristics of other cattle
dogs and that it appeared to be far closer to the broad mouthed Mastiff-type dog
used as fighting dogs and as guards. The name Rottweiler was
often qualified by the title of “buthcer’s dog”.
There are two reasons for this. Firstly,
butchers in the old time went out and bought cattle and drove them home, thus
creating the need for a herding and droving dog.
It was illegal to kill a bull that had not been baited by dogs (it was
believed that meat from animals that was killed after violent exercise would be
more tender). Dogs necessary for
this work had to be powerful and courageous. The Rottweiler is
basically a calm, confident and courageous dog with a self-assured aloofness
that does not lend itself to immediate and indiscriminate friendships.
A Rottweiler is self-confident and responds quietly and with a
wait-and-see attitude to influences in his environment.
He has an inherent desire to protect home and family, and is an
intelligent dog of extreme hardness and adaptability with a strong willingness
to work, making him especially suited as a companion, guardian and general
all-purpose dog.
Contact Vongershan : mailto:gertsmit@megaweb.co.za Site Created by:- Rory Lawson
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