Bob's Dog Blog

I would like to take the time to explain the word ‘Breeder’ to those out there who insist on telling me that their last dog was purchased from a ‘Breeder’ somewhere in Zootsville, who put their two pet dogs together to make puppies.  First of all, anyone can call themselves a breeder, sort of like anyone can call themselves an electrician or plumber, and so on.

The following is my experienced opinion and as such is based on what I know. If you have more information to add to this post, by all means email me with your full identity and I will be more than happy to add or correct what I have written here.

So, a Rottweiler breeder, in my opinion,  has the following characteristics:

1. They have dedicated himself to improving and maintaining the breed standard through excellent breeding stock and an understanding of the genotype and phenotype of the Rottweiler breed. This obviously goes beyond the ‘hobby’ phase as it takes a lot of time and hard work to develop any breeding program. Hobby breeders have their place, of course, as from this, some become dedicated Rottweiler fanciers who then develop their skills and breeding stock to finally enter the world of breeding, training and showing these magnificent dogs. However, do not misidentify one with the other. Know when you are buying a pup from a hobby breeder versus an actual, established kennel.

2. Ensures that his breeding stock do not have disqualifying faults in conformation; ensures they do not have major health concerns, such as hip dysplasia, before using them for breeding. Of course, there is no such thing as the perfect dog, but that is the entire reason you are doing a breeding program: to improve the breed, through adding what is good and eliminating what isn’t.

3. Waits at least until age two with a sire or dam to begin breeding.

4. Has a keen understanding of the Rottweiler Breed Standard by both reading and observing his own dogs and other specimens. A novice will not know much about what a Rottweiler should look like, only what they ‘think’ looks interesting, so they bypass the whole reason for breeding in the first place: to improve the breed. I’ve heard it all. I recently saw something written by some ‘expert’ who was looking for a dog with ‘a big blocky head and a short muzzle’ to use for breeding. This is idiocy. If you talk to someone who knows, they will agree on this point without fail.

5.  Has a keen understanding of Rottweiler pedigrees, from research and study of what pedigrees have produced the best results. A breeder with enough experience will have a good handle on pedigrees, at least knowing what has produced good offspring in the past and what is producing in recent years. Since it takes so long for a pedigree to prove out, someone who has been working on a breeding program for only a year or two will not be able to show the fruits of his or her labors for at least five to seven years. Most people cannot last that long in the kennel business.

6. Can and has successfully trained Rottweilers in obedience, particularly, so as to impart this information to owners.  I know people who have been marginally involved with this breed for a while who still cannot teach a dog to heel. This is hard to believe and harder yet to understand in light of the fact that training is a vital part of a Rottweiler’s life.

7. Understands the care and feeding of Rottweilers, from birth through to adulthood, so as to impart this information to owners. It takes work to raise a dog and owners need help sometimes. A breeder should have most of the answers or at least try to help. I have heard of ‘breeders’ who will not answer emails and phone calls from concerned owners who have questions. This, after having taken their money. It’s shameful, but true.

8. Has gone beyond the hobby stage in breeding Rottweilers. That is, beyond the activity of putting two dogs together to make puppies. While this is not always a sin (and sometimes it is done unethically), the hobby breeder must somehow progress beyond this level to learn enough to benefit both the breed and those who adopt puppies.

9. Actually creates and maintains a breeding program, whereby female offspring from his or her own litters are raised and if qualified, bred back to qualified sires on site or qualified sires from other kennels, in order to develop a line particular to his or her kennel. I have seen breeders do nothing more than import dogs and bitches from elsewhere to slam dunk a kennel into existence. While this is the quick result, I do not believe it’s the best result. Why do all of this work and not even have a line to call your own?

The above points are what, in my estimation, a breeder should have in order to have the integrity necessary to build and maintain a successful Rottweiler kennel. It may not sit well with everyone, but I don’t expect it to.

Best,

Bob

I received the following email a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with others who visit this site.

Bob,

I was filling some time at one of my daughters and decided to make sure you were still active as I have been recommending your kennel on a regular basis to people admiring our Orsa Soui.

We purchased her 5 years ago and couldn’t be more pleased.  She is our 3^rd Rotti and far and away the best personality of the 3.  She is very much a “people oriented” girl; expecting and looking for attention wherever she goes.  As a result of her personality and appearance we are regularly asked where we got her.  She loves to ride with us anytime we travel locally by car and is accommodated whenever it is appropriate and cool enough.  She is greatly loved by regulars at our local farmers market, at her veterinary clinic, the UF small animal clinic  and other places she visits regularly with us.

Regards,

John
There you go,

Bob

I have been operating a breeding kennel for over ten years, so I have had my share of questions from curious,concerned and otherwise data starved potential owners. Sometimes, I receive a canned list of questions that I know came from some book or article on ‘How To Not Get Ripped Off By A Disreputable Breeder’ published in Dog Fancy or some other similar mag or web site. Queries include

How long have you been breeding Rottweilers?

Are your dogs OFA certified?

How many dogs do you have in your kennel?

Where do your dogs live?

How many litters do you have a year?

Okay, so all of the above questions are legitimate and can give a prospective buyer some kind of profile of the breeder and his ethics. However, I can answer all of those questions with the appropriate answer and still not have the knowledge or understanding of the breed and how to create and maintain a kennel and a breeding program that is going to produce healthy, active pups.

Let’s say I only have two females and a male and they are my pets and I only breed once every two years. My dogs are OFA certified and they live in the house. Okay, so what that means is that this breeder has some nice pets that are bred occasionally. Does this mean that the breeding stock is correct and that the pedigrees are worth the price of the pups? Does this person know what a Rottweiler is supposed to look like? And so on. But the test has been passed and the prospective buyer knows that this breeder is not running a puppy mill. Wow. Big deal. Apparently, if you own more than three dogs you are running a puppy mill.

Okay, so I have some real questions that you can ask one of these breeder-type people. These are questions that, when asked, will either evoke a lot of stuttering and stammering and non-answers or real information as to the knowledge and skill of the breeder. Fasten your seatbelts, cuz you’re in for one hell of a ride!!

1. What is the top side pedigree of this pup? (top side is the father, bottom side is the mother. If you look at a printed pedigree, you will see this very clearly- the top half of the paper is the father’s lineage, the bottom half of the paper is the mother’s.) If the breeder doesn’t start answering you within five seconds, you can be sure they have no clue as to what you are talking about.

2. Ask the breeder to describe or explain the type for each parent. Type here refers to phenotype, or physical type of the dog. Some Rotties have a very correct type, some are a bit extreme in the head, some are compact, etc. Failure to even know what type means is a sign of ignorance of dog breeding in general.
3. Ask for any titled dogs in the last three generations of both parents. If they are reading from the pedigree and give you a title, like ‘Blah Blah, CGC’, ask them what ‘CGC’ means. (CGC means Canine Good Citizen and it isn’t a title. It’s a temperament test. Not a bad thing, but not a title) If the breeder can’t explain to you what the titles mean and what the actual accomplishment was that the dog achieved, then the breeder is too lazy or uncaring to even research his or her own dog’s ancestry.

4. Ask the breeder to tell you about the conformation of the parents. If the breeder doesn’t know what the word ‘conformation’ means, then you are done right there. Conformation describes the physical characteristics of the dog as compared to the written breed standard of that particular breed. If the dog ‘conforms’ to the breed standard, then the animal is correct for the breed. I would just ask this question to see if the breeder knows what the word means! I am a cruel bastard.

5. Ask the breeder to explain in detail what hip dysplasia is. Make sure that you have already looked this up online and know yourself exactly what this condition is. If all you get is ‘It’s a disease of the hips’ then you are pretty much done there.

Okay, I’m sure that I can come up with more subtle ways of entrapping would-be breeders into exposing their ignorance of the breed that they have allegedly pledged to improve through their breeding program, but I will stop there. I will, however, give you a list of things to look out for and avoid at all costs in looking for a pup:

1. Any pedigree that includes a dog with the name ‘Harley’, ‘Harley Davidson’ or ‘Samson’.

2. In looking at a breeding pedigree, you see that the sire and dam have the same parents.

3. The breeder who proudly tells you that his sire is a ‘long hair’ Rottweiler.

4. The breeder who proudly tells you that one or both of the parents are well over 160 pounds.

5. The breeder whose primary selling point is the size of the father’s head.

6. The breeder whose primary selling point is the fact that the pups were born without tails.

7. The breeder who mispronounces the name of the breed. Rockwiler, Rockwilder, Rock, etc.

Okay, that about does it. Hope you have some fun with it and learn something about Rottweilers in the process.

Bob