Staying up to date with common, let alone rare, health risks in susceptible dog breeds can be difficult. In this regular feature, our Educational Partner, the International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD), signposts resources on a particular breed and highlights breed-specific diseases
Meet the Rottweiler – Update Your Knowledge!
Rottweilers are intelligent, devoted working dogs, but also popular as family companions in some countries. Problems may arise if dogs are bred to a working standard eg, as guardians or for police work and owners of dogs that are sold as companions do not undertake proper training early in the dog’s life.
Online one can read about German Rottweilers, American Rottweilers, Roman Rottweilers, and Colossal Rottweilers; however, the first two differ primarily by location and both, as pedigree dogs should be bred to the German (ADRK) standard. Unfortunately, the latter two are mixed breed dogs generally bred for extreme size. Practitioners should help owners to understand that tendencies to extremes are generally not beneficial for health and welfare of dogs. Dr Peter Friedrich, President of the German Kennel Club (VDH), renowned Rottweiler judge, and member of the IPFD board has written an excellent article entitled Questionable Phenotypic Traits in the Rottweiler (link below).
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In the IPFD Get a GRIHP! on Rottweilers (Globally Relevant Integrated Health Profile) one can see more on basic breed issues, changes in national populations, key health concerns, breed statistics, available genetic tests, and further recommendations on health testing in this breed (link below). Not uncommonly for larger breeds of dogs, Rottweilers die frequently from cancer and suffer locomotor problems which can be exacerbated by obesity. A comparison across breeds for overall Morbidity (1 or more veterinary care events) and Mortality for data from 2011-2016 from Swedish insurance statistics is shown below. In these data the median age at death was 7.1 years for Rottweilers; the estimate from Finland is 8.5 years of age.
The Rottweiler is a proud national breed of Germany, protected by efforts of the national breed club ADRK, but as noted above, the breed is susceptible to popular influences, which, given the size, power, and nature of the breed may pose challenges to health and welfare of these dogs.
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More resources to help you:
1. IPFD Get a GRIHP on Rottweilers
2. Questionable Phenotypic Traits in the Rottweiler, Dr Peter Friedrich
3. ADRK – Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiller Klub
The International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD) is a non-profit working for dog health, well-being, and welfare.
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