What is a Roman Rottweiler what’s the difference between it and the standard rottweiler?Well it’s the original rottweiler the mastiff-like rottweiler who crossed the Alps herding and guarding cattle as well as fighting in the Roman wars with the Romans. It is a larger dog than the standard rottweiler who is shorter. The Roman Rottweiler is to the Tibetan Mastiff as the Rottweiler is to the Australian Shepherd. The Roman Rottweiler is a breed under development by Emily Tiscarenio of Von Riesig. The breed was developed as an intense "re-creation" and variant to the Rottweiler, to preserve the original qualities found in the old world style Rottweiler.
The Roman RottweilerRoman Rottweiler Breed StandardGenerally the same as standard rottweilers only more mastiff like/flock guardian type in appearance and temperament. Description: A large to very large noble, impressive, heavy, robust, massive, athleticly built, powerful body. The head is broad, heavy, and strong. Some wrinkling. The skull is broad and large, broad back skull. Stop deep and well defined. Muzzle broad, full and square. Lips are well-developed, thick, with moderate to large flews, and pendulous lower lips. The muzzle is full with a scissor bite. Eyes are almond shaped, deep set, expressive, well apart, and are dark. Ears are pendant, triangular, carried forward, and set well apart. Ear leather is thick and fur is soft. The nose is wide and black, unless a color other than the base color of black then the nose color is the base color like red coat red nose blue coat blue nose. Mouth is dark in color. 42 teeth. Teeth are large and strong. The neck is powerful, well muscled, moderately arched, with a dewlap. The chest is broad and deep, well-pronounced forechest with well sprung oval ribs. Hindquarters are powerful, muscular. Front feet are compact and well arched. The tail may be docked leaving one or two vertebrae or left natural, if left natural it is curled over the back when excited or moving. Dewclaws may be cut, back dewclaws/double dewclaws are common at birth. Coat is thick and ranges from smooth to plush it may be long but is not desired. Thick plush coat is desired for a rottie working as a flock guardian. The coat color is black/tan, black/rust, black/dark rust, black/mahogany and can also come in red/tan, blue/tan or black, and other colors are excepted in the Roman Rottweiler but not desirable.
Gait the rottie is a trotter. Strong forereach and powerful rear drive. Effortlessly covering the ground.
Temperament: Calm, confident, trainable, athletic, courageous, protective, reliable, and devoted. It is aloof with a wait-and-see attitude; flock guardian rottweilers have great distaste towards strangers. These dogs are extremely versatile. They can be used for flock guarding, herding, schutzhund, weight pulling, carting, family protector/companion, therapy work, guide dog, agility, water sports, hunting/retrieving, police work, military work, tracking, and obedience. Adult Size: Generally adult height is reached at a year to two years, and adult weight is reached at 4 to 5 years. The Roman Rottweiler takes longer to mature and is very slow growing than standard rottweilers because it is larger. Males: Height: at least 26 ˝ in. Weight: at least 120lbs. at maturity 26 1/2in. – 27in. small(Good size bracket for service work)<
Females: Height: at least 24 1/2in. Weight: at least 80lbs. 24˝in. - 25in. Small(Good size bracket for service work) Origin: descended from the Tibetan Mastiff and possibly Italian mastiff also these ancient roman ancestors were inbreeding with local shepherd dogs and fighting dogs. The first written thing on rotties is 74 A.D. The Romans used this mountain dog during the Middle Ages to herd and protect cattle for the Roman Soldiers crossing the Alps. It had to be big enough to protect and move the cattle that fed the Roman legions and strong and rugged enough physically and mentally in the harsh mountain terrain. They had to be intelligent, willing to work, and have a strong guarding instinct. They were brought to Europe with the Roman invaders legions. Their closest relatives are the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and the Bernese mountain dog, and it is quiet possible that the boxer is related. When the Romans left their cattle with the escort dogs (rottweilers) settled in Germany due to impassable roads and marshlands, this is when the Germans got a hold to a few specimens of the breed. These areas became Roman territory one territory was Rottweil built in 74 A.D. When in Rottweil they had to herd the cattle, guard the cattle, keep order in the herd, tame the bulls, get the mean vicious bulls to move, and guard his master and his master’s property including his money bag which he tied around his rottweiler’s neck, these were no easy tasks. After the Germans acquired the rottweiler they began to breed it down in size and so was the end of the Roman Rottweiler. Even back then there was great controversy between the breeders of the small rottweiler and the big rottweiler so much as to have fist fights over the matter, as you can see the issue is still strong between breeders nor will it probably ever die down. The Germans wanted a shorter rottweiler to better their herding ability because when moving a bull the dog bit the legs until the bull moved they wanted it shorter so the bites did not destroy the meat quality in the legs resulting in the bite being lower on the legs and also that when taming a bull the bull had a harder time attacking and injuring the dog so they purposely selected runty dogs in their breeding program, on the other hand there were others who wanted to preserve the original rottweiler and this large dog’s powerfulness, guarding abilities, transportation, and big game hunting abilities. |
