Rottweiler Q & A
dog breeds. I am happy to say that, on the whole, I believe there are many outstanding animals of quality that are being shown in vari- ous venues around the country, including what appears to be a large increase in owners working in performance and companion events with their dogs and doing something besides conformation. Cons. There have been trends over the last twenty years in the breed, which in my opinion, do not meet the breed standard, but are rewarded in the ring because so many dogs look similar. These traits have come from a few dogs that have been used extensively for breeding around the country. Some of those problems include overall proportion namely dogs too short on leg or long in back. Additionally, angulation, front and rear, do not match—some rears being extremely angulated with short upper arms in the front assembly. These to me are the primary problems that I see in some dogs. WhatI feel breeders need to concentrate on to improve the qual- ity of Rottweiler? I would hope that breeders would not exagger- ate specific traits. More is not always better. Extreme body mass and overly done heads and over massive or bulked up bodies. Nei- ther extreme whether too light a build or too heavy is appropriate for the Rottweiler. The dog should be moderate in all respects, in my opinion. How I feel about the influx of new judges, specialists and all breed, to our breed? There has always been an influx of new judges throughout the time that I have been involved in showing. There are good ones and there are some that are not as good. I believe that over time people choose their entries wisely and tend to not enter to those who they do not feel have a good grasp of the standard. Having been involved in judge’s education, I feel most of the new applicants who have been through the American Rottweiler Club Judges Education Program do come away with a good understand- ing of what an appropriate Rottweiler should look like. Has the current wave of “dangerous dog” legislation affected me? There was a flurry 10 to 15 years ago of dangerous dog legisla- tion which did impact the Rottweiler. Some of that has seemed to have died down, in my opinion, though there is still a problem in many areas with obtaining insurance for specific breeds and it is often hard to find rental property if you own a Rottweiler. Does the docking and cropping ban in other parts of the world impact me? I have no concern at all for docking or cropping bans in other parts of the world. Currently in this country I support the opportunity and ability of anyone to make those decisions for their own animals. I personally do not care whether a Rottweiler is docked or not. There is no written fault in the Rottweiler standard for an undocked dog, the members of the club three times rejecting an effort to add a penalty or a fault for a natural tail. The current position of the American Rottweiler Club is neutral and certainly does not take a position that docking is mandated for a dog to be successful. There are many natural tailed champion Rottweilers in the United States now and it is very common to see one in the ring such that there is not much uproar any longer when one gets points, finishes or even gets a group placement. I certainly see in the future in the United States or specific states following in the footsteps of other veterinary practices around the world and limiting docking and cropping. A good Rottweiler with a tail or docked is still a good Rottweiler and should be judged accordingly. My favorite dog show memory is probably getting a three point major on my first Rottweiler (who probably did not deserve it) way back in 1985. The dog never did finish but I was thrilled being a newbie in the sport with that first win. The Rottweiler should above all be a working dog that is ath- letic and moderate in build according to the AKC standard, avoid extremes, reward sound temperament instructor and enjoy the many working attributes of the breed.
My favorite dog show memory: I’ve been so fortunate to have many wonderful moments with my family and dogs at shows . A past moment would be 2000 WKC winning BOS with multiple BIS BISS AM CAN Ch Loral’s Dynasty and BOB with my Staf- fordshire Bull Terrier Rosie. As for a resent show moment it would be Winners Bitch Best Of Winners and Best puppy in show at this years Rottweiler nationals Loral’s Joint Venture from the 6-9 class. TOM RYAN I live in Erdenheim, Pennsylvania. Other things I like to do is fly fishing and spend time with my grandchildren. We have had Rottweilers since 1985. We started showing in Obedience in 1987. We bred our first bitch in 1988. We started showing in confirmation in 2011. We have a Silver Grand Champion (stud dog ) and a Grand Champion bitch . To have a successful breeding program you need to know the breed standards. Follow AKC standards for the breed. Know the breeders you are dealing with and show the dog or bitch until they are at least a Champion before breeding. I have had my best results breeding to bitches that are two to four years old . I feel that the breed today has many well-bred animals. My expe- rience Is strictly with show dogs but I have seen Rottweilers from all over the country. I’m concerned today with the down turn of entries at a lot of the shows. I wish I knew the answer to turn it around. I think the judges for the most part do a good job. I think there is a need for more judges. I don’t see any new younger people becoming judges at shows on the east coast. I think docking and cropping have pros and cons. I leave it to what the individual person likes. I do not hear of people going to Europe to get a well-bred Rottweiler now that the tails are all long. I like the look of the cut tail. I think it will be a long time before the long tail is popular. My favorite dog show memory was 2018 at MRC when one of our bred bitchs won best of show and another one best of opposite I just fell in love with the breed the first time I saw one. I was riding my horse and I came up on a man walking a Rottweiler and I had to ask him what his breeding was. I thought he was a mix of some kind . I was very happy to hear it was a breed. Six months later we got our first Rottweiler. JEFF SHAVER Jeff Shaver is an AKC Licensed Tracking Judge and has been involved with Rottweilers since 1984. He has served five years as President of the American Rottweiler Club and is currently Vice President of the parent club. Jeff has been involved for many years working on legislative efforts, breed education and promoting breed health as well as a positive public image of the Rottweiler across the country. I live in Magnolia, Texas. Most of my time is spent with the dogs but outside of dogs I enjoy fishing and working in the garden. I have owned Rottweilers since 1984 and have been showing conformation, obedience and/or tracking since that time. I am cur- rently approved to judge all levels of AKC tracking competition. I have been involved with breeding Rottweilers since 1988. To be successful and consistently produce sound dogs requires knowledge of what the dogs you already have are capable of produc- ing from studying pedigrees and tracking relatives over a long peri- od of time. If you have this information, you can make good choices or your best “guestimate” about which combinations would be most successful and continuing to produce what you are looking for. While Rottweiler registrations and overall popularity remain high, breed entries and those interested in conformation have declined in numbers over the past 15 years, as have many purebred
254 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J UNE 2019
Powered by FlippingBook