Are Rottweilers Good for First-Time Owners? The Honest Answer

Ask a Rottweiler owner what the breed is like and you will hear about a dog who leans on their legs, follows them to the bathroom, groans with pleasure when stroked and would rather be with their family than anywhere on earth. Ask a stranger in the park and you will hear something else. Both are true, in a sense, and whether you get the first version depends on how seriously you take the second. Here is our honest answer to whether a Rottweiler suits a first-time owner.

What makes them a good first dog

• Temperament. A well-bred, well-raised Rottweiler is calm, confident and steady. They are not a nervy breed. They watch, they think, and they settle. In the house, a mature Rottie is often quieter than a spaniel.
• Devotion. This is a dog who bonds hard to their people. The Rottie lean, the shadowing from room to room, the head on your foot while you work. It is a kind of attention few breeds offer.
• Trainability. Clever, food-motivated and willing. Rottweilers excel at obedience, tracking, scent work and carting. They think before they act, which makes them slower to offer behaviour than a collie but more reliable once they have it.
• Low grooming. A short coat, ten minutes a week with a rubber curry. The check that goes with it matters more than the brushing, but the coat itself is easy.

What makes them a hard first dog

• Power. Fifty kilos, sometimes sixty, of muscle. A Rottweiler who pulls, lunges or bounds up to greet someone is a safety issue for you, the public and the breed's reputation. A first-time owner has to be calm and strong enough to handle that, and committed to a loose lead from puppyhood.
• The guarding instinct. Bred to drive cattle and guard the takings. The instinct that survives is quieter than a barking Shepherd's: the Rottweiler watches, assesses and decides. A well-socialised Rottie decides the stranger is fine. A badly socialised one decides they are a threat, and a fifty-kilo dog who has decided that is a serious problem. Socialisation is not optional and it runs for two years.
• The reputation. Some insurers charge breed rates or exclude the breed. Some landlords and holiday lets refuse. In some countries, Ireland for example, a Rottweiler must be muzzled and on a lead in public by law. People will cross the road. You carry that every time you leave the house.
• The mouthy, rough puppy. Rottie puppies bite harder and play rougher than almost any breed. It is normal and it is fixable, but it needs consistent, kind, daily work in the first six months.
• The long adolescence. Adult-sized at a year, adult-brained at two or three. That is a long time to live with a teenager who weighs more than you.
• Health, and the short life. Elbow and hip dysplasia, cruciate ruptures, bloat, heart and eye conditions, and one of the highest cancer rates in dogs, bone cancer especially. Eight to ten years is typical. Insurance is not optional, and it is expensive for this breed.
• Bad advice. No breed attracts more people telling you it needs a firm hand. It doesn't. A Rottweiler trained with pressure becomes shut down or sharper, and a first-time owner has to be able to ignore that advice and find a force-free trainer instead.

Where the puppy comes from matters more than usual

With this breed, temperament is inherited to a degree that surprises people. Meet both parents. Watch how they behave with a stranger: calm, aloof, then relaxed is what you want. Nervous, sharp or over-excited is a no, whatever the papers say. Then ask for the paperwork: hip and elbow scores, a heart check for subaortic stenosis, eye certificates, and a JLPP DNA result showing the litter cannot be affected. A breeder who has none of this is not a breeder you want. Or adopt an adult through a breed rescue that assesses temperament, and get a dog whose nature you can already see.

The questions to ask yourself

Are you calm and confident handling a very strong dog? Is someone home most of the day? Will you socialise a puppy carefully, every week, for two years, and keep going when adolescence makes it harder? Have you checked your insurance, your tenancy and the local rules? Can you afford breed-rate insurance and the possibility of joint surgery? Will you train with rewards and get a trainer early rather than after the first growl? And do you have small children or their friends in and out of the house unsupervised?

Six yeses and a no on the last one, and a Rottweiler could be the dog of your life. Two noes, and you will both be happier with a different breed. There is no shame in that; there is a great deal of shame in a Rottweiler rehomed at eighteen months because nobody asked.

If you go ahead

Insure before the first vet visit. Find a force-free trainer with breed experience before the puppy comes home. Read the socialisation guide and the joints guide now, because the first is the most important thing you will do and the second explains the exercise rules that protect a puppy who will weigh fifty kilos on joints that are still soft. And start the muzzle training in week one, as a game, so that your Rottweiler grows up thinking a muzzle is a treat cup. It is a kindness to the dog, the vet and the public, and it is the single thing that changes strangers' minds fastest.