The Rottweiler is a dog breed that hails from Germany and was originally known as the Rottweiler Metzerhund of which the literal translation means, “the butcher’s dog from Rottweil.”

Unsurprisingly the Rottweiler derived its name from a market town called Rottweil where the dog breed was primarily used to drove and herd cattle that were destined for slaughter.

The progenitors of the Rottweiler dog breed are believed to have been cattle droving dogs from ancient Rome. It is believed that during their conquest of Europe the Roman army took with them large dogs whose purpose was to help control and guide their enormous herds of cattle.

When the Roman army eventually departed several of those large dogs  remained behind and were eventually crossbred with the local German sheepdogs.

The result of such crossbreeding is the Rottweiler dog of today, with a few subsequent hereditary refinements since then of course!

Soon enough it was readily aparent that the Rottweiler was the ideal dog for the cattle dealers of the period.

Since they spent a considerable amount of time traversing rough and dangerous terrain around Rottweil (a region brimming with roving gangs of bandits and hooligans) the cattlemen needed a dog that could not only herd and manage cattle but one that could act as enforcer and protector against bad elements such as theives.

With its large and powerful physique the Rottweiler was superbly suited to the task.

So accomplished was the Rottweiler at its job that soon enough the problems the cattle dealers had been experiencing with the local banditry were quickly resolved and before long it was widely accepted wisdom that a money bag strapped around the neck of a Rottweiler was far safer than money in a bank vault.

Of recent the Rottweiler or Rottie, as it is affectionately known by lovers of the breed has received a considerable amount of negative press due to a number of severe mauling and biting incidents.

Careful investigation reveals though that in the majority of cases such incidents happened because the dogs in question had been either tormented or were owned by irresponsible persons who did not care nor did they train and socialize the Rottweiler properly.