BREED STANDARD
General Appearance
The Rottweiler is a medium to large size, stalwart dog, neither heavy nor light and neither leggy nor weedy. His correctly proportioned, compact and powerful build leads to the conclusion of great strength, agility and endurance.
Behaviour / Temperament
Good natured, placid in basic disposition and fond of children, very devoted, obedient, biddable and eager to work. His appearance is natural and rustic, his behaviour self assured, steady and fearless. He reacts to his surroundings with great alertness
Important Proportions
The length of the body, measured from the sternum (breast-bone) to the ischiatic tuberosity, should not exceed the height at the withers by, at most, 15 %.
Body
Back: Straight, strong, firm.
Loins: Short, strong and deep.
Croup: Broad, of medium length, slightly rounded. Neither flat nor falling away.
Chest: Roomy, broad and deep (approximately 50 % of the shoulder height) with well developed forechest and well sprung ribs.
Belly: Flanks not tucked up.
Limbs
Forequarters: Seen from the front, the front legs are straight and not placed too closely to each other. The forearm, seen from the side, stands straight. The slope of the shoulder blade is about 45 degrees to the horizontal.
Shoulders: Well laid back.
Upper arm: Close fitting to the body.
Forearm: Strongly developed and muscular.
Pasterns: Slightly springy, strong, not steep.
Front feet: Round, tight and well arched; pads hard; nails short, black and strong.
Hindquarters: Seen from behind, legs straight and not too close together. When standing free, obtuse angles are formed between the dog`s upper thigh and the hip bone, the upper thigh and the lower thigh and the metatarsal.
Upper thigh: Moderately long, broad and strongly muscled.
Lower thigh: Long, strongly and broadly muscled at top, sinewy.
Hocks: Sturdy well angulated hocks; not steep.
Hindfeet: Slightly longer than the front feet. Toes strong, arched, as tight as front feet.
Another angle shot of a well constructed forehand. Again the point of balance runs through the shoulder in two perpendicular lines through the centre of the foot.
Shoulder Placement.
The centre of gravity for the front assembly resides in the shoulder. Some breeds do call for a more upright shoulder dependent on the movement required. The Rottweiler is an endurance dog so requires a well laid back shoulder to give good reach of movement. It is of utmost importance to remember this aspect (we will cover this more in Gait)
To assess the shoulder angulation the dogs front legs must be correctly positioned, the shoulder can only be assessed properly if the front legs are placed straight with the heel pad being directly below the centre of the shoulder. Shoulder placement is extremely difficult to see on photographs but we have endeavoured here to show you the correct angle and the incorrect - remember this in connection with Balance and you will see the effect on the forehand reach.
Angulation:
A = Line of Gravity
B = Correct Shoulder Placement
C = Steep
D = Shoulder Assessment Line.
The dog shown here is not positioned correctly to allow shoulder assessment. Spot the problem? The front legs are slightly too far forward, with the centre of the shoulder not in line with the heel pad.
The angulation of the shoulder is always apparent in movement as a steep shoulder will lack reach and result in what is termed as "loose" elbows. Loose elbows are where (on the move) that the elbows flay away from the front or angle out. This results in a messy movement rather than one that is fluid and together:
Good Elbows:
As these were snapped on the move they aren't fantastic quality! As you will see the shoulder movement is straight with good reach.
The larger photo (although our model has a ball in her mouth!) does show the gait and a good view of a correct shoulder.
Feet.
The construction of the foot also plays an important part in the front assembly as this also contributes to the drive of the lever system. The shape of the foot is key to speed, a long foot would give more bursts of speed but little endurance, a short foot would hinder speed but give endurance. As the Rottweiler is an endurance dog, a short, cat like foot is called for. The carpal joint joins the forearm to the pastern and the pastern needs to be long and flexible. In a good front the pastern will normally have a slight slope, this isn't a pronounced slope to the eye but if the pastern is too short and upright it will lack resilience and remove the cushioning between the carpas and foot. This then leads to pasterns which are weak and tilt forward, a popular term for this is "knuckling over". The basic equation to remember is that a short foot=stamina, longer foot=speed.
Good Foot/Pastern
This shows an illustration of a good foot. The toes should be well arched
The rear assembly is just as vital as the front as this provides a powerful drive. The pelvis is the pivotal point of the rear assembly and should form a 30 degree angle to the topline to achieve good balance and construction. This angle should be the same in the shoulder blade and upper thigh also. As with the foot, the bend of stifle needs a long upper and lower thigh for speed and a moderate stifle for endurance.
Well let down hocks are also an essential, when viewed from the rear the legs and hocks should view as two perpendicular columns:
This is an excellent example of Rear Assembly.
The bitch's hindquarters show excellent muscle tone and shape.
The rear is set correctly and the angulation is perfect. The two perpendicular lines can be drawn straight through the pelvis as seen.
From the static balance shown here, this dog should display excellent movement with powerful rear action
Good rear angulation should be a straight line which passes in front of the pelvic girdle, through the knee and stifle and meets the ground just in front of the foot.
The angulation for the femur should always be 45 degrees to the ground, this allows the maximum stretch for the muscles attached - the tibia and fibula are of a longer length which produce the hock. The hock should be short to facilitate endurance (remember the Rottweiler is not a speed dog).
The Rottweiler is similar to a rear wheel drive car - the power in the rear pushes through the spinal column to drive the assembly.
The croup also plays an important part in this drive. The term "falling off at the croup" is used often - this is used to describe the angle between the croup and the tail set - falling off means too much angulation (literally falling off if you were to place a marble and let it run from the croup!). So what is the croup, let's look at where this falls in the Rottweiler.
A = Croup
B = Tail Set
This is an example of a good croup. The angle between the croup and the tail set should not be dead straight or over angulated. This should be around 10 degrees.
A "goose rump" is used to describe a dog with too much angulation here. This results in a short mincing stride.
Hocks should not be totally straight or bend too far forward. As illustrated in the above photos, this is an example of a good hock - bending very slightly forward to give a good centre of balance. A dog whose hocks bend too far forward is what is know as "sickle" hocked - if there is over angulation in the stifle joint this is usually an associated fault that goes hand in hand. The hocks should be perfectly straight when viewed from the rear - as illustrated earlier on this page.
Head
Cranial Region:
Skull: Of medium length, broad between the ears. Forehead line moderately arched as seen from the side. Occipital bone well developed without being conspicious.
Stop: Well defined.
Ideally, the length of Rottweiler’s muzzle is to be a little more than 10 cm in males and 9 cm in females. As a rule, you should pay attention to correspondence of face length and the length of the cranial part. It must be 2:3 approximately, but the ratio 1:1 is allowed by the standard.
Normally, the skull length of big Rottweiler is 15 cm in males and a little more than 13 cm in females, but width of the fronts is about 16 cm in males and a little more than 14 cm in females. Head and corpus are to be proportional to each other. Normally, the proportions of the head correspond to sexual identity of Rottweiler, i.e. these proportions are represented differently in Rottweilers-males and Rottweilers-females.
Proportions of Rottweiler’s head: 1 – length of muzzle; 2 – width of muzzle; 3 –depth of muzzle; 4 –length of skull; 5 –width of forehead; The scalp is to be closely fitting, but subdermal adipose layer is too underdeveloped. Little wrinkling on the skin of head is allowed when Rottweiler is overwrought. Strong, powerful jaws –evidence of properly developed head- are typical for adult Rottweiler
Facial Region
Nose: Nose well developed, more broad than round with relatively large nostrils, always black.
Muzzle: The foreface should appear neither elongated nor shortened in relation to the cranial region. Straight nasal bridge, broad at base, moderately tapered.
Lips: Black, close fitting, corner of the mouth not visible, gum as dark as possible.
Jaws / Teeth: Upper and lower jaw strong and broad. Strong complete dentition (42 teeth) with scissor bite, the upper incisors closely overlapping the lower incisors.
Cheeks: Zygomatic arches pronounced.
Eyes: Of medium size, almond shaped, dark brown in colour. Eyelids close fitting.
Ears: Medium-sized, pendant, triangular, wide apart, set on high. With the ears laid forward close to the head the skull appears to be broadened.
CORRECT EARSET EARS TOO LOW
Neck: Strong, of fair length, well muscled, slightly arched, free from throatiness, without dewlap.
Tail: In natural condition, level in extension of the upper line; at ease may be hanging
Gait
The Rottweiler is a trotting dog. In movement the back remains firm and relatively stable. Movement harmonious, steady, full of energy and unrestricted, with good stride.
Skin
Skin on the head: Overall tight fitting. When the dog is alert, the forehead may be slightly wrinkled.
Coat
Hair: The coat consists of a top coat and an undercoat. The top coat is of medium length, coarse, dense and flat. The undercoat must not show through the top coat. The hair is a little longer on the hindlegs.
Colour: Black with clearly defined markings of a rich tan on the cheeks, muzzle, throat, chest and legs, as well as over both eyes and under the base of the tail.
Size and weight
Heigtht at withers: For males is 61 - 68 cm.
61 - 62 cm is small / 63 - 64 cm is medium height / 65 - 66 cm is large - correct height / 67 - 68 cm is very large
Weight: approximately 50 kg
Heigtht at withers:
For bitches is 56 - 63 cm.
56 - 57 cm is small / 58 - 59 cm is medium height / 60 - 61 cm is large - correct height / 62 - 63 cm is very large
Weight: approximately 42 kg
Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.
General appearance: Light, weedy, leggy appearance. Light in bone and muscle.
Head: Hound-type head. Narrow, light, too short, long or coarse head. Flat forehead (lack of stop or too little stop).
Foreface: Long or pointed muzzle; split nose; Roman nose (convex nasal bridge) or dish-faced (concave nasal bridge); aquiline nose; pale or spotted nose (butterfly nose).
Lips: Pendulous, pink or patchy; corner of lips visible.
Jaws: Narrow lower jaw.
Bite: Pincer bite.
Cheeks: Strongly protruding.
Eyes: Light, deep set. Also too full and round eyes; loose eye-lids.
Ears: Set on too low, heavy, long, slack or turned backwards. Also flying ears or ears not carried symmetrically.
Neck: Too long, thin, lacking muscle. Showing dewlap or throaty.
Body: Too long, too short or too narrow.
Back: Too long, weak; sway-back or roach back.
Croup: Too sloping, too short, too flat or too long.
Chest: Flat ribbed or barrel shaped. Too narrow behind.
Tail: Set on too high or too low.
Forequarters: Narrow or crooked front legs. Steep shoulder placement. Loose or out at elbow. Too long, too short or too straight in upper arm. Weak or steep pastern. Splayed feet. Too flat or too arched toes. Deformed toes. Light coloured nails.
Hindquarters: Flat thighs, hocks too close, cow hocks or barrel hocks. Joints with too little or too much angulation. Dewclaws.
Skin: Wrinkles on head
Coat: Soft, too short or too long. Wavy coat; lack of undercoat.
Colour: Markings of incorrect colour, not clearly defined.. Markings which are too spread out.
Eliminating Faults:
General: Distinct reversal of sexual type, i.e. feminine dogs or masculine bitches.
Teeth: Overshot or undershot bite, wry mouth; lack of one incisive tooth, one canine, one premolar and one molar.
Eyes: Entropion, ectropion, yellow eyes, different coloured eyes.
Tail: Kink tail, ring tail, with strong lateral deviation
Hair: Definitely long or wavy coat.
Colour: Dogs which do not show the typical Rottweiler colouring of black with tan markings. White markings.
Behaviour: Anxious, shy, cowardly, gun-shy, vicious, excessively suspicious, nervous animals.
N.B.: Male animals must have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.