Thats Jake.. He was the love of my life for many years. He was the absolute best dog I have ever had in my entire life (and I have had many dogs - and worked with many many more). He was beautiful, he was intelligent, he was incredibly loyal, he was happy, he was everything you could ever want in a dog. He was also a royal pain the ass if he wanted to be.
Rotties are a special breed. I can't say they are like any other dog I have had. One one hand he was a giant lazy teddy bear who would lick you to death - on the other hand if his mind was made up to do something there was no stopping him. I have hundreds of great Jake stories where he protected me or my wife, or of him doing dumb things and just plain being a lovable idiot. I also have stories where he and I would have to have come-to-Jesus meetings about every 6 months until he was about 5 years old.
The biggest thing I have see with good Rotties vs. Rotties that give the breed a bad name is having really good pack leading Rottie owners. The Rottie *demands* and Alpha in the household. If its not you or your wife, then it will be the Rottie (and the last thing you want is a Rottie who thinks they are in charge). You have to play dominance games with them when they are young (its critical) and then every once in awhile when they are older. Good/Great Rotties come from houses where there are rules - and the rules are consistently enforced -- and one of those rules must be that the dog is a dog and not a human. I'm not saying dont spoil the dog rotten with affection, love, and time (please please do) - but there has to be a clear demarcation between the humans and the dog.
Think of it like this, if you have a 150 lb dog that can rip apart a human in seconds flat, you need to be the one the dog loves and respects - if your not, bad things can happen.
Only last word of advice on Rotties - if you have one, expect 90% of the general public to respond in fear and panic. Jake loved going to "Barker Days" where they close the pool in Parker and let all the dogs swim around. Jake was also incredibly well behaved around humans and other dogs and never showed an ounce of aggressiveness (unless he was commanded to - he was still a Schutzhund trained dog). That said, people would dive out of our way, complain to the management that we had an aggressive breed around all these children, and basically make fucking fools out of themselves.
Example story: We had one busybody in the neighborhood walk her two little squeeky toy dogs down the street in front of the house. Jake was always off-leash in the front yard (see pic above) and would just hang out while we did yard work. He wouldn't move and was just content to watch the day go by. The lady saw the dog and started SCREAMING in the street, then here little yappy things started barking at Jake. Jake never moved, never growled, never did anything. The lady LOST HER SHIT AND RAN TO THE END OF THE BLOCK pulling her yappy dogs all the way. 5 mins later DCSO pulls up with sirens going. The officer comes up and says that they got a complaint that Jake had tried to kill the ladies dogs and was trying to attack the woman. Whole time Jake is just laying there. So we tell the officer what happened and explain Jake's demeanor. The officer calms down a bit and I call Jake over. Jake sits and then I have him lay down. Jake proceeds to roll over on his back, stomach totally exposed, and paw at the cops leg to get the cop to pet him. Super ferocious you know. Officer goes an interviews the lady and comes back later to tell us that the woman doesn't think anyone should own "a killer attack dog" and that had told the cop about 10 different versions of the story during the time he interviewed her.
So all that said - a Rottie is much more mellow that a GSD, but in different ways. If you want the size of a Rottie with the temperament of a lab - get an English Mastiff.
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Originally Posted by Erni
