Rottweiler history: from Roman cattle dogs to modern working breed

Part 1

Where the name and the dog come from

The breed is thought to trace back to the mastiffs of the Roman legions. As Roman soldiers marched across Europe, they brought sturdy dogs along to herd cattle for food, since there was no way to keep meat fresh otherwise. These drover dogs kept the herds together and guarded them at night. Along the way, the Romans stopped in what is now Rottweil, Germany, and the dogs there mixed with local stock.

Rottweil grew into an important trade center, and the descendants of those cattle dogs became known for driving livestock to market and guarding it from robbers and wild animals along the way. Local butchers relied on these dogs so heavily that people started calling them Rottweiler Metzgerhund, or Rottweil butcher's dog. A drover would sometimes tie the day's money in a pouch around the dog's neck, trusting that no one would risk going near it.

Part 2

From butcher's dog to near extinction

For a long stretch, your dog's ancestors earned their keep by driving cattle to market and pulling carts loaded with meat. With no work left for them, Rottweiler numbers fell sharply during the 1800s.

The decline became dramatic by the late 1800s. At a dog show in Heilbronn in 1882, only one Rottweiler was reportedly there to represent the breed. It is a striking image if you picture your own dog's ancestors reduced to almost nothing at that show.

Part 3

How the breed was rebuilt and standardized

Fanciers who valued the breed's working ability kept breeding the Rottweilers that remained scattered around Europe. The first Rottweiler club in Germany, the Deutscher Rottweiler-Klub, was founded in January 1914. A second club, the Süddeutscher Rottweiler-Klub, followed in April 1915, and the two eventually merged into what became the International Rottweiler Club. The clubs later combined into the Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler Klub in 1921, which is still recognized worldwide as the breed's home club today. One source says the first formal breed standard was set in 1901, when Rottweilers shared a club with Leonbergers before getting their own parent club decades later.

The build-up to the First World War brought new demand for police dogs, and that demand helped revive interest in the Rottweiler. During both World Wars, Rottweilers served as messenger, ambulance, draught, and guard dogs.

Part 4

Rottweilers arrive in Britain and the United States

The American Kennel Club officially recognized the Rottweiler in 1931. The breed's AKC standard was first published in 1935 and later revised in 1971 and 1990. Across the Atlantic, Rottweilers were exhibited in Britain at Crufts in 1936, and a separate register for the breed opened there in 1966. In the United States, the American Rottweiler Club was formed in 1973 and became a member of the AKC in 1991.

By the mid-1990s the Rottweiler was the most registered dog with the American Kennel Club, at one point ranked as the second-most popular breed in the country. More recently, the AKC ranked the Rottweiler eighth among the most popular purebred dogs in the United States in 2024.

Part 5

What the history explains about the dog today

Knowing this background can help you understand your own dog a little better. The instinct some Rottweilers show to lean their body against you is thought to come from the way they once used their weight to steer cattle in the right direction. The Rottweiler's history also includes work as a police dog, a role it took on in the early 20th century.