some photos of early rottweilers Photos

I found these photos of early rottweilers, just thought I would share them

Wow! Looks like we have shortened their backs, legs and muzzles along the way... I love the carts though! I'd love to see a couple of modern rotties hitched to a cart like this. I'm sure they are still more than capable of performing this job. It goes a long way to explain their dual nature doesn't it.. By which I mean some rotties are guarding centred high aggression dogs, but this seems odd when you meet the really placid strong gentle giant ones... Are we looking at the carting and guarding strains?

the dogs were bread to do both, I dont really think it was one or the other, they were often used by farmers to pull milk carts, and to go with them when they took the cattle to market {hence the drovers dog} Many farmers would be attacked for there earnings on the way home from market, this made the dogs more popular as many farmers found that putting there earnings in a purse attached to the dogs collar kept most attackers at bay,

I always thought the rottie was bred as a cattle dog more then a carting breed. Lovely pictures BTW

they were farmers dogs so normaly had to do both ;-)

Its always fascinating to see the origins of breeds... Mine are all reasonably open books.. The Samoyed is a reindeer herding/sled pullling/ child guarding and warming dog bred by the Samoyed people. (They call it Bjelka or smiling snow). The Lurcher was first created by clever poachers sneaking their mutts in with the landowners posh greyhounds and the 'Huskamute' is simply a mixed strain of two sled dogs, both from the same basic origins, the malamute is the bigger stronger dog used at the back of the sled team as break dogs or used for heavy loads, the Siberian has speed and endurance and a good leadership drive... Obviously 'Huskamute' is not a breed in itself, but a portmanteau used to describe this pairing.

Cracking pics, it is so interesting to see these pics. The first thing I noticed was the length of leg in the first one, they look a bit houndy

Very interesting.

Do you know whether the photos are all from the same country and (other than the first one which says) how old the photos are? The reason I ask is imo the dogs look very different in each of the 3 photos

Thanks for sharing, that is fascinating, I love learning about the true origins of breeds.

I didnt know sammys were a child guarding breed, you learn something new every day

Yup I would say over the years the breed has developed more bone,
I personaly feel the dogs of today look better, with top lines being less wavy, bone being stronger, heads and mouths being better,
BUT
it does make me wonder given the recent programe on pedigree dogs, are we going to tip over the edge in a few years from now? taking things to far? hence the old books coming back out,,, its given me some food for thought

the third photo is approx 1900, Im not sure which country it was taken in though

Im not to sure about the other one, again its the early 1900's

the foundation breeds of the rottie,

Ancient roman mastiff




as the roman armys moved over the the swiss alps the large mastiffs are said to have mated with the
greater swiss mountain dog






then later on in Germany the

german Pincher was added




the dog we see today { one of my dogs thats now passed on }

wow, again really interesting, thanks. From those breeds you can really see how the rotti started to take shape

(but I do hope it was the roman army's dogs who were mated with the greater swiss mountain dog and not the roman army themselves ) :-

snigger snigger, I will go and edit that lol

I think anything went with the romans though

Brilliant pictures, they looked so much more athletic then ...

lol Its funny how we all look at things, I personaly thougth they looked week in the hock and pasterns, with very splayed feet.
I also thought the top lines looked week with many being very saggy

But I guess I look at if from the dogs of today, not with an outside eye if you know what I mean, so my view may be a bit one sided

Thanks for posting those pictures Shona, it's really interesting to see how the breed has changed. I'm liking the greater swiss mountain dog, I've never seen one of those before.

I think there are a few people who show and breed rottweilers who also have GSMD's ;-)

Great to see the pics, thanks!
I am in love with the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog!!!