If you are someone who is going for a Rottweiler family, you might be concerned if the Rottweiler is a good dog when you have kids around. The media portrayal of Rottweilers and the repeated stories of Rottweiler attacks may have made you wary about the entire Rottweiler family idea. Well, you don’t always have to believe everything on the news. Rotties are just like all other dogs. It’s only when they are not trained properly from the childhood stage that they start to act in a weird manner.
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But then, there is another issue when it comes to Rottweilers. When you are making a Rottweiler family, you might adopt a fully grown Rottie. If that’s the course that you are taking, then you might genuinely be worried. Adopting a Rottie can be risky since you do not know how the Rottie has been socialized previously. Because of the lack of proper socialization, the Rottie may not seem like the best dog for your kids. However, if you do adopt a Rottie, then you can observe and implement a few things which will help you create a better Rottweiler family.
The first thing that you need to check is the instinctual tendencies of a Rottweiler. What we mean by this is that there are a few Rottweilers who have a high prey drive. The prey drive dictates that if the Rottie finds a moving target with high pitched noise, they will try to chase it. This description matches little kids. While the Rottweiler may not be aggressive, this chase and finally catching up with the kid might harm the kid. This feature is not just based on Rottweiler dogs – this can be a trait among many dogs. So, it is not evidence of any specific danger attributed to the Rottweiler breed of dogs.
When you are trying to make a Rottweiler family, you need to keep strict monitoring on the activities of the kids and the Rottweiler too. There should not be any shift in the power dynamics in a way that will make the Rottweiler a dominant member of the family. You should create a power structure where the Rottie understands that human beings are at a higher power level than the Rottie – including the little kids. There are a few ways in which you can do this.
If your Rottie is not food-aggressive, then you can make your kid give your Rottweiler food. That way, your Rottweiler recognizes your kid as a provider of food and hence, they will be wary of your child. They will know that they are of a higher power structure than the Rottweiler.
Similarly, you should not make the Rottie go on top of any high spot. By moving up on a high spot, a Rottie might feel like they are at a higher power dynamic than the other members. So, tabletops, beds, and sofas are a strict no-no for your Rottie.
If you still have any problem while creating a Rottweiler family, you can contact a proper dog trainer who will help make your dog acclimatize with the new conditions as well as set the power structures that will help your kids to remain safe.
