P.T. Barnham once said, "There's a fool born every minute", and every 30 seconds someone is born to take that fool's money. Every day we hear stories of a person who bought a 'rare' Rottweiler for a large sum of money only to find out a few days later that their precious, expensive 'rare' dog is nothing but a Rottweiler mix or a mutt.

Well, be a fool no more! We are going to educate you about all of those rare' Rotties you have been hearing about. Just sit back, and let us take you down the path to education, to knowing and understanding that it is OKAY to have a normal Rottweiler.

Red Rottweilers

The pup above is the result of an accidental breeding. This mating produced 5 red pups.

According to the AKC:

Color:

Always black with rust to mahogany markings. The demarcation between black and rust is to be clearly defined. The markings should be located as follows: a spot over each eye; on cheeks; as a strip around each side of muzzle, but not on the bridge of the nose; on throat; triangular mark on both sides of prosternum;on forelegs from carpus downward to the toes; on inside of rear legs showing down the front of the stifle and broadening out to front of rear legs from hock to toes, but not completely eliminating black from rear of pasterns; un-der tail; black penciling on toes. The undercoat is gray, tan, or black. Quantity and location of rust markings is important and should not exceed ten percent of body color.
Serious Faults--Straw-colored, excessive, insufficient or sooty markings; rust marking other than described above; white marking any place on dog (a few rust or white hairs do not constitute a marking).
Disqualifications--Any base color other than black; absence of all markings.

Red Rottweilers are a genetic fluke usually resulting from heavy inbreeding. This means that they are prone to MANY genetic defects ranging from being too small to more serious flaws such as eye and heart problems.

Any 'breeder' advertising such an animal can immediately be ruled an unethical, backyard breeder, looking to make a quick buck off of the suffering of a helpless animal. Such people should be avoided like the bubonic plague.

Learn more about red Rotties at The Rested Dog Inn, The Rottweiler Home Page, and The American Rottweiler Club.

Long Haired Rottweilers

Ember is a long-haired Rottweiler, and she is purebred. In fact, she is the result of a breeding by a very reputable breeder.

Coat

Outer coat is straight, coarse, dense, of medium length and lying flat. Undercoat should be present on neck and thighs, but the amount is influenced by climatic conditions. Undercoat should not show through outer coat. The coat is shortest on head, ears and legs, longest on breeching. The Rottweiler is to be exhibited in the natural condition with no trimming.
Fault--Wavy coat.
Serious Faults--Open, excessively short, or curly coat; total lack of undercoat; any trimming that alters the length of the natural coat.
Disqualification--Long coat.

Although she is beautiful and registered, Ember is not within the breed standard set by the AKC. In fact, according to AKC Ember's coat would be an automatic disqualification from the ring. Although no health problems have been associated with a Rottweiler with a long coat, this trait is not desirable. Breeders who are intentionally producing puppies with long coats should be considered unethical breeders, and one should avoid purchasing any puppy from them.

*Note: Even ethical breeders occasionally have a long haired puppy show up in their breedings. The long coat trait is a recessive gene, and these things do happen from time to time. An ethical breeder will, however, recognize and acknowledge that the pup is not show quality and will insist that it is altered, as Ember is, to prevent it from producing nonstandard offspring. They will not try to pass off the pup as "rare" or "unique" in an effort to profit from this trait.