The Rottweiler large and massive dog

A Rottweiler is a large dog breed originating in Germany as herding dogs. The Rottweiler has a massive, powerful body. Muscular and athletic, it has a broad head and rounded forehead. The muzzle is well-developed with a scissors bite. Its eyes are dark with an expression of goodwill and loyalty. The ears are triangular, carried forward, and its nose is wide and black.

The Romans crossed the Alps into southern Germany in the First Century on the road to conquering all of Europe. The Romans established the town of Arae Flaviae as a fortified cultural and administrative center. The red-tiled roofs of the most important buildings gave the village its German name, Rottwil (red villa), later changed to Rottweil. The town grew in importance, and by the Middle Ages, it was a bustling center of commerce and justice. Cattlemen used the descendants of the Roman dogs to bring the herds to the butcher for sale and to guard their purses of money on the way home, and the butchers in turn used the dogs to pull the carts carrying the meat. The butchers developed a larger strain of dogs for draft work, but it is the smaller herding-type Rottweilers that are most popular today.