News

Looking back on 2020 and forward to 2021

Dear Rottweiler Friends,

Before all else, I sincerely wish that this message reaches you and your family in good health.

I do not have to tell you that 2020 was not and will not be a happy year to look back on.   The COVID-19 virus swarmed the whole world and caused misery in every thinkable way, socially and psychological, social and societal, economic and financial ....

We will bear traces of this on a human level, but also in terms of club life and we should not lose sight of the fact that the pandemic will also have left its mark on our beloved breed.    

The fact that breeding, showing and trialing  was largely impossible because of all sorts of necessary restrictions will indeed have weighed on our social life and taken away the pleasure that those activities bring to us, but also threatens to have a direct impact on the breed itself : not only has there been a decline in the number of births but also a lack of breeding selection.  Let's indeed not forget that shows and working competitions are from a cynologic point of view much more than mere competitions as above all they aim at breeding selection !    

IFR World Show - entry form is online

The entry form for the IFR World Show in France (15-16.05.2021) and the French Clubshow on 14.05.2021 is online and available on CEDIA ( www.ifr2021.fr - www.cedia.fr )   For more information : please contact the French Rottweilerclub : Mme Séverine Buisson :  Sevcarlita@gmail.com - +33 768999682  /  Mme Laetitia Ppereira : laeti38.ufr@outlook.com  

The application for a licence to participate the Utility Dog Test is also available :  http://www.cedia.fr/ftp/Demande-de-licence-etrangere-2019.pdf   As a reminder : participating this test is not mandatory to participate the IFR Show or even to win the IFR Show.   However, only dogs that pass this test can​ win the title of "World Winner" - cfr. art. 8 of the regulations .     French legislation demands that to participate a test with protection work, the owner must have this licence.    So all handlers with the ambition for the highest title and who will participate the test, should send an application for this licence.  Without licence, participation of the show is possible but participation of the test will not be possible.  There will be absolutely no exeptions allowed on this !    The routines of the test are known and were published already before. 

The IFR's goals.

We quite regularly receive requests for IFR-Membership.  All are very well meant but sometimes however based on the wrong idea that the IFR is an organization with the annual IGP-World Championship and World Show as it's main activities and/or goals on it's agenda.    This is of course wrong.   Those activities are not our goals but instruments to help achieve our goals.

Statutory, the formal goal of the IFR is to worldwide align the breeding of the Rottweiler with the requirements of human and animal living together, this with respect for the demands that are proper to modern and future society and yet without loss of the original physical characteristics and traits of character of the Rottweiler as defined by the FCI-breed- standard. These traits of character consist in a high confidence of character, a sociable behavior in the family and society and the aptitude of a utility dog.  

BOAS - FCI study

The FCI published on its website a report on BOAS (Brachycephalic Breeds and Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome) and more precisely  a "Report, Strategy and Recommendations" by the FCI Scientific Commission dd. 15.07.2020.   Although the Rottweiler is NOT a Brachycephalic breed, the problem of BOAS has entered the breed.  This realisation led to an adaption of the breedstandard that now holds the definition of the minimal ratio between skull and muzzle as a breed specific trait but that is doubtless also meant to prevent BOAS from entering the breed even more.

The Commission's recommendations are important for us all and emphasize once again the need for prior testing of all breeding dogs on their comformation but also on their physical and genetic health, including the need to avoid breeding with dogs that suffer BOAS.    The full text - a recommented literature for all breed clubs, judges and breeders - is available under this link.

FCI Committee for Dog Welfare and Health

The FCI has announced the launch of the FCI Committee for Dog Welfare and Health of which the main aims are to spread scientific knowledge and put it into practice for the sake of dogs worldwide and to help the work of the breeders, breed clubs and national canine organisations by covering all aspects and issues of dog welfare and health.

The work group has its own section on the FCI's website.    Recommended for regular visits.

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