The breed standard ... and personal opinions ...

Dear Rottweiler Friends,

The adjusted FCI Breed Standard nr. 147 for the Rottweiler was published only yesterday and I am receiving lots of e-mails and messages and it looks like social media are quickly following.

These messages concern all sorts of comments and personal opinions.    They vary between on the one side a thankful cheering to on the other side the statement that the adjustment is still giving too much freedom for personal interpretation.     They vary between the hope that the adjusted standard will finally bring the Rottweiler back to its definition to messages that blatantly dare to deny that the standard defines the breed and that state that a judge’s or breeder’s personal preferances may and even must still prevail (sic).     They vary between the regret that the adaption did not come much sooner to the opinion that judges or breeders should not bring the adjusted standard immediately into practice but should allow for a transition period, etc. … .

IFR World Championship Tracking Dogs

As was announced, regulations for the organization of an annual IFR World Championship for Tracking Dogs were drafted.   The draft was sent to the Delegates of all IFR-Member Clubs for approval or further discussion. 

It is the firm intention of this Board to ensure that the World Championship will be organized for the first time in 2019 by our Danish Rottweiler Friends and will offer competition at both levels : FH I and FH II.       

The Rottweiler is a working breed, not just in name ... .   Facta non verba.

The adjusted Breed Standard is published and in force !

The adjustment of the FCI Breed Standard for the Rottweiler has been published on 24.07.2018 and is therefore in force.

The text can be found in four languages (German, English, Spanish and French) on http://fci.be/en/nomenclature/ROTTWEILER-147.html

How to measure the ratio's of the Rottweiler's head.

As never before, there was the recent attention for the ratio’s of the Rottweiler’s head.  Social media were (and are) overcrowding with personal opinions and photo’s, some of which can only cause horror.

In the light of the announced adjustment of the FCI Breedstandard and its consolidation of the ratio of the head to be “about 1 to 1.5” (= 40 % - 60 %) while all shorter muzzles (shorter than 40 %) are to be seen as faulty, it is important to return to my earlier posting on the manner of measuring the head’s proportion.

Change in the FCI Breed Standard of the Rottweiler

Prior to the actual beginning of the IFR-Meeting dd. 07.07.2018 in Wohlen, the ADRK announced that it's proposal for an adjustment of the FCI Breed Standard has been accepted by the Standard Commission of the FCI.   The text will shortly be published on www.fci.be and will as of then be official and applicable.    To avoid misunderstandings, while the text is not officially published, we will not go into detail just as yet, but let it be known that the adjustment clarifies several interpretation issues of the current standard, including the definition of the proportion of the head that will as of now be defined to be about 1 - 1.5 while a shorter muzzle will be understood to be a fault.   The adjustments go further than this however and include a more complete definition of the breed's character (even tempered) and of unwanted faulty traits.