The Rottweiler takes its name from the town of Rottweil in Southern Germany.  It is believed that Mastiff-type dogs accompanied the Roman invading troops on the European conquests.  Around 74AD the Romans had marched through the Alps and had taken up occupation of the area of south Germany.  Rottweil was one of these towns, so named because of the red tiles and bricks of the town’s houses.

Here, as with other roads of the Romans, were to be found the descendants of those big guard dogs which protected their masters and their cattle. Cattle became an important part of the town’s economy and the cattle trade encouraged the development of the Rottweiler or Rottweil Butcher’s Dog.  This dog was now not dissimilar from that which we know today.

The Rottweiler’s prime purpose was to work cattle, to drive them long distances and to guard them when pastured. During this time the Rottweiler would be its master’s sole companion as friend and protector developing a strong relationship with it’s owner.  When at home it lived alongside the family playing and guarding children. The Rottweiler was also used to deliver the wares of the butches, bakers and milkmen by being harnessed to a cart. .  The Rottweiler was known as the Rottweil Butcher’s Dog because he would herd the butcher’s cattle from the market to the abattoir and then pull the carcasses back on the cart.

There are stories of the herdsmen selling their cattle at market and to ensure that their money was not stolen, they tied it around the necks of their dogs where thieves were unlikely to mug a large snarling dog.

The growth of the rail system towards the end of the 19th century saw the demise of the Rottweil droving dog.  The government which ran the rail network, forbade the droving of cattle in favour of  train transportation although the Rottweiler continued to pull carts carrying milk and other goods for a while but eventually became defunct.

Thelma Gray was the first person to introduce the Rottweiler to the UK.  This was in 1936.  She imported three bitches from Germany to be her foundation stock.  During the Second World War, she sent the dogs to Ireland for their safety but was unable to trace them once peace was declared.  The remaining stock was too old to be bred from and the breed died out.

Then a Captain Frederick Roy-Smith, a vet with the Army Dog School in Germany brought a dog and bitch back with him to England. The bitch was not of a high standard and nor was the single pup she produced so he  brought another bitch to the UK.  Further dogs were imported and so the breed’s popularity grew.

It was nearly 20 years after Thelma Gray first introduced Rottweilers to the UK that the Kennel Club recognised it as a breed.