Our 3 year old Rottweiler 'circles' babies

Hi, we have a 3 year old Rottweiler bitch. She is a very good natured dog but she does worry me when we have babies or children come over to our house because she 'circles' them constantly.

Do you have any idea why she does this and what we should do when it happens.

Many thanks.

Sharon





Hi Sharon
It's difficult to say for sure why your Rottie is doing this, but I'm inclined to think she's displaying her herding/guarding roots.

Rottweilers would circle their cattle and even lean on them to keep them 'in line' and Rottweilers still tend to do that with farm animals and even children.

As she is good natured and has never shown any aggression I doubt she means them any harm, however the herding instinct does sometimes result in a 'nip' being given to the cattle/sheep/ducks or whatever, and you don't want that to happen with children.

Keep a close eye on her when you have babies or children around, and try to discourage her from circling them incessantly. If she doesn't see children on a daily basis she may be unsure of exactly WHAT they are, and you want to err on the side of caution. If necessary, you can keep her in a separate room, or in her crate, but definitely don't leave her alone with them unsupervised just in case.

Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck.