How strong is a Rottweiler’s bite force? Rottweilers have a bite force of 328 pounds one of the strongest bite forces amongst all dog breeds due to their large and strong jaws. This compares to the German Shepherd – 235 lbs, Doberman – 245 lbs, American Bulldog – 305 lbs, and the Mastiff 552 lbs. It is also far more than that of humans, which is only an average of 126 pounds.
In This Article You Will Read About
We’ll talk about various things concerning a Rottie’s bite force in this article.
What Exactly Is the Bite Force of a Dog?
The bite force of a dog is the power or force with which the animal bites down on something with its jaw. It is calculated in pounds per square inch (psi). The Rottweiler’s bite force of 328 pounds is said to be twice the animal’s weight, so you can imagine just how strong that is.
The Rottweiler is a working dog with impressive size and a large head. This breed was used in the past to work on farms and help with stuff like guarding homes, herding cattle, and pulling carts.
Today, Rotties are still hard-working animals and they provide companionship to families and individuals, as well as make great guard dogs. Aside from that, these dogs are very useful in police and military work as they can be easily trained for search and rescue and other such tasks.
Are All Rottweilers’ Bite Forces the Same?
The bite force of a dog depends on different factors, including the size and shape of the animal’s jaw, the size of its body, and the shape of its skull. The bigger the jaw of the animal, the stronger its bite force.
Therefore, not all dogs will have the same bite force. Large dog breeds tend to have a stronger one than smaller dog breeds because they have larger heads and bodies. Rottweilers are one of the dogs with the strongest bite forces.
It is also important to note that a Rottie’s bite force is not the same every time. It will usually be greater when the animal is in defense mode, probably because it feels it or its owners are in danger. If a dog is in defense mode, it is going to bite harder than if it is just spooked or something like that.
Why Does a Rottweiler or Any Other Dog Bite?
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
All dogs have the potential to bite, and they can do this for various reasons, including stress, being startled, defense and protection, or even sometimes when they are playing. Despite what many people think, Rottweilers are not dogs that bite unnecessarily. In fact, breeds like the Labrador, chihuahua, Pitbull, and Bulldog are more likely to bite than Rotties are.
It’s important to remember that a bite can also be an entirely legitimate action and is one of the ways your Rottweiler may react to being provoked. If your Rottweiler is well trained from an early age then they only bite as a last resort and if they do bite, then it’s also your obligation to check if your behaviour is provoking. There will be plenty of warning signs that your Rottie will display before they resort to a bite and generally the bite will be proportional to what’s happening.
Here’s a great video of a dog trainer provoking a soft warning bite from his Rottie. In this case, you can see the Rottie is just communicating it’s uncomfortable with the owner touching his feet. He also gives plenty of warning signs including:
- Licking his lips
- Showing teeth
- Growling
- ‘False’ bites
When the bite does come it’s gentle, and a legitimate reaction to the provocation.
The Rottweiler Guarding Instinct
One of the major traits of Rottweilers is their protective nature towards their owners. In fact, they make excellent guard dogs and will quickly step into the fray to protect family members from intruders and threats.
You can see the natural guarding instinct come out in this video below where the Rotties are showing guarding behaviour in a playful context.
Because of this it’s important to train and socialize your Rottweiler so they don’t learn to see other people and dogs as threats. Well-trained Rottweilers are far better at handling situations that involve strangers and new people than untrained ones are. Untrained ones may react in unpredictable ways towards strangers. You don’t need to train your Rott to guard as this natural instinct will come through in their personality anyway.
Training Your Rottweiler
If you buy your dog from a good breeder, the chances are that the breeder already started training your pet even before you got the animal. This doesn’t mean you should relax, though. Instead, you should continue with the training so that your dog will be well-grounded.
The best training for all dog breeds is one based on positive reinforcement as it’s built on trust rather than fear. Treats help a great deal in the training process. Types of training that you should give to your dog include:
- Behavioral training: This has to do with teaching your pet to behave well around people and even other dogs and animals. Behavioral training helps to get rid of bad behavior such as chewing. It is good to give your dog this training at a very young age. Housebreaking is also a type of behavioral training.
- Obedience training: Obedience training has to do with teaching your dog to obey your commands. Words like stay, lie down, and sit are used to teach your dog what you need the animal to do. If you have a dog that obeys you, it will be easy to stop the dog from biting people or doing any other thing that you do not want.
Does the Strong Bite Force of the Rottie Make the Animal Dangerous?
Rotties are generally calm, confident, and loving animals. A lot of people have the misconception that this breed is an aggressive and dangerous one, but this is not true at all. The correct temperaments of a Rottweiler are calmness, confidence, goofiness, loyalty, protectiveness, a hardworking nature, obedience, playfulness, and a high level of intelligence.
Reading that Rotties have one of the strongest bite forces among dogs may even solidify some people’s preconceived notions about the breed. However, the bite force of the Rottie is not something you should worry about if you do your job as a dog owner.
As a responsible dog owner, whether you own a Rottweiler or not, you must be aware of the fact that training your dog is your responsibility and one that you should not take lightly, at that. If you are willing to play your part as a Rottie owner by training and socializing your pet, then you will not have to be worried about your dog being dangerous.
How to Prevent Your Rottie From Biting People
Owning a dog that bites people can be a nightmare. Dogs that bite people without heeding the commands of their owners are usually those that are not trained or socialized. This is why it cannot be overemphasized enough that you should train your dog as soon as you get the animal. Training will make your dog obedient enough to always follow your command and will teach the animal that biting people unprovoked or being aggressive to people or other animals except if they pose a serious threat is bad.
Even then, a properly trained dog will resort to barking loudly, growling at the intruder, and standing on top of its legs in a bid to scare the intruder away. If you have trained your dog to be a guard dog, the animal should only bite in a dangerous situation if you have given the express command to do so.
Training is best done when the dog is still a puppy as the animal would likely not have formed negative traits like stubbornness yet. Necessary commands such as ‘stay,’ ‘sit,’ ‘heel,’ and such commands are important in getting your pet to obey you.
Apart from training, you have to socialize your Rottie if you do not want the animal to bite people. Socialization will make your Rottweiler used to and comfortable around people, and strangers and will help your dog to easily make friends and not be scared of people.
Other Dog Breeds With a Strong Bite Force
As mentioned earlier, Rottweilers have the second strongest bite among dogs after the mastiff. Other dogs with a strong bite force include the following:
- The Mastiff: This dog has a whopping bite force of 552 pounds, which is even more than that of the Rottweiler. Considering that large dog breeds tend to have a stronger bite force than smaller breeds, this is not a surprise.
- The American Bulldog: Another animal that has a strong bite is the American Bulldog. This breed has a bite force of 305 pounds and is somewhat large.
- The German shepherd: The breed has a bite force of 235 pounds. This strong bite and the large figure of the breed are powerful enough to deter intruders, and so, they are often used as security dogs.
- Doberman: The animal has a bite force of 245 pounds.
- The American Pitbull: This breed has a strong bite of 235 pounds.
Conclusion
The Rottweiler’s bite force is one of the strongest ones among dogs, at 328 pounds. This is more than twice the animal’s weight and is due to its large size and big jaw. The strong bite force of these dogs does not make them dangerous. Instead, they make good guard dogs and are used a lot in the police and military because of their confidence, intelligence, and protectiveness.
They also find use in homes as good companions and guard dogs too. Of course, if you do not want your dog to be aggressive towards strangers and biting people indiscriminately like all dogs have the potential to do, then training and socialization are a must. Trained and socialized dogs will be able to discern rightly when someone poses a threat and when someone does not.
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