What You Should Know About Training A Rottweiler

Rottweilers are an amazing dog breed famous for being loyal, protective towards family members, and intelligent. As with all dogs, training your Rottie is an important task that you should not ignore or take for granted.

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Is training a Rottweiler difficult? Rottweilers are intelligent, obedient, and eager to please working dogs that are easy to train and quick to grasp commands. They are confident dogs that require an equally confident owner, and like all dogs, the earlier you can start the better.

In this article, we are going to look at everything that you need to know concerning teaching your Rottweiler to be a great companion for you.

When Is the Proper Time to Begin Rottweiler Training?

Training Rotties and indeed, any other dog breed is best done when the animal is still very little. Usually, breeders would start socializing and training the pooch while the animal is still with them, and so, as soon as you take the puppy home, it is best that you continue with them until the animal is well-grounded.

Is it possible to train an adult Rottie? Yes, it is. While it is possible to train an adult Rottweiler, it is not as easy as it is with a puppy. This is because it is far more likely that an adult pooch would have formed negative traits like stubbornness and disobedience that would make training the animal more difficult than training it at the puppy stage.

Socialization

Socialization and obedience training are essential in getting a Rottie or any other dog to be the pets you want them to be. Socialization should be started as early as possible, and so, breeders will usually start the process, even before you take your dog home.

Credit @rocky_rottweiler_

According to the American Kennel Club, “The first seven or eight weeks the puppy spends with the breeder are super important, and this is why you want to find a breeder who spends time with the puppies in their home,” says Bradley. ” The puppies should be handled daily starting at birth.”

Even after you take the furry friend home, ensure that you get the animal used to other people and animals, especially if you have other pets. To achieve this, you can take the pooch to parks with children, adults, and other pets. You can also take your Rottie out to visit your friends and take the animal out for walks.

Training

It is imperative that you train your pet right from when you get the animal. Training helps to get rid of bad behaviors and allows you to control your pet. Controlling your furry friend and letting the animal know who is in charge is imperative. Otherwise, you will find yourself with an unruly animal that you can hardly control.

Having an unruly and uncontrollable Rottweiler can quickly become frustrating as the animal may begin to constitute a nuisance especially when you are out. Trained Rottweilers will not jump in front of strangers, but will be neutral toward them, neither will these pets be so stubborn that they ignore you when you’re trying to bring them to order.

Instead, trained Rottweilers are usually calm and know that their owner is in charge, and will obey the commands of their owners. Different training that you should give to your pet includes obedience, agility, behavioral, and even vocational training since Rotties enjoy working or having something to do.

What Are Rottweilers’ Traits That Make the Animals Easy to Train?

Rottweilers are viewed as one of the easiest dog breeds to train. The following are the traits and temperament of the Rottie that makes the animal easily trainable:

A high level of intelligence: Rottweilers are a highly intelligent breed. In fact, these dogs are ranked among the ten most intelligent dog breeds in the world. This intelligence helps the animals to easily grasp commands and instructions and also follow them.

An eager to please attitude: Rottweilers are pooches that have an eager to please attitude. They always want to please their owners, and you can use this trait to your benefit and train your furry friend while it is still young before it develops negative traits like disobedience that will be hard to curb.

A hardworking nature: Rotties are hardworking dogs. In fact, in the past, they were widely used as herders. Today, they still love to have something to do and so they find use in police work and other related work. This hardworking nature of the Rottweiler makes it easy to train the animal. Always remember to use positive reinforcement by rewarding good behavior with treats and praises.

You can carry out other activities with your Rottweiler to keep the animal’s mind sharp and give it something to do. For instance, you can give your pooch puzzle games, set up an obstacle course for your dog, play fetch, go swimming or on hikes, play a tug of war game with the animal, and other such activities.

Housebreaking Your Rottweiler Puppy

Potty training your Rottweiler as soon as you get the pooch is a must. No matter how much you love your puppy, having a house that smells of dog pee and poop is not cool!

Potty training your puppy involves letting your pet understand that doing its business anywhere except in the area that you have designated for this purpose is a big no-no. Apart from that, it also involves teaching your pet to hold in poop or pee until it gets to the spot you have chosen.

Treats are going to be very helpful when you are doing this. Patience and perseverance are also key, as getting frustrated with your puppy will get you nowhere. You can potty train your Rottweiler using the steps below:

Choose a spot where your pet will go to do its business

You should take your time to decide on this spot. The ideal place would not be too far from your door that your dog could easily have accidents in the way, nor should it be so close to your door that the odors of dog pee and poop will be wafting into your home.

Choose a command and use it

Next, you should pick a command that will let your dog know that you want it to go outside. It should be one that is easy for your dog to remember, such as ‘let’s go outside’ or something along those lines.

Each time your dog needs to pee or poop, you should use the command and then walk the animal to the place you have chosen for it to use.

Give your pet a treat after it does its business

After your pet has pooped or peed, praise the animal and then reward it for good behavior by offering a treat. You need to do this for some time so that your dog gets accustomed to it.

Always make sure to keep a close eye on your pet, and if you notice that it needs to go, take it out to poop or pee in the designated spot following the steps above. Always make sure that you give the treats only after your pet poops or peas.

If your dog doesn’t poop or pee, take the animal back inside until it wants to do so. Before long, your pet will be potty trained.

See our full guide to potty training here.

Obedience Training

Credit @familydog.es

If you buy your pet from a reputable breeder, the chances are that the breeder already started with socialization and training of the pooch. If this is the case, then that means you would not have to do so much training again, but it is advised that you continue with it until your Rottie is well-grounded.

Even if your puppy does not have any training yet, you should be able to train the animal in no time as Rotties are quick learners, plus they are intelligent, and so, grasping what you are teaching will not be difficult for your dog to do. Always keep training sessions fun, short, and rewarding since dogs, especially puppies tend to have short attention spans.

Obedience training involves getting your dog to obey your commands and be obedient. This is vital if you want a well-behaved dog that you’ll be able to control since untrained Rottweilers can easily become stubborn.

Rewards in the form of treats are very vital if the training is going to work. This positive reinforcement should be given immediately after your dog performs the desired commands so that the animal will be able to associate the commands and obedience to them with the treats. Vocal praises are also very useful, especially when you are phasing out treats from the training process.

For example, if you want to teach your pet to sit, you make the dog perform the action and then immediately reward the animal with a treat. Repeat this a few more times, and each time your dog successfully obeys your command, offer a treat as a reward, but if the animal doesn’t, do not give it a treat.

Your pet will quickly learn that sitting will get it a treat and will begin to sit at your command. Once the puppy is beginning to get this command down pat, gradually replace treats with praise words such as ‘good,’ ‘good job,’ or phrases like that. Commands to teach your pet include sit, stay, wait, paw, heel, down, off, etc.

For more on training your Rott, check out these articles:

Conclusion

Training your Rottie is very important, and you should do that right from when the dog is still a puppy or when you get the animal. Training your pooch will help you get rid of any tendencies of developing bad behaviors in the animal and will help you to easily control your pet and teach the animal to obey your commands.

Apart from training, socialization, which has to do with getting your pet comfortable enough around other people, animals and stimuli by introducing your pet to them or taking the animal to places where it’ll be exposed to them is important too. Socialization and training will give you a well-behaved dog that will not be afraid of or unfriendly to strangers.

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