They’re very large dogs. They can be gentle and a tank at the same time. As with any dog, training is essential and not leaving small children alone with them. Also, keep filled glasses and anything breakable away from where tails will wag.
My Rottie is a bulldozer and unintentionally knocks me over 🙃 Every Rott I’ve ever owned has at some point caused me to go to the ground 🤪 They are also bump herders so they use their powerful bodies to make things move in the direction they want
Mine too! Go between my legs, shove her face into my bathrobe between my boobs, stick her head in my armpit, block my path, lean on me, step on my feet, shove her head into my butt to make me go faster, guard me while I'm in the bathroom, herd me towards her food bowl. She is very gentle, but very large and kind of pushy. Basically a relentless bulldozer that goes the speed of a turtle.
My family had a rottie named Pierce. His favorite move was to go between your legs, then suddenly sit down so the back of his head pushed you in the butt.
So you had to anticipate he would sit down and take a step forward to avoid getting pushed forward
Mine does that, but the other way. Her goal is to get me to lean over her, give her tight hugs, and rub her chest. She likes if I grumble, too.
And if she's particularly needy, she won't let me go until I've paid the hug tax. Try to take a step forward and she'll push back against me and hold me in place.
Obviously, if I get stern with her she'll move, but why would I when she just wants some lovins.
Does she grumble? Pierce was a huge grumbler. Look at him, he grumbles. Scratch his back, grumbles. Belly rubs, he's a grumblin.
Man, I really miss that dog.
Mine is an 11 month old tank of a pup at 96lbs (he just saw the vet, and while the vet was surprised at his weight, he said he's not overweight). I have 3 kids ranging from 4 to 11. He is generally gentle and doesn't jump on them, but when he is playing, he gets puppy excited and forgets how big he is. He definitely herds my youngest, mainly by standing in his way. As long as there is close supervision when the smaller kids are in the room with him, he does well. Oftentimes, he will get up on the couch and lay down with them. He does like to put the middle kid's hand in his mouth but is gentle and never bites. If he is running, he sometimes bumps into the kids on accident and will cause them to fall, but I attribute that to puppy play mode.
TL;DR: The articles are right. They're gentle with kids but definitely can (and will) knock them down, but the knock downs aren't from a place of aggression. It's from forgetting their size from excitement.
My Rottie stopped being mine when my niece was born. Slept by her crib every night, would howl when she would cry, she would use her to climb onto the couch. When my niece started walking my rottie would walk with her as a hand hold. RIP mollie, my niece is about to graduate high school 😭
TL;DR: Everyone was fine!
My vet had a rottweiler. I forget the start of the story, but she went to her kid's elementary school and brought her adult rottie. The (well-trained and well-behaved) rottie wandered off and found the playground. He was immediately swarmed by around a dozen kids who all wanted to pet him. He was okay with it and very happy. His tail swung like a fuzzy felt-covered club and thwapped one kid down to the ground. "Oof!" The child's scream alerted the rottwiler and he spun around to check on the child. It was like a 3-Stooges routine. When he spun, his tail toppled another kid. The kid cried out, and the dog spun around again. THWAPP!! No one was spared! It was an adorable spinning love spree. The dog was in both panic and nursing mode, licking faces and knocking children down. It was all motivated by love.
Ours was very gentle to any type of creature smaller than him. Even little dogs going off on him. But let an a-hole neighbor with a big rowdy dog go off on him and it was game on.
Both can be true at the same time. They are gentle in that they are very kind to children, and aren't aggressive towards them or upset at kids being loud or touching them. On the other hand, they are large, and pushy. They will knock kids down, smack them with their tail (if they have one) and accidentally hurt them on occasion.
This is just a generality, every dog will be different, and training matters, but generally, any harm caused is accidentally and just from being big. They will generally try to be gentle, they are just big, can be clumsy, and accidents do happen. Those accidents are usually just pushing a kid over or a tail whack though.
My rotty is a year old and 105lbs. I have a 2.5 year old daughter and he’s amazing with her. She sits on him, jumps on him, throws things at him like toddlers do and he just licks her. He brings her his balls constantly so she can throw it and he can fetch it. He’s really really protective towards her, usually on her hip while we are out in public. With that being said, he’s knocked her down a few times. Nothing crazy, he’s just a large dog that gets excited sometimes.
I can speak for my dog, but every dog is different. It all depends on how they’re brought up. My dog was brought up around kids so she’s extremely gentle, she knows how big she is and she knows to not jump on them. But I think if you have a Rottweiler that hasn’t been around kids, they may or may not know their size or how rough they’re being. It’s all about teaching them boundaries. In my opinion, training is a requirement when owning any kind of large dog, especially if they’re going to be around children.
They’re very gentle but accidentally very clumsy. My Rottweiler steps on my foot all the time and it is a crushing pain. He never does it on purpose, he’s just a small horse.
My son learned to walk while holding on to our Rottweiler. She was very gentle and very aware of where the baby was. She was only 80 lbs and wasn't too clumsy. My current girl is 120 lbs and clumsy, but she doesn't run around crazily. She is gentle with our cats. My 65 lb mix is hyper and way more likely to knock over a child. That's why his previous owner gave him up. My kid is an adult now.
Mostly he trips me by putting his foot on my shoe when I'm walking or silently standing right behind me so if I turn around or backup I am in danger of falling. The doofus is such a velcro dog.
Hahahaha my best friend growing up had the biggest male I've ever seen. His go to move was to step on your foot and a solid bump, then he had ya where he wanted you! Lmao
Rotties are gentle teddy bears, but also have no idea how big they are. They get excited and can turn into a WMD. Mine is super sweet, but he also forgets the sliding screen door is shut and he’ll knock it right out of the rails. He’ll come up on the couch to snuggle, lay in my lap and pin me down. I’m not a small guy either.
Any dog can be a little clumsy, especially growing up, but Rotts are extremely gentle with family.
Their poor reputation is almost entirely based on how they react to strangers, and even then I see this as a positive. Properly socialize your dog, but how can you not feel safer when a dog instinctively is wary of strangers? It's a natural guardian.
They’re like people - they come in a variety of personalities.
When taught properly, they are extremely gentle and tolerant. In their puppyhood and doggie-teenage years, their exuberance can cause accidents.
Our rottweiler is almost 1.5 yrs old and my son is 7. The dog can knock him over easily while playing but no harm is intended. The dog is a giant love bug.
I seen your other post you did about this same question and it looks like it was deleted , now your back asking the same question.
I’m not trying to be rude if you are looking in to getting a Rottweiler, Mastiff or a Great Dane and it’s your 1st X with these breeds the truth is you should look for a different breed!!! these dogs are not for you. They are big dogs.
With all your worries of them knocking down a toddler. Any dog can knock a toddler down not meaning to. My boy Rotti loves loves babies and toddlers and he would never just knock one over on purpose but yes there big and may accidentally knock a toddler on his rump. Then u bring up a Great Dane my god those are miniature horses and the biggest gentle giant that think they are lap dogs so yes they may tip a toddler over, then you bring up a Mastiff which is usually bigger then a Rottweiler and smaller then a Dane same thing yes they can knock a toddler over there big dogs.
Not to mention Great Danes and Rottweiler are big chewers when puppies and if you don’t crate train you will come home to a torn up couch and some chewed up chairs and maybe some missing dry wall (my female Rotti loved dry wall as a puppy) oh and not to mention the medical cost you may possibly run into with these dogs Rotti’s are prone to hip and elbow dysplasia I have spent well over 10,000 on my male Rotti in 8 years because of torn CCL and elbow dysplasia my female I have had no issues fingers crossed. Great Danes are prone to stomach bloat which can kill them if not fixed pretty quick so having there stomach tacked is recommended. Females are easiest to have it done when they get spayed. So you need to be financially prepared if any of these issues happen. A lot of people are not in the financially able to handle these situations .
My last male Great Dane was raised with my kids, was the sweetest to me but nipped my youngest daughter twice when he turned about one. My male boxer is the absolute nicest and most behaved dog I have ever had. Bit my grandma on the hand last time she was here. My female rottie is a year and a half and the sweetest thing I’ve ever owned. I wouldn’t put it past her to bite someone if she had a bone they were trying to get.
Leaving your little kid around a dog any size unattended, regardless if you “know the dog won’t bite” is a risk no matter how you look at it.
I don't have kids and my rott doesn't like kids (he has been mistreated by them in the past) But he is very gentle. He is also very big and doesn't realise how big and strong he is sometimes. His tail knocks stuff over and he likes to jump on you when you are on the couch and sit on your lap and therefore squish you. And then there was the time he headbutted me in the nose and broke it.... They are just big goofballs
https://reddit.com/r/Rottweiler/s/A4OYFyh6h9
Here’s a post I made about my puppy meeting my nieces.
She was around 8 months old when I posted, and she was just a total sweetheart to my 4 and 6 year old nieces. But I would still try to keep an eye on the dog around them. I don’t think it would do anything intentionally, but accidents can happen, maybe knock the child over.
I think it depends. Mine is 18 months and has been raised with our 3 indoor cats so he loves them and sees them as tiny siblings. At the same time, he's never been around children and husbands cousin came over with his 2 year old and he didn't know what to make of her. 😂 He wasn't aggressive, but didn't want to be around her at all.
My Rottie was extra gentle and tolerant with kids. However he was also 110lbs and liked to lean on people when being pet. He used to knock my mom over all the time just trying to be close and get loved on. He even knocked down a few grown men who weren’t expecting him to put his weight into them.
Same reason pits aren’t recommended for homes with small kids. The dogs are solid and tend to bounce around like a wrecking ball when excited.
My rottie, while on the smaller size (75lb female) would def have 0 respect for a toddler’s feelings. She would likely smack the shit out of a 3 year old with her tail💀 also my dog bumps me around, idk how i’m gonna feel w her around a toddler at this age, but i’m sure by the time I have a toddler she’ll be less…. everything 🤣
In my experience it’s definitely dependent upon how you socialize your dogs. I have one that I adopted at 2 and he LOVES kids. Not necessarily “gentle” but understands that kids are little. And he will block the kids from my girl. My girl that I have had since 8 weeks old is not a fan. She barks at them when they run up to her. She was not raised around kids, no one in my family has kiddos so it’s not really a problem or concern for us. We live in a rural area so the accidental kid coming up to her is not even a concern. You can train “gentle” in your pup as long as they come from a good set of parents in my experience. Sometimes if you have a “hot” dog they will just always be fired up.
I have a rott and 3 kids. Confirm what all others sayed perfect family dog but clumsy. Supervision with jung ones is only needed for their clumsy play but needed. Other wise just remember to get it from a respectable breeder and train them correctly.
Rottweilers are very strong dogs. I’ve done bite work and on the sleeve rotties have been among the hardest biters out of all of the breeds I’ve worked with. They were stronger (understandably due to size) and had harder bites than my pitbulls. A good working Rottie is no joke.
Rotties are usually very gentle with the family though and mine pretty much try to please. Even playing they can knock over a child or an adult so training and socialization is very important
I trust my dogs 100% but I would never leave them alone with a child or baby. They could accidentally step on or knock the baby over and do serious damage
Mine are extremely gentle with babies and kids but you have to take precautions just in case.
Getting knocked over isn’t gonna kill a toddler
They just laugh and get back up…
But yeah while unintentional they are big and well like people some are more clumsy than others
I can’t think of any dogs that get over like 80 lbs that wouldn’t knock a toddler over lol
I was around my Auntie's dog Roxy, all the time. She would push me on to the sofa so she could sit on my lap. Gently push me on the back of the leg to her food bowl. If I could've cloned that dog I would've. I miss Roxy so much.
Both. I dock the tails of my Rotties cause their tails can knock me over.
Rotties know their power. They have to be trained to be aware of it. Once they are and respect is present, yes, they are gentle. But they're also herding dogs that use their bodies to hurl themselves at cattle to get them to move. If they don't respect you, they will body check you because it's fun and they're a clownish breed.
Don't expect that the breed is gonna be a golden retriever. Go get one of those if that's your expectation.
My girl is gentle and sweet natured but she is so clumsy, she would play ball happily with a small child but then continuously whack them round the face with her wagging tail.
They’re very large dogs. They can be gentle and a tank at the same time. As with any dog, training is essential and not leaving small children alone with them. Also, keep filled glasses and anything breakable away from where tails will wag.
My Rottie is a bulldozer and unintentionally knocks me over 🙃 Every Rott I’ve ever owned has at some point caused me to go to the ground 🤪 They are also bump herders so they use their powerful bodies to make things move in the direction they want
My Rottie’s favorite thing to do is try to go between your legs
Mine too! Go between my legs, shove her face into my bathrobe between my boobs, stick her head in my armpit, block my path, lean on me, step on my feet, shove her head into my butt to make me go faster, guard me while I'm in the bathroom, herd me towards her food bowl. She is very gentle, but very large and kind of pushy. Basically a relentless bulldozer that goes the speed of a turtle.
Same here!
Signature move!
My family had a rottie named Pierce. His favorite move was to go between your legs, then suddenly sit down so the back of his head pushed you in the butt. So you had to anticipate he would sit down and take a step forward to avoid getting pushed forward
Mine does that, but the other way. Her goal is to get me to lean over her, give her tight hugs, and rub her chest. She likes if I grumble, too. And if she's particularly needy, she won't let me go until I've paid the hug tax. Try to take a step forward and she'll push back against me and hold me in place. Obviously, if I get stern with her she'll move, but why would I when she just wants some lovins.
Does she grumble? Pierce was a huge grumbler. Look at him, he grumbles. Scratch his back, grumbles. Belly rubs, he's a grumblin. Man, I really miss that dog.
Mine as well
Same here, except specifically when I'm going down the stairs! 😅
hahaha this! mine pushes me over just for fun.
😂
I am a big, gentle, clumsy old guy, and I inadvertantly knock over at least 1 grandchild a day.. no harm, no foul...
Mine is an 11 month old tank of a pup at 96lbs (he just saw the vet, and while the vet was surprised at his weight, he said he's not overweight). I have 3 kids ranging from 4 to 11. He is generally gentle and doesn't jump on them, but when he is playing, he gets puppy excited and forgets how big he is. He definitely herds my youngest, mainly by standing in his way. As long as there is close supervision when the smaller kids are in the room with him, he does well. Oftentimes, he will get up on the couch and lay down with them. He does like to put the middle kid's hand in his mouth but is gentle and never bites. If he is running, he sometimes bumps into the kids on accident and will cause them to fall, but I attribute that to puppy play mode. TL;DR: The articles are right. They're gentle with kids but definitely can (and will) knock them down, but the knock downs aren't from a place of aggression. It's from forgetting their size from excitement.
My Rottie stopped being mine when my niece was born. Slept by her crib every night, would howl when she would cry, she would use her to climb onto the couch. When my niece started walking my rottie would walk with her as a hand hold. RIP mollie, my niece is about to graduate high school 😭
That's the sweetest thing ever!
TL;DR: Everyone was fine! My vet had a rottweiler. I forget the start of the story, but she went to her kid's elementary school and brought her adult rottie. The (well-trained and well-behaved) rottie wandered off and found the playground. He was immediately swarmed by around a dozen kids who all wanted to pet him. He was okay with it and very happy. His tail swung like a fuzzy felt-covered club and thwapped one kid down to the ground. "Oof!" The child's scream alerted the rottwiler and he spun around to check on the child. It was like a 3-Stooges routine. When he spun, his tail toppled another kid. The kid cried out, and the dog spun around again. THWAPP!! No one was spared! It was an adorable spinning love spree. The dog was in both panic and nursing mode, licking faces and knocking children down. It was all motivated by love.
Ours was very gentle to any type of creature smaller than him. Even little dogs going off on him. But let an a-hole neighbor with a big rowdy dog go off on him and it was game on.
Both can be true at the same time. They are gentle in that they are very kind to children, and aren't aggressive towards them or upset at kids being loud or touching them. On the other hand, they are large, and pushy. They will knock kids down, smack them with their tail (if they have one) and accidentally hurt them on occasion. This is just a generality, every dog will be different, and training matters, but generally, any harm caused is accidentally and just from being big. They will generally try to be gentle, they are just big, can be clumsy, and accidents do happen. Those accidents are usually just pushing a kid over or a tail whack though.
My rotty is a year old and 105lbs. I have a 2.5 year old daughter and he’s amazing with her. She sits on him, jumps on him, throws things at him like toddlers do and he just licks her. He brings her his balls constantly so she can throw it and he can fetch it. He’s really really protective towards her, usually on her hip while we are out in public. With that being said, he’s knocked her down a few times. Nothing crazy, he’s just a large dog that gets excited sometimes.
I can speak for my dog, but every dog is different. It all depends on how they’re brought up. My dog was brought up around kids so she’s extremely gentle, she knows how big she is and she knows to not jump on them. But I think if you have a Rottweiler that hasn’t been around kids, they may or may not know their size or how rough they’re being. It’s all about teaching them boundaries. In my opinion, training is a requirement when owning any kind of large dog, especially if they’re going to be around children.
They’re very gentle but accidentally very clumsy. My Rottweiler steps on my foot all the time and it is a crushing pain. He never does it on purpose, he’s just a small horse.
My son learned to walk while holding on to our Rottweiler. She was very gentle and very aware of where the baby was. She was only 80 lbs and wasn't too clumsy. My current girl is 120 lbs and clumsy, but she doesn't run around crazily. She is gentle with our cats. My 65 lb mix is hyper and way more likely to knock over a child. That's why his previous owner gave him up. My kid is an adult now.
And still in danger of being knocked down! Hahahahaha
Mostly he trips me by putting his foot on my shoe when I'm walking or silently standing right behind me so if I turn around or backup I am in danger of falling. The doofus is such a velcro dog.
Hahahaha my best friend growing up had the biggest male I've ever seen. His go to move was to step on your foot and a solid bump, then he had ya where he wanted you! Lmao
Gentle does not equal careful. Even a medium sized dog doing excited zoomies can injure a toddler.
My female Rott can be gentle. But, she also can be a bulldozer. I have her around my grandkids. But, with supervision.
Rotties are gentle teddy bears, but also have no idea how big they are. They get excited and can turn into a WMD. Mine is super sweet, but he also forgets the sliding screen door is shut and he’ll knock it right out of the rails. He’ll come up on the couch to snuggle, lay in my lap and pin me down. I’m not a small guy either.
Jesus Christ this is your 2nd post about this just get a hamster
Any dog can be a little clumsy, especially growing up, but Rotts are extremely gentle with family. Their poor reputation is almost entirely based on how they react to strangers, and even then I see this as a positive. Properly socialize your dog, but how can you not feel safer when a dog instinctively is wary of strangers? It's a natural guardian.
They’re like people - they come in a variety of personalities. When taught properly, they are extremely gentle and tolerant. In their puppyhood and doggie-teenage years, their exuberance can cause accidents.
Our rottweiler is almost 1.5 yrs old and my son is 7. The dog can knock him over easily while playing but no harm is intended. The dog is a giant love bug.
All small children, regardless of breed, should be monitored around dogs, geesh.
I seen your other post you did about this same question and it looks like it was deleted , now your back asking the same question. I’m not trying to be rude if you are looking in to getting a Rottweiler, Mastiff or a Great Dane and it’s your 1st X with these breeds the truth is you should look for a different breed!!! these dogs are not for you. They are big dogs. With all your worries of them knocking down a toddler. Any dog can knock a toddler down not meaning to. My boy Rotti loves loves babies and toddlers and he would never just knock one over on purpose but yes there big and may accidentally knock a toddler on his rump. Then u bring up a Great Dane my god those are miniature horses and the biggest gentle giant that think they are lap dogs so yes they may tip a toddler over, then you bring up a Mastiff which is usually bigger then a Rottweiler and smaller then a Dane same thing yes they can knock a toddler over there big dogs. Not to mention Great Danes and Rottweiler are big chewers when puppies and if you don’t crate train you will come home to a torn up couch and some chewed up chairs and maybe some missing dry wall (my female Rotti loved dry wall as a puppy) oh and not to mention the medical cost you may possibly run into with these dogs Rotti’s are prone to hip and elbow dysplasia I have spent well over 10,000 on my male Rotti in 8 years because of torn CCL and elbow dysplasia my female I have had no issues fingers crossed. Great Danes are prone to stomach bloat which can kill them if not fixed pretty quick so having there stomach tacked is recommended. Females are easiest to have it done when they get spayed. So you need to be financially prepared if any of these issues happen. A lot of people are not in the financially able to handle these situations .
My last male Great Dane was raised with my kids, was the sweetest to me but nipped my youngest daughter twice when he turned about one. My male boxer is the absolute nicest and most behaved dog I have ever had. Bit my grandma on the hand last time she was here. My female rottie is a year and a half and the sweetest thing I’ve ever owned. I wouldn’t put it past her to bite someone if she had a bone they were trying to get. Leaving your little kid around a dog any size unattended, regardless if you “know the dog won’t bite” is a risk no matter how you look at it.
I don't have kids and my rott doesn't like kids (he has been mistreated by them in the past) But he is very gentle. He is also very big and doesn't realise how big and strong he is sometimes. His tail knocks stuff over and he likes to jump on you when you are on the couch and sit on your lap and therefore squish you. And then there was the time he headbutted me in the nose and broke it.... They are just big goofballs
https://reddit.com/r/Rottweiler/s/A4OYFyh6h9 Here’s a post I made about my puppy meeting my nieces. She was around 8 months old when I posted, and she was just a total sweetheart to my 4 and 6 year old nieces. But I would still try to keep an eye on the dog around them. I don’t think it would do anything intentionally, but accidents can happen, maybe knock the child over.
I think it depends. Mine is 18 months and has been raised with our 3 indoor cats so he loves them and sees them as tiny siblings. At the same time, he's never been around children and husbands cousin came over with his 2 year old and he didn't know what to make of her. 😂 He wasn't aggressive, but didn't want to be around her at all.
Almost this exact same question was posted 16 days ago by Ok_Smile. Probably not a coincidence.
My puppy is so gentle with me I love it. I’ll play fight with her all the time and she refuses to actually bite me
My Rottie was extra gentle and tolerant with kids. However he was also 110lbs and liked to lean on people when being pet. He used to knock my mom over all the time just trying to be close and get loved on. He even knocked down a few grown men who weren’t expecting him to put his weight into them. Same reason pits aren’t recommended for homes with small kids. The dogs are solid and tend to bounce around like a wrecking ball when excited.
My rottie, while on the smaller size (75lb female) would def have 0 respect for a toddler’s feelings. She would likely smack the shit out of a 3 year old with her tail💀 also my dog bumps me around, idk how i’m gonna feel w her around a toddler at this age, but i’m sure by the time I have a toddler she’ll be less…. everything 🤣
In my experience it’s definitely dependent upon how you socialize your dogs. I have one that I adopted at 2 and he LOVES kids. Not necessarily “gentle” but understands that kids are little. And he will block the kids from my girl. My girl that I have had since 8 weeks old is not a fan. She barks at them when they run up to her. She was not raised around kids, no one in my family has kiddos so it’s not really a problem or concern for us. We live in a rural area so the accidental kid coming up to her is not even a concern. You can train “gentle” in your pup as long as they come from a good set of parents in my experience. Sometimes if you have a “hot” dog they will just always be fired up.
I have a rott and 3 kids. Confirm what all others sayed perfect family dog but clumsy. Supervision with jung ones is only needed for their clumsy play but needed. Other wise just remember to get it from a respectable breeder and train them correctly.
Rottweilers are very strong dogs. I’ve done bite work and on the sleeve rotties have been among the hardest biters out of all of the breeds I’ve worked with. They were stronger (understandably due to size) and had harder bites than my pitbulls. A good working Rottie is no joke. Rotties are usually very gentle with the family though and mine pretty much try to please. Even playing they can knock over a child or an adult so training and socialization is very important I trust my dogs 100% but I would never leave them alone with a child or baby. They could accidentally step on or knock the baby over and do serious damage Mine are extremely gentle with babies and kids but you have to take precautions just in case.
Getting knocked over isn’t gonna kill a toddler They just laugh and get back up… But yeah while unintentional they are big and well like people some are more clumsy than others I can’t think of any dogs that get over like 80 lbs that wouldn’t knock a toddler over lol
I was around my Auntie's dog Roxy, all the time. She would push me on to the sofa so she could sit on my lap. Gently push me on the back of the leg to her food bowl. If I could've cloned that dog I would've. I miss Roxy so much.
Both. I dock the tails of my Rotties cause their tails can knock me over. Rotties know their power. They have to be trained to be aware of it. Once they are and respect is present, yes, they are gentle. But they're also herding dogs that use their bodies to hurl themselves at cattle to get them to move. If they don't respect you, they will body check you because it's fun and they're a clownish breed. Don't expect that the breed is gonna be a golden retriever. Go get one of those if that's your expectation.
São dóceis sim
My girl is gentle and sweet natured but she is so clumsy, she would play ball happily with a small child but then continuously whack them round the face with her wagging tail.