Long-haired Rottweiler?

[Zug Zug]

Well he (Clyde) is a really great looking dog. What a shame he can't be shown because of his lovely longer hair. If Weims can do it, why not Rottis?

[SparkyTansy]

Well he (Clyde) is a really great looking dog. What a shame he can't be shown because of his lovely longer hair. If Weims can do it, why not Rottis?

It's probably all about the country of origin... it was a long battle to get the german weimaraner club to accept LH weimaraners, and even now, it's incredibly difficult to breed with them in germany (or mainly mix them with SH weis).

[Bindii]

There's one in my area too.. his name is Sylvester.

He's a lovely boy! Coat is so shiny and beautiful.

[mr.mister]

just googled it. how gorgeous

[mita]

There's also supposed to be an opposite. Lhasa Apsos are said to sometimes have puppies in a litter which are shorter-haired & look for all the world like Tibetan Spaniels. Someone's given them the name Prapsos.

I've not had first hand experience with Prapsos. Just heard about them & read info on the net. Like, here (& I don't know enough about genetics to comment on what's said to be the cause):

http://lhasalove.tripod.com/prapso_puppies.htm

Edited May 23, 2010 by mita

[rotts4ever]

Can anyone confirm if there's such a thing as a wire-haired rottweiler??

another rottweiler forum suggests there is such a thing, although I havent seen any pics to compare to the boy at work.

He essentially looks like a rottie with a beard and wirey hair through his legs.

We all thought he was a cross and mentioned it to the owner and she wasnt happy, had the bitza test done which came back as pure rottie (but we all know how accurate those tests are!) and went back to the breeder all angry. She was happy once she got the bitza test though and the breeder said they have lots of them in their lines?

I thought it all sounded very suspicious until i googled and saw people describing dogs that look like this boy.

Hi

As a groomer and a breeder that has seen many different litters from different breeders.

I have seen different variations to the rottweiler coat all of which are a breed fault but does not mean they are not a pure Rottweiler. Quite often when this happens only 1 or 2 pups are effected in the litter and are pet homed. I have seen the obvious Fluffy's with the long thick coat, Rotts with a short body coat but has feathering on the legs and ears etc, Rotts with a very course coat which looks like a wire coat, some look like a wooly mammoth and sometimes they just have a beard (Like a goaty) or a slightly fluffier face and sometime different combos of the mentioned pop up. I have seen fluffy looking puppies have a completely normal Rottweiler adult coat and I have also seen a puppy with a short looking puppy coat end up with fluffy ears.

Remembering a Rottweiler isn't supposed to have an overly short, soft coat either, it shouldn't be short like a dobe. Correct coat should have undercoat and it should be a little coarse to touch, undercoat can be hard to see when they live in a very hot climate. Undercoat can be grey,tan or black but shouldn't show through the coat.

The long coated rotts I have seen have still made wonderful companions and were still Rottweiler through and through, of course if the pup was purchased with main registered papers (In the case of a normal looking pup that ended up long coated etc) the breeder should either take the puppy back and full refund or if the purchaser wanted to keep the puppy the breeder should transfer to limited register and refund the difference between a limited and main registered purchase price or what ever is a suitable agreement to both parties.

Some people believe that when using certain breeds of dogs originally to create a breed, or adding a breed to get a desired trait, that those genetics will always have a possibility to pop up but by only breeding with stock that don't have those traits makes the occurence less common. Selective breeding. I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I mean here. Lots of traditional short coated breeds occassionally have a fluffy in a litter, I'm pretty sure it happens in the mastiffs as well.

Having said that I still wouldn't say it is a common occurence only that it does happen, probably in my opinion, much less common than a puppy being born with a white marking on its chest or an incorrect bite which are also breed faults but still doesn't mean that they must be a cross.

I guess there would be many different opinions on the above but registered breeders breed to the country of origin standard which means a long coated Rottweiler is a disqualifying fault but in my opinion doesn't mean they don't make great companions, as Clyde has shown, and I would rather see them go to loving pet homes then culled.

Cheers

[poodlefan]

On a carting/droving dog supposed to work in all weather, my guess is the long coat might ice up.

That would be a definite problem for a dog in a harness in freezing conditions.

Edited May 23, 2010 by poodlefan

[melzawelza]

Can anyone confirm if there's such a thing as a wire-haired rottweiler??

another rottweiler forum suggests there is such a thing, although I havent seen any pics to compare to the boy at work.

He essentially looks like a rottie with a beard and wirey hair through his legs.

We all thought he was a cross and mentioned it to the owner and she wasnt happy, had the bitza test done which came back as pure rottie (but we all know how accurate those tests are!) and went back to the breeder all angry. She was happy once she got the bitza test though and the breeder said they have lots of them in their lines?

I thought it all sounded very suspicious until i googled and saw people describing dogs that look like this boy.

Hi

As a groomer and a breeder that has seen many different litters from different breeders.

I have seen different variations to the rottweiler coat all of which are a breed fault but does not mean they are not a pure Rottweiler. Quite often when this happens only 1 or 2 pups are effected in the litter and are pet homed. I have seen the obvious Fluffy's with the long thick coat, Rotts with a short body coat but has feathering on the legs and ears etc, Rotts with a very course coat which looks like a wire coat, some look like a wooly mammoth and sometimes they just have a beard (Like a goaty) or a slightly fluffier face and sometime different combos of the mentioned pop up. I have seen fluffy looking puppies have a completely normal Rottweiler adult coat and I have also seen a puppy with a short looking puppy coat end up with fluffy ears.

Remembering a Rottweiler isn't supposed to have an overly short, soft coat either, it shouldn't be short like a dobe. Correct coat should have undercoat and it should be a little coarse to touch, undercoat can be hard to see when they live in a very hot climate. Undercoat can be grey,tan or black but shouldn't show through the coat.

The long coated rotts I have seen have still made wonderful companions and were still Rottweiler through and through, of course if the pup was purchased with main registered papers (In the case of a normal looking pup that ended up long coated etc) the breeder should either take the puppy back and full refund or if the purchaser wanted to keep the puppy the breeder should transfer to limited register and refund the difference between a limited and main registered purchase price or what ever is a suitable agreement to both parties.

Some people believe that when using certain breeds of dogs originally to create a breed, or adding a breed to get a desired trait, that those genetics will always have a possibility to pop up but by only breeding with stock that don't have those traits makes the occurence less common. Selective breeding. I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I mean here. Lots of traditional short coated breeds occassionally have a fluffy in a litter, I'm pretty sure it happens in the mastiffs as well.

Having said that I still wouldn't say it is a common occurence only that it does happen, probably in my opinion, much less common than a puppy being born with a white marking on its chest or an incorrect bite which are also breed faults but still doesn't mean that they must be a cross.

I guess there would be many different opinions on the above but registered breeders breed to the country of origin standard which means a long coated Rottweiler is a disqualifying fault but in my opinion doesn't mean they don't make great companions, as Clyde has shown, and I would rather see them go to loving pet homes then culled.

Cheers

Thanks for this great post!

He first came to board with us when he was around 6 months old and as such was rather gangly and long-legged along with the obvious massive 'beard' and wiry featherings. He very much looked like a cross at that age, but the poor bugger has been boarding with us for quite a while and now that he has gotten a fair bit older and matured he has that typical rotty 'type' body and is now looking like you have described. Pure rottie but with a coat variation.

I think he's stunning

[Starkehre]

On a carting/droving dog supposed to work in all weather, my guess is the long coat might ice up.

That would be a definite problem for a dog in a harness in freezing conditions.

Good point PF and possibly spot on.

I actually also wondered about the weather component after I had posted my previous guess of reason.

[Kirty]

I have met a long haired Mastiff. She was absolutely GORGEOUS! A complete surprise for the breeder too.