I am not talking about Crap bred dogs from shelters either. I am talking about well bred Rottweiler's. I don't consider a Rottador a breed.
i don't consider them a breed either but that cross is consistantly one of the best cheap hog catch dogs i've seen. for that matter the few other rotti crosses i've seen have been dynamite as well no matter what the other breed involved is. when you cross herding dogs w/other noncatching dogs you almost never wind up w/a dog that catches.
crap bred dogs always show the best & worst of the breed's genetic history. any good shows no matter what, like crap bred pitties are still more stable w/people than most other dogs. the fact that crap bred rottis consistantly catch shows that catching is strongest in the gene pool.
I am not going to argue this point but I will tell you that there are very well documented histories of Rottweiler's and the dogs used by the Roman Soldiers. The spoilage factor for meat was why they used the drover dogs to heard the cattle. They (the soldiers) would kill what they could eat and herd the rest along until they were needed. The Rottweiler history also suggests that they were used as war dogs along the way.
Roman history IS well documented, for example the first run in w/ "war dogs" being aquae sextiae where they credit large & ferocious teutonic dogs w/ repulsing the victorious romans' attempt to take the teutonic camp. the first war dogs the romans themselves used were acquired from the mollosi tribe of illyria which was noted for it's size, ferocity and it's wolflike appearance. later after the conquest of briton one of the main exports to rome was their pugnace.
the fact is the romans didn't take cattle along except for the oxen pulling the baggage train. viancondes (suttlers) & quartermasters rode ahead in friendly territory to procure meat & produce along the route of march. in hostile territory the army took the local cattle. the reason for this is that if you push cattle faster than ten miles a day you burn off their fat and don't give them enough time to properly feed & recover. after about two weeks of pushing just a couple of miles faster than that they begin to lose muscle mass which ruins their food value. this is important because the legions marched an
average of 20 miles a day & since defensible sites were needed for their camps they might even go 30. so any cattle they left rome w/ would look like drought stricken african cattle before they left cisalpine gaul.
and as previously noted the romans themselves didn't eat a lot of meat, in fact noted roman historians like livy recorded the discontent of the legions on certain campaignes where they were forced of necessity to eat a lot of meat. since livy was himself a veteran (as was much of his audience) & knowing that the troops are always complaining about something, if he wrote about it then the discontent was near mutiny level in order to be noteworthy. so why would they bring along a lot of food they didn't care to eat, that was subject to easy spoilage in the warm summer season (w/ resulting food poisoning endangering the combat effectiveness of the troops) and would cut in half the speed at which the army could move?
Were these dogs the exact dogs we see today? Probably not but they were the historical predecessors of the dogs we see today.
you're absolutely correct that any dogs brought from italy to germania superior wouldn't survive unchanged through the invasions & mass migrations of the visigoths, the suevi, the burgundians, the marcomanni, the quadi, the gepids, the longobards (for whom a part of cisalpine gaul is now named lombardy) the vandals and the alans (not to mention the smaller lesser known vassal tribes that accompanied them). not to mention the effects of the incessant warfare of the dark ages following the imperial collapse in the face of these migrations.
The Rottweiler got it's name from Rottweil Germany meaning "red tile" which was the town they were brought back into popularity by farmers that needed dogs which could pull the heavy draft carts used to pull meat and milk to market. The reason the dogs tails were docked was because of the heavy carts and injuries to their tails. The standard was then formed.
the same robust build & nature that allows them to control an angry bull or boar makes them very good at pulling heavy weight, so yes the Rottweiler metzgerhund was one of several bull & mastiff breeds used for carting. for instance the popularity of muzzleloaders and stalking caused a tremendous decline in the use of dogs & suafeder or scramax in boar hunting and so many "danes" were used for carting, interestingly they didn't have their tails docked, nor did the belgian mastiffs, nor the swiss sennenhunds when used for carting milk & other goods. however it was (and still is in some places) very common for butcher's "bull" dogs to have their tales docked to reduce the risk of injury when dealing w/ hogs. in fact it was common for GSDs used to herd hogs to have their tails docked through the early 20th century.
"instincts to herd" being taught. Um, No. Many Rottweiler's have strong herding instincts. They are not used as much now for herding obviously and some breeders do not care enough about working ability but a good dog will instinctively herd. I have had several that grew up in the city but when they were put on sheep or cattle, they knew what to do. I had a few that looked at the other animals and went to lay down. MOST had a good idea what was supposed to happen.
considering AKC herding trials are at least 25 years old (but a lot older i think), i am not surprised to find lines that show strong herding instinct. BUT most of the ones i have seen put on hogs & cattle have been catchdogs w/ no to little herding ability. AND the breed is not built like a herder MOST herders are lighter faster dogs, even though cattle dogs tend to be heavier than sheep dogs they are still a lighter faster built dog than rotts. just compare them to BMCs, houlas, stumpies, queensland heelers or even the schnauzers & GSDs. but then compare them to a good hines or stout line AB or argentine field line of dogo.
My family (fathers and mothers side) come from Germany. Even family members had Rottweiler's before I was born.
my family is from Texas (although the ancestry is mostly irish, english & scotch) w/ a BUNCH of stockmen & hunters on my dad's side (although the last two generations also produced a lot of military & roughnecks) & most had cur dogs & mutts (and later a few heelers & aussies). when my dad found out my mom had been letting me work a dog fighter's yard for the previous two years, he sent me to an uncle to work cattle & horses when i was 14. so when i talk about a dog and catch work versus herding cattle, i'm not talking out my @$$, i'm talking about actually learning from old guys that had been using dogs for stock longer than i've been alive NOW.
This happens all of the time with my dogs. They will pull me across the street just to see a child! I don't have kids so I guess they feel like they need to adopt some lol... All of my collie breeder/owner friends have the same experience. I guess there may be some out there who DON'T like kids but I've never heard of them. Watching over children is in their job description.