Ideas for 'Pens' for Rottie Pups

Pearlsasinger said:
I am utterly befuddled, we have had father and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister, sisters, unrelated bitches and never had any of these problems. They have been kept outside and inside, elderly, middle-aged and youngsters all together. The only times they have been separated has been when we have had dogs with bitches in season whom we did not want to breed or when the elderly were brought into the house to sleep, when the others were kept in a kennel. We have never had fights.

You do need to be on top of Rottweilers if you don't want them to become unruly but that is part of having clever, big dogs.
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Agreed, without question. It's all about how we manage our dogs …. though that's easy enough to say, I accept! :)

Alec.
 
You're befuddled that different people have different experiences? I wouldn't keep dogs the way some people have described, I'm not befuddled, it's not wrong, it's just different. The OP has asked for advice and has received lots of different kinds of feedback, that's what forums are for.

I know we are all guilty of it, myself included, but it must be difficult when people have a training issue and others reply 'well my dog has never done that so I have no idea why yours does'.
(This is a generalisation and not confined to this post or this forum).
 
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Thank you folks :)

I've had other big dogs, intelligent dogs, small dogs, dense dogs. All had their own quirks. I'm pleased on the whole with these two. We can play and have good walks, meet other dogs and people, all fine. They're both in the sitting room now and chilling nicely. We'll find ways around these two issues.

Thank you again for all your help :)
 
CorvusCorax said:
You're befuddled that different people have different experiences? I wouldn't keep dogs the way some people have described, I'm not befuddled, it's not wrong, it's just different. The OP has asked for advice and has received lots of different kinds of feedback, that's what forums are for.

I know we are all guilty of it, myself included, but it must be difficult when people have a training issue and others reply 'well my dog has never done that so I have no idea why yours does'.
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I have given OP advice and explained how our Rotties behave in relation to 'toiletting' outside the home area, which was intended to shed some light on the behaviour of OP's dogs - and I understand that it did.
Then I expressed my surprise at the number of people who say that they have trouble with various combinations of dogs, kept in varying ways, as that is not my experience and the advice to keep dogs separated.

If I found that I had trouble e.g. with dogs fighting, I would research the different ways of keeping dogs and the experiences of those who keep them in those different ways. I think I would probably want to follow the example of those whose dogs don't fight - presumably those dogs are the most comfortable in their living arrangements.
 
Alec Swan said:
Agreed, without question. It's all about how we manage our dogs …. though that's easy enough to say, I accept! :)

Alec.
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Rottweilers, ime, are demanding dogs, in that if you give them an inch they will definitely take a mile! You cannot relax your standards at all, if you think 'Oh never mind, this time', you have lost! They are extremely clever, good at problem solving (you should see ours sitting on a big bale taking pegs off the rotary washing line!), tenacious, powerful dogs who should never be allowed to recognise their own strength, just like horses but I disagree that they need a 1-2-1 relationship with their owner, if by that you mean without another dog. They need so much stimulation if they are not to become a complete nuisance that they are best kept with other dogs rather than being dependent on humans for their interaction. Multiple Rottweilers tire each other out, where humans can't hope to compete.
 
Alec Swan said:
Fab? They're near palace like! I do have a problem though with outside runs, even those with a roof. In the winter the floors of the run are permanently wet, the dogs traipse in and out, the beds get wet and all so often the dogs sleep on wet beds. At least if the dogs have no bedding then the bed floors at least partially dry out, give them bedding and it never seems to dry.

At one time when I had several sheepdogs, then they were on chains and their 'kennels' were beer barrels with deep straw beds, and they managed to stay fairly dry. I'm not sure W/GSD if you know Atholl Clarke, but many of his dogs lived in an old and redundant milking parlour, they were on chains and each had a tractor tyre which was filled with straw. They were always warm and dry, it seemed to me!

Alec.
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I do know Atholl, yes :)

These are our kennels/runs. The runs have a roof and we also have wooden pallets down for the dogs to lay on, they have box kennels that are raised and we fill them with straw.

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Before the Estate provided us with the fancy kennels/runs - this was our set up Alec. Sounds much like yours, except ours were whisky barrels rather than beer :)

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On the subject of 'indestructible' toys, the longest lasting toys our Rotties have had are "Mr Pink" and "Mr Orange", things that look a bit like 4 legged octopuses (octopi?) with dog shaped heads, which we bought at The Range. We got them when the pups were small and have seen at least one head left outside this summer - the girls are now 4! Those toys have now been replaced by "Mr Green" and "Mr Blue", who are also popular. They have been played with A LOT, they lend themselves to tug games. The only downside is that they squeak - and that seriously concerns one of our girls, she hates to think that something is getting hurt. We try to get squeakers out of all toys, or pierce them with a knitting needle.
Atm they are playing with a 'Jolly Ball', which one of them can get to light up. The handles of Jolly Balls don't stand up to Rottie jaws very well but other than that they do last well. They are not keen on balls in general and although they enjoy playing with ropes, they don't like the thick ones - I think they are not comfortable with opening their jaws very wide.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
On the subject of 'indestructible' toys, the longest lasting toys our Rotties have had are "Mr Pink" and "Mr Orange", things that look a bit like 4 legged octopuses (octopi?) with dog shaped heads, which we bought at The Range. We got them when the pups were small and have seen at least one head left outside this summer - the girls are now 4! Those toys have now been replaced by "Mr Green" and "Mr Blue", who are also popular. They have been played with A LOT, they lend themselves to tug games. The only downside is that they squeak - and that seriously concerns one of our girls, she hates to think that something is getting hurt. We try to get squeakers out of all toys, or pierce them with a knitting needle.
Atm they are playing with a 'Jolly Ball', which one of them can get to light up. The handles of Jolly Balls don't stand up to Rottie jaws very well but other than that they do last well. They are not keen on balls in general and although they enjoy playing with ropes, they don't like the thick ones - I think they are not comfortable with opening their jaws very wide.
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Thank you :) Will get D1 onto those. I think there's a Range near her. They destroy rope things quite quickly (and eat the resulting stringy bits!). They don't seem worried by the squeaks, more confused. Will look for a Jolly Ball. Had a look in the small pet shop this morning but nothing looked tough enough.
 
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