German Shepherds or Rotties? - Page 4

It is the body mass and dark coloring that I found they overheated from not their muzzle length. That much muscle heats up and burns more energy and oxygen and creates more heat doing so along with their coat soaking in the suns heat is a bad combination in warm climates.

Gsdnewbie, brachycephalic dogs are heat intolerant, that's not my opinion, but a fact. I had a Boston terrier that had to have a soft pallet resection because he had so much trouble breathing and heat was some thing he absolutely could not tolerate....air conditioning was his safe haven.

Could be a little of both?

I know in horses, they overheat much faster than humans in hot weather because of their muscle mass.

Rottweilers are considered Mesaticephalic not brachycephalic.  There are rotties in our training group w/ muzzle lengths that rival GSDs.

The issue is mainly that they are usually overweight, black-coated dogs.  

Thank you Tower. I used to have to keep a chill vest for my rotts doing wilderness SAR. Mine also did not have ultra short muzzles and I do own a boston terrier, a true brachycephalic breed with overheating issues due to facial structure I agree.

Tower, you are absolutely correct that the Rotti is categorized as mesaticephalic, but usually they are bred for extremes, like most breeds are....if a little is good, a lot is better. So, many Rotties have a shorter muzzle to skull ratio, with an extreme stop. Causes the same issues as a true brachycephalic. Newbie, I don't dis agree with you that a black dog will overheat much sooner than non-black.

I think part of the issue with rotts, besides having a black coat their coat also offers very little insulation.  A GSD coat is thicker than a rott's and it provides better insulation against cold or heat.   
I think it's primarily the black color, short hair and large body mass all combined that contribute the most to overheating in the sun.   I've seen white/light colored boxers and pitbulls with shorter muzzles than rottweilers, and a lot less body mass, that had much better endurance than rotts.

When we held our trial in FL in Feb we had 4 rotties for the AD. One didn't finish, the other 3 finished way behind the rest of the pack (GSD's and 1 or 2 malis). They needed to rest a lot longer between the runs, needed to be wetted down and covered with wet towels and the judge had to wait a good 15 minute for them to finish. It was hot for the time of year, the rotties were all German imports as far as I can remember and none were what I would consider overweight or overdone. They had problems maintaining a patent airway and sounded like freight trains.

@judron55 - "oh boy...what do you mean by Rotts are not as universal??? Dumb asses should own Rotts....hmmmm"

Exactly!  Now your getting it.  lol!

Rotts do not make long distance joggers for sure. They are sprint short burst dogs. I would expect the AD to be difficult for them. A line backer has different physical endurances than a track runner..... the same they are both dogs however handle certain things differenly.  If I ran further than was in my ability I would be gasping and panting as well.

    In the home my family prefer the rotts to the gsds. They are more laid back. They do not have to be constantly at your feet even if you just go to the kitchen and back. The rott is fine knowing you are there and will contently lay waiting for either a noise that you need them or for you to come back. They shed just as much as a gsd however the hairs are stiff and love to weave themselves into fabric and are hard to get rid of. It is easier to clean up after a gsd. Mine did not drool though some of the more extreme bred for head size do. Cancer runs very high in the breed but later ages than the early ages cancer seems to take gsds away. They are quieter than gsds on the whole. Elbows are allowed to be bred questionable as standard practice so be careful. If there is a threat to your safty they are quicker to determine they need to protect you faster than a gsd does unless it has been taught to. A rott does not naturally grab onto an arm to stop people..... they will stop someone any way needed. They have an inherent quirk in most that I have lived with about not letting a visitor out of your home unless you walk them out. They will block the door and glare until you let the person out the door for some reason. They are good eaters and fairly healthy except they do catch parvo very very easy even when vaccinated so you have to be extra cautious. For some reason the vacine is not very good at keeping them from catching it. On the whole I find the males to be lower intelligence than the females lol less itense as well. I do not care for the males personally other than looks. I lost my original bitch because we lived on the edge of dismal swamp and a black bear came into the yard and my son and I were in the garden and she protected us. To this day I have a piece of my heart missing that left with her. She is the best dog I have ever met and my Ulf now two is filling it up :) She was why it was hard to get another rotty after my others passed from old age. I then went into gsds. I would own another in the future provided I could find another good one though I will not own an undocked one.

  This was my last one. He was rescued from a shelter in Newport News after being hit by a car and his owner did not want to pay for his care. He was not a SAR partner. At the time I was active with rottweiler rescue and went and got him for them. After taking care of his injuries we adopted him as he was just a fit and we did not want to rehome him. He was good natured but typical of males kind of dopey lol