As a general rule, we would not recommend you play Tug of War with your Rottweiler. Some dogs yes, but not a Rottie. Rottie’s are playful balls of fur when they are puppies. They love nothing more than playing games of every kind with their new family. After all, you have taken the place of your puppy’s siblings when you take it home with you and we defy anyone not to be enchanted by a litter of Rottie puppies play fighting and chasing one another until exhaustion inevitably overcomes them.

But remember, that little ball of fun and endless energy is going to grow into a large and powerful dog who needs to know just who is leader of the pack. They may well look to be having fun – and rest assured, they are – when chasing their siblings around their pen, but whether or not they are conscious of it, there is also a degree of seriousness to their play. Even as puppies, young Rotties are establishing a set of rules amongst themselves. They are establishing ‘top dog’. And like any pack of young animals left together for long enough, sooner or later, they will!

With any game you play with your Rottweiler puppy, you must always be in control. You must establish the rules. You have to become that top dog, that ‘leader of the pack’. It’s no good having one set of rules when your Rottie is a puppy and expecting he or she to accept a different set of rules when they are fully grown. That simply doesn’t work. It might work with some dogs, but not with the Rottweiler. You have to start out as you intend to continue. If you start out letting your young Rottie puppy think he or she is your equal, you are simply storing up problems for later on. Chances are that sooner or later he or she is going to outweigh you. He or she is certainly going to outweigh any child in your family and most other dogs and people he or she is likely to come into contact with later in life. Better you establish the rules at the outset rather than have a problem dog later on!

Of course that does not mean that you should not play with your Rottweiler puppy. Of course you should. Don’t forget, you and your family have taken the place of your puppy’s siblings. Puppies, like children, love to play. That’s how they learn things, as well as burning off surplus energy which might otherwise be used for destructive purposes. In fact you owe your Rottie puppy the opportunity for play, and lots of it. But make sure it’s always a game in which you are in control. Not one which, sooner or later, he or she could win!