Knowledge
Enough to read a health record and a pedigree for yourself, and to ask a breeder the right questions. None of this is a sales pitch — if you finish better informed and buy your dog somewhere else, this page did its job.
Reading an OFA number
An OFA hip number like RO-82508E24F-P-PI is not random. RO is the breed — Rottweiler. The digits that follow are the sequential number of that evaluation in the breed's database — a lower number was filed earlier. The letter after the digits is the grade: E for EXCELLENT,G for GOOD, F for FAIR. The number after the grade is the dog's age in months at the exam —24 means the film was taken at two years, the minimum age OFA will certify a final hip. The last letter is the sex,M or F, and the trailing codes record whether the dog is DNA-identified (PI) and permanently identified. The single most useful habit: check the age digits. A "clearance" filed before 24 months is a preliminary, not a final, and they are not the same promise.
Reading an ADRK Bewertungsbogen
A European show critique — the Bewertungsbogen — grades a dog within a class, not against the whole entry. The rating runsV (Vorzüglich, excellent),SG (sehr gut, very good),G (gut), then down. The placement is separate:V1 is the best of the V-rated dogsin that class, so a V1 out of four is a lighter result than a V2 out of ninety. Class matters too — a dog shows in Jugend, Zwischen or Offen by age, and the minimums are real (Zwischenklasse is 15–24 months, Offene Klasse from 15 on). When you read "V1", read three things at once: the rating, the placement, and how many dogs it beat. This site stores all three separately so none of them can quietly stand in for another.
What a pedigree tells you — and what it doesn't
A pedigree is a map of ancestry, not a guarantee of quality. It tells you which dogs are behind a puppy, how closely they are bred, and — if you chase the names — what those dogs were tested and titled for. It doesnot tell you that a puppy inherited the good hips three generations back, or that a champion grandsire passed on his temperament. A stack of titles on paper with no health results underneath is a marketing document. Read a pedigree for the clearances and the honesty of the record behind each name, not for how many red "CH"s you can count.
The growth curve, and keeping a pup lean
A Rottweiler is a giant-breed dog that grows for the better part of two years, and the growth plates in its legs stay open for most of the first. Overfeeding a puppy to "grow it out" forces weight onto joints that have not finished forming, and the orthopaedic cost — from panosteitis to a worse hip than the genetics alone would have given — is paid later and cannot be undone. Keep a growing Rottweiler lean — ribs easily felt, a visible waist — and let it grow slowly. Skip forced exercise on hard surfaces and repetitive jumping until the plates close. Lean and slow is the single biggest thing an owner controls.
What to ask a breeder before a deposit
Before any money changes hands, ask to see the parents' full CHIC panels — hips, elbows, cardiac, eyes and JLPP — with the registry numbers, and look them up yourself on the OFA site. Ask which cardiac exam was done, auscultation or echo. Ask about JLPP status on both sides and how a carrier, if there is one, was bred. Ask what the breeder health-tests for, what has appeared in the line, and what the contract says about a hip that goes bad at three. A breeder who answers plainly, shows you the gaps, and puts it in writing is telling you how they breed. Vagueness is an answer too.