Rottweiler
Powerful and protective. Banned in many Chinese cities — check local rules first.
About the Rottweiler
The Rottweiler is a breed of domestic mastiff type dog, regarded as medium-to-large or large. The dogs are known in German as Rottweiler Metzgerhund, meaning Rottweil butchers' dogs, because their main use was to herd livestock and pull carts laden with butchered meat to market. This continued until the mid-19th century when railways replaced droving. Although still used to herd stock in many parts of the world, Rottweilers are now also used as search and rescue dogs, guard dogs, and police dogs.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Key facts
- Origin
- Germany
- Weight
- 35–50 kg
- Height
- 56–69 cm
- Lifespan
- 8–11 years
- Est. monthly cost
- $99 (≈ $1188 per year)
- Purchase price
- $2,750–$4,800 from a breeder
Where the monthly cost comes from
Routine care for a Rottweiler averages about $99 a month, or roughly $1,188 a year. That figure is summed from the measured US line items below — food is scaled to this breed's body weight and grooming to its coat — not quoted from any single clinic or breeder.
| Category | Per month |
|---|---|
| Food (scaled to 43 kg) | $480.11 |
| Treats | $60.00 |
| Routine veterinary care (adjusted for this breed's known issues) | $347.55 |
| Medications (flea, tick, heartworm) | $101.85 |
| Grooming (2/5 coat requirement) | $150.00 |
| Toys | $37.00 |
| Licence | $15.00 |
| Total | $99 |
Pet insurance is not in that total. The average US accident-and-illness premium is $676 a year for a dog, but most pets are not insured, so adding it to every breed would overstate what a typical owner pays.
If you insure, board and budget for emergencies
Owners who carry insurance, leave the pet boarded when travelling and set money aside for emergencies land near $201 a month — about $2,418 a year. This is a modelled budget, not a survey result:
| Item | Per year |
|---|---|
| Routine care, as itemised above | $1,188 |
| Pet insurance (NAPHIA average premium) | $676 |
| Boarding (10 days at $25/day) | $250 |
| Emergency fund (one ~$900 event every 3 years) | $300 |
| Fully-loaded total | $2,418 |
Boarding rate from MarketWatch ($25/day). Emergency allowance modelled on Rover's finding that a typical emergency visit starts near $300 and reaches $4,000 with diagnostics and an overnight stay. The number of boarded days and the once-in-three-years emergency frequency are our own planning assumptions, stated here so you can substitute your own.
Includes routine vet visits, food, grooming and supplies. Excludes emergencies, training, boarding and the purchase price above. Method and sources: data sources.
Temperament and care profile
Health issues to watch
The FDA's animal adverse-event database holds 10,640 reported events filed under this breed name (data current to 2026-10-05). Reports are not proof of causation and are not adjusted for how many animals of the breed exist.
More photos
Photos via Dog CEO.
How it compares
Pick a second breed to see a side-by-side breakdown of cost, size, shedding and lifestyle fit.
- Rottweiler vs Yorkshire Terrier
- Rottweiler vs Maltese
- Rottweiler vs Labrador Retriever
- Rottweiler vs Miniature Schnauzer
- Rottweiler vs Border Collie
- Rottweiler vs Bichon Frise
- Rottweiler vs Siberian Husky
- Rottweiler vs Pomeranian
- Rottweiler vs Shetland Sheepdog
- Rottweiler vs Pembroke Welsh Corgi
- Rottweiler vs Great Dane
- Rottweiler vs Shiba Inu
Breeds closest to this one
Ranked by measured similarity across shedding, grooming, energy, trainability, apartment fit, child friendliness, vocalisation and adult weight.
- Doberman Pinscher — about $16/month less
- Akita — about $24/month more
- Alaskan Malamute — about $22/month more
- Greyhound — about $19/month less
- Great Dane — about $14/month more
- Chinese Rural Dog — about $20/month less
- Labrador Retriever — about $4/month more
- German Shepherd — about $17/month more