Rankin Inlet (Aug 09/06) - Rottweilers are getting a bum rap in Rankin Inlet these days, says a local supporter of the breed.

Arnie Brown has owned Rottweilers for the past 30 years, including the Number 1 Rottweiler and Number 1 Rottweiler bitch in Canada.

Gizmo, a Rottweiler owned by Rankin Inlet's Arnie Brown, prepares to impress the judges in Edmonton this past month with handler Randy McAteer. - photo courtesy of Arnie Brown

His current dog, Gizmo, 40 months, returned to Rankin this past week after competing in an Edmonton show with co-owner and trainer, Byron Osing.

Gizmo has his own web page and will be travelling to his first American championship in October, after taking the Open Class with a V1 rating in a Sieger show this past month.

Brown is upset over the recent bad publicity in Rankin aimed at Rottweilers.

He says the animals causing problems in the community are not Rottweilers.

"To my knowledge, I have the only purebred Rottweiler in town," says Brown.

"These other dogs are crossbreeds and I get upset when I hear them being referred to as Rottweilers because, as soon as you crossbreed dogs, they become unpredictable.

"The dogs causing problems are just mutts."

Predictability is one of the main reasons people take the time to pure-breed dogs.

Brown says a purebred Rottweiler is going to be a protective family dog that's very good with kids.

But, he warns, they're also a dog you just can't chain up outside because they will turn mean.

"Once the breed is mixed, you no longer really know how it's going to act.

"A husky, for example, would probably help you haul away the furniture if you were in somebody's house, while a Rottweiler wouldn't let you leave with anything.

"If the dog's a husky-Rottweiler cross, you wouldn't know if it would attack you in the house or help you haul the furniture unless you were in that situation."

The controversy surrounding the Rottweilers began when Madeleine Kaludjak of the Rankin Inlet Housing Association appeared during a recent meeting of hamlet council. Kaludjak asked council to consider a solution to the growing number of Rottweilers being tied up in front of housing units in the community.

She told council a growing number of housing tenants were expressing fear of the dogs.

"Too many of these dogs are tied up right in front of the house and, even though they're tied up, many of them can still reach the stairway or entrance to the unit," Kaludjak told council.

"Several people have been bitten all ready in the community, and the rise in the number of Rottweilers in town has become a concern to the people of Rankin Inlet."

Brown says the lack of knowledge, or education, on Rottweilers is the problem in Rankin, not the dogs themselves.

He says people have to understand the type of dog they're getting when they decide to own a Rottweiler, and not everyone should.

"You wouldn't sell a gun to a five-year-old kid and that's, basically, the same thing," says Brown. "Any working or herding dog is going to be territorial and defensive.

"If, for example, you put a Rottweiler on a chain that reaches a playground, you're looking for trouble.

"You can't put a dog in a situation where its instincts are to defend its territory and not expect something to happen.

"People put dogs in bad situations, not the other way around."

Rolling the dice

Brown says people are rolling the dice by having a Rottweiler-mix dog chained in a yard where people are going to walk by.

He says although dogs are very intuitive about what a person is up to, you can't lose sight of the fact that in most situations it's going to protect its territory.

"My dog has never given me any indication that it had anything on its mind other than being friends with people around it.

"But if you chain it in a yard where people are walking past and, maybe, aggravating it through fear of the breed, you're loading a gun."

Brown says at the end of the day, people have to be responsible for their actions.

He says if someone puts their dog in a situation where something bad can happen, they should be dealt with rather than the dog.

"You can't just ban a breed of dog without proper justification for doing it.

"And, unless I see official paperwork on these dogs in question, they're not Rottweilers."