We are thinking of getting a Labrador X Rottweiler. Could anyone tell us if this is a good cross, are there any bad characteristics or problems we should know about. We currently have a 3 year old male pedigree Labrador. Would they get on together?. Thank you.

I wouldn't reccomend getting a cross breed to anyone, unless it is a rescue dog, and even then, it is something to be carefully considered.

It's impossible to say what characteristics a cross breed would have inherited, or what size it will be, etc. Also, it is unlikely the parents ahve been health tested, or that those breeding cross breeds would give ongoing support and help.

Just wondering why you are interested in labrador x rottweiler georgina??
Is it a pup you have already seena dvertised or something you are going to search for after you have decided?

Well just for starters you couldn't get two more different dogs.

Is this a pup or an adult dog?

If a pup.

I would only buy a lab or a Rottweiler from reputable breeders to make sure I had a dog of good temperament, you may end up with a gentle dog as both breeds can be very lovable, or you may end up with a very dodgy dog, with many health issues. are the parents health/hip tested?

Too risky IMO, all pups look wonderful and cute but you have to imagine the grown up adult dog.

If an adult dog.

Much easier to assess you can see the dog and judge the temperament far better, it may very well get along fine with your lab, but no-one can say for sure, it is always about trial and error, a female would be a better bet for them to get along, but if you can have a few trail meetings and perhaps a stay for a week if the inital meeting is good you will have your answer.

A few years ago we had a rescue Rotti x lab.I aquired him from a vet as a companion to my year old German Shepherd..He was six months old and had been thrown from a car on to the busy A10 dual carridge way. A lorry driver had seen what had happened and luckily caught him before he was run over.He was at the vets for three months who ever had had him had not looked after him he was very underweight (hence the long stay at the vets).

We had the privalige of his company for 12 years before he had to be put to sleep suffering from Cancer (he had the operation to remove it but they could not get it all)
Rebel & my .G.S D Sammy were the best of buddies and were always together,Sammy passed away 2 years later aged 14.
Rebel was the childrens friend, he quickly worked out children would give him  food!  I guess we were lucky,not knowing any history about him,he was a very laid back dog who made friends with everyone but it could have been so different.

as the owner of a rottie i would never let them cross breed i had a rottie and a gsd together for eight years they where best friends but i had my gsd neutered so any accidents could never happen IMO this would be a very bad cross.

But if i were to be offered a rottie cross lab i would have no problem in taking it i think this should be a safe cross the rottie has a very loving nature but the guarding must be controlled with a LOT of training and the labs are a good family dog with no real guarding instinct so this mix should be fine.

this is just my personal opinion i have five kids from 3-19 all lively boys and my rottie is their best freind

good luck with whatever you decide.

"I wouldn't recommend getting any cross breed to anyone"
I am shocked by your assumption that all cross breed dogs should be avoided....
Our first family pet dog I was  only 4 yrs myself was a Basset hound CROSS Labrador- Beauty lived til she was 17 years old !!
The second dog my dad brought with a lot of my persuading from myself, was a doberman Cross Labrador- Kelly lived til she went blind through diabetes at 9 .
Then he brought Becky a beagle CROSS collie shes  10 and out lived my Dad who pasted away in 06 now she lives with my sister.
My point is that it doesn't take much sussing out how big any cross breed of dog is going to be so longs as you see its mother and know what the Father was ?
I own a pedigree and the amount of vet treatment has run into 1000's because of his allergies his open sores from his skin troubles. My other dog a lab CROSS staff+patter dale OH GOSH 3 TYPES OF BREED THERE!! has only had 1 trip to the vet in 4 years with kennel cough. They live longer they are far more robust and best of all unique . Any dog Crossed with a Labrador make excellent pets . If you read enough dog literature in general you are going to know how to look after one. Characterististics have a lot to do with how you bring them up maybe that's why my bully acts like a dopey gentle Labrador.    

Don't think the person means that they are against crossbreeds just that they'd prefer someone got a crossbreed from a rescue centre etc. rather than someone who is purposely breeding them.

My pedigree 14 year old has only been to the vets twice for anything other than the norm.  My Pomeranian's never as such, my 10 year old Spanish not at all yet.  My 8 year old Spanish never and neither have the rest of my Spanish except for Anton who occasionally gets bad ear infections.

So even pedigrees can be extremely healthy!

Also there are some crosses that are more likely to be problematic.  Fro example crossing a feisty terrier with a  guarding breed is not likely to be good if the traits combine.

A Lab crossed with a  guarding breed would hopefully tone down the guarding, unless you ended up with a dog that retrieves then guards :D

Also many Labradors are now not eh typical good natured dogs they should be and also badly bred Rotts are not what they should be either.

If both parents are sweeties your chances of a good mix are better.  With a well bred purebred that would be a pre requisite no matter the breed.  With chance bred or irresponsibly deliberately bred crosses you have no idea at all.

On balance I would have thought physically a Labrador cross Rottie would have a fairly predictable size and body type (both chunky drop eared broad headed dogs of not dissimilar size).  No idea how the colour genetics would work though.  If both parents of good nature, if the owner would be happy with Full Rott traits or full lab traits then anything in between would fly for them.

Speaking as an owner of long lived pedigrees that have rarely (for minor issues) or never needed the Vet.

Our rottie/lab cross was black & tan ,as I said in my previous post he was a very laid back dog even after all he had been through.
He was a real sweetie,you could put your hand in his food dish and he was fine with it. He was never aggressive to anyone.

That is very true people who are mating cross breeds and not thinking about what type of person are going to buy them.
I like German shepherds but i would never buy one crossed with anything else, only the ones I have met have been unpredictable. 

"Any dog Crossed with a Labrador make excellent pets" quote magica...

I think this should read 'could make'.... As a crossbreed/mongrel/pedigree lover (owned and loved all... some rescue dogs, some bred by top breeders, some bred by myself), I definitely don't think you can say this.   We have a beautiful tempered Lab ourselves now but I've come across many aggressive ones recently, in fact, more aggressive ones than kind natured ones...

It's all very individual and a lottery... you can predict a pedigree's temperament to a point but all breeds have their good uns and bad uns, likewise with crossbreeds.  I don't think anybody can say what the aforementioned crossbreed will be like for sure...

I agree with "Characterististics have a lot to do with how you bring them up"... both nature and nurture will dictate how anything or anybody turns out...

Labradors suffer with hips, elbows and eyes unless it is health tested which I doubt many that are used to cross breed are how could that be "healthy and robust" ?

ok maybe its different now compared to 10 years ago only the ones that i have had as family pets and ones I have rescued have all been , intelligent, willing to learn, wanting to please and had no health issues . Sadly  there are many people who are out to just make money and they are such a popular breed it sometimes has an affect on dogs being produced. I heard this happened to German sherpards also years ago .
Just another thing I heard today competley off this subject.. that a friend lost their cat so are now buying 2 bull terrier a brother & sister . Never have they owned a dog before be interesting to hear some thoughts on this ??

OK maybe it's different now compared to 10 years ago

It is way, way different, I'm afraid.

Labs today are the breed that is bred in it's thousands througout the UK, and the majority of that breeding is pet to pet to pet to pet, the best stock is not chosen , the best temperaments are not chosen, health tests, well my own thoughts are that most don't have any at all, and many are never even KC registered.

Puppies are used as an extra income to many who breed them and it is the only reason they breed them. (Perhaps we'll blame todays economy on that one, but people who would never have thought of breeding are now doing so.)

Hence, in most breeds we are now getting dodgy temperaments coming through and of course not the best quality dogs healthwise too.

Now, with all of those problems someone then also crossbreeds, I know that genuine accidents may happen from 2 good quality dogs, though most breeders would abort the mating but the chances are the dogs have come from a long, long line of pet to pet breeders, to me it is madness today to buy a crossbred.

Going back years ago, you did not have this degree of pet breeding, so a crossbred dog was usually going to be very hardy and of a good temperament, today, it is so different.

>are now buying 2 bull terrier a brother & sister . Never have they owned a dog before be interesting to hear some thoughts on this ??

A disaster waiting to happen. Where does one start?

So true !! funny though when my friends daughter told me today I made the comment; They must be mad, and she piped up; oh they've got a massive garden ??
my friend said they have an immaculate house too ; I thought not for long!!
Crikey!! Ive had many dogs but Bull terriers are never for a first time dog owner?? well this my opinion I'm sure someone will tell me that's not the case he he :)

You mentioned about the breeding of labradors .I saw one pure breed lab that had the markings of a doberman or rottie, only this lab had a cream/ golden coat and markings on face of chocolate brown I was so surprised at his colour I thought it was a cross so asked the owner to be told he was born like it ??

>I saw one pure breed lab that had the markings of a doberman or rottie, only this lab had a cream/ golden coat and markings on face of chocolate brown

Plenty of mismarked labradors in this link.

Oh my god i cannot believe that Jeangenie, thats incredible but i bet they are all loved.

Carrie

I have never seen any quite like that,  if i have i would have thought they were a cross breed, i have seen labs with white marks on chest and on paws

you know, I never realised there was this amount of deviation!! I know a previous neighbour of mine got a young yellow lab pup who had failed field trials (not sure re this) and she had a very small black mark on her head, but was def pure bred, I didn't really think much of it at the time. But I've never knowingly seen any labs with such markings, I wonder how common it is??

wow seen something now... must say thought the brindle one looked outstanding .
Is it true or does anyone know if that if all dogs breed willy nilly every dog would be born black & tan as its the most dominent colour?
Only I mentioned that if I brought a Jack Russell I would want a black & tan as I meet one and is was a very charming girl . Jack Russells for me have always come across as a bit mental not placid at all apart from this one so thought it might be because of her colouring and having no white on her at all ?  Person I said this to told me about the black & tan gene ?

I saw some Black and tan pups pictures in the Dog press that were definitely purebred.  I wonder if these pups the OP is considering are rescues and their breeding is being assumed, could they be mis-marked Labs?

I think I saw that article too Brainless, and were they describing the litter as a new colour?? I remember it was black and tan, I probably still have the paper somewhere...... I didn't realise it could happen "un-planned" so to speak, a lab breeder I know has only ever had solid colours, I wonder if it all comes down to genetics or can it just pop up randomly??

This was a well known breeder, and they were random, a bit of a surprise to say the least.

Wow! Never seen those before, they are still all gorgeous and found loving homes which is nice :)
I did rather like the brindling effect tho :)

Once you have 2 recessive 'patch 'genes come togther you'll get all sorts of colours and mismarks. A patch gene can be recessive for many generations but with line breeding the chances are that 2 recessives will make a marked puppy.The siblings of the mismarked puppies will be carries of the gene and if mated will pass it on. Hence an increase of strange colours on usually solid coloured breeds

I use to breed and show guinea pigs and sometimes these rogue genes were good and others were not . But different varieties of cavies (guinea pigs) were being developed using these genes. When I changed from cavies to dogs some years ago they were trying to breed a white pig with a black band around the middle like a saddle (these genes are present in some breeds of cows!).

Nature has some strange tricks to play ....

I cannot for the life of me imagine why you would want to line the pockets of a BYB with your hard earned cash by buying a dog like this!
No reputable breeder would ever purposfully cross these 2 breeds, there's just no purpose for them
Why not decide which breed you're after
Is a Lab or a Rottie?
Both fantastic dogs in the their own way
Also both badly abused dogs with regard to bad breeding