Hi, i own a rottie, who i show. He recently turned 2 and ive noticed little changes in him. He has a wonderful temperament and is great with people and dogs. I was showing yesterday and when the judge came over he gave a little growl/grumble under his breath when the judge (lady) when to check his teeth and go over him. Now hes never done that before and he has always been so friendly with judges, kissing them, licking etc. I have noticed him reacting a little diff with one or 2 people too, just seems a little unsure and like with the judge giving a little grumble under his breath.
Has anyone any experience with rottweilers in the ring and if so whats the best way to handle this. Hes my first one and so far we have been doing great and hes never put a foot wrong. I went to ring craft and training classes since he was young and as i said, its only in the last couple of weeks since he turned 2 that hes like this.
Thanks

He is naturally a guard dog so wary of strangers is just in his breed?
Now he has hit 2 years he will try it on being a bit of a man.
Most probably someone far more knowledgeable will tell you more. I would suggest getting him a very high food treat so he focuses on you 100% not the judge touching his bits get him to meet as many strange people as poss.
I remember the judge having a go at me about my dog when he touched his privates and he mumbled a bit about it but not full on growled :-) Snoop saved that after when I was doing the ring to flew up at me and nipped my boob! Git... Not a good day!

Do you still take him to obedience and/or ringcraft? If not, i would start by taking him stright back, first of all to keep the socialisation an ongoing thing, IMO you cannot over socialise a dog. Also, if you have the support of the breeder, perhaps they have support they can offer you?

have you had a look over him yourself? he might have something the matter thats making him nervous because he's sore?

If he's always been fine, I'd check what's changed or if it could be either his maturing or perhas the fact he's not ever really enjoyed it but only now is able to make his view known? as he is maturing.

When behaviour changes in an adult dog, it can suggest a medical problem (unless of course there is another known reason).

Hate to say it but breeders are not always the best for advice unless they are up to date a bit - I've seen dogs told off for not behaving, for example, and they get worse and end up hating showing. In my view you need modern advice.

Just a thought but are you sure it was an annoyed growl? as rotties of course will growl when they "talk" too :)

If it is a problem with him disliking being handled, has he been handled by non sympathetic people?

You can train most dogs to enjoy and accept being handled using food rewards etc if that turns out to be the problem.. If you are anywhere near Lincolnshire I'd highly recommend Paddy Driscoll and Teamworktraining for helping out.

I had a Rott bitch for 10 years and all he life she "talked" it was her way of expressing herself being happy or upset, myself I think its part of the breed as I heard so many doing it when I was showing mine, remember Rotts are a very strong minded breed that always need training and socialisation to keep them completely happy, my girl used to make me laugh, she loved people so much I was the only person that used to be dragged into the vets whenever she needed to go there, she knew there would be a room full of people sitting there who all "really" must want to stroke her lol, this was the days before all the Rott scare troubles there were in the past so nine times out of ten people would make a huge fuss of her, she was old and ailing when Rotts suddenly became a breed that some people were frightened of, I'm glad she went then (if you know what I mean) because she never would have understood people not wanting to stroke her and give her cuddles.

I've had this with my boxer boy, he's just turning 20 months and normally he was so stupidly friend with judges but then went a bit off around them and i hadn't been taking him ringcraft as I was training the pup so I started some obedience and he's come on great from it & i can see he's really enjoying it all again.
We have big classes at shows so to keep him interested in me while we're waiting in the ring i do the odd obedience command, some people have said to me you shouldn't do that whilst in the ring but i think they are all inteligent enough to know the difference between down, stand, sit, touch.