A Rumor, according to Mr. Webster, is "general talk not based on definite knowledge; mere gossip; hearsay." But what happens to a rumor when it becomes widely circulated among many individuals across a vast country such as the United States? I can tell you what happens. It hurts you emotionally, financially, and makes you wonder who your friends really are. I have had many rumors about our dogs spread across the United States and all the way over to West Germany. I have also been a party to the spread of an undocumented experience - a rumor - that resulted in a great deal of chaos for the individual involved.

Let me start off by telling you a little about myself and how my past has left me virtually unprepared to deal with the insanities associated with rumors, especially in the dog world. I was born and raised in a small Southern town in the fifties and sixties. We knew our neighbors by their first name and helped our families and friends when they needed it. It was a tight social system. If anyone told a lie, the whole town knew that you were a liar. So, rumors were easy to dispell in such an environment. And, if I got caught telling a lie my father would dust my drawers - and good. After high school I went to the United States Military Academy at West Point. It was the height of the Viet Nam War, society was becoming fragmented, drugs began to creep into our lives, the concept of the family began to die - and so did our morals and values. Madison Avenue, television, and mass marketing taught us how to twist the truth into greater sales and profit. If I only learned one thing at West Point it was the concept of "Duty, Honor, country." To this day I have tried to live by this credo. I am in no way perfect. I do make mistakes. But at least I try.

When my wife Evie and I opened our Bonsai nursery in 1979 we founded it on the premise that the customer was always right and that we would never lie to a customer. We have now been in business ten years. We have sold Bonsai trees to over half a million people and we do not even have one claim with the Better Business Bureau! It's not always easy. But I honestly feel that truth and honesty will always prevail in business and in life.

But no one warned me about the dog business. My upbringing, my education, my business experience, all left me unprepared for what I was going to experience in the dog world. We bought our first Rottweilers from "reputable" American breeders. We experienced forged hip ratings, dysplastic dogs, "breeding quality" dogs that when bred together produced the worst hodge-podge of puppies we could ever imagine. We gave these dogs away and began again. We joined the ADRK and started studying the Stud Books for the bloodlines that were consistently producing good dogs. Then, we went to Germany with a gentleman named Joe Hedl who helped us find some good dogs. Later, we met Edgar Kaltenbach who helped us get Amboss and some of our other females.

We placed an ad in some of the Rottweiler magazines and immediately the rumors began. Now, try to remember this as we go forward - Amboss was our new "son." He had just arrived in America; we were thoroughly enjoying his company and now people were starting to spread rumors. The first thing we heard was from a "reputable" breeder in south Florida who was saying that Amboss did not pass OFA. He was dysplastic and she knew it because she "called OFA and found out for herself". Reality turned out to be that Amboss was OFA GOOD and that is. with an X-ray that has his tattoo number etched on it to prove that he was the dog who was X-rayed that day. This rumor turned out to be a total lie. It hurt us very deeply. We did not even know this lady who started this rumor. We had certainly never done anything to hurt her. In fact, I had never had a conversation with or about her.

Over the past year other rumors about Amboss began to surface. It was stated as gospel that "Amboss is on steroids. That no dog could be that muscular without being on steroids." This was totally insane. Why would I take a dog that I purchased - for a great deal of money - to become an integral part of my breeding program and put him on steroids...a class of drugs - known to cause fertility problems? Reality is that Amboss' musculature is the result of hours and hours of structured running, weight-pulling, and general conditioning. And, if he is on steroids how could he have successfully sired twenty-nine litters in just the eleven months he has been in America? Recently, the rumor is now circulating that Amboss can never be shown in an AKC show because he attacked and injured an AKC judge at a show. This is totally ludicrous! Amboss has never been shown in an AKC show. And he has never attacked or injured anyone, anywhere!

I would recommend visiting one of the local schutzhund clubs in your area. Call some of the breeders in your area. They should know where some good trainers are. But remember - there are many more bad trainers than there are good ones. I would never, ever train my dogs to attack people. The dogs should be trained to attack the sleeve only. And, I would never use excessive force to train my dogs. I think a good, solid bond with your dog, lots of love, lots of praise are the answer.

I became a party to the spreading of an undocumented experience - a rumor - just last month. A friend who owns one of our puppies called us up to let us know that a gentleman we know, Volker Czesworski, had just been brutally mauled by his male Rottweiler, Caesar. In fact, he was supposedly "almost killed by his dog, put in intensive care for nearly two weeks, and if he had gotten to the hospital fifteen minutes later, he would have died from loss of blood." A chill rushed through my body. My heart ached. As a Rottweiler owner, my worst fear is hearing about another bite victim. And here it was, another bad bite story slapping me in the face. My knowing Volker made it even worse.

A couple of days later, Eve was talking on the telephone to a lady who had bred to Volker's male, Caesar. Eve told her the rumor and that began a series of events that resulted in the rumor being spread all the way to Volker's family in West Germany. They called Volker, frantic to see what had happened to their son. When Volker heard from his parents, he was furious. No dog bite had occurred at this time. Volker had not been attacked. He was not in the hospital in intensive care. This was all news to him. Reality is that Caesar did attack him several years ago. This current rumor was based on this old story with the new versions about Volker being in Intensive Care, almost dying, etcetera. When I finally reached him on the telephone to see how he was doing (for several days they had been away from their house) and learned that his attack was all a rumor, I could not believe that I had been so stupid to have fallen into this rumor trap. Reality for Volker was that his family and friends were concerned for his health. And, that his dog would now carry the bad consequences of this rumor - loss of breedings and more unjust rumors.

We, as responsible Rottweiler owners, must work together to stop the spread of rumors. Rumors hurt everyone involved. They can discourage conscientious people from staying in the breed. They can stop a good stud dog from being used when he should be. This will end up ruining our breed. One word of advice that I can offer is that you not spread a rumor until you call the person involved and verify that it actually happened. And, the next time you feel like spreading a rumor, why not make it something good about our friend the Rottweiler instead of always so damned bad!