of teeth and muscle designed to rip a person to shreds -- but responsible owners like Mr. John Fryer know differently.

"I wish that every person who is scared of Rottweilers could meet my dogs,'' he said. "I guarantee they would change their minds completely because my dogs love everybody to death -- except when the family is threatened, of course.'' Indeed, Mr. Fryer says his two champions, Bear and Akasha, love to go everywhere the family goes and have never once misbehaved. The reason? Like children, they have been taught to socialise.

"Dogs have to be properly socialised from puppyhood. Socialising is very important,'' he stressed. "I socialised Bear walking up and down Front Street when the cruise ships were in. Visitors loved to come up and pat him and talk to him, and he learned that that was okay.'' A six-week obedience and tracking class in Florida, attended by Mr. Fryer and Bear, also contributed to the dog's well-mannered disposition.

In fact, it is a necessary pre-requisite for show dogs like Bear.

"Show dogs have to accept being walked up to and handled by anybody anywhere on their bodies without reacting,'' Mr. Fryer explained. "If Bear was even to growl he would be disqualified and banned from the ring.'' So where do Rottweilers, like Pit Bulls and Doberman Pinschers, get their allegedly fierce reputation? "It's all in the training,'' Mr. Fryer said. "Bad behaviour is often taught.

If those people didn't use Rottweilers or Pit Bulls, they would simply use some other type of dog.'' He noted that in Britain, for example, where there have even been calls to ban dogs like Pit Bulls and Rottweilers, most of the problems could be blamed squarely on their owners.

"A lot of owners live in small apartments. The dogs are not exercised properly, they are not socialised, and they don't get any obedience training,'' Mr. Fryer explained. "Rottweilers are working dogs. They need exercise to let off steam and get rid of frustrations, and they need to be socialised from a very young age -- just like humans. They are not the type of dog to be reared in apartments.'' In Bear and Akasha's case, not only do they have a large yard to frolic in, but they also form part of an eye-catching family "procession'' which can be seen most evenings exercising along the verge of Ferry Reach.

"My wife and I take our son Christopher, the two Rottweilers and Princess, our Basset Hound, for long walks every evening,'' he said.

But this is no ordinary family walk. Bear is hitched to a special sulky-type cart, and Princess wears a "snood'' to protect her huge, floppy ears from damage.

"She is a champion dog also, and her ears touch the ground, so to keep them from being scarred she wears a hat-type snood. It's quite funny to see,'' Mrs.

Fryer explained.

Indeed, this unusual family scene has become such a familiar sight to passers-by that many honk and wave. A few, however, shout remarks like "God will get you for this'' in the mistaken belief that having Bear pull the cart with Christopher in it is cruel.

"They don't understand that Rottweilers are working dogs, and they think the dog is taking all the weight,'' Mr. Fryer explained. "In fact, the trap is not only very light but so perfectly balanced that all the weight is on the wheels. There is no weight on the dog whatsoever.'' Ironically, a number of the complaints about "cruelty'' have been made to the Government dog warden, Mr. Leonard (Shinah) Simons who, as a fellow Rottweiler owner, introduced Mr. Fryer to the little cart in the first place! In any case, the trap is one specifically designed for Rottweilers (and goats) by an Indiana, USA firm, and Bear's leather harness was also tailor-made to his exact measurements by the same firm. Once the cart arrived in Bermuda, Mr.

Fryer customised it with Virginia cedar "to improve its appearance''.

The idea seemed the perfect solution to Mr. Fryer for two reasons -- his son, who is only five, couldn't keep up the pace Mr. and Mrs. Fryer required when walking for exercise and the cart could help build up Bear's chest muscles in time for the World Congress of Kennel Clubs, to be held in Bermuda this November.

Mr. Fryer says that Bear loves the cart so much he can barely contain his excitement as it is loaded onto the family car for the trip to Ferry Reach.

"He goes absolutely foolish -- all of them do.'' In time, Akasha (which Mr. Fryer co-owns with a friend) might also get to help Bear pull the cart.

"Once Bear gets used to it, I am thinking about making an arrangement for the cart which will allow me hitch both dogs to it,'' he revealed.

For now, however, Akasha is busy coping with motherhood.

What most people don't know, Mr. Fryer said, is that Rottweilers have a long history of pulling carts.

"In Germany, before there were more sophisticated forms of transport, the Rottweiler -- known as the butcher's dog -- was hitched to a cart to carry slaughtered meat to market. On the way back, butchers often got waylaid by bandits and robbed of the money they had just made, so they took to tying it around the dog's neck for safekeeping.

"Of course, the Rottweiler is a fiercely loyal dog and obviously he protected the master and his money from the bandits,'' Mr. Fryer noted.

Today, Rottweilers pull carts for fun in what has become a popular hobby for their masters.

The dog's history can be traced back to Roman times, according to Mr. Fryer.

"When Julius Caesar was crossing Europe he used large mastiff-type dogs to drive the cattle which fed the army which did the conquering,'' he explained.

"When Caesar stopped, it was in what is now a part of Germany, which is called Rottweil. The people there basically developed those dogs into the Rottweiler as it is today.'' Addressing misconceptions about the dog's nature, Mr. Fryer said its protectiveness can be misunderstood as fierceness.

"The Rottweiler is very protective of its property and family -- that has been bred into it -- but with proper training from puppyhood it is as loving as any other breed. My dogs are not aggressive towards other people or dogs.

"My pet peeve is people who say `Rottweiler: large dog with uncertain temperament'. In fact, this has been quoted to me by someone with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). I say, `Don't judge the breed, judge the individual dog' -- just like humans. Because I own Rottweilers doesn't mean they are dangerous. That is ludicrous.'' In any case, Mr. Fryer, who is a detective constable in the Bermuda Police, says most dogs bite out of fear.

"That is their way of protecting themselves, mostly when cornered,'' he said.

Nor does he feel it right that a whole breed of dog should be banned on the reputation of a few.

"It is so easy to say `ban the Rottweiler', but I don't think it's right.

Breed-specific legislation is unfair.'' Ultimately, Mr. Fryer hopes there will be a special club for working dogs, including Rottweilers, Bull Mastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, German Shepherds and even Corgis.

"We would like to form our own club to promote tracking, obedience and other traits in these dogs so that we can possibly hold our own Group Three (working dogs) specialty shows,'' Mr. Fryer explained. INFORMATION IN THE BOXES "Bad behaviour is often taught. If those people didn't use Rottweilers or Pit Bulls, they would simply use some other type of dog.'' "The Rottweiler is very protective of its property and family -- that has been bred into it -- but with proper training from puppyhood it is as loving as any other breed. My dogs are not aggressive towards other people or dogs.

REIGNING SUPREME! Five-year-old Christopher Fryer takes the reins as the family Rottweiler, Champion von Hintenhaus Bear, steps out with his specially-designed cart. The duo are a familiar sight along Ferry Reach most evenings, where they exercise with Christopher's parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Fryer, and the other family dogs -- Akasha (another Rottweiler), and Princess, a Bassett Hound.