Saint Bernard

History

Bred by Monks approximately 980 AD, the St. Bernard is believed to be of the Great Dane, Tibetan Mastiff, Great Pyrenees and the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog bloodlines. Massive in size and born with great strength, it comes as no surprise that this breed was bred for the alpine avalanche rescues. The St. Bernard had a unique and magnificent way of completing this task. Come upon time of locating the person or people under several feet of snow, one or two of the St. Bernard traveling in the pack would lie down where they were while the one would head towards the safety team as the others continue looking. Working wonderfully in unison this breed saved hundreds of lives. Today, this breed is recognized for search and rescue, guard dog and pulling in competitions.

Appearance

Massive in size, both males and females on average measure 27 inches in height and weigh in between 110-200 pounds. Built solid, strong and muscular, this breed has a large "block head" in shape, with a muzzle that is almost in the same width. Large pendant ears frame this large face, with two large round eyes and nose that always appear dark brown or black in color. The St.Bernard has two different types of coats available, a rough coat and a smooth coat. Both coats are very thick and strong, and are available typically in a tri color or brown, white and black. These colors and color variations can very to reds and tans.

Temperament

The St. Bernard is an extremely loyal, loving, gentle and obeying breed to its family. This breed is wonderful with children of all ages, elderly and other animals that it grows up with. Due to the potential size of this breed, it is highly recommended that you use positive reinforcement training methods and train at a young age to ensure proper obedience of the dog at his or her full size. Things such as jumping, tug of war or any other ill full behaviors should be completely eliminated from the start to ensure proper manners after the dog reaches 100 + pounds. This breed is typically lazy when it comes to being indoors, but does require a properly fenced in area to roam freely in outside daily as well as a daily long walk. This walk daily is extremely important to promote a healthy well being for your dog, both physical and mentally. This breed is known to act different prior to storms or bad weather, and it is important to note this due to their high sense of smell and hearing, or as other describe the breed, its "sixth sense". The St. Bernard is suitable for apartment living as well as country living.

Grooming

Both the rough and smooth coat St. Bernard's require daily brushing and bathing when needed. It is recommended that this breed is taken regularly to a professional groomer to properly clean them due to their size.

Special Notes

Prone to wobbler syndrome, heart issues, skin issues and tumors. Please fully teach yourself about the St. Bernard prior to adding one to your family to ensure this is the correct breed for you and that you are able to make a life long commitment to your new addition. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.