St Bernard

Back last October my mum had this brilliant idea to get another puppy.It was a toss between an old english sheepdog or a saint bernard.Obviously there would be a difference in the price you pay for them but mum and dad had some compensation money so they had enoguh to spend on a new puppy of any breed.

So after a long hard think about what she would prefer mum chose a saint bernard.Now at the time we didn't know much about ...
...knew was they were expensive!So the first thing we did was find as much information as possible on the internet,we also bought 2 saint bernard books.However no matter what we read it wouldn't prepare us for the real thing!

*The breed*

There are two types of saint bernards the smooth haired and the rough haired.I don't think there's much of a difference really only that one will take more grooming than the other.According ... more

Back last October my mum had this brilliant idea to get another puppy.It was a toss between an old english sheepdog or a saint bernard.Obviously there would be a difference in the price you pay for them but mum and dad had some compensation money so they had enoguh to spend on a new puppy of any breed.

So after a long hard think about what she would prefer mum chose a saint bernard.Now at the time we didn't know much about them.We have never seen one out and about,all we really knew was they were expensive!So the first thing we did was find as much information as possible on the internet,we also bought 2 saint bernard books.However no matter what we read it wouldn't prepare us for the real thing!

*The breed*

There are two types of saint bernards the smooth haired and the rough haired.I don't think there's much of a difference really only that one will take more grooming than the other.According to the book "St.Bernard" by J Radford Wilcock their are certain physical characteristics of the saint bernard (as with all breeds).These are:(for those of you who just want a quick description with not as many complicated words then go to my own personal description after this little section).

*Head and skull = Large,massive circumference of skull being rather more than double its length.Muzzle short,full in front of the eye and square at nose end.Cheeks flat,great depth from eye to lower jaw.Lips deep but not too pendulous.From nose to stop perfectly straight and broad.Stop somewhat abrupt and well defined.Skull broad,slightly rounded at top,with fairly prominent brow.Nose large and black with well developed nostrills.

*Eyes =Of medium size,neither deep set nor prominent,eyelids should be reasonably tight,without any excessive haw.Dark in colour and not staring.There should be no excessive loose wrinkle on brow which would detract from a healthy eye.

*Ears = Medium size,lying close to cheeks,not heavily feathered.

*Neck = Long,thick,muscular,slightly arched,dewlap well developed.

*Mouth = Jaws strong,with a perfect,regular and complete scissor bite,i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

*Forequarters = Shoulders broad and sloping,well up at withers.Legs straight,strong in bone,of good length.

*Hindquarters = Legs heavy in bone,hocks well bent,thighs very muscular.

*Tail = Set on rather high,long,carried low when in repose,when excited or when motion should not curl over back.

*Body = Back broad,straight,ribs well rounded.Loin wide,very muscular.Chest wide and deep,but never projecting below elbows.

*Coat = Roughs:Dense and flat,rather fuller round neck,thighs and tail well feathered.

*Feet = Large,compact with well-arched toes.Dewclaws removed.

*Size = Taller the better,provided symmetry is maintained.

*Colour = Orange,mahogany-brindle,red-brindle,white with patches on body of any above named colours.Markings as follows:White muzzle,white blaze on face,white collar,white chest,white forelegs,feet and end of tail,black shadings on face and ears.

Now I doubt many of you found that interesting but just in case somebody did I didn't want to discriminate against anyone lol.Now onto my personal description:

"I think that the saint bernard is one of the cutest breeds around.Our saint bernard has a little birth mark beign a white patch on it's back end lol.Most peopel who have seen beethoven will know what a saint bernard typically looks like.Actually in Beethoven 2 you can see a rough and a smooth haired version of the saint bernard.The female is the smooth haired and the male is rough haired.Also females tend to be smaller than males."

The breed was originally bred to go out and rescue people from mountains and to guard things.They also made good herding dogs.Now to be honest I aren't really into the history of the breed so I won't go into that all I will say is they came to Britain in 1815 from Switzerland.Now onto the most important thing the Saint Bernards temperament...

*Temperament*

From what I've seen throguh our own dog and from what I have read Saint Bernards are known as gentle giants.They really don't seem to have a bad bone in their body.I'm sure thoguh that as with all breeds there will be some Saint Bernards somewhere that have probably been inbred that can be quite nasty.Most however have a peaceful nature.

The best thing about our Saint Bernard is that he doesn't seem to be dominant in any way.We have 3 other dogs,2 german shepherds and a weimeraner x pointer (and I'm sure he's got a little pit bull in him too!)and they are fairly dominant which has caused a lot of problems in the past (in the form of ears ripped open,skin hanging off etc)and that led to us having to castrate them.However the saint bernard just prefers to lie down or play.If there is ever any aggression show towards our saint bernard he either doesn't understand and is too dopey to realise or he just backs away and goes and lies down.The other good thing is they don't bond with other dogs as much as they bond with you.This I'm sure depends on how much tiem you spend with your dog but if you have paid a lot of money from a dog I'm pretty sure you aren't just going to leave it alone all the time.

Because they have such a sweet temperament they can be trusted with children.This makes the saint bernard a great family pet.Just the other week when we was walking him around town a little kid that was saying hello to him went behind him and kicked him then went and poked him in the face.George (our saint bernards name)didn't do anything even thoguh he was frightened.Now if the kid had have done that to Jack one of our German Shepherds he'd have got his face bitten off so it just shows the two temperaments.

The breed is also very loyal and affectionate.George says hello to me,my mum and my dad equally as excited even though he is mums dog.So even thoguh he is bonded more with one person it doesn't show as much as it does with the german shpherds.He listens to each one of us and he is really affectionate.

Even though the breed is genuinely a nice natured breed,if itself or it's family get threatened in any way it can turn into a very protective dog.Now given the size of the breed I wouldn't like to come up against one!

*Trainability*

For some reason i had the idea that this would be a very hard to train breed,mainly because of it's size.This however is not the case as we have found out with ours.They tend to learn very quickly and are keen to please their handler.They do tend to do things at their own pace though so you will have to accept that.Also when they get older I have read that you will have to coaz them to do some exercise.Our dog goes to socialisation and obedience classes every week (once a week).This is just to teach him every day things like sit,heel etc.We take him because we live in the middle of nowhere and we don't want him to be frightened by strangers.We have also managed to learn him to speak and to wave (by waving he has to keep his paw in the air for a while and he does it really well).He really enjoys training especially when we give himlittle treats now and again!I would say thoguh keep training to a minimum at the beginning as they have a short attention span and training should be made fun.However saying this it is important that due to the size of the dog you teach the puppy not to do anything you don't want it to do in say 6 months time.How you train your dog is completely up to you but I would say they are very easy to train :)

*Feeding*

When we are out we get asked a number of questions from interested people.The main one we get asked is how much does he cost to feed?Now to be honest I don't think he eats that much.George is nearly 10 months old and he has 2 meals a day and he's on Beta Junior sacks.He roughly goes through around 3 sacks a month so I guess it is alittle expensive but nothing that will break the bank.I'd say roughly it costs us £40 a month if that.I wouldn't advise giving scraps from the table thoguh as that could lead to them having a dodgy tummy as with a lot of other breeds.I would also recommend getting a diet sheet from the breeder you buy your puppy from.This will really help you keep the puppy on a steady diet.

*Exercise*

I wouldn't say the Saint Bernard has a lot of exercise probably the recommended exercise a day is 20-30 minutes of walking or something.It is advised in things we have read that they shouldn't have a lot of exercise until they are 2 year old.This is because their bones haven't set properly and their muscles so they could easily injure themselves.One woman stopped us and told us that we shouldn't even take our puppy around town until he is 18 months old because of that same reason but then you face having a nervous dog on your hands so as long as you don't go mad with the exercise I would say that it is ok to take your puppy around with you (as long as it has had all it's injections!).Another point to remember is that once the dog has eaten you shouldn't let it run around straight away for up to an hour or so afterwards because it could get bloat which can be life threatening.

*Diseases related to the breed*

A lot of saint bernard owners complain about skin problems the most.This can be treated by a vet or by some specialised pet shop products (my advice thoguh would be to see the vet first).

To be honest most problems in saint bernards are the same as any other breed so my best advice would be to buy a saint bernard book and there will be a list of common diseases in there as well as all the information you need to know to take care of your dog.

*My own personal view of the breed*

I am purely saying this through the experience of George so obviously some things will be different for
others.

I have probably experienced a lot of respect,love,anger and frustration while looking after george.I love him to bits because he is a very lovable dog and he has the most amazing droopy eyes.He has a huge head with big jowels that produce a lot of drool.That is one thing I didn't mention...they drool a lot!When they are little obviosuly they don't drool that much but as they get older their jowels drop more and more and a lot more drool is produced which they love to shake off.This means that they aren't suitable for house proud people.We have also experienced a little bit of chewing but that can easily be stopped.

The most annoying thing I have found is that you can't get anywhere quickly while out and about with your saint bernard because everyone stops you to look at your dog.Now this can be a bad thign because from beign really small (well as small as a saint bernard puppy is!)everyone came and crowded around george and this has made him a little nervous because he was going throguh a fear period and there was at least 10 people at a time trying to stroke him on his head.Now he's nearly 10 months old and although he is getting better he is still wary of people.

People ask you some dumb questions too.You get tired of people saying aww look it's a baby beethoven or look it is beethoven!Also they say things like..beethoven doesn't do that!Some people can be so niaev (however you spell it).That is the only major disadvantage because sometimes you just get fed up and you just want to be left alone.

Now george is growing up he tends to run around a lot and bark quite a bit too when he wants something.The best thing to do to cure this (we've been told) is to just leave him and ignore him and he'll get fed up of it.However when you are in the car next to him and he barks in your ear really loud it gets a little hard to ignore!

Saint Bernards make extremely good pets but they can be hard work.Personally I would advise getting a saint bernard if you have no other dogs.This is purely because of the weight of the dogs and a saint bernard with a little dog such as a yorkshire terrier is definately not adviseable.The saint bernard can crush a dog to death by just lying on it (which they do tend to do).George likes to do what he wants to do and when he gets a toy in his mouth he goes wherever he wants (usually backwards)and just plonks himself down anywhere he feels like it and that sometimes has been on top of our german shepherds.They are really clumsy just the other week george went to run up a step in our yard and he tripped up and scraped all his chin.

All in all I'd say they are trustworthy,big gentle giants and mischevious dogs.Also another thing I failed to mention which should come under dominance is that when george was a puppy and he started going to training we let him sniff other dogs (before we were taught not to).So george was just sitting there and an old shetland sheepdog came in with a teenage girl holding it and george just turned his head to have a quick sniff.I was holding him when all of a sudden the shetland sheepdog(like lassie)dived on george and he was literally screaming.It took him 10 minutes after the ordeal to calm down and he hadn't even got a scratch on him.This shows how soppy they really are.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and if you have any further questions just leave me a message in my guestbook :)

Aimee xxxxx  

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