Bernese Mountain Dog

The Bernese Mountain Dog is a typical Mountain Dog or livestock guard and shepherd. In German the breed is called the Berner Sennenhund. It is one of the four breeds called Sennenhund (Alpine dogs) from the Swiss Alps. “Senne” is the German word for an alpine pasture, “Hund” means dog in German. The Bernese Mountain Dog is a large breed of dogs from the west-central canton of Bern in Switzerland and traditionally accompanied the alpine shepherds and dairymen, especially in the region of [[Berner Oberland or Bernese Highlands|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernese_Highlands]]. The breed is also occasionally called Bernese Cattle Dog and in French the breed is called Bouvier Bernois. The Bernese Mountain Dog has a multipurpose working history for driving and guarding cattle and later on also for pulling dog carts. In the beginning of the 20th century the Bernese Mountain Dog became more popular in Switzerland and adjacent parts of Germany. Nowadays the breed is found all over the world especially in Europe, the United States, Argentina and Australia.

History

The Bernese Mountain Dog is one of the four ancient Swiss “Sennenhunden” and shares its origin with the other Mountain Dogs. Some sources indicate that the Sennenhund originates from ancient crossings between black mastiffs and local cattle guarding breeds. Later on the predecessor of the Bernese Mountain Dog became a more multipurpose farm dog that was used for guarding and driving cattle and dog cart pulling in the lower alpine meadows and in the countryside of the canton of Bern. In those days the breeds name was locally referred to for whom it worked for like the Farmer’s or Cheese Factory Dog because they was frequently used as a ‘beast of burden’. Its number started to fall in the second half of the 19th century but fanciers were able to rescue the breed. At the turn of the 19th centrury the breed of these long-haired tricoloured dogs was particularly numerous around the hamlet named Dürrbach (municipality Riggisberg) in the canton of Bern. That’s why the breed originally was named ‘Dürrbächler(hunde) but was also had other names like ‘Vieraugen’ (four eyes) or ‘Gelbbacker’ (yellow cheeks).

Breed formation

In the beginning of the 20th century fanciers had already a few times showed examples of the breed at dogs shows in Bern, when in 1907 a few breeders from the Burgdorf region decided to promote the pure breeding of these dogs. In that year they founded the official breed club, the ‘Schweizerische Dürrbach-Klub’ and wrote the first standard for this breed. In 1910 there were 107 registered members of the breed which was renamed ‘Berner Sennenhund’ (Bernese Mountain Dog).

Recognition

Internationally the Bernese Mountain Dog (Berner Sennenhund) is recognised (1954) by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in the Swiss Cattle Dogs section of Group 8, breed number 45. The Bernese Mountain Dog is also recognized (1948) by the United Kennel Club (UKC) in its Guardian Dog Group and by the Kennel Club (KC) in its Working Breed Group.

Utilisation

Nowadays most of the Bernese Mountain Dogs are pets and (family) guard dogs. Some dogs are still used as a multi-purpose farm dog.

Temperament

Because of the original use as a guardian of cattle and later on as a multipurpose farm dog the Bernese Mountain Dog can be characterised as self-confident, attentive, watchful, good-natured and docile. Because of their history as a multipurpose farm dog they easily accept (if well socialized) other pets or ‘cattle’ like chickens, rabbits and cats in their household and are fearless in everyday situations. In German the dog is characterised as: ‘sicher’ (self-confident) , ‘aufmerksam’ (attentive), ‘wachsam’ (watchful) und ‘gutmütig’ (good-natured) and ‘fügsam’ (docile).

Appearance

The Bernese Mountain Dog is a typical mountain dog with a medium long, full coat and large sized. As with the other three short-coated “Sennenhunden”, the tri-coloured coat is characteristic: black ground color, with rust and white markings. The head of the Bernese mountain dog is flat on the top with a moderate stop. Especially the head has a black ground colour with a symmetrical white (horse shoe like) shape around the nose and rust coloured markings above the eyes and the mouth, the reason why they are called ‘Vieraugen’ (Four Eyes).

Health

The Bernese Mountain Dog takes longer than average to mature and compared to breeds of similar size the Bernese lives less long than other dog breeds. The Bernese Mountain Dogs have a much higher rate of fatal cancer than other breeds; a few studies show that nearly half of Bernese Mountain Dogs die of cancer compared to about a quarter of all dogs. On average owners of Bernese Mountain Dogs nearly three times more report musculoskeletal problems than owners of other breeds.

Care

Bernese Mountain Dogs shed year-round with most of the shedding during seasonal changes. The only care this breed regularly needs is inspection of the ears because of possible accumulation of dirt, liquid and bacteria.

Links

Wikipedia
Breed standard comparison
Schweizerische Kynologische Gesellschaft / Société Cynologique Suisse / Società Cinologica Svizzera (SKG SCS, Swiss Kennel Club)
Klub für Berner Sennenhunde (KBS)
Raad van Beheer op Kynologisch Gebied in Nederland (Kennel Club Netherlands)
Vereniging de Berner Sennenhond (VBSH)
Nederlandse Berner Sennen Vereniging (NBSV)