# Bernese Mountain Dog



## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Someone please tell me about these dogs. Lol. I just saw one walk past my house. Wow. Gorgeous. I mean, I always knew they were gorgeous, but wow.


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## kcomstoc (Mar 9, 2013)

sclevenger said:


> Someone please tell me about these dogs. Lol. I just saw one walk past my house. Wow. Gorgeous. I mean, I always knew they were gorgeous, but wow.


They are one of the breeds I want to own someday, they are giant breeds that have a very gentle temperament, but because of the size of the breed they have a few health problems like hip dysplasia and also bloat is a possibility. I'm not sure if it was about this breed or another but I _think_ they are prone to cancer as well  their average life span is like 8 years which is sad


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Ya the quick research before I posted said hip and joint problems and cancer and a life span of like 7 or 8. 

And dogs 101 said they can pull up to 1000lbs with training of course. Just looked so sweet and lovable.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Only met a handful in my life so far but here's my impression... Gentle giants, devoted to their families, friendly but not in an overbearing way towards strangers. They seem more mellow than the Greater Swiss Mt Dogs, but maybe it was just the individuals I met. The lifespan thing is unfortunate. I don't know if it was on this forum or from a Bernie owner I met once at a dog park, but the saying goes, "3 years puppy, 3 years young dog, 3 years old dog, and the rest are a gift from God."


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

That is such a sad saying . 

Personality wise I get the same gentle, devoted great family dogs., but the other stuff i cant really find like:

Training: Intelligence and/or biddability?
Exercise needs?
Prey driven, will they eat the family cat or prone to any reactivity?
Off leash ability?


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## d_ray (Nov 5, 2013)

The ones I know are great off leash with little prey drive. Not sure about intelligence as I don't know them very well. They seem quite biddable. They are very calm and friendly. I don't think they require too much exercise. Maybe a couple leash walks a day. They do shed quite a bit though.


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## ForTheLoveOfDogs (Jun 3, 2007)

I know a few Berners and I have nothing but good things to say about these dogs. 

They are friendly.. oh so friendly wonderful dogs. I don't really mark them as the most intelligent or biddable, but they aren't "dumb" either. They probably won't be the kind of dog to get if you are interested in teaching a bunch of tricks or competition dog sports (minus some kind of pulling thing?). They do seem rather devoted and loving toward their owners though. 

They are little more energetic when young, but fairly mellow as adults. I don't know any that are aggressive toward other animals or reactive. I can't say much about off leash reliability.. but I know 2 that do not have fenced in yards and stay in them. Of the ones I have met.. just such great family dogs. 

They shed a lot, but do not drool like a Saint or Newfie. I know one to die at only 7 (recurring knee issues.. so many surgeries the dog was miserable). I know others that are older and still doing well. They would definitely be a breed to leave intact until full grown, fed a correct diet for large breed puppies, *kept lean* etc to help prevent hip/joint issues. I see SO many that are overweight which seems like a trend with giant hairy breeds for some reason.


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## WonderBreadDots (Jun 26, 2012)

sclevenger said:


> That is such a sad saying .
> 
> Personality wise I get the same gentle, devoted great family dogs., but the other stuff i cant really find like:
> 
> ...


All in all BMD are nice gentle dogs. One thing that usually surprises people when they get their first Berner puppy is how incredibly nippy and destructive they are. If you go on any BMD forum there are tons of posts about biting puppies. 

Berners also are slow to mature, which in turn translates to housebreaking is a little slower to take hold. 

Special care has to be taken for young dogs/puppies so as not to put too much stress on their joints. Usually it's recommended that you carry puppies up and down stairs and try not to walk on hard surfaces for long distances.

Berners are draft dogs so it's important to teach puppy not to pull on leash or you will have some difficulty when they get older.

Oh, and quite a few Berners love to BARK, including Tula. She barks at doorbells on TV, when my husband is in his office using his speakerphone, if she hears another dog barking, if she thinks the grass is growing...

I could go on and on, but I have to go into work in an hour. If you have any more questions I would be more than happy to try and answer them.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

WonderBreadDots said:


> All in all BMD are nice gentle dogs. One thing that usually surprises people when they get their first Berner puppy is how incredibly nippy and destructive they are. If you go on any BMD forum there are tons of posts about biting puppies.
> 
> Berners also are slow to mature, which in turn translates to housebreaking is a little slower to take hold.
> 
> ...


Yes, I would love to hear anything and everything about them. I don't know if they would be right for us, but I've taken a special interest in them for sure. 

They sound wonderful


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

There's a woman at our training center with two BMD. They are sweet dogs and so very attentive to her. I think she does either rally or obedience with them and conformation. The older one is fairly mellow, friendly, and good grief I just want to cuddle him.


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

I have come to think of BMD as goldens of a different color. Cancer and HD is a big thing with them. I have never met a BMD that suffers from HA. Shedding and care of coat is a big thing to consider. Breeding- litter sizes are not very big considering how big the dog is, c-sections tend to run in this breed. Work with a couple of breeders that take the breeding seriously. I think they make very good family dogs.


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## parus (Apr 10, 2014)

They're lovely but I personally couldn't do it. Even the well-bred ones are liable to go at age six or seven. It's bad even by the standards of similar-sized dogs.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Susie's mother was a purebred Bernese but her father was the neighbor dog, probably Lab and Border Collie. She is 11 this year but that is probably because she is a crossbred. There are quite a few purebred Bernese in my area and Susie is a lot like them. She was very love everyone right from the time she was a puppy. She was very easy to train and used to follow me for miles when I was out riding. She had no prey drive, loved the cat and the little dogs. Loves to swim and still does. She is not the typical Bernese coloring like her mother. She does shed a lot but mostly in the spring.


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## Kingfisher (Jan 2, 2015)

Like everyone else, I've had great experiences with them. Sweet, gentle, family dogs.

But, I've never known one to live past 8. Most had major health issues throughout their lives, and just looking at the insane number of Berners in my area, I'd guess most have Hip Dysplasia.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

lived next door to one.. Happy happy breed, loving affectionate devoted to their owners. haven't read the breed standards, get the feel they are independent nature, is a dog that can stand their ground mentally and physically for their property and family they can show intense. The gal in our class that breed them showed that they happy easy going in public around people an other dogs.. can be jumpy hyper. Neighbor next to me try to use force and pinning for the mouthy and hyperness and that totally backfired as it does with any dog breed, dog this size is pretty scary when you have set yourself up as an owner to be the bad guy.. .. if you don't like paws off the ground bubbly personality about life wouldn't choose this breed..... I like them not for owning one, but love to see them with good owners to know they a good dog.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Thanks for everyone's replies.

I'm really loving these dogs, only con I've really seen is their health and lifespan.


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## SydTheSpaniel (Feb 12, 2011)

My experience? Lol. We had a 1 year old who needed an orthopedic surgery. ONE YEAR OLD. Hard to find a nicely bred, healthy BMD.... they are riddled with problems. We also have another BMD who comes in for rehab because she also had an orthopedic surgery for the same reason. One is fairly mellow... the one year old, however, is absolutely insane.


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## WonderBreadDots (Jun 26, 2012)

sclevenger said:


> Thanks for everyone's replies.
> 
> I'm really loving these dogs, only con I've really seen is their health and lifespan.


If you seek out a good breeder your chances of having a longer lived healthy dog increase. My family had to wait almost a year for a puppy after putting down a deposit. We ended up getting a puppy from the original breeder's 'choice of pup' pick from a different breeder.

I have met many 9-12 year old Berner's. Lots of people are impulsive and cannot wait for a puppy and get Berners from pet stores and those dogs are very expensive to own. 

One thing you want to look for in a Berner breeder is whether or not they register their dogs in Berner Garde. I would shy away from breeders who don't, no matter what they tell you about their lines or how adorable their puppies may be.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I have met a handful of them at training classes and they are just sweet sweet dogs. Friendly lovely gentle dogs, who love everybody but aren't the type to jump all over strangers. The ones I have met all have that therapy dog energy - calm, loving, gentle, friendly.

As far as trainability, the ones I met in class were all quite biddable. Not BC level or something, but they were doing rally and obedience and were happy to follow their people around and do whatever they asked. They aren't going to be the fastest dog or the quickest to learn probably, but they seem like the type who are happy to do whatever their people want to do. They don't seem independent and ready to run off and do their own thing at all. 

The health issues and short lifespan are really tough. To me this is the only negative to the breed.


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

They are very popular up here. At one point I could name a dozen that lived in the area. I echo what everyone else has said. They're fairly rambunctious puppies but calm down to happy, moderate to low energy dogs. They're friendly with people and other dogs. They're good off leash. They're moderately biddable. 

They do have a short lifespan, though. Most of the ones I have known made it to about 8-9 years old.


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## LuvMyAngels (May 24, 2009)

I have only met one in person. He was 8 or 9 months old and super shy. But he was a country dog staying in town (we're on a very busy street) while his people were on vacation and perfect time for a "fear stage". He did warm up and was doing "drive by kisses" with my girls. Playful, very typical puppy stuff once he warmed up. Super sweet dog. 

From pics and videos one of my FB/dog board friends posts (she has 5) these guys are very friendly, stable dogs. She (and her husband) do all sorts of stuff with the dogs. Carting, draft tests, conformation, herding, tracking and, lately, lots of core work (fit paws)... 

https://www.youtube.com/user/JotulOdin/videos


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Can be skittish, there are a fair amount of them in the SF bay area, and I have met a few, including my own sweet boy who are fairly shy, reserved one family dogs- they were homestead guardians originally and mine (he lives in the country now) is an excellent watch dog, with a powerful bark, and yes with very little prey drive- we have goats cats, rabbits, poultry and he is good with all of them and great with our child! He is almost 4 and not a healthproblem with him, except putting on weight after his neuter (this was an extremely fit agile dog that would jump into my car through an open window to rummage around and chew stuff, he was a destructive adolescent)...
(at 140 lbs of love though he has accidently knocked ourchild over). Extremely food motivated, trainable but not like our schnauzer its a really different kind of drive.... here is a completely gratuitous pic of our Boy.....(guess his name lol)....


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Ya I've see. That they are prone to shyness. Socalization seems to defenitiely be something you wouldn't want to go easy on. 

Alot of videos I see people taking them to the beach and stuff. Does this breed seem to typically like water? Its one thing I love, hiking near water and fetch.


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

sclevenger said:


> Ya I've see. That they are prone to shyness. Socalization seems to defenitiely be something you wouldn't want to go easy on.
> 
> Alot of videos I see people taking them to the beach and stuff. Does this breed seem to typically like water? Its one thing I love, hiking near water and fetch.


The ones I've seen love the water and the snow. (sample size = about 12) They will play forever in the snow.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Yes he loves loves the snow, with that heavy coat and a layer of insulation, he will lay out after fresh snowfall and luxuriate in it! Not as much with river and streams( the giant schnauzer is the water dog, as well as our pyr mix but I think that's because he isn't as agile as they are in terms of getting in and out of steep river banks)...


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## missc89 (Jan 20, 2015)

Mothers very good friend owned 2 of them for a while. She has since had to put one down because he was just too big and he was getting all of these health problems. They are LOVELY dogs, I freakin' loved them. They are definitely leaners, and they love to sit on your foot and lean on your legs until you fall over. Then they just kind of...lean some more! Giant teddy bears. Can get fat if not properly exercised, train at a young age cause they can grow up to be HUGE (Ranger was about 180lbs when he passed away at the age of 8. Hunter is still kicking at age 6! Just a bit fat but working on that)


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Well I've reached out to the local Bernese club to see if they have any events coming up open to the public. 

Really want to meet these guys in person. I'm not hearing anything about them that don't fit our lifestyle.


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## MastiffGuy (Mar 23, 2015)

sclevenger said:


> Well I've reached out to the local Bernese club to see if they have any events coming up open to the public.
> 
> Really want to meet these guys in person. I'm not hearing anything about them that don't fit our lifestyle.


From the ones I've met they seem to be a great family dog,
What part of Ohio are you in, I'm in Springfield, there is a group here that does every few weeks group playdates, I see them a lot of times at the local park on weekends when me and Mouse are out. They from my understanding do get togethers and do the local dog park a lot.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

I'm in Northeast, Ohio. Geneva to be exact.


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## MastiffGuy (Mar 23, 2015)

sclevenger said:


> I'm in Northeast, Ohio. Geneva to be exact.


Ouch ya your way north of me, Maybe you could find a group if not local in Cleveland or Erie, pa I suspect there would be some.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Ya I found a north coast of ohio club that's near me. I've emailed them, so hopefully I hear back soon


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