Bernese Mountain Dog

Who it suits

A family with space and with time. The Bernese is steady, patient with children and reserved with strangers without being aggressive. It is not a guard dog in the real sense — it announces, but it does not attack.

It originally pulled cheese carts and watched over the farm. What remains from that is strength, calm and a strong bond to the family: it wants to be where the people are, and it suffers in a kennel in the garden.

It does not suit a small flat, hot weather or an owner who is out all day. And it does not suit anyone who cannot live with hair — shedding in this breed is a year-round discipline.

What it looks like

• Height: dogs 64–70 cm, bitches 58–66 cm at the withers
• Weight: dogs 38–50 kg, bitches 36–48 kg
• Coat: long, glossy, slightly wavy, with a dense undercoat
• Colour: always tricolour — black ground, rust markings over the eyes, on the cheeks and legs, with a white blaze, chest and feet
• Lifespan: usually 7–9 years; short even by the standards of large breeds

How much exercise it needs

An adult manages one to two hours a day at a steady pace. It is not a runner or an athlete — regular walking and mental work suit it.

With a puppy the main rule is not to overload it. A large breed grows for a long time, and the joints are still closing at eighteen months. Stairs, long runs and jumping in the first year have permanent consequences.

Do not walk it in the heat. A dense double coat and black colour mean it overheats quickly. In summer, walk early and late, with shade and water always available.

Coat care

Brush two or three times a week, daily while moulting. Mats form behind the ears, in the armpits and on the hind legs.

The coat is not clipped. A double coat protects against heat as much as against cold; a clipped dog overheats more, not less, and the undercoat does not grow back properly after shearing.

Training and the first months

• Train it while it weighs twenty kilos. With a forty-kilo dog there is no longer the physical strength to enforce anything by pulling.
• Gentle methods. The breed is sensitive and responds to harshness by shutting down, not by obeying.
• Socialisation from the start — the Bernese is naturally reserved with strangers, and without early experience it often becomes an insecure dog.

Feeding

An adult eats roughly 400–600 g of dry food a day in two meals. For a puppy, large-breed food matters — it has less energy and calcium, because faster growth is not better growth.

Keep the dog quiet for at least an hour after eating. Gastric torsion threatens every large deep-chested breed, and the Bernese is one of them.

Common health problems

There is no way to soften this. The Bernese Mountain Dog is among the shortest-lived breeds, and the main reason is cancer.

• Histiocytic sarcoma — a malignant tumour, markedly more common in this breed than in others. It is the leading cause of death in Bernese.
• Hip and elbow dysplasia — inherited; the parents must have scored radiographs.
• Cruciate ligament disease in the knee, common in heavy breeds.
• Degenerative myelopathy — progressive paralysis of the hindquarters in later life.
• Gastric torsion — an acute, life-threatening emergency.
• Kidney disease; an inherited form occurs in the breed.

This is not a diagnostic guide. If you feel a lump on the dog or it starts limping, that belongs at the vet now, not in a month.

Anything else to consider

It is better to know about the short lifespan in advance. Seven to nine years is genuinely little for a dog that takes two years to mature — but it is a truth a good breeder will tell you unprompted.

Ask about how long the dogs in previous litters lived and what they died of. A breeder who knows and says is doing the job honestly.