Bernese - What are they like to live with? Questions

Hi all

Does anyone on the Forum keep Bernese Mountain Dogs and what are they like?

How well do they cope with being left alone?

Are they high maintenance?

Are they one man or a family breed?

Do they mix well with other dogs or prefer human companionship more?

Any information regarding their usual traits will be greatly received.

Thanks

Hi and welcome to Dogsey.
I own a Bernese he will be 3 in June or should I say he owns me.
I would not recommend them as a first dog, they can be very stubborn and the males do weigh in quite heavy. 9-10 stone and some more than that Ollie weighed nearly 11 stone at one point which is a little more than he should although someone at the training club had one that weighed 12 stone.
There a couple of good books out there I do not have them to hand to give you the title or Authors name sorry buried under the car crash of my Son moving back home.
There is some good information about on them on various sites if you google the breed.

I would definately say go to see some at a reputable breeders to get an idea of how big they get especially if considering a male and see how they are looked after and the temperament of the dogs that will be your puppies Sire and Dam. A good breeder will welcome you visiting and meeting the dogs they intend for breeding and will not mind you interacting with their dogs they will be more than happy for you to do this. Also make sure you get a puppy contract stating if for any reason you are unable to keep the dog they will take it back and keep it or rehome it to a good home, that they are there for back up through its life if only by e-mail.
You would need insurance as these are prone to quite a few health problems also they need to be hip and elbow scored your puppy cannot be done till around 18 months of age if you wish to have it done which if you are considering breeding is a must, but do not buy from a breeder who has not had their dogs hip and elbow scored.
They can be shy of strangers especially the males but their confidence should grow with plenty of socialising and age saying that we did all these things with Ollie and he is still wary of strangers, his Parents are brilliant as we met them both many times so like with anything because the Parents and Grandparents have good hip and elbow scores and good temperaments does not necessarily mean your pup will not have some problems. But if you buy from a good breeder you stand a better chance of having a happy healthy dog in the future and you have done it the right way from the beginning and have no reason to reproach yourself, it is rare to get one like Ollie he is also suffering from some lameness and we think this may be making him grumpy too.
They are definately Family dogs he loves all our Family and is always ready with a wagging tail and lots of leaping about when you come home, if you have small children be careful they can be a little over the top with their greeting and sometimes knock you over accidentally this always needs working on. They do tend to stay glued to the person who is with them most but are always ready to lean against your legs and demand a fuss and sit on your feet so you cannot move till you have fulfilled your duty.
They can be very mouthy and this is another thing that needs working on from a very young age they have a very strong jaw and do not mean to hurt but can without realising. They need firm but fair training they do not respond well to being shouted at, yanked or pulled, you need a lot of patience and time. they are not mature till around 3 and you will find the older they get the more responsive they become to your training and they bond as they grow make sure this is the dog for you they are extremely difficult to rehome from 18 months onwards by then they have developed a strong bond with you.
They need grooming at least twice a week more if you have the time, also you have to regularly trim the fur around their pads as this can grow quite long so try to get them use to all these things when first home and settled.
They are very food orientated so making sure you do not overfeed is a must as the stress on their joints is bad for them.
I would not recommend a Bernese if it is going to be left for long amounts of time on a regular basis they can become destructive if left to long on their own, Ollie can be left now for up to 8 hours if needed and it is very rare, he doesn't like it much but has learnt that sometimes this happens, saying that I am fortunate enough to not go out to work so the majority of the time he has my company.
I hope I have not put you off if you decide to go ahead with the breed you will not regret it, they repay you with so much love and laughter you will wonder why you didn't do it earlier.
I hope this has helped sorry its so long, if you have any other questions please ask if I can help I will I am very passionate about this breed.

Great post Lynn xx

I'm not looking for a dog for myself. I have met one recently who is 5 months old and very hard work for their owner and I'm trying to find out a little more about the breed from owners.

I know they are very needy and highly intelligent but anyone who can offer info on their upbringing and what they like and what they don't like will be helpful in trying to understand the dog in question, which is being overly needy and very hard work to live with. An example, if she is not in the same room as the owners, she paces and whine's even if she can see them :-(

And 12 stone??? Are you sure you have that right, that's St Bernard size not Bernese??? Bernese should be around the 8/9 stone mark depending on size or less and if it's over that then in my experience it's overweight and not good for such a large breed of dog.

They can be needy. Has this Friend had this dog from 8 weeks or so when it left its Mum or taken it on as an older pup. ?
I think maybe they need to just carry on with gentle seperation. Have they contacted the breeder for some help ? Might be an idea if they could to get some ideas of what to do for the best. In what other ways is she hard to live with ? Apart from all the usual puppy behaviour which I must admit we did not find as bad as our previous puppy not a Bernese, they are quite easy to live with.
Yes I do have the 12 stone right it was someone we met at training class when Ollie was much younger and he has always had them male and female and one of his males that he had had weighed in at 12 stone he was a very large dog we knew Ollie was going to be large and were concerned and asked his opinion he suggested as I have suggested to you keep the weight down, but some dogs especially males are much larger and weigh more than most of the breed. Ollie weighed 11 stone and our Vet was not overly worried at his weight but told us to make sure he did not exceed the weight he was at.
Some of these dogs are very lazy as is Ollie and being neutered as well can affect their weight. You have to be vigilant with weight and food amounts as with any large breed of dog. But it is not so unusual to hear of some weighing in at this weight, the lower end of the starting weight for St. Bernards male and female 68 kgs top 91 kgs a Bernese weighing in at 70 kg and would need to be the top end of its weight is not unheard of although ideal if under.

Hi Lynn

They've had her from 8 weeks and they are very responsible, caring and loving owners.

That said, they also follow all the proper rules regarding her upbringing. Praising good behaviour, ignoring bad, training is a major factor in the dogs daily life.

The dog is currently staying with me during the day while they work (I own and run a boarding kennel) we are a small establishment and I spend lots of time with the dogs and have never experienced anything like this Bernese. When she knows you are about, she is bouncing off the walls and working herself into a state. She is staying here for me to help her overcome being left alone, she's adorable and outside her kennel, very well behaved. Inside however she's upsetting herself, messing her kennel and pacing :-( just like she does at home.

I want to work with her and irradicate this behaviour for her own sake as well as her caring owners who are struggling at the moment to cope.

Therefore experiences by other owners may help me understand her a little better. I won't quit until she's happy in all situations

Is she put into the kennel when you are not able to be with her ? They are not suited to kennel life they much prefer to be in the house and have the luxury of wandering in and out of the house when they feel like it. Not possible I know when you have to be out, but Ollie has always been in the house when we were out and apart from a couple of chewed walls when he was a puppy he has adapted very well.
Ollie spends most of his time in the house with me and the back door left open he will happily lay by the door on the odd occasion he will lay in the garden but is never far from my side, he is happy though to be downstairs when I am upstairs doing things, we achieved this by having a stair gate up when he came home mainly to keep the stress off his joints when he was growing, it also taught him to be alone downstairs, but they do need to feel you are around.
Is she in a kennel at home ?

Good luck with helping her to overcome the separation anxiety.Lynn is a good source of information given her posts so far. Hopefully she can come up with some more tips to help.

She is kept in the house and has a large kennelled area downstairs where she sleeps and where she goes when left alone.

On there return she goes mental and whines and paces etc

I have advised that they put her in her kennel when at home and pretend she is not there. ie get her used to her own space.

I'm not sure this is separation anxiety but perhaps two owners not following the same rules in the household. I am giving her a structured day at the kennels and the reason I say I don't think it's SA is because I can let her out of kennel, disappear from sight for 20 mins and she happily amuses herself, wandering round and sniffing and acting normal. She is still confined by fences etc and cannot see me but she's ok. Then in her kennel (big kennel) she starts pacing again and acting mad and upon seeing her owner at the end of the day, she is uncontrollable in kennel.

I have read that kennel life is not suited to them but it's not the kennel as she shows the same problems at home. So it appears to be confined spaces, which leads me to perhaps a poor upbringing from 0 to 8 weeks or a bad experience growing up that involved a confined space.

That makes knowing what to do very difficult as dogs are alawys confined in some way or another, whether it be a garden, kennel, kitchen, house etc etc

Thanks

She does sound upset over something they are quite complex characters. You may well be right about two people not being consistent with one another you all have to do the same with training they do very well with structure, and are not comfortable with things being different we find that with Ollie anyway.
Could something of frightened her in her kennel space at home ? Ollie has always eaten out of raised bowls and then a few months back he refused to eat from his bowl he would drink from the bowl next to his food bowl in the same stand but just not eat until I removed the bowl for him.
I watched and kept this up and then put two and two together and realised he had chinked his ID tags on his bowl he has a thing about certain noises and this had frightened him, so I removed his collar and still he refused to eat while the bowl was in the stand, so I kept it up then gradually and slowly re-introduced it by feeding for a few minutes by hand from his bowl and now he is fine. Sometimes I forget to remove his collar and he is still fine they need to be re-assured so I am wondering whether something has worried her in this space and is making her nervous of all cofined spaces. It might be a case of trial and error with her, can they maybe move the kennel area confine her somewhere else, see if this helps. We bought Ollie a lovely big soft crate he hates it and will not go in it maybe she doesn't like being confined is it really necessary for her to be confined ? Even treats and me getting in the crate can't change his mind so I now have to sell it as it is folded up in the spare room he likes to be able to move around and sleep in all different areas of the house.

I have found out a little more history about her today.

It's as I pretty much thought...!!! Her life started out poorly by being brought into the world by a not so good breeder. First litter and she was the last puppy left and in smelly and bad conditions in a small cage on her own. Some people have no right to breed animals and I wish there were more stringent laws...

Anyway, the new owner felt sorry for her and therefore took her home. I remember actually saying to he owner when I first met the dog, had she spoken to the breeder regarding the issues she was having. I now know why she didn't bother because by all accounts he is scum

Now I have a better understanding of her first and most important weeks of life. Which possibly explains why she isn't clean (used to lying in her own mess as a puppy) and frets while in a confined space (as she was possibly starved of any companionship for an unknown period)

Anyway I'm going to work hard to help her overcome her fears and anxieties that are currently very upsetting for both dog, owner and now me

Poor girl. That is why she will be having issues with the kenneling areas. As I said before these are very sensitive dogs and you and the owner are going to have to work very hard to get her to overcome her fears. If I can be of any help please feel free to post or pm me.
Some people are despicable.