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| SWITZERLAND |
| SAINT BERNARD Country of origin |
| APPEARANCE : Should be Powerful, Imposing, Strong & Muscular in Every part. The Taller the better provided the Symmerty of the dog is maintained throughout the whole dog. ]HEIGHT : Female's minimum height should be 25 1/2 "'s upwards, with a finer delicate build than the male's. Male's 27 1/2"'s upwards. HEAD : Very powerful but certainly not too big for body. MUZZLE : Should be short, no tapering. Vertical depth must be greater than the length. TEETH : Should be sound & meet in the preferred scissor bite ( Upper teeth slightly overlapping the bottom teeth ). See below for faults. Flews of the upper jaw are strongly developed, not sharply cut but turning into a beautiful curve & slightly overlapping the lower flews. The lower flews must not be deeply pendulant. EXPRESSION : Should behold a very Benevolent, Inteeligent, Gentle look, even with the white faced ( cow faced ) & black faced dogs. EYES : A dark nut brown. NO light Amber eyes. Very undesirable in the breed in any of the 3 Standards. Set more to the font than the sides. Diamond shaped. Must have a very friendly, loving expression. NOSE : Is ALWAYS Black. EARS : Meduim size, rather high set. The flap is tender & forms a rounded triangel. Slightly elongated towards the point. The front egde lying firmly to the head. The back of top ear stands out from the head, giving a better overall appearance. NECK : High, very strong & in action is carried erect. Otherwise slightly downwards. The junction of neck & head is distinctly marked by an indentation Nape of neck is very muscular & rounded at the sides, this makes the neck appear short. The dewlap of the throat & neck is well pronounced. SHOULDERS : Sloping & broad, very muscular & powerful. The withers are very strongly pronounced. CHEST : Very well arched, moderately deep but not reaching below the elbows. BACK : Very board, straight as far as the haunches. Gently sloping towards the rump & merges imperceptibly into the tail. HINDQUARTERS : Well developed. Legs very muscular. Not too short. BELLY : Distinctly set up from the very powerful loin section. Only a little drawn up. TAIL : Starts broad, powerful ending in a perfect tip. In repose hangs straight down, gradually turning upwards to form the famous ' F '. In action dogs can carry the tail straight out or slightly turned up. FOREARMS : Very powerful & extra ordinally muscular. HINDQUARTERS : Hocks moderately angulation. Dewclaws not really desired & IF present they must NOT obstruct the dogs gait. FEET : Board, strong toes moderately closed. Rather high knuckles. COAT : There are two types. Long & Short haired. Very dense, lying smoot. Tough but not feeling rough to the touch. Thighs are rather bushy. The tailstop longer becoming shorter towards the tip. Tail apeears bushy, not forming a flag. COLOUR : White & Red, The red in various shades. Brindle patches with white markings. Red, Brown, Yellow. ALL are of equal value. Necessary markings, white chest, feet, tip of tail. Collar or white spot on top of nape. One distinguishes mantle ( Full colour on back of dog ), & splash coats ( Looks as if God grabbed a paintbrush & just splashed the colour patches on the dogs back ) The freckles that appear on some dogs I call Angel kisses, ... Well they are kissed by Angels ). FAULTS : Too strongly developed wrinkles. Over or Undershot bites. Eyelids which are too deeply pendant & show too much haw. The Lachrymal glands. Eyes too light in colour. Too strong a developement of dewlaps is NOT desirable. Tail must NOT be rolled over as in a gay tail. Swayback, too long a back. Out at elbows. Cowhocks. Weak pasterns. As you can see the St.Bernard is supposed to be very powerful. They came about by the Monks of the Hospice breeding various different purebred dogs together. Finally resulting in our wonderful breed. First bred for Livestock & Watchdogs, they turned out to be one of the worlds famous Alpine's lifesaving rescue dogs. Always ready to race out & help save a lost traveller. No the barrel was not used for rescue work. Sir Edwin Landseer, painted the famous RESCUE picture & he inserted the barrel into the collar loops, which were infact used for carrying rolled blankets, which the dogs once they had found the lost traveller/s used to pull out from the others collar & place over the victim. ( Canine first Aider ). Then one dog would lay as close as possible to the victim, whilst the other dog raced back to guide the Monks to where the striken traveller lay. Whereupon they were quickly rushed back to the Hospice, for hopefully a swift & rapid full recovery to health. The female Saints were kept lower down the Alps for obvious reasons. The dog got the title Saint in front of their names by Abbot Rev Bernard Montjioux/De Menthon ( Catholic church doesn't really want to get into un-neccessay conflicts BUT the true Saint Bernard IS St Bernard Montjoux, a poor monk, not a rich counts son . I will let you see the link regarding this matter ok. The Abbot was canonised after his death by Pope Pius X1 in 1923. His feastday is May the 28th. Please take care of your saint, have fun with them, above all love them & they'll return their love back a thousand fold. Please train your pup young as they do get BIG. If you need help please go to your local dog club/s. Go to Dog shows, you can never learn too much. Also please remember if you brought your puppy from places other than a dedicated, reputable, responsible, reputable breeder, then please have them spayed/neutered ok. If you really want top notch breeders, please mail me & I'll gladly supply the names. Yours forever lost in love with our wonderful, noble, beautiful breed The St.Bernard. Patti {{x}} * Saints R 4 Luvin' N Shrain' * For Saints available for rescue placements, contact us, only too happy to help you. May God love & treasure you & ALL Saint's worldwide Gostra. {{\o/}} Click rose for Saint Photo Gallery & Saintly Links.. This one for St.Bernard Montjoux |
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