Other names: Berner Sennenhund, Bernese Cattle Dog.
The Bernese Mountain Dog is a large-sized breed of dog, one of the four breeds of Sennenhund-type dogs from the Swiss Alps. Bred from crosses of Mastiffs and guard-type breeds, Bernese Mountain Dogs were brought to Switzerland by the Romans 2,000 years ago. The name Sennenhund is derived from the German Senne (“alpine pasture”) and Hund (hound/dog), as they accompanied the alpine herders and dairymen called Senn. Berner (or Bernese in English) refers to the area of the breed’s origin, in the canton of Bern. This breed was originally kept as a general farm dog. Large Sennenhund in the past were also used as draft animals, pulling carts.
Four breeds of Sennenhund
The four breeds of Sennenhund, with the original breed name, followed by the most popular English version of the breed name:
- Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
- Berner Sennenhund, Bernese Mountain Dog
- Appenzeller Sennenhund, Appenzeller Mountain Dog
- Entlebucher Sennenhund, Entlebucher Mountain Dog
History
Historically, in some locales at least, the breed was called a Dürrbachhund or Dürrbächler, for a small town (Dürrbach) where the large dogs were especially frequent.
The dogs have roots in the Roman Molosser breeds.
The breed was used as an all-purpose farm dog for guarding property and to drive dairy cattle long distances from the farm to the alpine pastures. The farmers used the Berner to transport their carts of milk and cheese and were known by the locals as “Cheese Dogs.” In the early 1900s, fanciers exhibited the few examples of the large dogs at shows in Berne, and in 1907 a few breeders from the Burgdorf region founded the first breed club, the Schweizerische Dürrbach-Klub, and wrote the first Standard which defined the dogs as a separate breed. By 1910, there were already 107 registered members of the breed. There is a photo of a working Bernese Mountain Dog, dated 1905 at the Fumee Fall rest area in Quinnesec, MI.
In the US, the Bernese Mountain Dog is growing in popularity, ranking in 32nd place by the American Kennel Club in 2013.
These dogs are very popular as family dogs in German-speaking countries, where they are among the most popular dog breeds (for example, the German Association of Dog Breeders listed the Bernese at the 11th rank per live births in 2014).