The St. Bernard has a long history of servitude to mankind. Their origins are the Swiss valleys around the centuries recent Hospice of St. Bernard, where the first dogs were used as guard dogs and companions for the community of monks living and operating within the Hospice.
The Hospice was used as a approach stop for travelers crossing the passes that linked the Swiss Alps with Italy. As a result of of the treacherous snows, wayfarers typically became lost or disoriented or tragically died. Eventually a number of the monks began to coach these giant and light dogs to go out on missions to save these passers-by. These dogs seemed to posses an inherent want to hunt out and locate the lost and the missing folks, and additionally possessed the kind of coat that not only protected them from the fierce winds but did not cake with snow and ice.
The dogs worked in groups of four. 2 would lie down with the victim and keep him heat, one would lick his face to attempt to stay him alive, and the other would go back to the Hospice to bring back human rescuers. Eventually they became referred to as the Hospice dogs, and this name was most typical till the first 19th century, when they began to be called the Saint Bernard.
The actual origins of the breed are most likely a mingling of the Alpine dogs such as the Tibetan Mastiff and the large Roman war dogs dropped at Switzerland by the Romans within the second century A.D. Within the year 1350 the likeness of a Saint Bernard was placed on the Swiss Coat-of-Arms.
The typical image in one's mind of the Saint Bernard carrying the flask of whisky beneath his chin isn't true, this presumably came from a painting of the Landseer Newfoundland done by Sir Edwin Landseer.
The Saint Bernard, like the Newfoundland, has an uncanny instinctive ability to seek out and notice humans. This is often a robust instinctive desire and those folks who train these dogs for that purpose don't have a troublesome job, since the sturdy instinct of the breed already pre-disposes the dog for the Search and Rescue function.
The Saint Bernard is light and nonetheless protective. They have an imposing look regarding them, standing at a shoulder height of 25 to 27 inches, and will weigh as a lot of as two hundred pounds although the quality incorporate a median weight of one hundred fifty pounds for an adult male. The body is massive, the coat is short and dense and immune to cold winds and icy conditions. Their giant feet are designed to form a "snowshoe" effect in deep snow and their thick fur and loose neck permits for defense of the lungs and chest in cold conditions.
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