Hi

I would like to introduce myself as a new member of the Berner Talk.

My wife and I have decided that now is the time to have a dog.
Our “kids” are almost grown-ups (16 and 18) and don’t need (want!) so much attention anymore.

I work away from home sometimes (home is in the UK); therefore, we decided it would be a good thing for my wife to have a companion during the week to keep here company.

As I am Swiss originating from the Emmenthal, the part of the Kanton Bern that was involved in the original start of the Berner Sennenhund breed, the choice of dog was an easy one for me. I always loved the Berners.
After I showed some pictures of Bernese to my wife, she too was sold on the breed.

Our aim is to purchase a pedigree Bernese puppy girl within the next months.
We are actively looking for a puppy at the various sources like the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain.
We would also appreciate any help people here may be able to give us finding the right puppy. If you know someone in the UK having a litter soon, we would love to hear from you.

Other than this, we would like to benefit from the wealth of information end experience that is available on this forum.

Best regards
Peter Schneeberger

Hello Peter,
You have chosen a wonderful breed of dog, easy to train, with a calm and easy going disposition. If you are getting your puppy through a Bernese Mountain Dog club, then I think you'll be more assured of more careful breeding with regard to disposition and health issues which can be problems. My advice is to look for an outgoing puppy - our older dog was very outgoing and rumbunctious as a pup and has matured into a lovely, confident dog while our younger male dog was quite shy and is still very scared of new situations even though we have worked hard with him. If I were you, I'd read all the old postings here which provide a wealth of info. Have you decided on a male or female? We have one of each and they both have their own special attributes. Our female is very protective and never wanders while our male is always interested in all kinds of things "off the beaten trail" even though we've had him neutered. Our female is also extremely good with our young grandson (will lay quietly while he explores her nose and ears and steps on her tail) while our male tends to get up and move away if our grandson toddles over to him. But our male is by far the one who stays close to me when I am by myself, even moving from room to room to be near me and lay by wherever I am. Our dogs live in the house with us and I keep a very neat house so it's a bit of extra work, especially in their shedding seasons, but our dogs are almost like children to us - very good companions for us as young empty nesters who live on a country acreage. Both our dogs love hiking in the woods but are also just as happy to laze about all day. One last bit of advice, DO NOT walk your pup too much as a puppy, very bad on their joints. A 10 -15 minute walk twice a day will suffice.
You being from Switzerland, home and birthplace of the Bernese, I think you should ONLY have a Bernese dog. I will watch for future postings from you and be pleased to offer you any advice I can.
Liz (from beautiful BC Canada - our female comes from a kennel about 45 minutes away from Whistler where the 2010 Olympics will be held!)

Hi Liz

Thank you very much for your answer.

We (my wife really) have decided that we want a girl.
The only disagreement we currently have is on the name.
At present, I like Ruby; my wife likes Maya or Tia.
We will have to decide once we actually have a puppy and see which fits better.

We will look out for an outgoing puppy, but it may not be easy to restrain ourselves accepting the first female puppy available from a registered UK breeder.
The present situation is such that none of the known breeder has anything available for the next 6-8 weeks.
We keep in contact with both the Bernese Breeder Association of Great Britain as well as Northern Bernese Mountain Dog Club in our search for a puppy.
Those people are very helpful and will give us the right advice with regards to which breeder can be trusted.

You advice about the walking of the puppy is duly noted. This is the kind of advice we are looking for on this forum; something you would not normally get to know other than from the experience of other owners.

Regards
Peter Schneeberger

Hello Peter,
I know all about waiting lists. We waited nearly a year for our first Bernese because we were only using referrals from the Bernese Mtn Dog Club of Canada, and then took what was offered first. We ended up with our girl Shady, who is, quite simply, the perfect dog. She was quite a handful as a puppy and it took a couple of months of patient training to get her to where she is today, but it was worth the effort. If for some reason, you are offered a male instead, I'll tell you that they are awesome dogs as well, (in my experience and I've had 2 males), easy to train and very obedient. You can use your "waiting time" to read up on training methods .
Hope to talk to you again.
Liz