A Look at the Saint Bernard
Submitted by darinlh on Tue, 2006-12-12 21:59. st-bernard dogs | st-bernard dogsA Look at the Saint Bernard
More than one traveler stranded in the snowy Swiss Alps owes the ponderous Saint Bernard his life. Monks in the Alps actually developed this massive dog to be used as a rescue dog. The Saint Bernard breed is quite an old one, going back as far as the 1700s.
The American Kennel Club places the Saint Bernard in the Working Group. These big dogs weigh from one hundred twenty to two hundred pounds and stand twenty six to twenty eight inches tall. This breed can be short haired or it can have a long haired coat. Originally, all Saint Bernards had a short haired coat, since snow did not stick to the short hair easily. However, when these dogs became popular as pets in Victorian England, Saint Bernard fanciers bred them to have longer hair. They also worked to make them bigger and bigger.
