We Bernese Mountain Dogs were bred to work! One of our earliest, most important jobs was hauling carts of goods to farms around Switzerland in the 1850s. Only the strongest and smartest breed could be trusted carting dogs, transporting such precious delicacies as cheese and bread around the country. Kids sometimes accompanied us on our journey, but we were mostly trusted to do it ourselves. We guarded those goods with our lives, even though it smelled really yummy! There’s no time for snacking when you have a job to do – woof!

Our oldest ancestors are believed to have been brought to Switzerland by Roman soldiers as early as 2,000 years ago! We hail from the Canton of Bern area of Switzerland and share the same ancestor as other Mastiff-type dogs, called the Molosser. We’re also one of four types of Sennenhund-type dogs, which also includes the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Appenzeller, and Entlebucher. They call me the Berner Sennenhund! We farm dogs were bred to herd cattle, guard farms, pull carts of goods, and offer companionship to our hard-working humans! As watchdogs, draft dogs, herding dogs, and more, we were of grrreat use to humans, but our breed started to decline in pupularity in the late 1800s because the people of Switzerland weren’t as involved in agriculture anymore. Thankfully, some Berner lovers wanted to keep us around and in 1899, the Swiss founded a dog club called Berna for Bernese Mountain Dog breeders. A professor named Albert Heim teamed up with Franz Schertenleib in 1908 to save some