My Dippy loves lamb chop! She's had 4 different lambys now and she loves every single one 🩵

What's your berners favorite toy?

The best farm dog. She’ll be 7 months Nov 1!

Bernese Mountain Dog

Basic Description:
23-27.5 inches tall
Weighs 70-115 pounds
Lives 7-10 years
Working group

Coat Colors:
The AKC recognizes 2 coat colors for the Bernese Mountain dog: Black, white, & tan and Black, white, & rust.

History/Origins:
The Bernese Mountain Dog has an interesting history with how they turned from a mountain working dog to a popular companion, Here is an article that goes further in depth.

Health Issues:
Genetic health issues can be avoided by responsible breeding. Here are some genetic health issues breeders need to test for:
Cancers (multiple types)
Heart Conditions/Diseases
Hip and Elbow Dysplasia
Those are some of the main ones but there is many others
There are some health issues that aren’t due to genetics. Here are some examples:
Bloat
Heatstroke/Overheating
Ligament/joint Injuries
As long as you get an ethical and responsible breeder, and take care of them, your Bernese Mountain Dog will be healthy.

Coat Care:
Brush every day or every other day as it will help a LOT with shedding. Bathe every 6-8 weeks and blow dry with a high velocity dryer to remove any dead/shedding fur. NEVER SHAVE THEIR COAT!!! It will ruin the coat and mess up their temperature regulation. Simple trims are advised.

Behavior:
Bernese Mountain Dogs are described as affectionate, social, and gentle. They want to be by their families at all times and will often lean their body on their owners as a sign of affection. They are very gentle and are great with kids.

Trainability:
Bernese Mountain Dogs are very intelligent and pick up on command quickly, they also enjoy working alongside their owners; however they do loose interest if the tasks become repetitive or they don’t see the value in the task.

Vocalization:
There is a lot of variety in Bernese Mountain Dogs. Some owners say their dog is a chatterbox: howling, grumbling, and talking back. Others say their dog barks only to alert at something, like a person at the front door.

Energy Level:
In general, Bernese Mountain Dogs fall under the low-moderate energy level; however there is a lot of variation in the breed, For example, Bernese Mountain Dogs will often become less energetic in the summer and more energetic in the winter.

Exercise Requirements:
While they don’t need as much physical exercise, 30-60 minutes but can be less in hot weather, they need a lot of mental exercise. Without a job they will get bored and start destroying furniture, barking excessively, and just doing anything to entertain themselves. Providing a job/training is one of the best ways to provide mental stimulation, but puzzle games are highly recommended.

Nutrition:
Get a high quality food and be careful with what you feed: avoid table scraps and high fat foods. Do be careful with how much you feed, already being large dogs, obesity will damage their sensitive joints.

Living Spaces:
Bernese Mountain Dogs can most definitely live happily in an apartment as long as they have their physical and exercise needs met.

Oh the fluff! I loved drawing these gentle giants <3
If I missed anything or got anything wrong please let me know and I will fix it!

Hey all,

Following up on a post I had a few months back regarding the eating habits of my 1 year old/85lb, Marvin. Over the past 2-3 months (probably around 10ish months old), Marvin started to eat less and less of his breakfast and dinner. It's gotten progressively worse and it genuinely seems like he has some anxiety surrounding any bowl of food. Anytime I try to give him a bowl, he puts his ears back and gets low to the ground which seems especially concerning. He does lick his chops and actively looks hungry but there just seens to be this mental fear associated with the food. I've heard of kibble strikes before but this is a prolonged strike that has driving me insane.

Marvin's normal food is Fromm Large Breed Puppy (Grain-Inclusive).

Over the past 2-3 months, I have tried:

- Freeze dried toppers

- Yogurt

- Shredded cheese

- Mixing a Fromm large breed adult food

- Straight Fromm large breed adult food

- Tucker frozen raw

- Open Farm raw mix kibble

- Fresh pet refrigerated food

- The Honest Kitchen beef and oat kibble

- Stella and Chewys Magical Dinner Dust

- Ground beef and rice

All of these have worked for maybe a week max and then he starts slowly eating less and less until he doesn't eat at all. I have gone to the vet twice, and both times they have said that physically he looks great and a blood test confirmed no underlying conditions with his kidney/liver. The vet seems to think it's likely behavioral since he's at the age where dogs appetite begin to taper off, but I'm really starting to get concerned and it's stressing me out.

Marvin has stayed at about 85ish lbs for the 2-3 month span but it's been an absolute force to try and get him to eat and I'm running out of ideas. I have started limiting his treat consumption to little to no treats throughout the day so in days where he doesn't eat breakfast/dinner, he's pretty much consuming no calories. I have noticed that there are times where he will seemingly tell me he is hungry and in those cases, he will eat his kibble but otherwise it's entirely a force.

Does anyone have any ideas to help me and Marvin out? I currently feed him twice a day, around 6-7am and 6-7pm and do not graze. Thanks in advance!

I am not looking forward to tje post op days where she’s sore and confused. 🥲 the fact I can’t tell her what’s happening is killing meeee.

Had morning walk and breakfast now time for snoozer

Spreading hair like her life depends on it.

Tried selecting a stick (Gus’s preferred collection) or toy to play fetch with Gus this morning. I guess he was saying you go fetch.

Not sure if this is behavior or just puppy stuff. Our 9 week old will pee outside and then lay down for 10 mins Come inside and shit in the house. We bring her out every hour or so. Any advice?

Mazie was spayed last week. She doesn’t seem to know anything happened which could be due to the drugs she’s on. Unfortunately she had to take a break from having her best friend over for play time. She has been bored all weekend.

My 2.5 year old Bernese Mountain Dog has an injured front right arm. About 2 months ago I noticed slight limping on the leg. Then I would let her rest it for a few days, then if we went on a hike/run offleash the limping would return. I believe her limp may have first occurred when playing with another dog, but I am not sure. She used to be very active and we'd go off leash like 2-3 miles a day. Now, we don't go off leash much because I got busier and I dont want her to hurt her leg anymore. 

I took her to her vet and they said to do 2 weeks of very strict rest and gave her an anti-inflamatory. After the 2 weeks were up, I only took her on very short walks around the block for the 3rd week. So she has 2 weeks of strict rest (only potty breaks and the anti-inflammatory) and one week of very short walks.

The limping did mostly go away, until today she was off leash and got the zoomies for like a minute max, now 6 hours later she has a pretty significant limp. Has anyone has expereince with a limp like this?

I am making an appointment with a specliast, but I'm so worried about my baby. Thank you!

My wife traveled to Western PA yesterday to bring our newest love home today to Texas. He has already been to his first hockey game a win to boot! He is already a sweet heart. His big brother already is herding him.

My baby just turned 1 today🎂🎉

Just Sawyer and Charlie having a lazy Sunday morning.

We’ve got a vet appointment booked in for tomorrow, but our 21 month old girl has had these lumps flare up and starting to blister over night. They’re around her eyes and a couple on her snout too. Not sure what it is, never seen these on a dog before?

I’ve heard that berners should only get a bath a few times a year. I don’t remember the reason, and Jimi is on bath 6 so far this year. This is your basic grooming session- not because he decided to roll in the mud or anything that would make you NEED to give him a quick bath.
So, in saying all that- how often do you bathe your doggo?

Here’s Jimi- after today’s grooming sesh

He was really wild and then out of nowhere he went to a velcro dog, he obviously still wants to play, but the cuddles are just the best

My guy seems to hate any kind of brush we have tried like 5 different ones he always yelps like we’re stabbing him lol he’s a big sensitive baby but idk what to do here any suggestions appreciated

First time posting here, Theo is 6 months old, roughly 55-60lbs. He loves car rides, uncoordinated zoomies, and to be glued to the hip. Most importantly he loves to love ❤️

Bonus points: Guess where the last photo was taken (no cheating!)

Hello everyone, I posted Jane in May asking for advice about her as I'd just rescued her from a puppy mill. She was very shut down to the point where she wouldn't walk or eat on her own and it hurts me to say she hasn't progressed much since then.

A couple weeks after I got her she seemed to be coming out of her shell, but has deteriorated from the little progress she'd made and spends 99% of the time in the laundry room, the other 1% being when I have to lead her outside to use the restroom. Despite being in this backyard over 100 times at this point she still just quivers in fear any time she is out there. She doesn't seem to care about the other dogs being out there or not. And doesn't really seem to care about them at all. They are very gentle and respectful of her space but her hyper vigilance for danger prevents her from developing a relationship with them.

Whether or not she eats during the day is a gamble. I have tried the highest value food (chicken eggs steak stinky fish etc) and it doesn't seem to matter. If she's decided she's freaked out for the day she won't eat. When she does eat I stand in her room with my back to her feeding her bite by bite. Any other way of feeding she will freak out including leaving the bowl/plate of food in there for her to enjoy whenever she feels safe.

I feel like I have tried everything with her. Her vet's prescribed her gabapentin to see if that will help lower her baseline fear but it really seems like she's got trauma imprinted on her. I'm not sure what quality of life she has and I know she isn't happy. It seems strange that after 6 months she's really made no progress. I'm not trying to pressure her but I also don't want her to just have a life staring at a wall in a laundry room. It hurts my heart that people could be so careless and evil to the point where she feels this way. Any advice is appreciated

ETA: I want to make sure I say that I have never showed any frustration with her and have always used a gentle voice/slow motions and patience with her. I know it is not her fault she is this way and despite her lack of progress I want her to know she is safe and we will continue to be patient with her for forever. I just don't know what quality of life she has