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1886STANDARD

 

Presented by 
"Hallelujah Saint Bernards"

1888 PRINT OF "PLINLIMMOM", MANY TIME CHAMPION  SAINT BERNARD

OUR SAINTS ARE STILL BRED WITH THE ORIGINAL 1886 SWISS STANDARD IN MIND

MAYSLICK, KY 41055 

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THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON  TRADITIONS OF THE MONKS OF THE HOSPICE, AND RECOLLECTIONS OF HEINRICH SCHUMACHER AS RECORDED IN "THE SAINT BERNARD, IT'S HISTORY, POINTS , BREEDING,  AND REARING" BY  HUGH DALZIEL (I888) AND OTHER SOURCES.

IT WOULD APPEAR THAT IN THE DISTANT PAST THE MONKS OF THE HOSPICE AT THE "GREAT SAINT BERNARD PASS" IN THE ALPS BROUGHT THE PROGENITORS OF TODAY'S SAINT BERNARDS TO THE HOSPICE FOR COMPANIONSHIP AND PROTECTION. EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO DOCUMENTATION OF THE DOGS BEFORE 1695 IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT THE HOSPICE EXISTED FOR 600 YEARS WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THESE DOGS. THERE ARE TWO PAINTINGS DATING FROM 1695 STILL HANGING AT THE HOSPICE .  THEY  PORTRAY  TWO LARGE RED AND WHITE DOGS WITH  A NOBLE BEARING AND LARGE HEADS OF THE SAINT BERNARD TYPE.

 THE DOGS PORTRAYED IN THESE PAINTINGS ARE REMINISCENT OF THE HOSPICE TYPE SAINT BERNARDS BRED BY HEINRICH SCHUMACHER IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. SCHUMACHER IS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BREEDS SURVIVAL.  HE WAS THE FIRST  DOG BREEDER TO MAKE USE OF A WRITTEN STUD BOOK.

 THERE IS MUCH SPECULATION BUT LITTLE PROOF AS TO THE IDENTITY OF THE PROGENITORS OF THIS NOBLE RACE.  IT IS NOW GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT THE SAINT BERNARD DOG IS DESCENDED FROM THE LARGE FARM DOGS THAT WERE FORMERLY WIDELY SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION. THIS MAY BE , BUT THE  THEORY LEAVES SOME  IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED.

FIRST, THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF SKULL TYPE. THE SAINT BERNARD'S SKULL APPEARS DISTINCT FROM THAT OF THE OTHER LARGE DOGS INDIGENOUS TO THE AREA SUCH AS THE SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG AND THE GREAT PYRENEES. SECOND, AND PERHAPS EVEN MORE TELLING ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN TEMPERAMENT AND INCLINATION OBSERVED BETWEEN THE AFOREMENTIONED BREEDS AND THE SAINT BERNARD.

 COULD THESE DIFFERENCES HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED BY INTENSE SELECTION OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME? IF SO, WHY WOULD THE MONKS HAVE FAVORED DOGS HAVING A LARGE HEAD WITH AN ABRUPT STOP AND A SHORT WIDE MUZZLE? ACTUALLY, IT APPEARS THAT THEY DIDN'T. THAT'S WHY THERE WAS AN ADMIXTURE OF SKULL TYPES AT THE HOSPICE OF SAINT BERNARD AS HAS OFTEN BEEN NOTED.

 THE MONKS WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE SELECTED FOR ADEQUATE SIZE, STRENGTH, ENDURANCE, PROPER PERSONALITY, TEMPERAMENT, HIGH INTELLIGENCE, TRACKING ABILITY, INNATE SENSE OF DIRECTION AND OTHER PRACTICAL QUALITIES UTILIZED BY THE SAINTS IN THEIR WORK. BUT APPARENTLY BASED ON SKULL TYPES OBSERVED AT THE HOSPICE THERE WAS NO SELECTION  FOR SKULL TYPE.  THIS WAS PROBABLY BECAUSE IT OFFERED NO ADVANTAGE TO THEIR DOGS AS THEY PERCEIVED IT.

THE MONKS ADEQUATELY DEMONSTRATED THEIR ABILITY TO EMPHASIZE  THE CHARACTERISTICS THEY DESIRED IN THEIR DOGS. A LARGE SKULL WOULD HAVE PRESENTED THEM WITH NO SPECIAL PROBLEM AND IT WOULD HAVE BECOME A CONSISTENT FEATURE OF THE HOSPICE SAINT BERNARD IF THEY HAD CHOSEN TO SELECT FOR IT. HOWEVER SINCE IT WASN'T A CONSISTENT FEATURE, THEY OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T SELECT FOR IT. IN SPITE OF THIS LACK OF SELECTION, A LARGE HEAD PERSISTED IN MANY OF THEIR SAINT BERNARDS FOR MANY HUNDREDS OF YEARS. WHY?

BASED ON SOUND LOGIC,  IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT THE SAINT BERNARD DOG OWES ITS UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES TO INTENSE SELECTION ALONE. THIS IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE PERSISTENCE OF AN  UNSELECTED HEAD TYPE IN MANY OF THEIR DOGS.. WHILE IT IS OBVIOUS THAT SELECTION AND CULLING HAVE PRESERVED AND MAINTAINED THE BREED IN MANY RESPECTS. IT CAN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THESE UNIQUE QUALITIES IN THE FIRST PLACE.

YOU CAN'T SELECT WHAT DOESN'T ALREADY EXIST. SO IT SEEMS PROBABLE THAT THE SAINT BERNARD IS DESCENDED FROM A UNIQUE  SOURCE OF INTENSELY POTENT BLOOD THAT WAS CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING UNSELECTED  CHARACTERISTICS OVER THE CENTURIES. BLOOD THAT IS NOW ENTIRELY LOST EXCEPT AS PRESERVED IN THE SAINT BERNARD BREED.

THAT SOME OF THIS BLOOD MAY HAVE MADE ITS WAY FROM THE HOSPICE INTO THE VALLEYS FROM TIME TO TIME IS LIKELY. BUT ONCE THERE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREATLY DILUTED.  THIS DILUTION COMBINED WITH THE ABSENCE OF THE INTENSE DISCIPLINED CULLING APPLIED BY THE MONKS WOULD HAVE MAINTAINED A WIDE GULF BETWEEN THE HOSPICE SAINT BERNARD AND VALLEY DOGS EXCEPT FOR BRIEF INTERVALS WHEN THE HOSPICE BLOOD WAS FRESH IN SOME PARTICULAR LOCATION OR LOCATIONS..

WHATEVER THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF SAINT BERNARD BLOOD, THE MONKS DID PRESERVE THE ORIGINAL TYPE AND CHARACTER OF THEIR DOGS THROUGH THE CENTURIES. THEY WERE ABLE TO DO THIS BY MAKING JUDICIOUS BREEDING DECISIONS AND BY INTENSE CULLING WHENEVER THEY WERE FORCED TO INTRODUCE OUTSIDE BLOOD FOR RENEWED VIGOR (AS GENETIC PRINCIPLES WOULD DEMAND AFTER LONG PERIODS OF INBREEDING) WHEN THEY DID THESE THINGS IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THEY WERE MERELY PRESERVING BREED CHARACTERISTICS, THEY WERE NOT  CREATING THEM.

AT SOME UNRECORDED DATE THEIR SAINT BERNARDS WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE A LATENT TALENT. THE TALENT THAT HAS MADE THEM FAMOUS, "FINDING AND RESCUING LOST TRAVELERS STRANDED BY THE SNOW". THERE IS NO ACCURATE WAY OF DETERMINING WHEN THESE RESCUES ACTUALLY BEGAN. BUT IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THEY ONLY BEGAN IN THE LATE 18TH AND EARLY 19TH CENTURIES WHEN THE FAME OF THESE BRAVE DOGS SPREAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE MAKING THE SAINT BERNARD DOG OF THE HOSPICE  LEGENDARY.

"BARRY" OF 1815 BECAME THE VERY EPITOME OF THE RESCUE DOG. "BARRY" IS CREDITED WITH SAVING OVER 40 LIVES. AND AS WE SHALL SEE,  IT WAS "BARRY'S" FAME AND HIS RESULTING PRESERVATION THAT SAVED THE BREED . HE WAS STUFFED IN 1815 AND REMAINS AT THE MUSEUM IN BERNE TO THIS DAY.

IN THE BEGINNING 0F 1830, AS THEY HAD LIKELY DONE MANY TIMES IN THE PAST (AS WOULD BE DEMANDED BY GENETIC PRINCIPLES), THE MONKS ATTEMPTED TO INVIGORATE THE OLD BREED BY CROSSING WITH OUTSIDE BLOOD. NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS WERE CHOSEN THIS TIME. THE MONKS THEN MADE SYSTEMATICALLY STRICT CHOICES OF THE OFFSPRING, GIVING PREFERENCE TO THOSE THAT MOST RESEMBLED THEIR SAINT BERNARD SIRES IN HAIR, COLOR, BUILD, AND MENTAL QUALITIES.

THE LONG HAIRED OFFSPRING REGARDLESS OF OTHER CHARACTERISTICS, PROVED UNSUITABLE DUE TO ACCUMULATION 0F ICE AND SNOW ON THEIR LONG COATS, SO THE MONKS SOLD OR GAVE THEM AWAY TO THEIR BENEFACTORS AS IS RECORDED BY SCHUMACHER. THIS ANCIENT BREED NOW CALLED SAINT BERNARDS LIKELY EXPERIENCED THE SAME THING SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE CENTURIES WITHOUT BENEFIT OF WRITTEN RECORD  AS WAS POSTULATED BY SCHUMACHER..

 HEINRICH SCHUMACHER, FROM HOLLIGEN NEAR BERNE, SWITZERLAND RECOGNIZED THAT "BARRY" WAS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE OLD BREED BEFORE THE CROSSING WITH NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS, AND HE MUST REMAIN THE PUREST TYPE OF THE ORIGINAL SAINT BERNARD BFREED OF DOGS.

 IN 1855 HEINRICH SCHUMACHER BEGAN HIS ATTEMPT TO RE-CREATE "BARRY". STARTING WITH HIS OWN DOG "BARRY I". HERE IS SCHUMACHER'S OWN WORDS  DESCRIBING "BARRY I" ;---- "SHORT-HAIRED, WHITE WITH RED HEAD. AS HE RESEMBLED NEITHER IN HIS HAIR NOR IN HIS COLOR THE PRECEDING GENERATION, THE OWNERS ENTERTAINED THE ERRONEOUS OPINION THAT HE WAS A MONGREL, AND DID NOT THINK HE WAS A RARE EXAMPLE, A FREAK OF NATURE; AND THEY SOLD HIM AS VALUELESS TO MR. KLOPFENSTEIN OF NEUENEGG, FROM WHICH I ACQUIRED THE DOG IN 1855, PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE THIS WAS THE ONLY DOG WHICH POSSESSED SUCH A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE TO THE "BARRY OF 1815" IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, AND BECAUSE I KNEW HIS PEDIGREE**-----(**  FOR GREATER DETAIL ON THE PEDIGREE OF BARRY I,  SEE OUR ARCHIVE FOR SCHUMACHER'S LETTER TO HUGH DALZIEL  RECORDED IN HIS BOOK, "THE SAINT BERNARD, IT'S HISTORY, POINTS, BREEDING AND REARING")

STARTING WITH "BARRY I", SCHUMACHER JUDICIOUSLY BRED THE CURRENT FOUNDATION STOCK OF THE SAINT BERNARD RACE. YOU CAN FIND MORE DETAIL IN  OUR ARCHIVE  CONCERNING SCHUMACHER'S SAINT BERNARDS AND THEIR DESCENDENTS AS WELL AS MANY OTHER HISTORICAL ARTICLES AND EXCERPTS FROM THE SAINT BERNARD'S PAST.

IN 1886 THE "STANDARD OF POINTS OF THE SAINT BERNARD   WAS ADOPTED BY THE SWISS KYNOLOGICAL SOCIETY. AT HALLELUJAH SAINT BERNARDS WE FEEL THAT THIS ORIGINAL STANDARD IS MOST AUTHORITATIVE IN THE BREEDING OF FUNCTIONAL VINTAGE SAINT BERNARDS WITH SOUND JOINTS, CALM SOUND TEMPERAMENT, DRY MOUTH, NOBLE APPEARANCE, GENTLE PROTECTIVE NATURE, STRENGTH, ENDURANCE, AND ALL THE OTHER QUALITIES INNATE TO THIS NOBLE BREED.

COURTESY OF

HALLELUJAH ST. BERNARDS

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SAINT BERNARD PUPPIES FOR SALE OCCASIONALLY. WE TAKE RESERVATIONS AFTER EACH SUCCESSFUL MATING. CALL OR EMAIL ANYTIME TO BE PUT ON OUR NOTIFICATION LIST.