Before you decide to officially adopt a Saint Bernard, I want to make sure you know more about them. This way you can make a rational decision as to whether this type of dog is right for you and your family. Pets are wonderful to have, but you have to make sure they fit right for your lifestyle.

There are basically five sizes of dogs. There are small, medium, large, very large (sometimes labeled XL), and then there are giants (sometimes labeled XXL). The giants are dogs that weigh over 100 pounds and are taller than 22″. Saint Bernards are in the giant category.

Males– weigh up to 180 pounds; height– 28″-30″

Females– weigh up to 140 pounds; height– 26″-30″

There has been exceptions to that rule where the dogs weigh much more. There have been some that have weighed up to 250 pounds. But on the average this is the weight and size you can expect from your Saint Bernard. They need room to move around and play.

With all dogs, you need to make sure they have the personality, energy level, and attitude that works for you. If you have children or other pets, you want to make sure the dog you are going to adopt will be compatible. Here are some traits to consider:

Personality– friendly, patient, outgoing, gentle giants, loving, smart

Good with children– they are known to be “nanny” dogs, very patient and watchful, but can sometimes forget that they are big

Good with pets– with supervision they usually can get along with other pets just fine

Trainable– they can be stubborn at times, but are teachable and trainable; they want to please their owner

Energy level– not overly active, content with just a few minutes of play throughout the day, and going on short walks

Shedding– they do shed some

Grooming– I recommend brushing regularly, especially after the winter season

Fur length– it’s considered short, but some of them have a thicker coats than others; Autumn has really short hair, and less fur comes out of her when grooming; Bear has thicker fur and seems to never run out of fur when grooming him

Drooling– it depends on whether you get a wet mouth or dry mouth, but overall, expect some droll and maybe have a towel handy; our saints are a healthy mix of wet mouth and dry mouth

Watchdog/Protective– they are very vigilant about their surroundings; they are very protective of their owners, especially the children; depending on their personality, they may be very reserved around strangers

Barking level– they usually only bark if there’s a reason to bark, like to sound an alarm that there’s possible danger

The above list is based on an average of what you can expect from a Saint Bernard. All breeds always have an exception to the rules. Going by what Heidi was and how our Saints behave, this list is spot on. Now our dogs do bark when they are playing. It’s more of a playful, whine bark that they do. But we can tell the difference between their playful bark and their aggressive bark. So we know when to pay close attention, and when to ignore. None of them just bark to be barking. They are very protective of this family, of each other, and of their property.

Saints are a very powerful and remarkably muscular dogs. They are massive size dogs. On average, they can bite 450 psi. That’s not the strongest bite in a dog breed, but with their strength backing up their bite, it’s best not to irritate them. They do NOT have a tendency at all to be violent or have fits of rage. They are not known to be deadly dogs. But if your saint gets upset at a stranger, they may be hard to control. We have to recognize and respect their enormous size and strength.

When most people think of Saint Bernards, they tend to think of Beethoven movies. Strong, sweet, protective, nanny of a dog. All of which is accurate. They also show in movie #2 of all the puppies running down the stairs and pictures start moving or falling. It’s like an earthquake going off in their home. I’d like to say that was an exaggeration on the part of the movie industry. But when we allowed our dogs in the house, it very much felt like an earthquake when they came running. Stampede for sure!

Another thing the movies showed was all the drooling. That also is not an exaggeration. We have some slobber boxes. Nana, Abigail, and Autumn are just average slobber dogs. Not very much at all. But Bear and Copper are the worst with slobbers. When we moved, I had to clean the house that we just left. I actually found slobber high on the walls and evening on the ceiling! That’s impressive, gross, but impressive. So expect to have drooling. We sometimes grab a napkin and wipe it off. Other times we watch them shake their heads, and see how far the slobbers fly.

With giant dogs, come big amounts of food and water. You’ll need to feed your Saint, large breed dog food. Be prepared to buy the big bags that are like 50 lbs. each. He or she will drink tons of water. So make sure you have a large enough bowl that will give them the water they need. And be prepared to refill it regularly.

They are not fans of the hot weather. Saint Bernards originate from the Alps, so they love the snow and cold weather. When we lived in Kentucky, the weather was not exactly cold and yet not exactly desert either. We just made sure the dogs had an area to go to that had air moving all the time. Now that we are living in Illinois, we are out in the open surrounded by fields. The cool air is always blowing and the temperatures are a lot of cooler for them to enjoy more. We still have fans going in the barn for them because we tend to spoil our babies. So just make sure that your baby stays cool to the best of your ability. We do have some grand puppies that live in Texas, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida and they do wonderful as indoor dogs. And those places get hot! If you have your baby indoors for air conditioning purposes during the summer, you have nothing to worry about. They’ll be fine. 

We give them fresh, cold water throughout the day. When it’s hot, they’ll just want to lay in the shade and not be very active at all. When this happens, they’ll play during the night instead, when it’s cooler. We also put a kiddie pool out so they can splash in the water, when it gets exceptionally hot. Nana is a huge fan of playing in the water. They can adapt to their surroundings, but you will need to help them stay cool. If they are inside, let them have access to wood floors, tile floors, or even concrete floors. The cooler the better. Let them sit in front of an air conditioner vent and/or fan. Most of them love to chew on ice. If they are outside, make sure they have shade to get under. If you can sit a fan outside for them to sit in front of, that will help. Kiddie pools, buckets of ice water to drink, and things along this nature will greatly help them.

As mentioned above, the Saint Bernard dog was founded around 1707 in the Alps. They were bred to be rescue dogs. The Saints back then looked nothing like what they do now. They were described more like the Alpine Spaniel. In the early 1800s, there were severe winters and avalanches that killed several of the dogs. To help keep the population of Saints going, the remaining dogs were crossbred with Newfoundlands. By late 1800s, the Saints had been refined using large molosser type breeds. Those breeds included: Newfoundlands, Great Pyrenees, Greater Swiss Mountain dogs, Bernese Mountain dogs, Great Danes, English Mastiff, and possibly the Tibetan Mastiff and Caucasian Shepherd dogs. You mix all of that together, and you have the appearance of the Saint Bernard today. Being mountain dogs, they love to “herd” you around and lead you in the direction that they want to go. It’s not uncommon for them to take hold of their leash and do the leading themselves.

To learn more about Saint Bernard dogs, please check out the AKC website. Do your homework and make sure this is the dog for you and your family. Having a pet is a commitment for their lifetime. They see you as their human, their family. If you have any questions, please ask. I’ll do my best to answer them. Be sure to check out the Common Questions section of the website. It will help you understand the breed even more.

Our dogs are our babies, our family. We have absolutely no regrets in getting these gentle giants. They make our lives full with love, and they can do the same for you. They have unconditional love for this family, and we return that same love to them.