Nana Belle is the matriarch of the family. She is looked at as if she’s the oldest sister, if not the mother of the younger dogs. She’s very protective of them and leads the pack. Although she has authoritative demeanor and is respected by the other dogs, she is very loving, nurturing, and caring. She has all the characteristics of a big sister or mother.

The day we left to go get her, we told Bear that mama was going to get him a girlfriend. I swear that dog knew what we were saying and understood. This beautiful doll came from the northern central states. We could see Canada from where we got her. It was such a long drive that we had to spend a night at a hotel to pick her up the next morning. And oh my goodness, what a pleasant surprise she was. She had so much spunk in her! The cutest attitude ever! You could tell she knew just how beautiful she was. And today, that spunkiness has grown by leaps and bounds.

When we got her home, Bear and Nana hit it off beautifully. Instant best friends forever. He never left her side. He helped show her the ropes, of what is okay and what is not. He helped in the potty training adventure and with learning tricks. Nana kept him on his feet and still does!

As Nana has grown, we have noticed just how long of a tongue she has. We get such a kick out of it. We lean down to let her kiss us, and the next thing we know our face is soaking wet. Every time she yawns, sits lazily, or knows I’m taking her picture, she’ll plop that tongue out. She also has such a curiosity mind. With each new thing or new sound, she tilts her head to try to comprehend what’s going on. It’s so cute. The Christmas picture below I was trying to get the attention of four dogs. I had to resort to making noises with my mouth. Noises Nana had never heard me make. Her sweet innocence caused her to tilt her head. It made the perfect picture.

Nana, like all Saint Bernards, is very muscular and strong. She likes using her front legs to stand up along the fence to bark her warnings at anyone or anything that gets near her family. Our fence around the dog’s area is 4′ tall, and she stands head and shoulders above that. You can tell by the picture below that she shows her full strength when she does this. And yet in another picture, you can see her genuine need to be loved. When she was younger, she hurt her leg (pulled a muscle). I took a hold of her leg and said a prayer over it out loud so she could hear it. Then I said, “bless it Lord.” To this day, she holds up that paw and wants us to say, “bless it Lord.” There’s nothing wrong with it, but she loves that we do that.

Nana has a feature that none of our other dogs have. She has a curlicue tail. The tail literally folds back onto her back. The other dogs’ tail sometimes curl up, but none of their tails folds back onto their back. Just Nana. With the dogs looking so much a like, we can always tell which one is Nana by looking at their tails. It just matches her spunky attitude.

One thing we have noticed, with all the Saints, is that as they age, their fur coloring changes. Nana’s has gotten darker, and the brown and white is separated by black lining. If you look at her baby pictures above, you’ll see that lining was not there before. She was more tan than dark reddish brown. She’s simply stunning, and we’re proud to have her as the matriarch of this pack.

In late July 2023, we moved from our farm in Kentucky to central/eastern Illinois. Pictures will not reflect our new home.