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[ZenRabbit]

Hello Everyone!

new to this board and hoping to find answers from real saint bernard owners!

we are thinking of adding a saint to our family, we've even gone so far as to find a breeder recommened by the saint bernard club. We are interested in a male puppy and they have a couple of male puppies available to come home next month.

My Question is..what is it really like living with a saint? we have another large breed dog (Fila Brasileiro), five cats, several rabbits and seven pet rats

i also have a 2.5yr old little human kidlet and a 5mo old baby human kidlet.

What attracted me to the breed is A) they are big fluffy drooly dogs and B) they are reputed to be so good with children.

In reality tho are they tough puppies? (compared to other breeds.) i know as giant breed dogs they probably sleep a great deal? do they tend to lean towards being overly dominate? 

We would really like to get into doing therapy work at the childrens hospital here and i'm still trying to decide between a Newfie and a Saint.

    ~Beth

[Lyn]

Welcome to BPO! I'm owned by 2 Saints, an almost 2 year old male and an almost 10 month old female.

What is it really like living with a saint?... You know about the drool and the shedding. My male is clingy, he follows me from room to room and appears to be offended if I don't let him in the bathroom with me. haha. He is easily excited and puppyish at times (although he's finally starting to mature and mellow out now) and can be stubborn and pushy. He is also a bit territorial if someone he doesn't know is in our yard. He super cuddly and loving with his family but he's not overly affectionate with strangers. They can pet him, but he has a 'I could care less kind of attitude' unless it's kids then he's in his glory. My little 2 year old nephew hangs off of him and hugs him. He has knocked the little ones over though with his tail or his butt. He truly does not realize his size. But Bubba was also not raised with very young children. My son was 8 when we brought Bubba home.

My female, Lola is much more independant. But equally loving. She much calmer and more aware of her size. She is much more gentle with young kids, kinda motherly.

I'd say they were very sensitive as pups mentally, but take the poking, fur pulling and ear tugging from my nephews in stride.

As for dominance Bubba did test me and my son at one point. I believe he was around 10 months old. Pushing my son around, ignoring commands, refusing to move. Never any growling, showing teeth or anything like that. We upped the obedience and he hasen't tried it since. Lola is very submissive with people, so no dominance issue at all from her.

They do sleep a fair bit, I find that the hotter it is the more they sleep. They love the air conditioning.

Hopefully I make sense, and I didn't ramble on aimlessly.. I'm a little doped up on Tylenol cold and flu at the moment.

[PennyK]

Lyn's description of Bubba pretty much fits Teddy too (though Teddy thinks he's the original "meet and greet" dog and looks for attention from anyone!  He loves people SOOO much!) 

A few months ago we had some issues with Teddy trying to dominate my 5 yr old (my 7 yr old daughter has never had any issues with him).  We started with my son doing Teddy's obedience and praising him with treats (Teddy is VERY treat driven! LOL) and things have settled in nicely now.  They play together but Teddy knows the limits (Teddy is now a year).

Potty training was not too bad.  Was completely house broke at about 5-6 months.  He certainly wasn't a difficult puppy and graduated with high marks in puppy obedience.

Teddy and I met a handicapped fellow on the street a couple weeks ago, he was in a wheelchair and had a keyboard.  Instead of his puppyish, insistant self, Teddy was quiet and just put his head right into the man's lap.  We stood and talked with the man for about 10 minutes and Teddy was so steady and undemanding.  It was like he understood the man was handicapped.  Certainly an eye opener for me.

Teddy is my first dog ever and I don't think I could have chose a better fit for my kids and I! 


Welcome to the board!  Wade though the St. Bernard Discussion threads and I'm sure you will gain more insight into these wonderful guys!

[bluskygirl]

I have a 6 month old named Bella. I agree with what has been said about Teddy, and Bubba and Lola.  Bella is submissive, so there have been no dominance issues for us. I have two young boys (8 and 4) and she loves them.  I'm cool, but when the boys are home I don't exist unless she's hungry! LOL  If the boys take off upstairs, she sits at the bottom and whines for them. When we're at the park, she can't stand not to have her eyes on them at all times.  I took her to my sons school the other day, and I was horrified at this boy who came over to Bella and instead of touching her head, proceeding to "clap" her head between his hands.  She took it in such stride, of course she did look at the kid like he was nuts!   Anyway, I have found her to be a perfect companion for me and my boys. I can't say enough good things about the breed.

Negatives... Bella has some food anxiety. It's not agressive behavior at all, but she is absolutely terrified that someone's going to get her food and so she's shaky adn trembly during meal time and eats too fast.  I don't think this has anything to do with the breed specifically. I think as a puppy, Bella's siblings ate all her food becuase she wasn't assertive enough.  So, my advice hear would be to research the breeder for health and all the other important things, but if you can visit the litter at different times including feeding time (the one time I missed) just so you can see the pack behaviors and the individual puppy behaviors. 

Good luck! If you end up with a Saint you'll fall absolutely in love (of course I'm totally biased!)

[ZenRabbit]

Hiya Everyone,

it sounds like a female saint actually might be better for our family. However we have a spayed female dog already.. now i know she is ok with other females as long as the female isn't overly pushy.

if a saint female puppy was raised around another female do you think it would be ok?

         ~Beth

[MommyOfSchnauzers]

My SIL has a female saint and she has 2 other female dogs and a male.  They all get along just fine.

That is the extent of my saint advice. I just wanted to welcome you to BPO.

[shangrila]

Hi Beth,

First of all, welcome to BPO!

I have a 2 1/2 year old female saint. She is absolutely not dominant at all - she is very very submissive. She also has seperation anxiety and always wants to be in the same room as us and cries if she can't. She is somewhat fearful of strangers even when she is scared she doesn't get aggressive she just hides behind me. She is clumsy and could deffinately accidently knock a kid over, but the kids that she knows pet her and kiss her face and she just licks them back. She deffinately sleeps a ton, but she also loves to go crazy and run around like a little puppy in the backyard. She is very sweet and very very loving.

My best advice for you is actually something that has not been brought up: if you are going to get a saint, try and find a breeder that does OFA certification. Saints are prone to hip dysplacia, and there are a lot of things you can do to minimize HD, but as someone who deals with it every day I have to say it is heartbreaking and frustrating, so it is the one thing that would make me hesitate before getting another saint

[ZenRabbit]

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the advice we have narrowed down our puppy search to three breeders currently.
Should narrow it down to one within the next couple of days.

we decided not to chose male or female based on gender and have the breeder chose a puppy with a mellow temperment.

All of the breeders we are considering are members of the Saint Bernard club of america and do health checks

cannot wait to show off pictures of the puppy when they arrive sometime next month!

   ~Beth

[PennyK]

We can't wait either!!  LOL!