Author Topic: Monks cap??  (Read 20050 times)

Offline coonie1970

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Monks cap??
« on: April 27, 2005, 07:00:41 pm »
Hi. Just wondering if anyone knows the story behind a St.s monk cap. Judge has what I was told is a monks cap on the top of his head. I thought I would be able to find some info. on the net but I havent seen any as of yet. The breader said that the Monks thought that dogs with this mark were Special. ???? Judge is very Special but it would be nice to know if there is any OLD WIVES TALE behind it.

Thanks Karen
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Offline mastiffmommy

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2005, 12:29:49 am »
Never even heard of it, but it does look like one though. Me myself is a mastiff mom, so no expert on this, but maybe someone here can help you out. If not, try the breed club, or breed referal, I keep saying this in a lot of different matters, but they are a very good source to information. He is a real sweetheart though, cap or not.

Marit

what the lion is to a cat, the mastiff is to a dog

Offline elmo

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2005, 02:32:47 pm »
i have never heard of it either  capuchin monkey perhaps thay have caps named after monks?

nickerbokker

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2005, 03:49:15 pm »
when i went to pick out my pup, i picked out one with the monk cap..and the breeder started telling me about it (nothing that i remember except they are rare), but after 3 hours with the puppys, the darned one i picked kept screaming when i touched him...but angus just walked up to me and went to sleep in my arms when i picked him up....its been nothing but crazy love ever since.  long story short, i don't have a monk cap, and i don't remember the little info the woman had on it.

im in love with your dog though!

Offline jules

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2005, 03:56:57 pm »
Was wandering if Judge has something like Spotakiss just in adifferent spot ,haha,Anyway thats how I picked him out,I saw it as a sign,Spot marks the one!The spot is on his cheek,

Offline coonie1970

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2005, 06:58:47 am »
Thanks for all the replies. I didnt really get the whole story from the breeder eather. Ive noticed quite a few pups with it though when Im looking on the net.Like I said it is likely just an Old Wives Tale  Maybe someone will come on and see it.
Jules
The spot I am talking about is the brown one on the top of Judges head.  :) Every time I see a new pic of Spotakiss I have to laugh he is the CUTES fluff ball.If we didnt get so much snow here I would love to get a long coat St.
Karen
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Offline Macman

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2005, 02:01:30 pm »
Hello. I'm new here and used "Stumbleupon" to find this web site. My wife and I are kept by a 6 y.o. male Saint. His name is Bruno. He is a short hair and has the "Monks Cap". The explanation we recieved about the cap is charming and captures the "spiritual or religious" background which is a very important part of the Saint Bernard history.

Saint Bernards with the Monks Cap are thought to be "special" as the cap mimics the caps worn by the "Catholic Brothers" that bred, raised and cared for the original Saints. BTW, the orginal Saints were "short hair". The story goes the Monks mixied their Saints with Nuffies hoping the long hair would allow the dogs to stay out on the mountain for longer periods. Unfortunately, again as the story goes, the long hair had the opposite effect. It would cake up ice and snow and the resulting weight really inhibited the dogs search work. According to the story, the Monks gave away the long hair Saints to visiting dignitaries as gifts and that is how the long hair Saint was propagated.

I hope this explanation helps. Our Bruno is special and the Monks Cap just adds to his personna. It was not a factor in our selecting him over the other puppies as we had no idea at the time of the sentimental significance it held.

Offline coonie1970

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2005, 02:30:41 pm »
Thank you. Welcome to this great site. Hope to see pictures of your St. on here soon.The tory about the monks cap is interesting. It was not the reason we picked Judge eather but he is very special to us.
Karen
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Offline Macman

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Bruno
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2005, 08:58:48 pm »
Here is our Bruno. He's 6 y.o., 220 lbs. A short hair Saint. We are relieved we didn' t get a long hair due to the shedding problems a dog of such size brings. Even though he's short hair he still requires regular grooming and sheds hair as most other breeds.

Look forward to sending along more photos and seeing more of yours as well.

Offline coonie1970

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2005, 05:42:22 am »
Hi is adorable. He could be Judges Daddy they look alot alike.
Karen
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Offline Macman

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Judges Daddy
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2005, 07:51:21 am »
They do look alike. But, sorry to say, Brunos ability to reproduce was removed when he was about 5 months old.  We had no intention of entering him into the dog show routine. Nor did we want him to be trying to hump the old lady down the street should he get off leash or worse injure a child, due to his size, in the mating frenzy that was sure to ensue, nature doing what nature does.

I exagerate of course but you can get the image of the possibilities from the frankness of the words used above to describe the ramifications.  And, as it turned out, Bruno developed epelipsy at about three years old. We certainly wouldn't want to have passed that disorder down the genetic tree  He has not had a seizure since we began the medication, thank God for that.

Offline coonie1970

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2005, 11:07:31 am »
LOL i am seriousy thinking of having Judge neutered as well. I really dont want to be the one to tell some poor person that they are going to have BIG puppys if Judge were to get out and find himself a girlfriend. His temperment has been fairly good so far.
 Does getting them neutered really make any differance?? I know that we had to get a male collie neutered when I was little because he would get vicious with other male dogs. He would fight with any male dog who caame on our property. This seemed to settle down after he was neutered.
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Offline Macman

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Neutering
« Reply #12 on: May 07, 2005, 11:15:44 am »
Well, I guess my reply would be that at least for Bruno, he was neutered so early that he never had the experience to begin with. He simply has no overt inclination that we've been able to detect.

For more mature dogs, and cats too, we've seen humping going on even though the plumbing is no longer present. The conventional wisdom about this, that we've heard, is that the Vet didn't get all the related nerve endings during surgery and consequently the urge can remain with the animal. We have no idea if that's true or not.

Good luck with your decision. Since we live in a city on with a small lot the issue is different then it would be if we lived in a rural location with lots of land where the dog could roam at will.

Offline jabear

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2005, 11:22:48 am »
Bear is going to get neutered soon also. We were contemplating showing him but decideed that's just not for us and we really want him to become a true working dog. All of our Newf friends have said that once they get fixed their hearing improves dramatically. I really hope that is true becuase his selective listening is very irritating right now! BTW, he just began to do the fake humping (he's had it done to him alot) but stops immediately when we tell him to...I think its gross but all of our friends let their dogs hump and actually think that it is cute. ???  ???
Hugs,
Jaime
  Mom to one handsome black Bear.

Offline jules

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Re: Monks cap??
« Reply #14 on: May 07, 2005, 12:41:23 pm »
Good luck Bear.Spotakiss is getting it done next week.The sooner the better since they charge by the pound!