http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Swiss_Mountain_Dog
P.S. I adopted a kitten (who is coming with us) and TOTALLY believe in adoption but I just want to investigate the possibilities.
Hi! My husband and I are relocating to Switzerland in a few weeks. We have a great house with a huge back yard that is the perfect playground for a new puppy. I've been wanting a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog for a couple of years. Now that I'll have more time to spend with the puppy training, I want to find one. Does anyone know of a respectable breeder in Switzerland (our house is in Gland) or even what the Swiss call this breed?
???
Try reading the link you included..
Hi!!!
Happy to hear someone has the same problem like me. We live in Nyon, but bought a house in St-Cergue and will move at the end of March. I am planning to get GSMDog as well!
Cant find any breeder in Swizerland, seems like the closest is in France 270 km from here..
Anyway, I will keep looking. Have you found yours? Would be great to hear from you!
Good luck with the doggie
Misha
Hi Misha!
Probably a good place to start your hunt is with their club - link is here, Klub für Grosse Schweizer Sennenhund , but it is in German, I'm not seeing any way to change the language for the page, but under "Klubinformationen" is a list of the club officers / whatever, including names of folks with information on puppies, one for German and Italian, another for English and French - perhaps that would be of use to you.
I have sent you a PM with my details. I have a client who for personal reasons needs to find a new home for their Bernese Mountain Dogs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernese_Mountain_Dog
Not exactly the breed you were after but one of the 4 of the Sennenhunde breeds.
The thread is from2009.....
So what? It is not the first time someone has updated an old thread on the same topic.
ooops, didn't realize you were replying to the new request. Please accept my humble apologies
Bump for an old thread - any current recommendations?
Our beagle needs a friend!
Just to check, since people often confuse the two, and both are mentioned in this thread: Are you looking for a Berner Sennehund (Bernese Mountain Dog), or a Grosse Schweizer Sennehunde, (Great Swiss Mountain Dog)?
To recap links from up thread:
The breed club for the Berner Sennenhund is here:
https://www.bernersennenhund.ch/welpenvermittlung
The breed club for the Grosse Schweizer Sennenhunde is here:
https://www.gssh.ch/zucht/welpenvermittlung/
A heads-up: You might be in for a long wait. Few breeders to start with, some have decided not to breed during the pandemic, and at the same time more people stuck in isolation wanting canine companionship.
See the statement on the BSH page, it applies to most breeders, of a wide range of breeds, at the moment.
The BSH website also strongly warns against purchasing from the 'Dark Side', the evil battery producers, illegal smugglers, and clueless BYBs who are sadly active in Switzerland. This needs to be stressed over and over and over again: Even though there are not many puppies available in Switzerland, do not be tempted to buy from the Hundemafia!
---
If you cannot find a breeder within the breed club in Switzerland, you might try their German counterpart, the Schweizer Sennenhunde-Verein für Deutschland. This club governs all four Swiss Sennenhunde breeds.. See here:
---
You might also contact the breed rescue groups. Again, the same heads-up applies - there are not many dogs of any kind, let alone BSH or GSSH, in rescue at this time. But contacting the group might be a good idea anyway, in case a dog comes in to their care sometime soon. The German counterpart has a few dogs at the moment:
Berner Sennenhunde In Not Schweiz:
https://www.bsin.ch/bsin-auf-einen-blick/
Berner Sennenhunde In Not Deutschland:
https://www.berner-sennenhunde-in-not.de
These sites might list the four Sennenhunde breeds, as well as mixes, and even other breeds.
---
You might also browse through the breeders listed in the club links above; sometimes breeders will publicize an older dog of their breed in need of a new home, even when the dog is not one of theirs.
---
There are other Sennenhunde welfare or 'interest' groups on FB - but as I refuse to use FB for rescue work I'm afraid I can't give you any links. But you can likely find these easily. Another heads-up: Bad actors often pretend to be legit rescue groups. Eyes wide and due diligence!
So just a few places to start your search.
---
Also, have you bought a dog from a Swiss breeder or adopted from a Swiss rescue before? If not, the typical process here might be a bit different from other places, and the scrutiny one might undergo sometimes takes folks new to Swiss dogdom aback. But it's in the best interest of the dog - especially now.
Here's an old thread (but still a goodie, not all that much has changed, although the references to the SKN are obsolete) that talks about the 'how to's in Switzerland:
https://www.englishforum.ch/pet-corn...e-breeder.html
Good luck with the search!
ETA:
I took a peek at your other threads... are you still planning on leaving Switzerland this year? If so, I would advise waiting to get your new pup until after the move. Especially as it could be quite a long time before you find a puppy here.
But be that as it may... all the best.
Don’t rule out non-pedigree breeders. Before anyone shoots me, let me say that many of the breed clubs in Switzerland have quite honestly ridiculous standards for what your home/breeding area must look like etc. (Not to mention some are so ridiculously click-y and a certain one I won’t mention is really shooting itself in the foot regarding inbreeding - as in most approved studs are from four already closely related lines) and many farmers did wonderful breeding for generations without ever getting their dogs accepted. If you look out for the important things—health testing, good care and socializing of puppies, health of the parents, being followed with proper veterinary care—Then you can find really great breeders who don’t work with the FCI and official swiss breed clubs.
Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of bad or mediocre non-pedigree breeders and one must use a good measure of caution. But I have a pup from a Swiss FCI breeder who quite honestly did a horrible job (I took him as a rehome from the initial buyer) and another from an “unofficial” breeder who does such a marvelous job socializing her puppies, doing extra health testing and such. Again, perhaps the exception but then again, even amongst papered breeders a truly great breeder isn’t a given.
Also making money at breeding in Switzerland is dreadfully difficult (not that it’s easy anywhere, but here it’s especially hard) and breeders can’t have more than a couple (I believe it’s 4) dogs without doing a very expensive and thorough training to become “professional” so there are very few litters per year available, especially in the native Swiss breeds which are often seen as “just” farm dogs as opposed to more “exotic” breeds. Case in point, a pedigree German Shepherd sells for at least 50% more than a native Swiss breed. The difference in price between pedigreed and unregistered Sennenhunde (Swiss Mountain Dogs) is usually slight—in my opinion, they’re simply not valued enough by the Swiss market. Abroad, they sell for much more.
—
The four Swiss mountain dog breeds in English, French and German:
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog - grand bouvier suisse - Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund
Bernese Mountain Dog - bouvier bernois - Berner Sennenhund
Appenzeller Mountain Dog - bouvier appenzellois/bouvier de l’Appenzell - Appenzeller Sennenhund
Entlebucher Mountain Dog - bouvier de l’Entlebuch - Entlebucher Sennenhund
If you open this with Chrome [on a mac at least] you can translate it. And get this list out of it.
BREED
BREEDER LIST
The listed breeding sites are directly subordinate to the Club for Big Swiss Mountain Dogs. You will be looked after by our breeding warden.
Only breeding sites are listed whose owners have given their consent.
Breeders who report directly to the SKG can be requested from the SKG .
ACTIVE BREEDERS
of avouillon
Lydia & Frédéric Baumgartner
Cathedral. des avouillons 101
1196 Gland
022 364 10 52
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Hanselhof
Sabine & Markus Kupferschmid
Grödestr. 6th
5014 Gretzenbach
062 797 15 55
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from Hofbach
Vreni Günter
Bachstr. 4th
3367 Thörigen
079 715 84 56
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Kaltbachhof
Vreni & Bruno Fürst
Mittelgäustr. 32
4617 Gunzgen
062 216 34 33
079 228 98 35
from Kleematthof
Ueli & Ute Michel
Bündtenweg 20
4453 Nusshof
079 667 95 03
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from Krummenacker
Bruno Horn
Krummenacker
9034 Eggersriet
071 870 07 07
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Ruttigerhof
Karin & Philipp Hengartner
Ruttigerweg 74
4600 Olten
079 607 91 36
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Golden SKG quality mark
from Bubble New House
Barbara Egger Rentsch & David Rentsch
Blasenneuhaus 217
3508 Arni
079 280 90 43
031 701 24 82
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
by Deckerpeters
Regula Schwab
Lenggasse 16
3860 Meiringen
079 768 96 53
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from Studerswilen
Bernadette Brovelli
Studerswilen 326
9300 Wittenbach
079 565 95 65
071 298 45 80
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
www.parsonrussel-studerswilen.ch
Golden SKG quality mark
from the Challhöhe
Marie-Louise Gremminger
Kohlrüti 1
4244 Röschenz
078 659 07 65
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
INACTIVE BREEDERS
No litters planned until the end of 2022
Black stove
Rosmarie & Walter Bill
Schwarzenhärd 31
1712 plates
026 494 10 06
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the farm
Andreas Uebersax
Kleinholz 10
3376 trench
062 963 25 02
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Bramegghof
Barbara Humbert
Bramegg 86
3438 Lauperswil
034 496 84 73
from Haus Letzi
Antje Noll
House Letzi
7323 Wang
078 747 94 72
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from Hofgut Rüti
Eliane Eggimann-Kopp
Galgenholzweg 30
4537 Wiedlisbach
079 220 05 80
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Nigelsee farm
Kurt Vollenweider
Höflerweg 1
8264 Eschenz
079 467 28 94
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from the Riedbachhof
Claudia & Urs Ziehli
Niederfeldweg 23
3020 Bern
079 751 04 41
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
from Zündli
Gaby & Manfred Inniger-Rüegg
Alte Strasse 37
3715 Adelboden
079 716 51 28
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Why do they call them "mountain" dogs in English, when both "bouvier" and "Sennenhund" translate to "Cowherd"?
Tom
Actually a "Senn" is an Alpine herdsman and dairyman.
In my times in the mountains, many of them had Appenzeller Sennenhunde - not really seen many Berner Sennenhunde up there - and I lived in the Bernese mountains .
So English speakers probably wanted to get the alpine feeling into the name?
Or the translation is just following the usual Swiss stereotype like chocolate, Heidi and banks.
In the UK at least it is the Appenzell Cattle Dog. But that name doesn’t quite sum it all up either as they are as much farm guardians (NOT livestock guardians, just to be clear) as they are cattle dogs. For the two bigger breeds (Berners and GSMDs), they were also draught animals. There is no term in English that adequately sums these purposes up in one. «Bouvier» actually does mean more or less «all-around farm dog» (Australian Shepherds, bred mainly to work cattle, are «bergers» in French).