Bernedoodles. The Ultimate Bernedoodle Dog Manual. Bernedoodle care, costs, feeding, grooming, health and training all included.

By George Hoppendale and Asia Moore

The Ultimate Bernedoodle Dog Manual will answer all the questions you may have when considering sharing your home with this mixed breed.

Learn everything there is to know, including little known facts and secrets, and how to care for every aspect of your Bernedoodle ’s life.

This manual contains all the information you need, fr

• Language: English
• Publisher: IMB Publishing
• Release date: Apr 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781788650502

Book preview

About the Authors

George Hoppendale is an experienced writer and a true animal lover. He enjoys writing animal books and advising others how to take care of their animals to give them a happy home.

Asia Moore is an animal lover, professional Dog Whisperer, Cynologist and experienced Author, living on Vancouver Island, off the west coast of British Columbia, in Canada, who believes that all humans and dogs can live together in harmony.

She and her dog whispering team, which includes an 8-year-old Shih Tzu named Boris, teach dog psychology to humans, to help alleviate problem behaviors that arise through misunderstandings between humans and their canine counterparts so that everyone can live a happy and stress-free life together.

Visit Asia and her dog whispering team online at:

K-9SuperHeroesDogWhispering.com

Chapter 1: Introduction

The Ultimate Bernedoodle Dog Manual will answer all the questions you may have when researching this hybrid canine.

If you are considering sharing your home with the active and intelligent Bernese Mountain Dog/Poodle mixed breed, you will find the answers you need here.

Learn all about this hybrid canine, as well as facts and secrets about both breeds, including possible health issues and how to care for every stage of the Bernedoodle’s life.

This Manual contains all the information you need, from choosing a breeder to how to care for an aging dog, including transitioning through house breaking, daily care, health, feeding, grooming, basic training, first tricks and hand signals and end of life, so that you can make an educated decision when deciding whether or not the Bernedoodle designer dog is the breed for you and your family.

As well, this manual contains valuable information, tips and tricks that can easily be applied to any breed of canine.

Chapter 2: The Bernedoodle Hybrid

The Bernedoodle is a cross between a Bernese Mountain Dog and a Poodle, where one parent is a purebred Bernese Mountain Dog and the other parent is a purebred Poodle.

The Bernese Mountain Dog, established as a large purebred canine in 1907, gets its name from the area in Switzerland (Bern) that it was named after, whereas the Poodle, originating in Germany as a water retriever, gets its name from the German word for puddle (pudel), which means to splash around, are bred in three distinctively different sizes (toy, miniature and standard).

The Bernedoodle hybrid, while also bred to be smaller sizes, will more usually be a Bernese Mountain Dog bred with a Standard Poodle.

When two purebred canines are bred together, in the past they were simply referred to as mutts. Now, when two separate breeds are intentionally crossed or mixed together, they are often referred to as designer or hybrid dogs.

The most obvious mark of a designer or hybrid dog' is that the resulting puppies are named with what is referred to as a portmanteau word, which is a word that is a combination of two or more words, syllables or sounds that have been taken from the names of the two or more purebred parents, that becomes the new name of the designer breed.

The term hybrid or designer dog first began during the late 20th century, when breeders first began to intentionally mix Poodles with other types of purebred canines with the intent of creating offspring that would retain the Poodle hypoallergenic coat, as well as traits considered desirable from other popular breeds.

Therefore, in order to better understand this hybrid dog, we need to first consider the traits of both breeds separately.

Although cross breed dogs are not recognized by purebred registries, such as the American Kennel Club (AKC), they are recognized by the International Designer Canine Registry (ICDR), where the Bernedoodle designer dog is generally considered to be a large breed.

When purchasing a hybrid or designer breed canine, you need to keep in mind that while purebred dogs have been carefully bred for many generations to be recognizable by their consistently uniform look, size and temperament, puppies that are produced from combining one breed with another, such as in the case of the Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle, may not inherit the same consistent traits from the breeding parents.

This means that puppies born in the same litter can have an appearance that is remarkably different from each of their other siblings, and it can also mean that each litter produced by this type of pairing may be unique.

While the appearance and size of the Bernedoodle will largely depend upon the appearance and size of both parents, as they will more usually be crossed with a Standard Poodle, they will often be a larger dog.

The Bernedoodle hybrid can take on more of the physical appearance and traits of the Bernese Mountain Dog parent or more of the physical appearance and traits of the Poodle parent.

When measured at the shoulder, a standard size Bernedoodle will stand between 22 and 27 inches (55.8 and 68.6 centimeters) and weigh between 60 and 110 pounds (27 and 49 kilograms) depending on the size of both parents.

No matter which side of the parenting combination the puppies take after, the Bernedoodle will be a fun loving, intelligent, easy to train dog who will love to run and play and will excel at whatever activity their guardian has the time to teach.

1. Bernese Mountain Dog

The Bernese Mountain Dog, originally kept as a farm dog for pulling carts, and considered a working class breed, is a purebred canine with a long history, having originated in the Swiss Alpine region.

dreamstime_m_14317280

This purebred canine was officially established in 1907.

This breed is usually tri-colored black and white with tan in coloration with a long, full tail, floppy ears and tan eyebrows.

A Bernese Mountain Dog stands approximately 23 and 27.5 inches (58 and 70 centimeters) at the shoulder and can weigh between 80 and 110 pounds (36 and 50 kilograms).

The large, heavy and muscular Bernese Mountain Dog, with a body configuration that is slightly off square (longer than tall), was originally used to guard farms, drive cattle and as a draft animal to pull carts.

This breed is generally known to be good-natured, docile, affectionate and patient with children.

The Bernese Mountain Dog is a quick learner who is above average in intelligence, although they can have a stubborn streak and be quite independent minded, therefore, they should be well socialized and trained with a firm hand, otherwise they may take over the home and could become noisy barkers.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) and the United Kennel Club (UKC) both recognize the Bernese Mountain Dog as a purebred canine.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) recognized the Bernese Mountain Dog as a registered working group breed in 1937.

This is a dog that loves to be outdoors and who, in July 1010, earned the ability to compete in American Kennel Club sponsored herding events.

The Bernese Mountain Dog has a reputation for being relatively short-lived (on average 7.2 years) due to their high incidence of terminal cancer and musculoskeletal health problems.

When properly trained, the Bernese Mountain Dog will enjoy participating in carting events or drafting trials, where they pull children in carts or participate in parades.

The Bernese Mountain Dog is a sturdy, heavy dog that is usually very patient with young children so long as they have been socialized at an early age. If brought up with children in the home they will be very protective.

Statistics indicate that according to American Kennel Club registrations, the Bernese Mountain Dog continues to rank highly in popularity, holding the 32nd and 33rd positions during 2012 and 2013 amongst 175 registered breeds.

Kennel Club weight standards vary between xx and xx pounds (xx and xx kilograms) for Bernese Mountain Dog breed.

For show purposes, the color and markings of the Bernese Mountain Dog coat must be tri-colored as stipulated by the AKC:

…The ground color is jet black. The markings are rich rust and clear white. Symmetry of markings is desired. Rust appears over each eye, on the cheeks reaching to at least the corner of the mouth, on each side of the chest, on all four legs, and under the tail. There is a white blaze and muzzle band. A white marking on the chest typically forms an inverted cross. The tip of the tail is white. White on the feet is desired but must not extend higher than the pasterns…

2. Poodle

The friendly, intelligent and active Poodle is one of the smartest dogs in the canine purebred lineup.

dreamstime_m_9789551

This fun loving canine was originally a working dog bred and developed in both Germany and Russia for field hunting which involved retrieving downed waterfowl in the water.

While still other claims of Poodle origin have been attributed to Denmark and the ancient Piedmont in Northern Mesopotamia, one thing that is certain is that today’s modern Poodle was a descendant of the now-extinct French Water Dog, the Barbet, and possibly the Hungarian Water Hound.

The Poodle is believed to be one of the oldest hunting breeds used for water retrieval.

The reason the breed is referred to as the French Poodle is because the breed was standardized in France where it then became the national dog of France.

What many people don’t realize is that the Poodle has been well known for very much longer than 400 or 500 years and may be one of the oldest breeds of canines known to man.

The ancient ancestral Poodle with the Lion Trim haircut appeared on ancient Greek and Roman coins during the time of Emperor Augustus in approximately 30 A.D.

As well, the Poodle was revered in pictures that were carved on many monuments, tombs and Palace walls and there is historic evidence of the intelligent Poodle seen in medieval manuscripts of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

As the Poodle became well known as a distinct breed, they were bred down in size to become more of a companion dog, which resulted in the creation of the Miniature and Toy sizes of the breed.

Poodles have been used for a variety of jobs in history as hunters and retrievers, circus dogs, court and companion dogs for the rich and powerful. The Miniature Poodle was often used as a truffle dog for sniffing out the truffle used in French gourmet cooking.

Despite the Poodle’s origins as a hunting and retrieving breed, they became well known for their abilities as performing dogs, and were widely distributed due largely to traveling gypsies who favored the Poodle above all others as a performing circus dog.

As a working retriever, the Poodle was originally considered an off-square breed, because their body was longer than it was tall, which is similar to most of today’s retrieving breeds.

However, as the highly intelligent Poodle was such a superior circus act performer, which made them ever more popular with the traveling gypsies, with careful breeding practices, their body shape began to change to increase their ability for faster agility which was not possible with the longer retriever body shape.

As a result, the original, longer Poodle body became more of a square shape to improve the dogs’ spinning and hind leg acrobatic capabilities.

The three sizes of recognized American Kennel Club (AKC) Poodle breeds (toy, miniature and standard), rather than being judged by weight, are instead judged by height.

The toy Poodle usually stands less than 11 inches (28 centimeters) and weighs between 6 and 9 pounds (3 and 4 kilograms).

The miniature Poodle generally weighs between 15 and 17 pounds (7 to 8 kilograms) and stands between 11 and 15 inches (28 to 38 centimeters) when measured at the withers (top of the shoulder).

The miniature Poodle must be over 10 inches and 15 inches or less at the highest point of the shoulder in order to compete in the show ring as a miniature Poodle.

The standard Poodle generally stands over 15 inches (over 38 centimeters) at the shoulder and weighs between 45 and 70 pounds (20 and 32 kilograms).

Statistics indicate that according to American Kennel Club registrations, the popular Poodle continues to rank highly in popularity, holding the #9 position amongst the top 10 out of 175 registered breeds.

For AKC show purposes, the coat of the Poodle must be:

…Curly: of naturally harsh texture, dense throughout. (2) Corded: hanging in tight even cords of varying length; longer on mane or body coat, head, and ears; shorter on puffs, bracelets, and pompons. … A Poodle under 12 months may be shown in the Puppy clip. In all regular classes, Poodles 12 months or over must be shown in the English Saddle or Continental clip. In the Stud Dog and Brood Bitch classes and in a non-competitive Parade of Champions, Poodles may be shown in the Sporting clip. A Poodle shown in any other type of clip shall be disqualified...

3. History/Origin of the Bernedoodle

Determining true origin of a specific breed of canine is always met with a certain degree of controversy and many different theories about the true origin of a breed, there is considerable evidence to indicate that the first Bernedoodle puppies were born in Ontario, Canada approximately eleven years ago (2003).

In the case of the Bernedoodle, which is the result of breeding a Bernese Mountain Dog with a Poodle, although relatively new to the hybrid canine world, are becoming increasingly popular.

While the Bernedoodle will usually be a loving, affectionate, goofy and sweet natured dog inside the home, that will follow you everywhere, what breeders are striving to create in a Bernedoodle is a coat color that closely matches the Bernese Mountain Dog, combined with the non-shedding, good-natured intelligence of the Poodle, and a longer lifespan than usually enjoyed by the Bernese.

Depending on the particular dog, the herding or hunting heritage of either parent may take over when they get outside and see animals or birds to chase.

There is no doubt that the melding of the Bernese Mountain Dog with the genes of the Poodle has produced a friendly, energetic, longer lived dog with a low to non-shedding coat that will enjoy plenty of daily exercise.

As with any hybrid canine, while it is always the hope that the resulting puppies will take on the best traits of both breeds, always keep in mind that they could also take on some of the less appealing traits of both breeds.

4. Bernedoodle Secrets

The name Bernedoodle is a meshing together of the first few letters of the Bernese with the oodle of the Poodle breed to make up this hybrid dog name.

The first Bernedoodle litter of 10 puppies was born in Canada in 2003.

The Bernedoodle is usually a large, fluffy dog with a laid back, friendly temperament that will steal your heart.

Please understand that much of the content written in this book can be applied to EVERY dog, because when it comes right down to it, a dog is a dog no matter what size, shape, colour, price tag or fancy hybrid name we humans might attribute to them.

Every dog has a uniquely wonderful set of gifts to share with their human counterparts, if only us humans would listen.

They tell us when they are unhappy, when they are bored, when they are under-exercised, yet often we do not pay attention, or we just think they are being badly behaved.

Many humans today are deciding to have dogs, instead of children, and then attempting to manipulate their dogs into being small (or large) fur children. This is having a seriously detrimental effect upon the health and behaviour of our canine companions.

In order to be the best guardians for our dogs, we humans need to have a better understanding of what our dogs need from us, rather than what we need from them, so that they can live in safety and harmony within our human environment.

Sadly, many of us humans are not well equipped to give our dogs what they really need and that is why there are so many homeless, abandoned and frustrated dogs.

As a professional dog