{"id":18281,"date":"2026-06-26T21:31:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18281"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:31:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:31:36","slug":"st-bernard-dogs-still-roam-the-swiss-alps-as-part-of-this-living-museum-and-its-breeding-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18281","title":{"rendered":"St. Bernard dogs still roam the Swiss Alps as part of this \u2018living museum\u2019 and its breeding program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By JEZ FIELDER<\/strong><\/p>\n

BOURG-SAINT-PIERRE, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 At the Great St. Bernard Pass high in the Swiss Alps, the eponymous dogs still walk the same mountain paths their ancestors patrolled for hundreds of years to find travelers buried beneath the snow.<\/p>\n

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Down in the valley, a living museum honoring the Swiss national dog\u2019s history \u2014 and its future \u2014 is marking its first year.<\/p>\n

More than 130,000 people have visited Barryland, the world\u2019s only space dedicated to St. Bernards, since it opened last summer in Martigny, Switzerland, after outgrowing a much smaller space. Tourists can watch live grooming and physiotherapy sessions, explore the mountain pass with augmented reality technology and learn more about the dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of demand and interest for this breed and this whole history and patrimony,\u201d said Barryland director M\u00e9lanie Glassey-Roth. \u201cSo we decided to create a new park, a big one.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 8,100 feet above sea level on the Swiss-Italian border, the Great St. Bernard Pass is one of the country\u2019s highest and most treacherous.<\/p>\n

Since the mid-17th century, large mountain dogs have been kept on the pass. They arrived as guard dogs, became companions, and gradually evolved into something the Alpine world had never seen before: Animals with an extraordinary instinct for locating hikers lost in snow and fog.<\/p>\n

The breed\u2019s name stems from the Great St. Bernard Hospice, which was founded in 1050 by Bernard de Montjoux, the archdeacon of Aosta and future saint, to provide refuge for pilgrims and merchants crossing the dangerous pass. The dogs became central to that mission, and by the early 19th century they had a reputation that was carried across Europe by soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte following his army\u2019s own crossing of the route.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n

Barry the First, the most celebrated dog, is traditionally credited with saving more than 40 lives when he was at the hospice between 1800 and 1812. At the Barry Foundation, the steward for the breeding program, there is always a male dog called Barry.<\/p>\n

Currently, the foundation\u2019s 21 keepers care for 32 dogs. Roughly 20 pedigree puppies are born annually. These dogs, as well as other St. Bernards, no longer do mountain rescues because they\u2019re too big to be transported by helicopter. Smaller breeds like Australian shepherds are used instead, though a number of St. Bernards are kept on the pass to keep the tradition alive.<\/p>\n

The foundation\u2019s dogs typically eat about 10 metric tons (22,046 pounds) of dry food each year and spend their summers gamboling in the remnants of snow in the mountains before heading 40 kilometers (25 miles) down winding roads back to the kennel in Barryland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to see them born, and we get to see them grow up, and then become mothers, and we get to accompany them through all those different challenges in life,\u201d keeper Alexandra Piatti said. \u201cWe are their guide, so we can help them with socialization and educate them, and really be by their side for their whole lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

In 2025 alone, the foundation says its dogs completed 609 jobs by visiting hospitals, care homes, schools and prisons across Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Keeper D\u00e9borah Dini balances the weight of the breed\u2019s history with affection for the dogs in her charge.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe perpetuate the tradition,\u201d she said. \u201cWe take care of them. We love them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Bernards, once famous for mountain rescues, are now too large for such tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Bernard dogs still roam the Swiss Alps as part of this \u2018living museum\u2019 and its breeding program - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18281\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Bernard dogs still roam the Swiss Alps as part of this \u2018living museum\u2019 and its breeding program - 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