English pioneers and breeding in Britain |   Origin of the International Standard | Breeding and Selection in Switzerland |  Breeding and Selection in Germany |  English breeding between the two World Wars and in the second postwar period |  The "Golden Era" |  In the memory of a great breeder: ALOIS SCHMID  |

  We owe the English the merit of spreading, from the mid XIX century onwrads, the knowledge of the Saint Bernard breed and of discovering and putting on display for the world his talents and beauty.
  During the last decades of the XIX century numerous kennels grew in that country. The primary aim was to improve, upgrade and improve physical dowries of the "Giant of the Alps", that brought enthusiasm upon so many people and dog-lovers. From then on the heavy mastiff or alpine mastiff was called the "Saint Bernard Mastiff", or just "Saint Bernard", and in honour of his rescue skills, even "The Saint", a name that is still applied to him in Britain and USA.
  As we said before, the first Saint Bernards appeared at the Birmingham Show in 1862 (registered as "Dogs of Mount Saint Bernard ") and at the Cremorne Show in 1863. They all came either from the Hospice or from private Swiss breeders (in particular Schumacher). It wasn’t until 1864 that the first Saint Bernards born and raised in England were introduced to a dog-show, in Cremorne. Those were the years the breeder rev. J. Cuming Macdona, considered to be the "father of British saintbernardists", started his pioneering but fundamental breeding activity. It is worth pointing out that Macdona first started a kennel with three dogs purchased in Switzerland, from Count Pourtalès. They were three long-haired exemplars, born on the Great Saint Bernard (as we know, the monks refused to raise dogs with this coat-variety, committing them to breeders from the valley).
  The most significant Macdona’s dog was Tell, who was first exhibited at a show in 1865 and who set off a true race for the Saint Benard.
  Later Mactoda imported from Switzerland Monarque, one of the sons of Sultan I (considered to be the best exemplar produced by Schumacher’s breedings).
  Monarque (who was massive and of fine size), is considered unanimously the forebear of all English "supercolosses" of the decade between 1880 and 1890. In that period British breeders, after more than a few crossing errors and an obvious period of running-in,had an excellent exploit with the production of dogs memorable for both size and beauty of their coat.
  This was the boom of the Saint Bernard that determined among the anglosaxon saintbernardists a true " size-fever", defined by the cynologist Norris-Elye "the craze for super size". It also was highly contageous: by the end of the century, owning "the largest" Saint Bernard became the ambition of every breed-lover in Britain. At the same time, the monks of the Hospice didn’t underestimate the size favouring selection applied in England, and they even imported from England a few exemplars. It was not by chance that dogs bred by monks, in that period and after, were certainly larger and mightier than the former ones, and whose skulls resembled without a doubt the Mastiff type.
  This fact occured because the English, who always were very debonair and not complexed in their breeding activity, during the first years of the XIX century, made crossings between the Saint Bernard and the Mastiff aiming to reinvigorate the breed’s blood-line. At the end of that century they did the exact opposite, assuming that the heterozys as outcome of interracial crossing between the Saint Bernard and the Mastiff would result in the maximal size enhancement of the Saint Bernard. Unfortunately, they didn’t consider that by doing so, they would also bring about a modification in the dog’s morphology, of the skull in particular, with irreversible, irreparable consequences. In 1870 Sir Charles Isham imported from Switzerland Leo, a long-haired exemplar bred by Egger, one of Schumacher’s disciples. The influence this dog had on the English breeding of the time was considerable, because it was the father of Frederick Gresham’s short-haired female, Abbess. In 1875 Abbess was mate to the long-haired Moltke, the best descendent of Macdona’s Tell. This union generated the great kin of "Save".
  In 1871 J.H. Murchison purschased Schumacher’s long-haired Thor (another of Sultans’ sons) then mate to the above mentioned Abbess in 1873. This union gave a great contribution to the enhancement of the breed’s size and might, as the following decade brought to evidence. In 1882 the English Saint Bernard Club was founded (the first in the history of the breed),

Lord Bute (from Fleischli)

on rev. Arthur Carter’s initiative. Carter was another of the pioneers of the breed in Great Britain, that compiled, along with Frederick Gresham, the English breed Standard.
  Rev. Macdona was elected chairman, Carter became the secretary and the Duke of Wellington honorary chairman. Club’s first show was held in Kensington, in 1882 and it had 25 registrations, the dog-judge was Macdona (himself). The second show, rev. Carter and S.W. Smith judging, had 264 registrations. The best assessed was Plinlimmon, whose size was accurately registered (90 cm of height and 100 kg weight).
  The famous "Lord Bute", first shown in Sheffield in 1887, represents the outcome of English selective methods applied in that period. This supercolossus, cosidered to be the largest dog of all times, is without a doubt one of the glories of British cynofilia. His record is hard to beat for his measures appear to have been 43 inches (approximately 109 cm) of height at withers, 47.5 inches (approximately 120 cm) of chest girth, weighting 245 lb (approximately 112 kg). These measures are however a hundred years old, and are to be taken, under the prospective of modern cynotechnics, with caution.
  Lord Bute was an unexcelled masterpiece of his kind because, in spite of his excessive stature height, was a dog of balanced appearance, symmetrical, with well developed muscles and an excellent skull (for the time), wide trunk and amazing bone structure; he was proof of how much can be achieved with Saint Bernard breeding when blood-lines are accurately selected and crossed. After becoming the most rewarded dog in all Engand, in 1891 Lord Bute was sold to the Knowles Croskey from Philadelphia, for an extremely high amount. Courage, another remarkable result of that time although smaller than Bute (only... 90 cm of height at withers), was exported to Germany and ceded to Prince Solms Brauenfels, first Saint Bernard’s breeder in Germany.
  Other exemplars fundamental for English breeding were Save (born in 1879) descendent, as we saw, of Schumacher Sultan I, and his grandson, Sir Hereward, both approximately

Sir Bedivere (da Beaver)

come as tall as Courage, but heavier (over 90 kg).
  Til 1910 the parameters of Saint Bernard’s assessment in England, from the commercial and exhibitional prospective, remained size and weight, so that the most famous of these giants were so highly rated they awoke a great interest everywhere. At shows the judge, surrounded by a deliriant audience, with a graduated ruler and a libra proceeded to make accurate mesurements before proclaiming the winner. It is worth pointing out that, aside from a few exceptions (as the afore-mentioned dogs and another few exemplars, such as the long-haired Pough who had a massive head and an angular muzzle), the giants of the decade 1880-1890 (as the aforesaid rev. Arthur Carter’s Plinlimmon, Leonard, Princess Florence, and a monstrouos 100kg female, Madame Bedivere Sir Bedivere, etc.) did not possess, exception made for size and the superb coat, any of the required positive characteristics because the breeders, conditioned by the supercolossus-fashion, neglected the typicalness and the functionality.
  The dogs lacked in particular the correct shape of the skull (mostly flat) and the attitude for gait. The crossing with the Mastiff many English breeders performed, as we saw earlier, with the intent of size enhancement through heterozys, brought ruin to the Saint Bernard breeding in England. Favour left these dogs with atypical heads (in comparison to the Swiss "prototypes"), unbalanced hindquarters and sway back-lines, consequences of a selection aiming only at augmentation. Only a small number of breeders, bound to the "orthodox" type tried to avoid the worse (as Mrs. Jaggers, who made an effort to restore the original type by mating her Belline, descendent of Sultan I, with the "Pough" kin obtaining the Champion Florentius).
  It is during these years the "Bowden" kin was born. In 1906 the dog-expert Percy Manning wrote: "The Bowden Kennel (founded in 1896 by Dr. Inman and Ben Walmsley) managed, exclusively using the three best blood-lines existing in the United Kingdom, to save the English Saint Bernard and bring him back on the right track". But the English Saint Bernard remained until recently, with some exceptions, morphologicaly quite distant from the classic continental type.
  It is nevertheless worth pointing out that, even if the battle for great size reached paroxysm in England, it was useful because it pushed continental breeders to pay more attention and care, aside from the typicalness, to size too, already relevant in the work-dogs of the Hospice.

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  As previously stated the International Saint Bernard Dog Standard was officially approved on 2nd June 1887 at the European Cynologic Congress in Zürich. The compilation and approval of that text (which appears today, from a cynotechnical prospective, quite obsolete) was difficult and it encountered the resistence of the English. Dr. Th. Kunzli, one of the heirs of Schumacher, founded the Swiss Saint Bernard Club in 1884 along with Schumacher himself and other breeders such as Baur, Egger and the famous Carl Steiner and Major Fritz Blosch. Dr. Th. Kunzli conceived the International Saint Bernard Dog Standard and had it approved by the Swiss Kennel Club (founded in 1883). Dr. Kunzli and Dr. Siegmund, Swiss Club’s delegates at the International Cynological Congress held in 1886 in Bruxelles, tried in vain to have their standard approved on an international level. The most tenacious opponents were the English, who fiercly defended their Saint Bernard "type", so very different from the continental one, in particular as far as the head shape is concerned.
  The next opportunity for the Swiss to put the standard up for approval was at the International Congress held in Zürich the following year; it was approved with the sole opposing vote of the English, who, in response, compiled a standard of their own (which is still in force).

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  At the Zürich show in May 1893, 99 Saint Bernards were registered, of whom 17 were Dr. Kunzli’s dogs (among them was the famous "Kean", considered to be, in that period, the ideal representation of the standard) and 3 Carl Steiner’s dogs. The latter, using mainly dogs from the Hospice, obtained exemplars of fine typicalness and excelent stature, first among the others the long-haired Jung Pluto von Arth (born in 1888), milestone of Swiss breeding. Carl Steiner changed, in the first postwar period, the affix of his kennel from "von Arth" to "von Rigi". Under this name, Steiner bred excellent dogs from the prospective of skull type (tipicità), size and constitution.
  Another milestone of Swiss breeding was "Pluto Deichmann" (known also as "Hospice Pluto") bred by the monks and exhibited on June 1887 at the International Show in Zürich, where he asserted himself as the nearest to exemplars of the standard approved in that very year. Among the leading breeders of the Continent at the end of the XIX century stands the aforesaid Major Fritz Blosch (owner of the "von Biel" kennel) who, input in his valuable helvetic kin the beautiful King of Ashfort, son of the English giant Plinlimmon, and had as outcome great exemplars who were fantastic both for size and might . Worth mentioning among those "Athos von Biel", Jung Athos von Biel, "Bob III von Biel", etc. The "von Biel" blood-line had a crucial importance in the history of the breed because it contributed to the production of some of the great prototypes of the so-called "Golden Era" (1920-1940) of the Saint Bernard dog, as we’ll see later. Between the two centuries Barthlome, Hartmann and Ulrech in Switzerland achieved respectively the wonderful "Flora von Solothurn" (of 80 cm of height), the balanced and massive Zar von Basel and Barry von Hallwilersee.
  In most of Swiss blood-lines of that time (and in Germany too, where Saint Bernard breeding was taking off) flowed some blood of Kean I of Dr. Kunzli, or his sons’ Willi Wood (best among short-haired Saint Bernards in Zürich in 1893) or Kean II. These two exemplars, of fine typicalness for the time, were the subjects of a famous 1896 painting by the well-known animalist painter Richard Strebel.
  The fact that Dr. Kunzli had first the intuition

Rasko von Uto

of the necessity of byometric measurments on the dogs is very important. For his research he used (that revealed to be most useful for breeders in the first XX century) one of the best exemplars of his kennel, Jung Tell, a dog of 81 cm of height at withers, probably of even more defined typicalness than Kean himself.
  During the last decade of the XIX century Switzerland gained other breeders of fundamental importance, such as Ferdinand Mannuss from Luzerne (active since 1940 under the affix "Gütsch") - whose best exemplars were Michel Gütsch, Lord Gütsch, Freja Gütsch, Pius Gütsch, Jorg Gütsch (whose head was exemplary both for typicalness and expression), the great Sieger Ivo Gütsch (Jorg’s grandson) and Bernd Gutsch (best in 1935 Show in Frankfurt - and S. Steinegger from Zürich (holder of the affix "von Uto") who positively characterized the beginning of the XX century both in breeding and in shows, with hisi Rasko von Uto, Blanka e Belline von Uto.

S. Steinegger with Blanka, Prinzess and Ilse von Uto

  In the meantime, Germany took the same path which, decades later, led her to arise as one of the leaders of saintbernardism. The German Club was founded in 1891 and its pioneers were Prince Albrecht von Solms Brauenfels, Dr. Caster and Fink from Berlin
  It is interesting the fact that among the founders of the German Club eight were Swiss, three Austrian and one Russian; this means that an "europeisation" of the 28th breed occured without a doubt at the end of the XIX century. The first elected chairman was Dr. Calaminus and vice-chairman the painter Strebel. Already then Major Fritz Blösch from Switzerland was a member of the Board, from 1894 even vice-chairman, as proof of the tight connections existing between Germany and Switzerland.
  Prince Albrecht imported one of his English "supercolosses", Courage, for his kennel "Wolfsmuhle", but even though this dog won at several shows, he revealed himself a complete failure as a stud in the kennel..
  As many articles written by Dr. Caster in that period attest, the beginnings of Saint Bernard’s breeding in Germany was filled with difficulties because the breeders couldn’t decide for years which type to persue (the Swiss or the English one), so that at the 1882 Show in Hannover the winner was Cadwallader, a dog imported from England.
  It was only in the first decade of the XX century that the Germans begun, after finally choosing the Swiss standard, the production of dogs of a fine level, without forgetting though the good part of the English-type dogs: the size, the bone structure and the beauty of the coat. Frequent exchanges with Switzerland, allowed the Germans to take upon themselves a leading role during the "Golden Era" of the Saint Bernard dog and in the period between the two World Wars.
   In 1897 Ludwig Kasten founded a kennel in Altona that was to have for decades (till present days) an important role in german breeding. His Altona's Alf was considered for years as a prototype.
  In 1903 saintbernardist Max Näther begun his activity; he had been a dog-judge for years and breeding controller as well as one of the most charismatic personalities in the history of the breed in Germany. He became chairman of the Club in 1921 and passed his chair, eleven years later in 1932, onto another great personality of european saintbernardism, Hans Glockner; dog-judge, researcher and breeder with the famous affix "von Grossglockner", of capital importance for the German Saint Bernard.
  In 1905 the German dog-judge Boppel, reconnecting to the work done by Dr. Künzli in Switzerland a few years earlier, displayed at a German judges meeting a series of Saint Bernard-type drafts. In particular the drawings regarding the skull were considered to be closest to the ideal type, so that they were adopted as esplicatory corollary to the standard, and remained in force until the "Golden Era" of the breed. In those drafts the basic characteristic of the Saint Bernard-type is already clearly defined: the convergency of the longitudinal superior axis of the skull and of the muzzle. The Hospice dogs (with rare exceptions) had a certain level of convergency, not too accented, trait also evident in Schumacher’s and Dr. Kunzli’s dogs. English dogs were inclined (and still are) towards a parallelism or even a divergency, with serious consequences reflected in their expression, the shape of the muzzle, the stop, the shape of the skull (which tends to be flat), etc..

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  English breeders of the period between 1880 and 1895 held in great consideration size and weight, at the expense of consistency, and of the musculature and many of the dogs who won on shows had no "aptitude towards gait". Contrary to this, no structurally imperfect dog was ever input or produced by Bowden breeders (of which we said before). Those breeders performed "inbreedings", selecting the breed not only basing themselves on phenotypical characteristics, but genotypical also, so that the outcome was a type that maintained homogeneity for generations. Surely many dogs bred at the same time as the Bowden, were qualitatively similar to them (as the champion The Pride of Sussex), but no other breeder could have the certainty of obtaining a chain result.
  The most famous Bowden dogs were Tannhauser, Viola and the short-haired Viking.
  When the Bowden kennel shut down, many dogs passed to the Redwoods, who bred in their kennel "Pearl" 42 champions.
  Unfortunately the First World War stopped Saint Bernard’s breedings in England and many dogs starved to death. Men went to war

Abbott Pass Benedick

and the task of caring and nourishing what was left of the valuable English kin was passed to the women. One meritorious lady of that period was Miss. Waller who managed to save many of these excellent exemplars. This eminent personality of British saintbernardism became later, in 1922, the directive mind than the famous "Abbott Pass" breeding of the Staines consorts. This breeding, more famous even of the Bowden, is considered to be the greatest one England ever had. Some of its dogs (or their desciples) had great stature and might and, at the same time, balance and excellent gait. It is worth undelining that between the Bowden period and the Abbott Pass, British Saint Bernards restored the maximum size without loss of functionality. The best Abbott Pass’ dog was probably Romeo, a dog of great size and bone structure. For a long time Romeo was considered to be the prototype of the British-type variety. Pictures of him illustrate a large skull with very broad muzzle but his stop is typical of an English Saint Bernard, that is to say not too clearly defined. The benevolent expression is excellent, as prescribed by the standard.
  During the first postwar period, between 1920 and 1922, worthy descendents of the Bowdens and of the Pearls were sculptress’ Graham Thopmson short-haired champions King and Queen of Northumbria. These dogs had a spectacular size and bone structure. One of King’s descendents, King's Mark of Tynebank, was considered for a long time there after the best short-haired exemplar ever. It is our opinion that these three exemplars still stand at the top of the English short-haired variety.
  Speaking of the Abbott Pass’ dogs, it is worth mentioning Lady Molly, perhaps the largest female ever; she weighted approximately 100 kg. She was a great success in Cruft in 1932. Other famous Abbott Pass were Macbeth, Benedict and Friar. During World War II history repeated in an even more radical way than before and great merit goes to those who, despite of the almost insurmountable difficulties, managed to keep breedings alive. It is thanks to them the English kin survived.
  Dearest to the heart of all British Saint Bernard lovers is Mrs. Graydon Bradley who succeeded in saving, in the heavily bombed Dover, and with great personal sacrifice, her dogs. Right after the war this lady went back to breeding and produced numerous champions.
  Other meritorious ladies that contributed to the salvation of the English Saint Bernard during the war were Miss Cross (under the "Clearbrook" affix) and most of all Miss Watts ("Clairvaux"). The last Watts dog was Cesario of Clairvaux that is rightfully considered to be one of the finest British exemplars
  All the best dogs saved during the war were eventually absorbed (by 1948) by two important breedings: the "Corna-Garth" of Gannt and the "Peldartor" of Mrs. Walker. These two breedings have the merit of carrying on the old English version.
  Nowadays, due to the constant introduction of continental blood-lines, the classic English type has been partially lost and size reduced.
 As we said before it is a well known fact that we are supporters of the old Swiss-German type, but nevertheless we cannot forget dogs such as Jewthree St. Christopher of Gannt, or the fantastic Cristcon St. Antony as well as his brother Cristcon St. Barco, whose colours, bone structure, elegance and size show the achievements the old English version was able to accomplish even in the second postwar period.
  Unfortunately dogs of such a high quality don’t exist in England any more, and this is confirmed by championship shows we have often judged in the past years. But still, there is a positive fact emerging: there are no longer substantial differences between the continental type and the Saint Bernard actually bred in England. This means that the outcasting of the English Saint Bernard should end as well as the old controversy. It is upon us to greet in the World Union, without nationalisms and preclusions, also the Clubs which safeguard the Saint Bernard breed in Great Britain.

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