The controversy regarding the interpretation of type in the Saint Bernard breed bursted among breeders in the 19th century during the first dog show, and we saintbernardists, could carry on laughing about it as we did in the past, if it wasn't that it turned into a very serious issue since a few years back, poisoning relations between national Clubs and regional groups within a same club.

It. Champion Klubsiegerin, long-haired Alba (owner Casagrandi)

  Unfortunately, there still are some saintbernardists who cherish the obsolete and surpassed 1887 Standard as a sacred and inalterable text, and then giving of it in the ring the most discrepant interpretations. They feel it is pointless to establish a "type-image" as prescribed by the F.C.I. (during the 1934 Münich Congress) and they boycott, in the name of an abstract and anyways misinterpreted national monopole on the breed, anybody who tries to abandon empiricism and ambiguity and tries to build a constructive dialog.
  Nationalistic and regional tendencies, already rather strong in the recent past, are at present so consolidated to determine a grat centrifugla motion. Shows prove it: it is no secret that a winner in Germany can't even be placed in Switzerland (and vice versa).
  At the base of this situation is the explosion of the so-called "mass cynofilia" which modified the social profile of breeders, judges and, of course, the quality of products.
  Apart from some exceptions, the actual average Saint Bernard breeder, of modest zootechnical culture and experience, has a provincial and narrow comprehention of the sector he works in, that leads him to presume the only fair type of dog is the type of his district or, at best, the national one. It is this kind of mentality, which induces to evaluate breeders and dogs only by "geographic" merits or demerits, that is nowadays so radicated that even some judges can't avoid to be influenced by it. But, the most serious aspect of mass cynofilia is the commercialisation which brought to life "dog producing factories". There exist gigantinc ones or very small ones with only 2-3 subjects, but the profile never changes: these places are true "lagers" where "man's best friends", imprisoned in cages or within very small fenced areas as chickens in a barn (to narrow down production costs) are exploited to their very reproductive limit, and put down the moment they are no longer efficient. Bound to the "factory" there is always a departement of gathering and sorting of kannel castaways, which can be found inside or out of the national circuit, waiting to be placed on the market as breed "prototypes".
  But there is even worse: due to competition these "canine lager" managers and their satellites (who exist in a large number, considering the high interests implied) try to boycott with their every mean the true breeders.
  Another negative consequence of commercialisation is the loss of size, so evident in the mittleeuropean, Swiss and in part Italian Saint Bernard. As a matter of fact, whoever breeds for profit not only neglects any kind of selective reduction in the litters, but is also forced do employ smaller size studs who give to the breeding, in comparison to the larger exemplars, less castaways and more precocious products which are therefore easier to sell.
  During his history things were different, in particular during the "golden era" of the Saint Bernard (1920/40), when commercialisation and ignorance didn't yet spoil the cynofile ambient and when breeding was in the unselfish and competent hands of an élite of gentlemen aiming to create high quality products and spotting elective blood-lines through a strict morpho-genetical selection.
  These excellent breeders had, as far as education, culture and forma mentis is concerned, a eminently zootechnic and internationalistic view upon breeding which brought them, despite licit difference in taste, interpretation and school, to unanimity about critical judgement.
  Let us remind that, since the beginning of the last century, two different tendencies were articulated in continental Europe which polarized the public favour: the German and the Swiss one. It regarded, even if within the most orthodox respect of basic canons, a different interpretation of the standard; the German school considering weight above all whereas the Swiss one functionallity and nobleness. Until a few decades back these differences were slight and exchangable, aiming to restore substantial homogeneity. The prototype and great stud of the "golden era" was the Champion Nelson von Falkenstein, born in 1933, son of a German dog (Mylord von Falkenstein) and a Swiss bitch (Toja Gütsch).
  Nowadays instead, if we ignore the common attitude towards smaller size, it is difficult to trace even a single joint between modern Saint Bernard versions in Switzerland and Germany: the new German dog is brachimorphus and tendentially hyper-typical, while the Swiss one is a dolicomorphus and often hypo-typical. It could seem they do not belong to the same breed! There is evidently a cause to fear for Saint Bernards' destiny if we consider the two aforementioned types dominate in number the European continent and have influenced a lot the American production.
   Fortunately, in Italy in particular, it is still possible to come across dogs that embody or resemble the "golden era" exemplars or even prolong consanguineity of those amazing kins of the past.
  Those are dogs of fantastic morpho-genetic qualities, of extreme typicalness, a lot larger and radically different from the "new" ones, so that when you come across one of them in a show you feel as if you saw a "true" Saint Bernard for the very first time.
  The ones who care for the breed and desire to take upon themselves the arduous task of restoring it to former high level, must concentrate their work on these "ancient" dogs, if they are lucky enough to find any, trying naturally to preserve of the "new" versions the elements which represent an evolution (coat colours, pigmentation, bite, etc.).
  That is what did the Italian saintbernardism when it was founded in the postwar period (despite a large nimber of mistakes): and it managed to give some of the best dogs on the continent. This Italian exploit had not been overlooked by true Saint Bernard lovers, and redemption movements can be traced all over Europe, in particular in Holland, Denmark and especially in Germany.
  First of all is necessary though to give ourselves a rigorous interpretative model and establish a common technical language to detect and distinguish morpho-functional and biometric peculiarities within the different "versions" of the actual Saint Bernard. With that intention we drew a scheme, which may not give the complete and definite picture of the changeble biotypology of the European Saint Bernard, but could be useful to establish a few ground markings and, indirectly show the path to take in the selection.
  The notes that follow are a product of observation and measurements performed on champions of their own countries. We skipped a more minute and detailed exam, which would require a book itself, to stop on the most significant and statistically recurrent connotations.
 We must keep in mind that the terms we used, such as: "small", "light", "husky", "narrow" and so on must be intended in a relative way as they refer to a giant breed. Furthermore, under the title "endocrine temperament" we wanted to indicate the most characteristic connotations, without mentioning that even the small sized Saint Bernards are alweys hyperpituitaric.
  A part from the English Saint Bernard, of whom we will discuss later on, who is generally out of standard due to his abnormal head characterictics, the European Saint Bernard could be classified according to 4 versions:

1) the old German version (which is rare to trace nowadays in the entireness of its characteristics);

2) The new German version (which constitutes the majority in Germany);

3) The old Swiss version (extinct);

4) The new Swiss version (which constitutes the majority in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Holland).

Intermidiate varieties do exist, expecially in Germany. In Italy, besides by-products and Swiss-German castaways of the new version and their discendents (always the expression of bad choice and inadequate selection) as well as dogs imported by merchants from Eastern Europe (of zero value from a morpho-genetical point of view), can be found exemplars who represent successful fusions between the old German and the old Swiss version but with... a quid more (as the great passed away saintbernardist Albert De La Rie wrote).

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