England is a country which has always fascinate us from the Continent, not only for its characteristics so very insular and for the nice manners so well preserved desipte the progressive americanization (that crushes everything in Europe like a sledge hammer, without sparing even the most conservative of countries), but also for its artistic treasures, the castles, the beautiful and virtually incontaminated countryside. But apart from that, England, home of dog shows and cynofilia, is the country all of us pure-breed dog-lovers refer to, even if we do bear in mind the glorious breeders of the past such as Beaufort, Gordon, Lawerack, Malmesbury, Arkwright, Llewellin, Tweedmouth and Macdona are a distant memory and the breeds passed, with few exceptions, from the caring hands of rich land-owners of the countryside who performed excellent selection, to small and modest producers who certainly do not possess the means their foregoers had.
  Nevertheless it still exists in England a blossoming of kennels which can satisfy the needs of a large demand, both at home and abroad.
  In the chapter about the history of the breed (which we incite the reader to view) it is stressed how two different models of Saint Bernard dog were determined during the 19th century in Europe: the continental one, represented by dogs whose heads had the characteristic of very convergent cranio-facial axis, and the English one, represented by dogs whose heads had the characteristic of parallel or divergent cranio-facial axis. These differences of typology remained till present times, making the English type and the continental type incompatible to each other. Only in these last few years English begun the import a large number of exemplars from the continent, in particular from Germany, where Saint Bernards have a more accentuated typicalness, and their introduction has sensibly modified English heads, bringing them closer to the continental type.
  We shall analyze here the "classic English version" which defers, as we were saying, especially regarding the head, from the typologies we of the Continent prefer. Classy exemplars of this versions were, among others, the aforementioned King of Northumbria, Abbott Pass Romeo, Abbott Pass Benedick, Copleydene St Goliath of the 20's and 30's, Jewthree St Christopher, year 1940, Carol of Peldartor, Peldartor Rontens, Christcon St Antony of the 50's, 60's, 70's, Peldartor Ruebens, Bernmout Warlord of Mr. And Mrs. Muggleton, and so on.
  Characteristic of this version is a great stature and substance with fantastic bone structure, balance between body and limbs, the thorax reaching the elbow, prominent withers, significant size, sometimes exceeding 90 cm, males weighting 90/100 kg. Very dense and somewhat smooth coat, black or dark spashes spreaded within the white areas and frontal fillets narrow or almost absent. Excellent pigmentation.
  Head of parallel cranio-facial axis (diverging at times), very massive with well squared muzzle, of great depth, nose broad and angular, nasal bridge not always flat, abundant flews, slightly discovered eyes, frontal and lateral wrinklage accentuated, jaws strong and very robust. Scissor or pincer bite. Stop receding, frontal tuberosities slightly marked, rather flat masseter, broad ears properly set. The expression is, with exceptions, always benevolent. Dewlap abundant, neck relatively long. Rib cage very well developed in all 3 dimensions.
  Abdomen rather full. Rump long and often hollow. Arm extremely strong. Catfoot. Very well developed thigh. Gait ordinary, slightly troubled.


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  The United States host the best and better organized dog events in the world. A visit to a USA exhibition is a unique experience for europeans and it is a bit like a trip to another dimension in which you have to put aside anything you have ever seen in our exhibitions. Absolute synchrony, efficiency in every detail, professionalism of all paricipants (organizers, competition directors, hosts and exhibitors) are the basis for a cynofilia that is, from this prospective, at the very top of the world index.
  In the USA the "show" is an end in itself and it's the entertainment event the audience finds most interesting and amusing; the exemplar best presented is already spectacular, within boundaries of its breed.
  Dogs are always shown in trot and almost never in footfall, so that exemplars which trot is more fluid and use wider leaps, which limb angle is best - expecially the hindquarters - have better chance of asserting themselves.
  These criteria determined a change in all breeds of American dogs who turned gradually from work-apt dogs into mere exhibition subjects. In other words the concept of beauty applied to the American dog drifted away from the zootechnical kind , practical and adaptative (that we consider the one and only to pursuit), towards a type of harmonious beauty that is more conventional and an end in itself.
  The harshest criticism of the Saint Bernard "made in the USA" is the shortness of the limbs (the distance between elbow and ground is much less than 50% of the heigth at withers) and the smaller size (lower barycentre) that distinguishes them greatly especially from the old Swiss Saint Bernard type, as well from the German and the National Italian one. The locomotory system is fair in an absolute way although it is not typical of the Saint Bernard, with its abundant muscular mass, great thighs, massive hocks, bulky bone structure though not too sharp. But the most criticizable aspect is their general constitution which brings them closer to the German Shepherd than to a mountain dog. Deprecable are, for instance, the excessive angle of the hind and the croups inclined or overinclined.
  In other words since the German shepherd is, as far as trot (motion) is concerned, the dog for antonomasia, the American Saint Bernard is an imitation of the latter. Nevertheless American Saint Bernards have coats that are superior in terms of colours and brightness with excellent mottles, brownish shades and brilliant white colour.
  As for details, it should be said that the American Saint Bernard is very elegant, even if it is not the proper elegance required of the breed. Their traverse diameter is very accentuated, the sternal line reaches often beyond the elbow, foothold basis is wide and the muscle fasces are rather short. As far as the psychical aspect is concerned, they are very calm animals, sexual dismorfism is not accentuated and females are in general better exemplars than males. Criticizable in both sexes is the nose, which is rather small and roundish, the ears are set low at the disadvantage of the skull angularity. Usually the head maintains an infantile shape, so that many of the American Saint Bernards could be defined, from an aesthetic point of view, great puppies. Their muzzle is short, convergency between cranio-facial axisis is solid, the bridge of the muzzle is not always flat but roundish from a frontal prospective, the flews of the upper jaw are strongly developed, the flews of the lower jaw slightly pendent. They present a certain level of overshot bite, now and then there could be found a prognathous subject (in America dog-judges on the rig seldom inspect the bite), the stop is well defined though not sharp, the masseter is well developed, the eyes are round and dark coloured, the neck is set high and its length equals the length of the whole head, the chest is wide, well developed thorax, the back is wide with tight muscles and always straight, the abdomen is full, lowered, sometimes sagged (American Saint Bernards are usually overfed), the croup is wide and slant as in the German shepherd (25º-30º) at times lowered (over 30º). The tail is long, regular aplombs, shoulders are muscular, very long and slant, forelimb very well developed, slightly longer than the shoulder, forearm rather short and muscular, cat-foot, southpaws are almost absent hence it is rare the scything movement, so very common in Europe. The thigh is long and has a large girth, muscles are prominent and very developed, the hind limb is long, the hock is wide and thick, the tibial-metatarsal angle is about 125º (the usual angle in the Saint Bernard is between 145º and 150º), straight-on dogs are extremely rare, footfall and trot are wide and stretched with great drive of the posterior, fatter exemplars have a tendecy to lurch.



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