Domestication |  Behaviour and psychology of the wolf |  Behaviour and psychology of the shepherd dog |  Behaviour and psychology of the rescue dog |  Instinct, nature and temperament | 

  To gain a better understanding of the psychology and the behaviour of a dog as ancient as the Saint Bernard it is of basic importance to go back to the origin of canine species. As a matter of fact, it is exclusively through the study of the progenitors of modern animals that we can deepen research towards the solution of issues linked to their evolution. In fact only the wild animal possesses the whole and unchanged inventary of behavioural models of his species: on the contrary, the domestic animal, through change in his genetic heritage, often bearer of unknown components and subjected to various variables, has suffered mutation, complex and uncomprehensable at times.

Int. It. Bsg. Champ. Sofia del Soccorso, daughter of World Champions Sando and Diana del Soccorso

  As we know, recent studies also tend to remount to the modern dog, in his various breeds and typologies, to the "canis lupus".
  The first phase of domestication begun approximately 10 or 12.000 years ago when small groups of wolfs and wild dogs started to approach our ancestors' homes, gradually and sporadically at first, and then constantly. Man then took on the habit of throwing his leftovers to these wolfs. That way they started to follow man while hunting, developing a relationship of dependence-affection towards man, who soon begun to condition the dogs aiming to make them fit for employment in practical purposes.
  It was recently descovered in Israel, a human skeleton over 12 or 15.000 years old, holding in his hands the bones of a puppy 4/5 months old. This find is a testimony of how a strong relationship was immediatly established between the two species. Even in its various specialisations, behavioural models and patterns of the domestic dog derive directly from the ones that once were of the wolf. Following these patterns, human selection operated for generations and generations.

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  Among wolves is in force a strict hierarchy on top of which are the so-called "leadres of the pack", true almighty leaders who have, among other duties, the very important one of passing on to youngsters what they have learned. It is from the leader , who is always the dominant male among the older wolves, the young wolf learns hunting patterns, such as how to spot a prey, chase it, rout it and kill, quickly assimilating all necessary notions for carrying out his duties within the pack. By applying domestication to wild animals, man started taking care of the most docile wolves among those who followed him during hunting expeditions.
  That way, brought up since the "imprinting" age, young wolves begun to shift to man the leader-of-the-pack-social-dependance, in particular the dominant male dependance. In othr terms the young wolf, by substituting the man-breeder to the leader of the pack figure, automatically put an end to his "status" as wild animal and, at the same time, set the basis of what would make of him, after centuries of domestication, the most precious man's helper.
  At the beginning dog was employed as guard against animals and other men, than as hunter, later as shepherd and, finally, in his highes form of evolution, as rescuar of man himself. This way the ancient wolf was put in the condition, after becoming Linneus "canis familiaris", the domesticated dog, of being at the service of man, of selectively putting to good use his innate instincts. Not many dog- psychology experts have tried so far to deepen and comprehend what drives a Saint Bernard at high altitudes in the mountains or a Terranova in the water to save humans in distress. To fully comprehend all of this, we need to go back once more to the wolf and to his articulate social structure. As we saw, if that structure had not existed, dogs' tendency to work for man wold have never developed. We can assert that the domestic dog, when employed by man, completes a social deed within his pack.

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  As we know, the shepherd dog represents the evolution of the hunting dog on whom man, thanks to a multisecular selection, operated a reduction of predatory instinct. The hunting techique of wolves consisted, and. for the few exemplars left still does, in isolating the prey, usually sick, old and weak animals, and then, after the prey is circled by the pack, attacking it.
  They practicly hunted only those animals who for illness or heredetary weakness compromised their species' inheritance. Wolves, as all carnivores, operated a selection in favour of their prey itself. Beside the advantage for the species, derived from the fact that only the best reproduce, there is another advantage regarding survival. Now, when there was a period of famine and there was not enough food for the survival of everyone, and if each animal had a portion of it, there would come to a destruction of alimentary resources, with no benefit for the pack. It would eventually slowly lead to the death of all. Instead, with the hierarchy system, if there is not enough food, only a few manage to eat and to survive. Although is cruel, that is one of the means nature disposes to assure the survival of species.
   The genetic element of wolf's predarory instinct remained within the domestic dog, so that man could use it when making a selection among shepherd dogs. Reducing and adapting to his own purposes the primordial predatory instincts of the dog, man accomplished to change the perception of prey the dog had. What once was the object of hunt for the hunting dog became, for the shepherd dog, the poor strayed animal not to be eaten but to be led back to the flock or herd of which the dog was, along with man, guardian. Still today, as a proof of how strong can the hereditary pulsions be within the genetic heritage of modern dog, some breeds show the tendency to bite, and in extreme cases, even rend strayed animals.

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Becello v. d. Olympiastadt München, a German son of the World Champ. Sando del Soccorso. Owner: Krienke family

  Within rescue dog man perfected some more the selection made upon his behavioural traits characteristic for shepherd dogs, transforming and amplifying the concept of strayed animal to be led back. In other words, what the strayed animal represented for the shepherd dog or for the cattle dog, the strayed or distressed human represents for the rescue dog. We can assert that the rescue tasks performed by both the Saint Bernard in the mountains or the Terranova (a Saint Bernard's cousin) in the water, are part of the same behavioural patterns.
  It is also important to bear in mind, whereas the young wolf learns from his leader of the pack all the notions necessary to comunnity life, the young rescue dog, on high altitude in the mountains, learns a lot not only from man but from the eldest exemplar he goes on search expeditions with. It is worth stressing out that, through an accurate selection, man made rescue dogs such as the Saint Bernard fit for other tasks as well as companionship and guide, maximizing the congenital aptness of some subjects to ledership and guardianship of flocks.
  Obviously, to achieve all of this (companionship, guide and rescue) under absolutely extreme conditions (blizzards, avalanches, paths covered in snow or ice, earthquakes, fire, floods, etc.) man had to employ the best the canine species offered, as far as physical endurance, resistence to fatigue, psychical gifts as well as his sense of smell and hearing. Imagine that Saint Bernards' sense of smell is forteen times the human one, and the cerebral region in charge of it is proportionally developed. It is estimated the Saint Bernard might have up to 40% brain cells more connected to the olfactory system than man. We could say that dogs such as Saint Bernards "see with their nose" and, thanks to their extremly wide olfactory field, so complete and selective, different smells could evoke in them even different "moods" as sight can in man. There is no doubt that rescue dogs are among the ones with the most developed olfactory sense. Besides, the Saint Bernard, thanks to the his frontal sinuses equipement, better developed than in any other working dog group, can perceive even most distant exhalations.
  The mechanism that determines the impulse of searching for the lost wayfarer in distress in the Saint Bernard can be compared to the impulse that makes a hunting dog search emanations of the prey or the one which makes the shepherd dog follow the traces of a strayed animal. Actually both game and strayed animals or persons, emit a particular odour, easy to identify by the dog. This allows the hunting dog to trace the prey, the shepherd dog to localize and find the strayed animal and the rescue dog, who operates always in a wider environment, to discover the unfortunate and lead him back to safety.
  Moreover, the selection-marker used for rescue dogs is their practicly infallible sense of orientation which derived from wolves. The Saint Bernards always know with mathematical certainty how to get back on the right road of beaten snow (pion) which crosses the mountain, systematically avoiding clefts.
  We can assert that rescue breeds, which the Saint Bernard belongs to, thanks to their extraordinary genetical background, embody probably the highest level of evolution any canine breed reached through human selection. Dogs belonging to those breeds posess in their genetic heritage the ability to transcend their congenital predatory instincts derived from wolves (still today of fundamental importance for the selection and training of defence dog-groups), and those of wardship of flocks, of the shepherd dogs. This progressive genetic drive allowed him, at the end, to put at the top of the behavioural-evolutional pyramid man himself, the last strayed prey-animal to rescue.

  The practically psychic gift of the Saint Bernard and his infallible recue-dog instinct fascinated dozens of researchers. The rescue tasks required a complex set of operations that only dogs of great strength (meaning of great size and weight, as stated for the ideal image of the Saint Bernard), excellent sense of smell, very balanced temperament and extraordinary intelligence, could accomplish. Not to mention that those dogs had to cross almost always very long distances in bad weather, blizzards and frost, to reach the spot hit by avalanche or to rescue a strayed person and lead him back through all kinds of danger.
  Think of the rescues made in the period between the 18th century and the 1930's; then the Saint Bernard acted often on his own because of the vastity of the area to search, the absence of mechanical means and the small number of monks. That means the rescue of one or more persons entirely depended upon the animal and his means. Swiss scientist De Saussure, one of the pioneers of canine psychology, extolled, in his 1786 book Journey through the Alps, the gift of Saint Bernards of predicting a blizzard up to 40 minutes before it begun and to sniff a man, in favourable wind, at a kilometric distance. The Saint Bernard can also detect a person buried under snow up to three meters of depth, predict and signal avalanches ten minutes before they crash by stopping suddenly and abandoning the path. Many human rescuers owe to this Saint Bernard faculty, which belongs to no other rescue breed, their blind trust in their dog. Saint Bernards' resistence to bad weather is great: they could stay day and night out under heavy snow or blizzards without suffering any consequence. Even in situations of extreme distress, they physical faculties remain intact and the dog remains present and alert at all time.
  Gifted with acute sensibility and nervous reactiveness, Saint Bernards have immediate perception of danger. When they realize somebody is in distress, nobody could keep them and, as guided by mysterious forces, they rush to rescue.

(Left): the "giant" with his favourite female friends. Owner Del Soccorso Kennel (Photo by Pozzoni) (Center): Int. It. World Champ. Aramis v.d. Olympiastadt-München with his little masters. Owner: Ghisalberti family (Right): Ursus II del Soccorso at 11 months with his owner Boris Jakši

  This almost mystic Saint Bernard's fervor towards rescue, which can be compared to hounds' instinct towards hunting, has always been a puzzle for animal psychologists. The aforementioned dog explorer and Saint Bernard breeder Heinrich Schumacher gave, at the end of the 18th century, this description of the dogs' work: «Two adult males, one young and the other one older, leave the Hospice each morning and cross the Italian mountainside for 12-13 km. Two others explore the Swiss mountainside. They reach the farest shelters built as temporary asylum for wayfarers. Even if fresh snow fell and covered the roads they can easily retrace the "pion", a path of hard beaten snow which leads to the Hospice, prepared by the dogs themselves, by stepping and levelling the deep snow. Their sense of orientation is such that anybody who finds himself depending on the dogs' guidance can have the mathematical certainty to be lead back to the Hospice. How all of this can be possible is still a mystery; fact remains that these dogs, even at night or at zero visibility, never leave, not even for a metar, the usual path». Even if he is the strongest of dogs (as a matter of fact he has no rivals if attacked), Saint Bernard has a kind temperament, in particular towards children, who he's very fond of. In the USA females are trained as "baby-sitters". A lady from New York loves to describe her female Saint Bernard as "A baby-sitter with the body and the heigth of a boxer featherweight", "when my husband and I are out, my children are safe with her as in a bunker". Beyond the exaggeration, these words resume moral and psychical qualities of the "giant of the Alps" who, apart from being an excellent watch dog, is for antonomasia a great friend of children, even very small ones, from whom he tolerates any kind of game and trick with infinite acquiescence and patience. But he is also ready to protect and defend with extreme decision. In Switzerland where this dog was bred by farmers, generations of children had as their nanny a female Saint Bernard. In many colonial families there was the habit of calling "aunt" the female Saint Bernard of the moment, in memory of her services as nanny. Usually a female Saint Bernard to whom were entrusted very small children will not only defend them from malignants, she will educate them as well to avoid danger and not to ever leave her as if they were her own cubs. Who is familiar to Saint Bernards knows from experience which powerful instinct leads these dogs to defend, protect and aid his entrustees.
   The Saint Bernard is a dog of very balanced temper, extroverted and playful, who remains a puppy to his master for his whole lifetime. Quite independent (as all molossoids), vigorous towards other dogs but never aggressive. O the other hand, for his great size and vigilance, he makes an excellent watch dog (often, his sole presence is sufficient to scare intruders off).
  About this matter, the writer R. Robert recorded in his Journey through Swiss Cantons, that in 1879 thirty evildoers, apparently Italian, after being hosted and refreshed at the Hospice, drew out guns from underneath their coats and requested that treasure to be handed over. The Prelate tried to discourage them, but in vain, so he called out loud the dogs. At the sight of the gigantic mastiffs the bandits froze, without the time to open fire, running off chased by the whole leash. At late night the dogs came back and in the next days, despite the researches, there was no trace of the bandits and nobody ever heard of them again.
  It is worth stressing that the actual Saint Bernard (as the outcome of careful selection), very successful at dog shows, preserved intact the psycho-physical characteristics of the famous rescue dogs of the past, so that, besides being an excellent guard with a great sense of property and territory, he is able to carry out, if trained, the same tasks of guide and rescue his ancestors had. Various Saint Bernards are regularly employed (as here in Italy, also in rest of Europe and in America) as avalanche dogs as well as "emergency dogs" when catastrophes occur (earthquakes, floods, etc.) and for missing persons search. We shall later examine this topic.
  Born at the service of man, the Saint Bernard never interrupted, as other dog breeds, his mission as canine auxliary, displaying in his various employments, his eclecticism as well as his extraordinary physical and psychical qualities.