Temperament Testing for Bernese Mountain Dog Puppies
Imagine the following scene. A family arrives at our farm for the first time and immediately falls in love with the Bernese Mountain Dog puppy with the most striking, perfectly symmetrical coat markings. The puppy is beautiful. The family knows they want that puppy.
Time passes as the family spends time with the entire litter, and they fall in love all over again. Only this time it’s with a completely different Berner puppy. This puppy, whose even-keeled, laid-back temperament is the best fit for their household full of young children. The puppy had a spirit that matched their family, and their gentle giant size will make them a perfect companion for their children’s activities. Four months later, they wrote to send us photos of their new Berner and thanked us for all our help finding their special dog.
Variations on that scenario happen at Blue Diamond Berners more often than you might expect. We all gravitate toward the puppy with the prettiest face in the litter, the Berner with the most balanced tricolor coat, the one whose markings make us sigh. But those markers don’t tell us whether the puppy will be a great fit for the people looking for a Berner. A beautiful puppy with the temperament or activity level that doesn’t match your family can cause problems for everyone. We’ve learned that the best puppy matches are made when we take the time to get to know each puppy in the litter as an individual, and learn as much as possible about each family that contacts us.
What to Know About the Bernese Mountain Dog
Bernese Mountain Dogs are a stunning breed. Their tricolor coats, big brown eyes, and regal stance make them instantly recognizable. But what makes these dogs so special is their temperaments. Berners are affectionate, loyal, and eager to please the families they live with. BMDs were originally bred to be versatile farm dogs that could pull carts, herd livestock, and serve as loving companions to farmers and their families. Today, they are loving, smart, and amazing family companions.
Temperament matching is critical when placing Bernese Mountain Dog puppies. Although each litter of BMDs will share some general traits, the individual personalities within a litter can vary widely. There will be confident puppies who immediately take charge. There will be more sensitive, mellow, quiet, and laid-back puppies. Energetic puppies with a high drive that have the need to be active all the time. By getting to know the individual puppies in each litter, we can help match them with the families that are the best fit for them.
What to Know About Life with a BMD
Before delving into the nuances of each puppy’s temperament, it’s helpful to understand the realities of life with a Bernese Mountain Dog. These are big dogs. The male Bernese Mountain Dog’s standard height is usually around 25 to 27.5 inches at the shoulder, and the standard weight range is around 80 to 115 pounds. Female Berners are usually a bit smaller, with a shoulder height range of 23 to 26 inches and an average weight range of 70 to 95 pounds. That size has a major impact on space, transportation, and the physicality needed to manage them.
You should have a house with a yard and, at a minimum, be able to drive to a space where they can run around off-leash regularly. Small apartments, or houses without nearby parks or trails, are not the best fit for this breed. The Bernese Mountain Dog also has a thick, luxurious double coat that will require regular grooming, and they shed heavily seasonally. Be prepared to brush this dog frequently, and understand that fur is a given in your home.
These dogs are loyal and love spending time with their families. They do not enjoy being left alone for long periods. They thrive when they can be a part of all family activities and may develop separation anxiety if isolated from their families too much. For a family that is home a lot or can take the dog along on trips, the Bernese Mountain Dog can be an incredibly devoted companion. Children and BMDs are a natural fit, as these dogs are known for their gentle, calm, patient nature with kids.
Temperament Varies Within Each BMD Litter
Although Bernese Mountain Dogs as a breed are known for being calm, affectionate, and good-natured, individual puppies can have widely varying temperaments. There will be outgoing, high-energy puppies and more reserved, low-key puppies in each litter.
This is exactly why we take the time to understand each puppy individually, rather than assuming they will all have similar temperaments because they are bred from the same family.
How to Observe Each Puppy to Learn More About Their Temperament
The process of getting to know the puppies in each litter begins long before we conduct formal temperament testing. As soon as our Bernese Mountain Dog puppies are born, we watch and learn about the individual personalities in each litter. Even in the first weeks, when they are just tiny wrinkled creatures waiting for their eyes and ears to open, we are learning about who each puppy will become as they mature.
We watch the puppies as they nurse to see which ones consistently grab spots at the front of the pile and which ones wait until the others have finished nursing before they eat. We observe how puppies react to us as we begin to handle them: which puppies lean into human touch as we hold them, and which puppies prefer to rest in their own space. As soon as the puppies are mobile and begin interacting with each other, we see how they play. Some puppies are confident and playful and will often start games, while more sensitive puppies will observe before joining the fray.
The daily interactions we have with each litter add to a growing knowledge base about each puppy. When it comes time for us to do temperament testing and match each puppy with its new home, we have an extensive understanding of each puppy from the informal, day-to-day observations we have been making for weeks.
Professional Temperament Testing
Once our Bernese Mountain Dog puppies are around 8 weeks old, we bring in our professional dog trainer to temperament test each puppy in the litter. We take this process very seriously, which is why we employ a professional, experienced, and objective professional to help us rather than doing this testing ourselves. We have found that independent puppy temperament testing produces the most accurate, unbiased data we need for matching each puppy.
Our trainer runs each puppy through a series of structured exercises designed to assess and reveal each puppy’s natural temperament. A social attraction assessment measures how quickly and eagerly each puppy approaches an unfamiliar person. Do they prance up on four legs with tails wagging, approach on their toes with tentative curiosity, or observe the new person for some time before drawing near? Each puppy’s response gives us clues about that puppy’s social confidence and how they may interact with people they do not know in their adult lives.
The trainer also observes the puppies’ reactions to new sights and sounds, including unexpected noises and unfamiliar items. A more confident puppy may startle at a loud noise and then quickly recover and examine something new with interest. A more sensitive puppy may need some time and gentle encouragement to approach something unfamiliar with any degree of comfort. Evaluating how the puppies react to the unknown helps us to predict how they will cope with new environments and experiences in their future homes.
The trainer will also observe the puppies during handling exercises to learn how they respond to being touched and gently restrained. The trainer will manipulate their paws, hold their ears, look in their mouths, and gently hold the puppies in different positions. A puppy who relaxes quickly during handling will often have a mellow, easygoing temperament and do well in households with children or first-time owners of large breeds. A puppy who is more active and vocal in their resistance during handling is likely more independent-minded and determined. This is an appealing trait for some owners, but less so for others.
The trainer will also evaluate each puppy for prey drive, retrieving instinct, problem-solving ability, and other traits. This helps identify puppies likely to excel at tasks like therapy work, and dogs who may need specific types of mental stimulation to be happy.
Matching Puppies and Families for a Lifetime of Happiness
By now, we have a deep and rich understanding of the temperament and personality of each puppy in the litter. But we also know that it is only part of the picture. To make the best matches, we need to have a similarly deep understanding of each family we work with.
We want to know as much as possible about your life. What is your living situation like? Do you have a house with a fenced yard? How much time will the puppy spend on its own during a typical day? Do you have children? What are their ages? Are there other pets in the household? We also want to learn as much as possible about your own preferences and expectations for a new dog. Are you looking for a hiking partner and adventure companion or a laid-back family dog? Do you plan to engage in activities such as carting, therapy work, or competitive obedience with your new dog? Are you seeking a dog who will bond closely with one person in the household, or one who will dote on everyone?
Armed with as complete a picture as possible of your family and all of our evaluation of the puppies in our litters, we can then make matches based on compatibility. The active family with a farm or acreage who are used to spending time outdoors will likely find a confident, higher-energy puppy with excellent environmental stability to be a wonderful fit. The family with young children who is looking for a calm, patient dog will get the puppy that showed excellent patience during handling and has more moderate activity levels. The owner with experience handling larger dogs and an interest in therapy work will likely be matched with the puppy with the highest social attraction scores and who was friendly and calm throughout all testing.
When browsing our available puppies, read the professionally written description by our dog trainer, who personally temperament-tested the puppy. The description will let you know the temperament and mention the type of family the puppy would be perfect for. Many people only pay attention to a puppy’s looks when selecting one. Even though all of our puppies are amazing and can adapt to any family, choosing a puppy with a temperament that matches your family’s needs is usually a better choice. When the ideal temperament match is not available in a litter, we often encourage families to wait for the next litter rather than bring home a puppy whose temperament may cause problems later. Our clients who are patient and wait for their ideal match always report the highest satisfaction with their puppies. This is because the dogs they get have temperaments that will naturally work well with their owners’ lifestyles rather than be at odds with them.
Finding Your Perfect Bernese Mountain Dog
If you are ready to make the commitment to bring a Bernese Mountain Dog into your life, that is an exciting first step on your journey to your perfect dog. Each litter will have a variety of puppies, each with their own personality, looking for a forever home. There will be the confident puppy who will go everywhere with you and be your outdoor companion. The gentle puppy who will be your children’s patient, protective, four-legged playmate. The silly puppy who will fill your house with play and laughter. The best friend who will be with you in all the moments of your life.
Temperament testing allows us to make matches like these. The combination of our observations from birth to 8 weeks of age, along with the professional, objective evaluation of each puppy using a known and proven temperament evaluation process, makes a big difference. It gathers data on puppies that we simply cannot collect any other way. You are not simply purchasing a dog, but are inviting a new family member to share your home, your life, and your heart for the next 8 to 10 years. We want those years to be full of joy and the deep connection that is possible between dogs and their families when they are truly a good match.
When you get in touch with us, be ready to tell us about your life and about what you are looking for in a canine companion. Try to be open to our suggestions if we try to guide you toward a puppy different from the one that initially caught your eye. Trust the process and trust that we have your best interests at heart. The right Bernese Mountain Dog is waiting to be the perfect dog for your family, and we can’t wait to help you find one.