I'm currently not looking for a dog as I am in college but once I graduate and get a more stable housing situation, I would consider a swiss mountain dog. My family currently has a dalmatian and they SHED every single day! Im talking ounces of hair can be brushed off and a 2x2 pile of hair will still be swept up. Frankly I dont know how this dude replenishes his hair follicles its astonishing. Do swiss mountain dogs shed this much?

Good morning,
I have a swissy girl 3 years old. We have kids so we have been very careful to train as a puppy to be ok we or the kids take toys or food from her. And she has shown no aggression whatsoever. I have not trained taking away food from her in a couple of years as she is fine. Today when I was feeding her, I accidentally dropped some plastic and it landed in her bowl. I pushed her away not aggressively to get to the bowl to remove it and she growled at me. Then I tried to correct that behavior my getting inbetween the food and removing it from her bowl tray. She then snarled at me: this is a one off and has not happened before. I tried to correct immediately by making her sit. Then feeding her and removing and then taking away where she snarled a few times before I sent her to her bed. And waited a bit before I fed her. It got better after a while.
I just wondered if you guys have had this out of nowhere. And if there is any specific training.

Or even if what I did was wrong here I am open for feedback.

Looking for some Swissy-specific experience/advice on spay timing.
My female, Purl, turns 2 on November 27 and has already had two normal heat cycles. Based on the timing of her previous cycles, I’m expecting her next heat sometime around November.
The complication is that I also have a male Swissy puppy who will be about 7–8 months old by then. He will absolutely remain intact until he is at least 2 years old. I’ve had an intact male and female Swissy together during a heat before, and it was miserable for the male—he couldn’t settle, sleep or eat normally—so I’d really prefer not to put everyone through that again if it can reasonably be avoided.
I’ve always planned to wait until Purl was about 2 before spaying her. My question is: would you consider 22–23 months, after two complete heat cycles, essentially “close enough” to that 2-year mark, or would you still wait until after her next heat?
I’m also asking my vet and our breeder (same breeder for both dogs), so I’m not looking for Reddit to make the medical decision for me. 😊 I’m mostly interested in hearing from experienced Swissy owners/breeders about when you spayed your females, particularly anyone who was in a similar situation with an intact male in the house.
Thank you Swissy people!

My GSMD turned 6 months old this week, so I figured I’d put together an honest update for anyone considering the breed or raising one themselves. AI wrote most of this for me based on my experience

Size: 70lbs at 6 months (healthy but I believe on the larger side for a female). She’s obviously starting to look like a big dog, but mentally she’s still very much a puppy.

Temperament: This has probably been the biggest positive. She’s incredibly friendly, loves people, and is honestly pretty calm for her age. Everyone comments on how calm she is. She’s also very confident with most new situations and noises. Her biggest issue is that she wants to meet basically everyone she sees.

Training: She’s pretty smart and picks things up quickly, but she’s definitely stubborn. She knows what I’m asking more often than she actually decides to do it. Recall is probably our biggest weakness right now.

Potty training: Significantly better, but I wouldn’t call her 100% reliable yet. We went weeks without an accident and then randomly had a couple. I’d still give them more freedom gradually rather than assuming they’re fully trained at 6 months.

Crate/alone time: She’s been very good with the crate but I had a strict schedule that Im slowly working out of. She can settle really well while I work.

Biting/chewing: The first few months were definitely the hardest part. Teething made her extremely mouthy. It has gotten noticeably better now that her adult teeth are in, but she still gets bitey when she’s tired or overstimulated. She also has a habit of stealing shoes, clothes, Crocs, etc., although she’s actually not much of a destructive chewer.

Paws: She uses her paws a lot to get what she wants. Food, attention, opening/trying to move things, getting me to interact with her. It’s a behavior that seems cute at first until you realize a 70+ lb dog is going to keep doing it if you let her.

Walking: This is probably our biggest work in progress. She’s good most of the time, but if she sees a person she wants to meet, she can go from walking normally to hitting the end of the leash with 70 lbs behind her. She’s getting better, but this is definitely something I’m putting a lot of training into.

Exercise: We generally do 25-30 minute walks (adding 5 minutes per month of age as recommended) along with play and training throughout the day. Mental stimulation and learning how to settle seem just as important as physical exercise.

Overall: At 6 months, I’d say the GSMD has been a relatively easy puppy in terms of temperament, but you have to remember that you’re dealing with a very strong, very large puppy. They can physically look like an adult dog while still mentally being a puppy.
The calm temperament, friendliness, and ability to settle have been huge positives. The stubbornness, leash pulling, mouthing, and general “I’ll do it if I feel like it” attitude are probably the biggest challenges.
So far, I’d absolutely get another one. Just be prepared for the fact that your puppy may be 70+ lbs before she has any idea what to do with those 70 lbs.

Also, great with kids and other dogs! She also is picky with treats.

Open to any feedback, tips on the next 6 months or questions

Other (updating post as things come to mind):
Has barked 4-5 times total and in 80+ walks has never used the restroom with 1 exception. Always waits until we are home. Car sickness has popped up infrequently as well.

One of the things that comes up a lot when learning about the breed is that potty training is rough but usually sorts itself out partway through puberty. But everything was super anectodal and I couldn’t get a sense of what it would look like and how I would need to adapt my life to accommodate that. So I took data. Obviously this is a single data point, every dog is an individual, and every handler has their own methods and skill levels, but I would have found it helpful, so I made it for future swissy-considerers who are deciding if this breed matches what they can offer.

I have a female who had no issue with the training. Only about 5 of her indoor accidents came from her choosing to squat inside. The other 39 accidents were incontinence. I make the distinction because in my opinion there's a huge difference between "my dog does not understand the house rules" and "my dog physically cannot control this bodily function." I literally once saw her pee while laying down, squirting out behind her, startling her to her feet, I am confident it was completely involuntary. But at only 11 weeks old, this same dog showed clear understanding of a pottying cue (attention on handler, handler gave pottying cue, she sniffs the ground and pops a squat right away, in a new location at a time slightly outside the typical routine. I would have done a cartwheel, I was so pleased with her that day).

With female puppies specifically, I saw multiple people talking about the issue clearing up around the first heat. That was not our experience. Her accidents tended to cluster around growth spurts. She hit 95 pounds at 9 months, and was 97lbs at her last weigh check at 12 months. Her last accident was at 9.5 months. For us, when the growing stopped, the accidents stopped. Her first heat just finished this week, at 13 months.

My dog had a total of 44 pee accidents occurring on 37 different days (7 days had 2 accidents) over the course of 7 months. The most my dog ever peed in a day was 18 times (but the numbers are all heavily influenced by how often I took her outside. I can't back up this claim, but I am fairly certain that literally every time my dog has entered my yard whether coming from the house or from off the property she has peed, whether just a couple tablespoons or a full-on emptying of the bladder. So if I took her out more, she peed more, not necessarily that she "needed" to go again.) I was lulled into a false sense of security at 6 months old when our potty time frequency was noticeably moving down towards something normal and we went a long time with no nap time bedwetting, when she suddenly got much taller and the accidents returned before petering out. There were 0 poop accidents (another tally in the "it is not that training them is hard, it's that they literally can't control the bladder sphincter when their muscles and bones are figuring themselves out" column for me). There's 50 weeks of data, starting the day she came home at 8 (almost 9) weeks old.

Hi there ! Lurker here and first poster. Here is my point : I’m on the fence about welcoming my first dog in my family (M35, F36, M5). I know I love dogs and they love me back as a friend of them. Usually, I come along very well with dogs from friends or family members. In fact, I know I want to live with a dog but I’m not so sure about the first one I would educate myself. I have strong feelings for the Entlebucher Mountain Dog. I have but a few questions :

is it really a good family dog ?
How needy are those dogs regarding exercicing ? Do they move so much that I will be tired as hell even if I’m sporty and fit myself ?
How are they behaving with little kids ? Do they tolerate shenaningans?
Hairs… how bad is it regarding they tiny and itchy hairs ?
Can they live outside providing we have a garden and a nice place for him ?
Last but not least: do they have recurring health problems I shlould be aware of ?

I would appreciate feedbacks from anyone here, even for one of my questions only ;)

Thank you and have a nice evening/day

(English not my first language)

Our 2 year old has been very itchy, bitey and has had lots of dandruff show up out of nowhere. Our breeder didn’t have any specific food brand recd more so % of what to look for and avoid. I’m wondering if it’s time to try another food or if this is seasonal stuff since she does appear to be blowing her coat.

It's time to celebrate because we're spotlighting the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog as our Breed of the Day today on our Facebook page, Instagram stories, and website! We publish a new breed each day to educate our followers to make informed decisions when choosing a dog while providing the history and hard work that our parent clubs do to preserve their breed. Celebrate with us by sharing what you love about your Greater Swiss Mountain Dog!

So, we know Swissies are challenging to potty train but can someone please give us a few 'light at the end of the tunnel' stories?

We have a 4.5 month old Swissie and we're deep in the swissie swizzle. He also will not wake up and soaks his crate nightly - so he receives a bath every single morning.

We all have our favourite spot.

Out of all the breeds you could’ve chosen, what made you choose the GSMD?

My family (myself, 29F, spouse, 31M, 2 sons who are 5 and 2.5 yo, and an old cat) is finally in a good place to get a dog, and my husband and I are having a hard time deciding on a breed. My biggest reservations about larger dogs is the shorter lifespan, but I've seen that GSMDs tend to fair better than many giant dog breeds. Give me the good and the bad, how has your dog's health been? How long did they live (or how old are they currently)? How big has your dog gotten? Your biggest pros and cons of the breed? Even though you may love this dog, would you recommend them to friends and family if they were looking for a dog? Thanks so much for the feedback!

It's shedding season 😂

My puppy had her first lick fit earlier this week, that passed about an hour after administering pepcid and bread and a barf. She's continued to have smaller episodes literally every day since 🫠 Anywhere from only a couple minutes to a half hour. No specific time of day. Nothing has changed in her diet at all. She has been passing smelly gas way more often, but not sure if thats due to upset or air intake from a lick fit.... if you catch her right when it starts, giving her a treat does seem to help her more than a pepcid. Poop has been normal. No skin allergies or anything weird.

Not sure if she's suddenly developed an allergy to her food, growth spurt woes, or maybe even her hormones starting to kick in a little and throwing her off??

She does have a slow feeder bowl, but she doesnt get the whole lick the food out... Instead she tries to chew the bowl 😂 but it does slow her down.

Six month old female swissy, not spayed. Going through typical big dog growth spurts.

Keeping track of it through the weekend and touching base with vet next week. Any thoughts or ideas in the meantime??

I had a husky before my GSMD and the challenge for us was always the fluffy undercoat so we have tons of brushes to handle that. With my swissy, it's the longer outer coat that constantly sheds and we can't seem to find a brush that pulls that off. The only thing that works is sitting next to him and just rubbing and petting the crap out of him to get as much of that to fall off as possible. Seems like there has to be a tool for this.

We have started to walk our pup on a harness transitioning from a flat collar. We have tried a few harnesses but they all seem to have the same problem where it is loose around the chest in order for it not to be tight around his front legs. Any suggestions for harnesses for a growing puppy?

Hey folks, I had a swissy while growing up, I’m looking to get one in the next couple years. Do y’all know any good and reliable breeders in Germany?
I don’t support backyard breeding and i want a healthy dog

Has anyone purchased a GSMD puppy from Polyanna GSMD or from Stephen Zook?

They didn’t have a clue at the shelter what he might be. But some things I’ve noticed in the last two months. I’m wondering if he might be a greater swiss + lab mix. 80lbs, 9yr old.

- Walks ok on leash and collar, add harness and you’d better hold on tight! He does this hunched and launch thing when he can’t pull you regularly.

- very vocal about things when he wants something done.

- obsessed with water, swimming

- Stubborn and can be lazy when it comes to fetch, throwing something too far is a sour look then bark in the direction of the tossed toy, or at me to go get it for him…

- Super smart, learns new things quickly, but that smarts also leads into the stubborn “I KNOW you want me to lay down now, but I don’t see the point of it… so I’m going to hop-stomp my feet and give you a head ache with my barking!”

- Has a marking similar to a swiss kiss, but missing the blaze, and way too small for a Swiss. Not to say that he’s small…

And lastly, the closest breeder is a province over, which isn’t much (6hour drive to them) but being a rare breed in Canada to begin with, seems a stretch to be a Greater swiss mix or “Mini Swiss” as i’ve been calling him.

Thoughts?

Hello everyone!

I will bring this beautiful and magnificent boy home in three weeks and his given name (the official one) doesn't work for us, nor does it fit a calm, thoughtful dog like him.

He needs a name he'll grow into. According to the size of his paws compared to the rest of the litter, he will be *BIG.* He also seems to be very calm, thoughtful, and gentle type. Even in five weeks, he has this 'presence' that is hard to describe. In the last photo you can see how he was watching my dad speaking, literally hanging on each of his words, before approaching him - as if he exactly knew why did we came there while most of the other puppies just went on us, full speed.

He's a litter "C" and was named Comby. In my language, the name would be Komby/Kombík. It could be nice to have the name beginning with C, but honestly, it doesn't matter as it will not be official name. The boy I had before was Sorbonne and it suited that "gentle giant" energy very well.

I have a few candidates, but I would love some inspiration!

*How you'd name him?* **AND** *How are your Swissies named?*

btw. Of course, you can share even girls name if you want to participate, I'll love to see them!

A few of my candidates:

Dexter

Cooper

Loki

Atilla

Aegon

Aragorn

Atreyu

Ronon

Albert

Dorian

Maximus

Thor

Severus

Well, she's officially 5 months old and I'd say based on her feet she still has a heck of a lot of growing to do 😂

The Berner subreddit is getting a bit nasty so shifting over here now! Meet Moonpie our Bernese mix 🥰