American Canine Association

Breeds

Greater Swiss Mountain Dog


History

Originating in no where other than the Swiss Alps, the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog is the oldest of the Sennenhound bloodlines. This breed was used for guarding livestock. Today, this is a popular breed in the United States as companions, tracking, guarding, herding and competitive obedience dogs.

Appearance

The Greater Swiss Mountain dog is a large breed dog with males and females weighing 130-135 pounds in weight and measuring 23-28 inches in height. This breed is built large and strong overall. Their large head is broad and square in appearance with two large, pendant shaped ears hanging alongside their face. Their two large eyes are almond shaped and available in a dark brown to black in color. Their legs are very long and straight in appearance. Their tail is medium in size and thick. This breed has a double layer, short hair coat that should demonstrate a natural shine and is available in tricolor of black, tan and white.

Temperament

The Greater Swiss Mountain Dog is an incredible dog to add to your family whether you have grown children, or infants. This breed thrives in a family environment and truly only wants to please their owner. The Greater Swiss Mountain Dog is excellent at protecting their home and loved ones naturally. This breed is known for staying in the "puppy stage" for quite some time, not generally maturing until they are around 3 years of age. Early socialization and obedience classes are highly recommend to ensure a well behaved mature dog. This breed requires a firm, confident owner who is loving, but sets early rules and boundaries to ensure the dog understands humans are first within pack status.

Grooming

This breed does shed. Daily brushing and bathe when needed.

Special Notes

This breed is prone to bloat, stomach and digestive problems, epilepsy, and hip and joint issues. This breed can do well in an apartment if they receive proper physical and mental exercise daily. Do not add a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog to your home unless you are able to provide life long physical and financial care to the new family member. We recommend a properly fenced in area for your new dog or a properly fitting harness and leash at all times while outdoors. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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