Finding a breeder
We are strong believers that if people have knowledge and understanding that they are more likely to make informed decisions when buying a puppy. We hope this information will give you confidence to ask questions and understand the answers you are being given. As we discussed in the ‘Bernese Health Testing Explained’ section breeding is a balance of many things including but not limited to, health, breed type and temperament. All breeders have to make compromises in their breeding programme, but responsible breeders will do this knowingly and be able to explain this.
Good steps to take when finding a Breeder
1. Join the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain
Make sure you mention on your application you are looking for a puppy and additional information will be provided in your welcome pack - www.bernese.co.uk/memberhsip . It’s perhaps also a good idea to join one of the regional clubs in your area.
2. Do lots of research
There are some great resources easily available, and we recommend you do as much research as possible, there are some suggestions in the Links section on this website.
3. Attend Bernese events
This is a great way to find out more about the breed and meet dogs, owners and breeders. Many responsible preservation breeders regularly attend shows, a list of these can be found on the kennel club website, also the BMDC of GB hold 6 events a year both formal shows and family days where everyone is welcome.
4. Build a relationship and keep in touch with people
Whilst attending events is a great place to meet breeders it is often good to arrange to meet them in their own home in a more relaxed way where they will have more time to talk. Responsible breeders are very proud of their dogs and will happily talk to you whether they have puppies available or not. It is good practice to take the time to meet quite a few breeders this way and those you like make sure you keep in regular contact with them and join their waiting list if they have one.
5. Be patient and support the preservation breeders
Whilst puppies from other sources may become available sooner, we would highly recommend waiting for a responsibly bred puppy. The wait is sometimes difficult for families who would really like a dog but please be patient and you never know, you could be lucky and not have long to wait.
Overseas Breeders
All the information given above applies to overseas too. Regardless of the country thorough research should be done on both the breeder and their dogs. Just like the UK every country has responsible and irresponsible breeders and doing your research can often be more challenging. It is worth remembering that compared to the UK a lot of countries do not have the same standards/legislation regarding animal welfare on how dogs are kept and also the breeding/selling of puppies. There are lots of additional things to consider when buying a puppy from overseas for example; How will you transport the puppy to the UK at 15 weeks. What will the breeder be doing with the puppy between 8-15 weeks as these are critical weeks in a puppy’s development. At what age will you visit the litter and meet the parents. Language barriers. On-going breeder support – how will this work.
It is not all as easy as first appears and a decision to import a puppy should not be taken lightly.
Recommendations
People often ask on social media for recommendations for breeders and lots of besotted owners reply with the breeder they got their lovely dog from. Obviously, everyone’s own dogs are the best in the world (and rightly so), however we often see puppy farmers and irresponsible breeders being recommended innocently and naively by people that maybe only did limited research themselves. Our advice would be to thoroughly investigate any recommendation through social media with great caution and not take this as any sign of a good breeder.
For similar reasons to the above please be cautious of selling sites and selling Facebook groups. There can be some responsibly bred puppies advertised however do not take an advert as any endorsement, still do your research, meet the breeder and dogs before making a decision or making any payment. Likewise, over the last few years there has been a large increase in foreign puppies being imported from European puppy farmers to be sold in the UK for up to ten times more than the value in the country of origin. Under Lucy’s Law (passed in 2020) it is now illegal in the UK for third party sales of puppies. Therefore, you often see these adverts that will say they bought a puppy and now it needs rehoming at 15/16 weeks old. Sometimes these dogs will come with a passport but sadly often they were imported illegally in awful conditions and have no paperwork.
Price and Deposits
In 2024 the average price of a responsibly bred puppy is around £3000-3500. Due to the demand for Bernese some less responsible ‘breeders’ (greeders) are taking advantage of the situation and charging much higher prices. Price is not a reflection on the quality and health of a puppy, therefore it is critical that you do your research well.
KC Registration
All responsible breeders will register their puppies with the Kennel Club, it is still important to do your research though as some irresponsible commercial breeders also register some litters with the kennel club. Whilst Kennel Club registration is not an endorsement of health testing or quality there are lots of other reasons why you should only buy a Kennel Club registered puppy, and these are explained in the ‘Registration and Endorsements’ section on this website.
Breeder Scheme and Legislation
What is a Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme (ABS)?
The scheme is intended to help direct puppy buyers to those breeders who follow best breeding practice and who conduct health testing for known inherited health conditions in their breeds. Every assured breeder is inspected by The Kennel Club, a UKAS accredited certification body, to ensure that their facilities and practices meet the welfare requirements set out in the scheme standard.
The ABS is good in theory and has positive intentions and we ourselves are Assured Breeders, and whilst the scheme advocates health testing it does not put any parameters or standards on what is acceptable and therefore Breeders who breed with health tested dogs with poor results can still be part of the scheme and register litters. Likewise, the only health tests required by the scheme for Bernese are Hips and Elbows and a COI below 12.5% which is the genetic equivalent of a dog produced from a grandfather to granddaughter mating, or the mating of a half-brother/sister. (More information on health testing can be found in the ‘Bernese Health Testing Explained’ section). It is important that puppy buyers should still take care and ask the same questions as a non-Assured Breeder.
What is a licensed breeder?
In October 2018 The Animal Welfare Act passed new legislation that any dog breeder that had or could have more than 2 litters in any rolling 12-month period required a breeding license. This involves an inspection by the licensing department of the local authority where the breeder lives. Like the Assured Breeder Scheme it is really good in theory for advocating good welfare practices however it has not stopped the poor welfare in the puppy farming industry even though many of these facilities have an active license.
Unfortunately, this legislation has impacted on some responsible breeders and made a lot of these people limit their breeding to no more than 2 litters. This is a real shame as these responsible breeders should be encouraged to breed rather than the big commercial establishments in our opinion.
It is important that puppy buyers should still take care and ask the same questions of a licensed breeders, in fact we would recommend asking more questions as often licensed breeders are commercial establishments producing lots of puppies solely for money. However, there are some very genuine licensed breeders who are responsible breeders that have had to become licensed due to sometimes having more than 2 litters.
Some signs of a responsible reputable breeder
- They care about their dogs and provide a good stimulating life
- They dogs are fed on a good diet and they are regularly groomed
- They want to know about your family, lifestyle and circumstances
- They rarely have availability straight away
- They keep their sale prices sensible despite the huge demand
- They keep in touch with their puppy owners
- They encourage you to visit and meet their dogs
- They want to talk to you about their dogs achievements (e.g. show results, health tests results, therapy work) because they are proud and have worked hard to achieve these
- They have reasons for breeding
- They register every litter
- They only use registered, health tested dogs in their breeding programme
- They breed to the breed standard (type, size, temperament etc)
How to choose a puppy
Selecting your puppy
Many factors will affect whether you get to choose a puppy or not our advice is to spend as much time as possible with the litter and take the advice of the breeder as to which one is most suitable for your family. Bernese puppies should not be shy it is important to consider the temperaments of the parents and the characters and confidence of the puppies.
Be especially cautious of any breeder who can offer guarantees, no one regardless of their experience can offer guarantees about the quality, health, temperament of a puppy.
Don’t feel obliged to take the first puppy you are offered, trust your instinct and if there is any doubt or something you are not happy with, walk away, the right puppy will come along.
Dog or Bitch?
There are several factors and considerations when deciding on the sex of your puppy.
1) Existing pets at home
If you have unneutered dogs at home this needs to be a serious consideration when selecting the sex of your puppy. Not only is it very difficult to keep males and females apart even with good management but it can also be very distressing for both the owners and the dogs and often males will go off his food, lose condition, howl, even become destructive when a bitch in the house is in full season. Our advice is that males (with good temperaments) are fine to live with other males or neutered females. Similarly, females are fine to live with other females and neutered males. It is important to remember males can be fertile for up to 3 months post castration.
2) Size
Whilst Bernese are a large breed there is some difference in the size of males and females. Typically, the males are 50-60kg and females 40-50kg. Please see the section ‘Is a Bernese right for you?’ where size is covered in more detail.
3) Hormones
Bitches have seasons typically every 6 months usually starting between 9-12 months. During their season bitches will bleed for a few weeks, whilst some are very clean others leave mess in your house. Males often hit adolescence around 9 months and can present behaviour you haven’t seen before e.g., humping, dominance and using their size and strength to push the boundaries. Even if you intend to neuter your puppy this should still be a very important consideration as Bernese should only be neutered once skeletally mature (no earlier than 18-24 months), see section ‘Nature vs Nurture’ for more information on when to neuter your dog.
Markings
Bernese always come in black, white and tan (tri-colour) however the amount of white can vary and this is what makes each Bernese unique. Whilst people may have a preference for markings our advice is that a well-bred puppy from a responsible breeder is far more important than having a puppy with the exact ‘perfect’ markings.
Occasionally a puppy is born with 1 or 2 blue eyes rather than brown. Whilst this is classed as a fault against the breed standard but the eyes are fully functional and will not affect the puppy’s quality of life. Responsible breeders will often reduce the price of a puppy with a blue eye and dogs with this fault should never be bred from.
Our advice is to be open minded where possible to the sex of your puppy and its markings. In our opinion it is better to be flexible on these things and buy a puppy from a responsible breeder.