Description

Saint Bernard, also spelled St. Bernard, also called Saint Bernard dog, working dog credited with saving the lives of more than 2,000 people in 300 years of service as a pathfinder and rescue dog at the hospice founded by St. Bernard of Aosta (also called St. Bernard of Menthon) in the Great St. Bernard Pass in the southwestern Pennine Alps. Probably descended from mastifflike dogs that were introduced from Asia to Europe by the ancient Romans, the Saint Bernard appears to have been brought to the hospice in the late 17th century. The most famous of the hospice dogs was Barry, who reportedly saved more than 40 people before his death in the early 1800s. Saint Bernards have also been employed as cattle, draft, and guard dogs.