The original name for the Small Bernese Hound is The Berner Niederlaufhund, a scent hound originally from Switzerland. The name Bernese comes from the Bernese Alps, where local hunters use these hounds to hunt deer, announcing the prey to their master loudly. Their story begins around the 1900, when the legislation regarding hunting games in Switzerland changed, by limiting the hunting areas to districts. Because of this, the hounds used until then, some large scent hounds, were too fast for these limited areas, so, through careful selection of medium size specimens, a new scent hound was created.
The Small Bernese Hound is a fast and agile scent hound, with a great sense of smell and a passion for keeping track of their prey, even in the most difficult terrain. It is consider by many hunters as the best scent dog in the world. They are also very good at pursuing and finding wounded animals.
This is a well-structured animal, with an almost square body shape, slightly longer than taller. They have a height of 13-17 in (33-43 cm) and a weight of 19-33 lbs (8-15 cm). Their muscular body starts with a clearly shaped head with a friendly and alert expression and ends with a tail carried upwards when in action. The coat generally has a soft undercoat with a dense and hard exterior coat, but depending on the type of the hound, we can find them with a bit longer and stiff coat. The coat color for the most common type is a tri color combination: the base is white, the body covered with black spots, black saddle or even splattered patterns and they have pale to intense marbling on their cheeks, inner side of their ears and above their eyes.
There are four types of Small Bernese Hound and each type exists with two leg lengths (low and standard):
Berner Niederlaufhund the coat color is black and white with tanning on their head. They have short hair (smooth) and wired hair (rough) coat. The rough coat has a small beard on the face.
Jura Niederlaufhund usually it is black with tan markings over the eyes, cheeks and legs, but can be also maroon base with a black mantle. Some white small spots on the chest are allowed. The coat hair is smooth.
Luzerner Niederlaufhund they can have a blue appearance due to the base color (white, white and grey mottled, white and black mottled). They have black patches and tan markings over the eyes. Their coat is smooth and short.
Schwyzer Niederlaufhund the coat is white and red with yellow-red to orange patches all over their body. The skin color is dark grey under the reddish coat and marble under the white coat. The hair is smooth.
The Small Bernese Hounds are noble dogs. Their temperament shows this feature especially thru their non-aggressive nature. Rarely would they engage in a fight with another dog, not because they are coward but because it is in their gene to be the better dog. Keep in mind that this is no couch potato and although they love to cuddle, they are in need of plenty exercises. The Small Bernese Hound prefers company to loneliness and requires patience when on walks as it tend to give in to its scent hound nature.
