DESCRIPTION

The head is powerful and imposing. Wide skull, slightly convex. Short muzzle. Wide truffle. The ears are medium in size, set high, triangular and drooping. The eyes are large enough, dark brown in color. Pigmented eyelids. The body is imposing. Powerful neck. Well marked tourniquet (height at the withers: about 70 cm for the male and 65 cm for the female). Arched ribs. The tail is heavy, long, drooping, reaching the hock. Hair two varieties: short hair, dense, smooth, well laid and rough. Abundant undercoat, long hair, straight. Panties, fringes, bushy tail. The hair is short on the face and ears. The dress is white with more or less large plates of red-brown color. Brindle red-brown is allowed. Charbonnures in the lead are sought after.

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HABITAT

It's the big fat dog of popular imagery. Quiet, calm, gentle, kind, sociable, with boundless devotion and adoring children. Distrustful of strangers, it can be aggressive if circumstances demand it. It needs a firm education. The St. Bernard requires a lot of space and long daily trips. Brushing energetically every day. Il is afraid of heat. This dog does not need large spaces as one might think but it is essential for him to be outside, to enjoy nature, to walk outside his home even if he has land to run.

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HISTORY

The St. Bernard developed his legendary rescue abilities in the Alps where it lived with monks who helped travelers cross the mountain. In a group of four, this dog quickly demonstrated an amazing instinct to discover people lost in the storm. After locating a wounded body, two St. Bernard lay with him to bring heat, another licked him in an effort of resuscitation and a fourth called for human help. Over a period of 300 years, these brave dogs have saved more than 2,000 lives. Today, these great dogs are adorable, calm, friendly and nice pet dogs.

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FOOD

The nutritional requirements of all dogs are divided into energy (carbohydrates, lipids), proteins, minerals and vitamins.

The puppy's dietary needs are different from those of the adult. Indeed, in addition to maintenance needs, the diet must ensure the specific needs for weight gain (sometimes very important in large breeds). A harmonious growth should allow, within a few months, to build a solid bone structure and muscle mass: this implies a balanced diet, very energetic, high digestibility and biological value, increased in proteins, vitamins and minerals. The diet is very different depending on the breed, the age and the way of life of your dog. The best is to consult a veterinarian.

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BREEDING

HEAT
This is the time for breeding.
The first heat, that is to say puberty, occurs around the age of 6 to 7 months in small bitches, and up to 18 months for giant bitches.
Bitches are in heat about twice a year.
Warm periods usually occur in the spring and fall, although bitches can get hot at any time of the year.
The heat period corresponds to two distinct physiological stages :
• Stape 1/ The pro-oestrus
This is the period during which the vulva is swollen and blood loss is observed; the bitch is already attracting males, but generally refuses breeding.
This period lasts on average nine days, but is very variable from one dog to another (between 2 and 25 days).
• Stape 2/ The oestrus
This is the real heat period that lasts about 3 to 21 days (9 days on average).
During this phase, the bitches accepts the male.
Ovulation occurs about 2 days after the onset of estrus.
Some bitches continue to have losses during this period.
These explanations highlight the great variability of the duration of heat in the bitch, accentuated by behavioral reactions (acceptance of the male, overlap ...) very variable from one individual to another.
This is why it is sometimes difficult to define exactly the right moment for the protrusion.

THE PROTRUSION
Once the male is selected, the appropriate timing of mating should be determined.
The two dogs can not be left together at the risk of exhausting the male or risking injury (fracture of the penis due to sudden attempts to protrude, the dog's penis contains a bone).
If the male is very available, we can leave them together between the 11th and 13th days after the onset of heat.
The protrusion should indeed be done about 48 hours after ovulation. This period corresponds to the ideal average date of bitches.
However, as we have seen above, there are large variations and the fact that the dog accepts the protrusion is not necessarily a sign of success.

GESTATION
It has a very constant duration in the bitch: 63 days (+ or -1 day) after ovulation.
The diagnosis of pregnancy can be made early by an ultrasound from the 25th day approximately.
There are no hormonal determinations in the female dog (type of pregnancy test in women) because the hormonal profile is very variable from one dog to another and is very close that the dog is pregnant or not.
X-rays can only be performed after 45 days of gestation.
However, it is prudent to wait 50 days to be sure to see all fetuses and assess their size relative to the size of the mother's pelvis, to know if puppies will be likely to get stuck during delivery ( which remains very rare in dogs).
The udders start to develop in the second half of pregnancy and the milk is present one week before the birth (only two to three days during the first litter).

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THREAT

Dogs (especially St. Bernard) and cats slaughtered by the millions every year !! The scandal of animal suffering in Asia !! (I will spare you the atrocious photos found on the net, this text speaks for itself ...). There are lots of petitions to sign on the internet, so move ! These animals are horribly tortured: beaten, clubbed, scalded alive, skinned alive, smothered, hanged, electrocuted, burned alive, slaughtered, drowned with watering hoses, nothing is spared ! The suffering inflicted on dogs and cats must necessarily be long, because according to the beliefs of those who consume their meat, all animals terrorized, martyred and beaten violently before their death, produce an adrenaline rush that makes their meat more juicy, more tender and aphrodisiac ! ... worse than anything, these defenseless creatures would be subjected to unbelievable tortures unimaginable to fill their tortured flesh adrenaline supposed aphrodisiac: Skinned alive, scalded, burned with a blowtorch, electrocuted slowly, stifled by hanging ... Dogs and cats are bled like rabbits. The total horror. Stunned in the wire cage with other terrorized dogs ... In Korea as in China and other Asian countries, it is believed that the meat of a dog that has suffered before dying is aphrodisiac. That's why, before being skinned alive, animals are tortured to increase their adrenaline production.

Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands of many animals (including humans) that the body normally produces, but it is only in case of anxiety, stress or pain that it is produced in quantity. It is therefore, to increase their adrenaline production that dogs and puppies are horribly tortured before being skinned to be eaten! Meat strongly impregnated with adrenaline is considered a powerful aphrodisiac for the man. The mentalities and beliefs are very cruel ! Indeed, these people believe that the more the animal suffers and the more the animal dies slowly, the better the meat. Here are some methods of killing: Strangulation: A rope is tied around the animal's neck and it is slowly pulled on the rope to strangle it very slowly. During this process, with a knife, cut pieces of flesh on the animal that is still alive. Here is another method used for both dogs and cats: Boiling: Take a puppy and / or kitten and tie it close to a big pot of boiling water. (The other animals, witnesses of the horrible massacre of their fellow creatures, wait their turn, legs tied close to the pot.) Like lobsters, the animals are thrown alive in the pot, except that the water is kept at a minimum. temperature that ensures that the animal does not die on the spot ! Remember that according to the beliefs, the death of the animal must not be fast ! Imagine these poor, blinded animals, struggling to fight against death, which will come to relieve them only after long hours of frightful suffering !

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