Beside the Stream

There’s a saying about Bernese Mountain dogs that goes

Three years a young dog,

three years a good dog, and

three years an old dog.

As David Sedaris put it, there are cheeses that last longer than these dogs.  (He was referring to Great Danes, but he could have been talking about Berners.)

I recently read that the current lifespan for Bernese Mountain dogs in the US is 6 to 8 years, which sparked a few conversations about how long much longer we think our Jessie will last.  At 8, her hips and elbows are often sore and she has started bowing out of hikes she knows are excessive.  She’ll be gone before too long because that’s her nature, and she’s such a fine dog that Bob thought we should build a big pyre and light her up for a bonfire party–really celebrate her passing.  Which sounds reasonable to me because I had a female Bernese before and can have one much like her again.  Their gene pool is about a quarter inch deep.

Here’s a Berner from the 1800s,

and here are three from the other day (a woman visiting a neighbor brought two, so we went up to a meadow to get some pictures).  Jessie is the good-looking one lying down. 

Mutts are one of a kind.  If you get a great Heinz 47 dog, you’ll never see its like again.  But a female Bernese is like the Dalai Lama, always the same good egg. 

Here is the 13th Dalai Lama,

and here is the 14th:

Berners and the Dalai Lama: Cheerful, loyal and brave, every time.