How the St. Bernards obtained their barrels
For now we will leave aside Maxipes Fík, the dog who was drinking milk and was growing fast until the time when he drank beer for the first time so let's take a look at his second, more luxurious, resemblance: that of a rescue dog with a barrel!
The Saint Bernard is a luxury breed that was bred by the monks in a monastery and in a hospice in St. Bernard's Big and Small Passes in the Alps near Mont-Blanc to pull or carry heavy loads and foodstuffs. Mostly, however, we associate him with his portrait taken in the snowy mountains with a barrel around his neck. There are two myths that explain how he actually came by his barrel.
A Famous Berry Rescuer and an Innocent Cleaner
The first story tells us about the famous St. Bernard dog named Berry. Berry actually lived in the early 19th Century and apparently he saved a total number of 40 people. After his unfortunate death, when the hunter had mistaken him for the wolf (?!), the monks stuffed him and after some time they found him a place in the depository. When after many years a cleaner came in, the barrel was there laying on the ground so he just hang directly onto Berry's neck.
During the following years, the rescuers frequently held celebration in this place, found Berry and left the barrel with him. Since then, it has always been believed that a St. Bernard with a barrel full of rum (or wine or brandy) had been saving unfortunate people from the snowdrift.
Edwin Landseer's Famous Painting (1802-1873)
The second legend tells the story of an important English painter, who painted a luxurious picture in 1831 entitled “Alpine Dogs”, in which a St. Bernard dog is also pictured. Sir Edwin added a barrel for him just for the sake of reviving his work of art and then it actually stayed there for good.
A Sturdy and Intelligent Breed
You will never meet St. Bernard with a barrel full of rum hanging around his neck. First of all, he was replaced in the rescue operations by helicopters and secondly it would be very irresponsible of the rescuers because at low temperatures alcohol would inevitably hurt people! However, the truth is that he has been able to find and dig-out people from avalanches and subsequently transport them to civilisation.
This breed is serious, clever and also easily trainable. Because of actually coming from the Alps he deals with mountains, winter-weather and low temperatures pretty well. He can live outside, but he also requires the possibility of shelter. He definitely would not fit into a luxury apartment, but he would be fine in the garden to the house, ideally somewhere that he would not be too hot.
