Bärenzehn Bernese Mountain Dogs

Bärenzehn is Candace Tokiwa & George Cowan and, of course, the Bernese Mountain Dogs that share our lives. We are a small hobby breeder located near Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, in the beautiful Kawartha Lakes region.

We have been in love with the Bernese Mountain Dog (Berner Sennenhund in Swiss) for 18 years. Since being blessed with our first Berner, Labernese Stirling Bear CDX, CGC, Am. CD, back in 1992, we became increasingly involved in the dog/Bernese world until we were hooked. Bear's wonderful temperament - his love, intelligence, playfulness, loyalty, easy-going tolerance and trustworthiness endeared him to us more than we could ever have dreamed before he came into our lives. The Bernese Mountain Dog is truly a wondrous creature.

In our time in the breed we have had many learning experiences including raising 9 litters of puppies, conformation showing, obedience training & trialing with several CD (Companion Dog) titles, multiple High in Class scores & 2 Companion Dog Excellent titles, draft training with two Draft Dog titles ... and thousands of kilometers of hiking/walking. Activities with our Berners are just as important as any breeding pursuits.

We are a very small hobby breeder and do not breed a great deal, and will have perhaps one or two litters a year - sometimes none. When we do have a litter we seek to establish long-term, supportive relationships with people who can provide ideal, caring environments for our puppies. We take our role very seriously and are always there for our puppies and their families.

Our breeding efforts, while limited, focus on improving the breed and working toward the CKC standard by paying close attention to health, structure, soundness, type, temperament - and history. Our ideal is to produce beautiful, loyal companions that live long, healthy lives and are able to happily take part in various working dog and activities.... a challenge to say the least.

We do a number of health checks on our dogs:

hip & elbow x-rays, both traditional and PennHip

board certified eye exams - DACVO

DNA test for von Willebrand's Disease - VetGen

board certified cardiac exams - ACVIM

thyroid testing - OFA

IMPORTANT!
In addition to these health checks we also believe in a more natural approach to raising and maintaining our dogs - including whole, natural, unprocessed food and minimal vaccinations. Learn more about our feeding and vaccination methods.

If you are considering a Bernese puppy please:
– read our puppy inquiry page
– read our new breeder info (warning) page
– explore our Berner Links page

Make an effort to learn as much as possible about the breed before deciding that it's right for you. Our breed has some very serious health issues that you should be aware of - such as cancer, auto immune diseases, hip/elbow problems, eye problems and more. Also, due to their size (often well over 100lbs) and the rather heavy coat they may not be the right breed for everyone. There is much valuable information on the Internet and learning about these health risks and other aspects of the breed is very important.

In addition, there are a number of books on the breed available. See the BMD related books link on our links page. In particular, any of the following books on the breed are strongly recommended.

The Beautiful Bernese Mountain Dogs
Russ and Rogers ISBN 0-931866-55-3

The New Bernese Mountain Dog
Sharon Chesnutt Smith ISBN 0-87605-075-5

The Bernese Mountain Dog Today
Dr. Malcolm B. Willis ISBN 1-58245-038-2

We are members of the following organizations: