Greater Swiss Mountain Dog

[Rootd]

We are starting to look for our next family dog and have been contemplating a Swissy. Anyone with any experience?

I don’t know the breed specifically but what attracted you to it? Are you in the UK? They are very rare with very few puppies registered each year so you may have to wait a while to get one (and have to get one without sufficient information on genetic diversity). Have you owned a giant breed before? There are some extra considerations with a giant breed like your food bill, whether the dog will fit into your car, your ability to walk the dog on lead if it’s not perfectly trained (where we live there are a lot of Pyrénées mountain dogs but they tend to live on farms. My friends who have one, poorly trained to be fair, have trouble walking her because only the guy can hold her. The dog has also knocked adults over - she is lovely and was being friendly but still it’s not a nice experience.).

Yes we have giant breed experience and extensive dog experience. I'm not sure why you say there wouldn't be sufficient information on genetic diversity as that simply isn't true...they come with a pedigree for this very reason. Anyway there is one breeder (UK) who imports enough dogs to ensure diversity etc. Our last dog weighed 60kg and was a rescue I taught to walk nicely on a lead so I'm not concerned on that front. I'm more just after actual experiences of people having lived with them. We aren't Lab people.

It’s not me who says it, it’s the KC! When numbers are really low and some of the dogs are of unknown parentage (usually imported from abroad) this is a problem. Perhaps start with the KC pages on the breed and go from there? Maybe make contact with the breed specific club?