Newfoundland, St Bernard or Leonberger?

[Landseer]

Two adults in the house, no kids but small grandchild stays here weekly.
I work from home, not massively active but do enjoy an hours walk daily and longish walks in the countryside/forest on a weekend.

Dog must be excellent with children
Dog must be reliable with other animals

Please pick a breed for me between these 3 because I can’t 😂

None of those breeds (or any breed) are going to be excellent with either children or other animals unless you put in the time effort and training to make them so. It isn’t the breed. It’s the individual and the effort and training and socialisation that the owner puts in. I never understand when people ask this question to be quite honest.

If you don't know enough about any of the breeds to make a decision for yourself then you shouldn't be getting a dog.

Obviously we’ll be putting the work in, I’ve owned and trained many dogs (big working and pastoral breeds) but as I’m sure you know, some breeds have certain traits

Lol I’m not going to rush out and buy a puppy tomorrow 🙄 obviously I meant I want folk to tell me their experiences of these breeds - I’ll be researching the breeds separately myself

1 of each, perfect!

Leonberger met one off lead on local beach. The owner couldnt physically control it and it had a big "I need space" yellow jacket on, it was a bit scary when it approached us and our dogs and the woman with it was asking us to move away 🤔. Ridiculous that they had it offlead like that in public, but doubt they could control it on lead either.

Newfoundland, the one I met was a very drooly, slobbery mess.

I have never met a st bernard.

Huge dogs and I wouldnt allow a child near one. Have you discussed your plans for an extreme breed with your dgc parents?

There used to be a man in my local town with a St. Bernard who let it wander around the centre off-lead. It came across as very slobbery and very dopey. But despite him obviously hoping everyone would make a fuss of it, it wasn't very appealing.

After that lady was killed last week locally (one of the dogs being an apparently problematic Leonberger) I'm not feeling the love for them. I do love Newfoundlands though.

DHs family had a leonberger from a pup, they all loved it, was around the grand kids... I did not trust that dog at all, thankfully it had died before I had dc as I wouldn't have let her near them and it would have caused a fall out.

They got a second leonberger (a rescue), a completely different personality, amazing with the dc, very placid and affectionate, my dc were small when she was getting on and she would happily be "walked" by them toddling along on holding the leed. Helped local kids get over their fear of dogs etc, absolutely amazing. (She was bouncey in her younger days, would walk for miles happily, wagging her tail at everyone we passed)

So, imo, it depends on the actual dog rather than the breed. Same breed and 2 different experiences for me. If I had just met the 2nd dog I would be confident that looking at leonbergers would be a good idea, but as I met the 1st I am very much of the "not while we have dc" mind.

Not a fan of the Leonbergers I have met as they have both been dog reactive; Newfies have been lovely; don’t know any St Bernards .

They all strike me as very clumsy to have around small children, but then I would also say that about my much smaller Labradors.

If it had to be one of these 3 I would go for a Newfie, simply based on the ones I
have met.

I have a huge soft spot for the Bernese Mountain dog though. There are a few near us and they have all been lovely dogs.

Hmmm maybe I should look at golden retrievers

I have a lovely, soppy Leonberger who is great with children and other dogs (though still pretty bouncy as she’s only young). She’s good on lead (for me, don’t know how she’d be with anyone else but she’s very keen to please me) and has decent recall too. Obviously I can’t speak for all Leonbergers though and when we went to see the litter we picked her for her personality.

Neighbor has a St Bernard. He is huge - like the size of a Shetland, sheds a lot. Very slobbery - she has slobber on her ceiling.
Some friends don’t like to visit because of the slobber - it gets all over your clothes.
He is also extremely strong - she has to tie lead to trees/lamp posts when horses are in the vicinity.
Also lots of dogs are afraid of him because he is so big.
He is also very chilled out and friendly dog with a lovely nature.
She has a dog Walker and he is a lot more obedient for the walker.
However they had a short life span and he has already started to have seizures.
Finding someone to take him during holidays is really difficult because he is so big.

Fuck me. Exactly what I expected when the ‘news’ papers started the reporting on this. The dog wasn’t problematic, the owner of the dog and the lack of appropriate training and environment, yes problematic - if the edited program is to be believed of course. It was also claimed the dog was ‘missing’. None of those dogs are missing, they’ve all been seized. Pending investigation.

Bernese mountain dog!

Labernese if you want a big dog. A neighbour has one and he is utterly gorgeous, and so gentle and well-behaved.

I couldn't live with the slobber from a St Bernard. Had coffee with someone who had one. They had to have a towel in every room and I needed a complete shower and change when I got home. Don't know about the other two.

I've got a Lab cross, so no experience of these as an owner. However, mine has 2 female friends on the park and they are St. Bernard's. All I have to say is they're not for me because boy do they cover you in slobber. THEY SLOBBER A LOT.

Sorry, I just read the responses and realised someone has already mentioned the slobber.

Glad I'm not the only one who feels it's important 😂

I have a Bernese mountain x St Bernard. He is lovely with children, very relaxed in the house but can manage an hour's walk with ease. He doesn't slobber and drool like a typical St Bernard. He is friendly with other dogs.

Down sides are all the hair, we hoover twice a day most days. We brush him most days for 20mins to an hour. We have to have a big car with a huge boot to fit him in. He takes up a lot of floor space when he flakes out on the floor 🤣 although he is friendly he cannot play with every dog we meet as I'm always worried about him barreling over the smaller ones.

I’d go for the Newfie.

I know a St Bernard and a Leonberger. Both lovely dogs but as others have said the drool is horrific from the St Bernard and the Leonberger always has a very strong doggy aroma (maybe it’s just that particular one but their fur is so thick I imagine they take some looking after to stay clean).

St Bernard's (I've known around a dozen well) have lovely temperaments, soft lumps mostly, and are so gorgeous.

But I will never have one because you cannot possibly understand the level of drool unless you've lived with one.
Everywhere. Always. Cleaning it off of everything, even the ceiling.

I genuinely don't think you can manage it without following them with a cloth 24/7. You have to accept you and your home going to be drool covered. If that isn't a deal breaker, they are so wonderful though!

Have you thought about a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog? The two I know are remarkably calm and sedate and live in large family households with young children. Adolescence was hard work, so you need to be on that to cement training and be aware of out of usual character excitability during that time but once past that they really are fantastic family dogs. Not a mean bone in them.

But why would you want a massive dog? For the attention?
There seems no other reason that I can see.

We had a (3/4) Bernese mountain dog - he was a gentle, quiet, laid back delight. I did a lot of brushing, but his coat wasn’t stupidly thick (and he didn’t like mud) so it was quite relaxing for both of us. He was quite shy, but more with dogs than people, and let’s face it, big dogs who pelt over to meet everything don’t always get greeted with delight. If it’s a big fluffy dog you want, Bernese get my vote.