I first became interested in Bernese Mountain Dogs in 1996. The first thing that attracted me to them was the striking markings, which are not too dissimilar to the Border Collies that my family have always owned. Then there was the fact that I wanted a reasonably large dog and Bernese Mountain Dogs are definitely large! In August 1996 when I moved to a house with my own garden, I contacted Lynn Page at Halesbern Bernese with a view to getting a puppy.

After visiting Lynn and meeting her dogs (all 12 of them!!) I joined the waiting list for a puppy. With less than 1000 puppies a year registered with The Kennel Club, most prospective puppy buyers should expect to join a waiting list.

In January 1997 Lynn had two litters of puppies born and at the end of February I visited again to choose my puppy. A week later I collected Halesbern Free Fall (Benson).

Early in 1999, I again contacted Lynn and joined the waiting list for my second Bernese. A litter was born in May 1999 and in July 1999, I collected Halesbern Jack Flash (Hamish).

In 1999, I was co-opted onto the Committee of the Southern Bernese Mountain Dog Club and at the Annual General Meeting in 2000, I was elected Chairman of Committee.

In 2004, I stood down as Chairman of Committee of the Southern Bernese Mountain Dog Club, as I was moving to Scotland to be with my partner Fiona, who owns, shows and judges Poodles. We share our home with Bernese and Poodles.

For more information on the Poodles, click on the below image.

In July 2008, We started looking after Bernemcourt Belvedere at Macanto (Sula) whilst Ann McCluskey, her owner and our friend went through treatment for cancer.

Sadly, In January 2009, We had to say goodbye to Halesbern Free Fall at Laightcairn (Benson). Unfortunately he had reached the point where he had stopped eating and to keep him going would have been unfair on both him and us. Therefore, We made the hard decision to have him put to sleep before he started to suffer. We felt it was much kinder to him to let him go with some dignity and to cherish all the happy memories of him.

It was only a couple of weeks after this that we were advised that despite her tough fight our dear friend Ann McCluskey was losing her battle with the dreaded cancer. She officially signed over Bernemcourt Belvedere at Macanto (Sula) to our care. Sadly, less than a month later Ann passed away.

A week after Ann passed away we were offered a puppy from the della Torre D'Ovarda kennel in Northern Italy. Ann knew we were looking to get a pup from this kennel. Therefore, I felt it was appropriate that not only did the pup have an Italian name, but also one that contained Ann so I came up with the pet name of Giovanni. His registered name is Look At Me della Torre D'Ovarda.

It was quite a long slow process getting a pup from the della Torre D'Ovarda kennel (Our initial enquiry was in January 2007) as we had to overcome the issue of getting a pup into the UK. Quarantine is one option, but is not an option I would consider for a puppy at 8 - 10 weeks of age. This meant our only option was the Pet Passport scheme, but the breeder could not keep the pup until it qualified to enter the UK under the Pet Passport scheme.

Our way round this was to send him on his holidays to Spain. Our friends Penny and David live out there and show Poodles in Europe. They agreed to take him in and look after him until her was eligible to come into the UK. Although eligible to come into the UK in January 2010, Penny was coming over to the UK to show Poodles at Crufts 2010 so we agreed that she would bring Look At Me della Torre D'Ovarda (Giovanni) with her at that time.

Sadly, in October 2010 we had to say goodbye to Bernemcourt Belverdere at Macanto (Sula). She was her usual self on the Wednesday night, but on the Thursday morning she was a completely different dog. She was withdrawn, did not eat her breakfast (which was unheard of) and had a distant look to her eyes. We took her to the vets and her symptons combined with a high temperature indicated something had burst or ruptured internally. The prognosis was not good and when the vet advised that he could put her on a drip, but she may not make it through the night, then the tough decision had been made and we were with her as she slipped away to cross the rainbow bridge to be with Ann once again.

Sadly, in April 2011 we had to say goodbye to Halesbern Jack Flash at Laightcairn (Hamish). He unfortunately lost the use of his back legs and having always been so independent, we knew it was time to let him go.

Our Bernese are pets first and foremost and are taken to shows, obedience competitions and working/carting events purely for fun and socialisation. Halesbern Free Fall at Laightcairn (Benson) & Halesbern Jack Flash (Hamish) had some success at showing, were excellent at obedience and did very well on the carting course. Look At Me della Torre D'Ovarda (Giovanni) has been to a few obedience classes, but has yet to be introduced to carting.

Jack Hastings & Fiona Bruce

Please feel free to E-Mail me with any comments or queries that you may have about this site or Bernese in general.