The 20 Best Bernese Mountain Dog Breeders in the U.S.
Bernese Mountain Dogs started as all-purpose farm dogs from the Swiss Alps. Nowadays, some of these animals continue in that role. However, others have switched over to being companions. Either way, Bernese Mountain Dogs are loyal, intelligent, and eager to please their human masters, thus making them an excellent choice for a wide range of people with a wide range of circumstances.
As a result, if you are interested in getting a heftier dog, you should check out the best Bernese Mountain Dog breeders in the United States for options. According to various sources, here are 20 of the best Bernese Mountain Dog Breeders in the United States:
20. Bernese of Maine
A lot of Bernese Mountain Dog breeders operate out of small farms, which makes sense considering the breed started as all-purpose farm dogs. Bernese of Maine is an excellent example of these operations. Situated in East-Central Maine, its dogs are raised on the farm rather than in the kennels, meaning interested individuals can count on them to be well-socialized. Besides this, Bernese of Maine cares about the health of its dogs, which is why it is thorough when testing the parents. Such precautionary measures are always important because an inherited medical condition can cause interested individuals a great deal of grief in the long run.
19. Mystic Bernese
Oftentimes, people become interested in a dog breed after owning a dog of that dog breed. Over time, they become more and more involved until they start breeding those dogs themselves. That was how Mystic Bernese got started more than 20 years ago. If people want a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, they should contact the dog breeder to be placed on its waiting list, though they should know the selection process is quite competitive. However, it is interesting to note that Mystic Bernese also offers adult dogs from time to time, which is an excellent choice for interested individuals who want their dogs to be well-behaved with minimal fuss and hassle.
18. Swiss Bliss Bernese Mountain Dogs
Based in Lakeville, MN, Swiss Bliss Bernese Mountain Dogs is a good choice for people interested in Bernese Mountain Dogs and nothing but Bernese Mountain Dogs. They put serious effort into ensuring their dogs as happy and healthy, which interested individuals should always look into looking up dog breeders.
17. Emerald Acres Bernese
Emerald Acres Bernese belongs to a dog breeder who treats the work more as a hobby than as a business. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. People tend to be passionate about their hobbies. For dog breeders, that passion often translates into a strong desire to ensure their dogs’ well-being.
Certainly, Emerald Acres Bernese seems to fall into this camp considering its insistence on breeding, testing, vaccinating, and testing its dogs to prevent potential issues. Meanwhile, a business-like approach can be either good or bad. Sometimes, it means professionalism. Other times, it means pursuing profit maximization through a low-price, high-volume strategy, which is the thinking behind puppy mills.
16. Walnut Valley Puppies
Not everyone who wants to buy a Bernese Mountain Dog will care about conforming to AKC standards. If interested individuals are willing to consider animals similar to but not the same as Bernese Mountain Dogs, they should check out Walnut Valley Puppies in Flat Rock, IL.
This operation cares about its dogs, meaning that isn’t the issue behind its failure to conform to AKC standards. The critical difference is that Walnut Valley Puppies specializes in Bernedoodles, which are designer dogs descended from Bernese Mountain Dogs and Poodles. It even offers smaller versions of these designer dogs. Something that interested individuals might want to look into if they have smaller living spaces.
15. Blackstone Berners
Blackstone Berners is another family-run operation. In its case, interested individuals can find it in Southern Michigan. Much of the good that can be said about it can be said about either all or almost all of the other dog breeders on this list. That is because good dog breeders tend to have much in common, if only because it takes a lot of the same things coming together for everything to flow smoothly. In contrast, their not-so-good counterparts can be problematic in a much wider range of ways.
14. Canyon Meadows Farm
Given the name, interested individuals should have no problem guessing that this is another farm-based operation. It offers Bernese Mountain Dogs reared in a home environment. Besides those, interested individuals can also expect Golden Retrievers and Golden Mountain Dogs. If they haven’t heard of the latter, they should know those are designer dogs descended from Bernese Mountain Dogs and Golden Retrievers, which tend to be solid companions.
13. Legen Dairy Berners
Legen Dairy Berners is based on a dairy farm. Thanks to that, its dogs live in a very close manner to that of their ancestors. That is because the Swiss often gave Bernese Mountain Dogs cattle-related work. Specifically, these dogs herded cattle, hauled carts ladened with milk and cheese, and even watched over cattle as needed. Of course, a good environment isn’t enough to ensure good dogs, which is why Legen Dairy Berners is also careful to ensure its dogs are properly treated and socialized.
12. Riverside Berners
The people behind Riverside Berners started working with Doberman Pinschers. Since then, they have also started working with Bernese Mountain Dogs, thus explaining the name. Thoroughness plus state-of-the-art facilities make Riverside Berners a good choice for people living either in Texas or close to Texas.
11. Haystack Acres
Curiously, Haystack Acres specializes in two seemingly different dog breeds. One is the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, while the other is the Bernese Mountain Dog. With that said, it is interesting to note that both dog breeds once worked extensively with cattle. Moving on, Haystack Acres raises its dogs in a home environment, meaning interested individuals can count on its dogs to be well-socialized.
10. Sunshine Bernese
Sunshine Bernese is a farm-based operation out in Redding, CA. It is one of the dog breeders on this list that offer Bernese Mountain Dogs and only Bernese Mountain Dogs. That focus seems to have paid off for Sunshine Bernese, seeing as how more than one of its dogs has won championships. Suffice it to say that such victories tend to lend credibility to a dog breeder’s claims about the excellence of their dogs.
9. Cornerstone Bernese Mountain Dogs
Cornerstone Bernese Mountain Dogs stands out in a couple of ways. First, it specializes in producing service dogs. Bernese Mountain Dogs aren’t stereotypical for that role like some of the other dog breeds out there. Even so, they are more than capable of doing the job. Second, while Cornerstone Bernese Mountain Dogs is based in Flat Rock, IL, it can ship within and even beyond the United States. Thanks to that, interested individuals should check it out if they are short on local options.
8. Bear-Acres Kennel
Strictly speaking, Bear Acres Kennel specializes in Newfoundlands more than anything else. That is because they have been breeding those giant-sized dogs since 1988. Meanwhile, Bear Acres Kennel took an interest in Bernese Mountain Dogs in 1991, though it didn’t get one of those dogs until 2000. Still, that makes for more than two decades of experience with the dog breed, which is an enormous amount by any reasonable standard.
7. Rossingham Berners
Rossingham Berners takes its mission of protecting and even improving these dogs very seriously. To that end, it aims for good health, good personalities, and good longevity, all of which come together to make for better canine companions than otherwise possible. It is interesting to note that Rossingham Berners believes in being open and transparent, which should come as welcome news for people planning to scrutinize all of the dog breeders they might approach for their future dogs.
6. Barefoot Springs
Barefoot Springs operates out of a 60-acre farm, which has more than enough space to accommodate all of the Bernese Mountain Dogs belonging to the operation. This is one of those places where people should line up for a puppy as soon as possible once they are satisfied with its practices. Demand for puppies is high, meaning the wait list can be long.
5. Bernerlandia
Bernerlandia puts serious effort into caring for its dogs, which is backed by hard-earned experience plus an excellent understanding of veterinary science. There is one potential issue in that it doesn’t offer shipping outside of Sparta, TN. As a result, if interested individuals can’t make it to that city, they should look elsewhere for their dog.
4. MahaRaja Bernese Mountain Dogs
Maharaja is a strange name for an operation specializing in Bernese Mountain Dogs. For those unfamiliar, it is an Indian title that translates to “great king.” Unfortunately, maharajas were by no means guaranteed to be as impressive as their title sounds because of rampant title inflation. The important point is that while the nobility was reliant on farming, the nobility didn’t exactly do much farming.
As a result, all-purpose farm dogs just seem like a very strange choice for association with a royal title. Still, Bernese Mountain Dogs can look rather majestic under certain circumstances because they are impressive-looking animals under certain circumstances. Thanks to that, the name isn’t entirely unreasonable. In any case, MahaRaja Bernese Mountain Dogs merits a position on this list because of decades of breeding and training experience.
Those things matter for the quality of the dogs coming from a dog breeder. Moreover, MahaRaja Bernese Mountain Dogs is careful to test their dogs for eye problems, heart problems, and a host of other potential medical conditions to minimize the chances of these issues coming up for interested individuals. Simply put, this operation is very reliable and reputable, which makes sense considering the owner’s extensive involvement in the U.S. community of Bernese Mountain Dog enthusiasts.
3. Magic Berners
It is common for dog breeders to team up with local veterinarians. Most of them care about their dogs, so most of them are diligent about getting the veterinary care that will give their dogs the best lives possible. Magic Berners has a bit of an edge in this regard because the operation is just straight-up owned by a veterinarian.
Besides this, this operation is also notable in a couple of other ways. One, it can claim about four decades of experience. Two, it has sought out Bernese Mountain Dogs from other countries, which has been beneficial for its breeding efforts.
2. DeerPark Dogs
DeerPark Dogs is yet another operation that can claim several decades of experience. Moreover, it has concrete proof that its experience has been useful because it has a very consistent history of producing champions. At one point, DeerPark Dogs even owned the number one male Bernese Mountain Dog in the United States, which was quite an achievement.
Curiously, this operation isn’t as focused on Bernese Mountain Dogs as most of the other names on this list. It started out offering Bernese Mountain Dogs and only Bernese Mountain Dogs. Later, it branched out into offering Berger Picards and Old English Sheepdogs, so interested individuals might also want to take a look at those dogs while they are examining this option.
1. Relentless Ranch
Relentless Ranch is in Basalt, CO. That isn’t the most populous part of the state. Indeed, Basalt, CO belongs to the Edwards, CO micropolitan statistical area, which says much about the relative lack of people in the region. With that said, that sounds like the kind of place where Bernese Mountain Dogs can do quite well while remaining true to their original purpose.
Relentless Ranch shows its care for its dogs in much the same manner as the other names on this list. On top of those, it requires its clients to send regular reports about how their dogs are doing, which says much about the extent of that care. Whatever else can be said about Relentless Ranch’s methods, they seem to work because this is also an operation that produces champions on a semi-regular basis.
You can also read:
- 7 Special Tips for Taking Care of Bernese Mountain Dog Puppies
- Bernese Mountain Dog Breed Information and Photos
- 7 Questions You Should Ask Bernese Mountain Dog Breeders
- Is a Bernese Mountain Dog a Good Fit for Your Family?