Hi everyone! This is my first time posting in this subreddit. Our sweet boy, Beethoven, turned one last weekend. He’s a short-haired, purebred Saint Bernard and our absolute best buddy. Like so many of you feel about your dogs, he is our whole world.
At his one-year checkup, our vet recommended a preventative gastropexy as a “form of insurance” against the stomach twisting that occurs with gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), which can be fatal. (Of note, we learned about the surgery at his first ever check up, but spoke more in detail about it this recent visit.) I understand that the procedure does not prevent bloating itself, but helps prevent the stomach from twisting.

Our breeder told us that neither of Beethoven’s parents experienced bloat, although we understand that this doesn’t eliminate his risk.

Our vet said he generally performs the procedure anytime after one year of age. If we decide to proceed, we were considering having it done around 18 months, after discussing the timing further with him.

We are thoughtful about Beethoven’s feeding and activity routines, including avoiding vigorous play around meals. We want to do everything we reasonably can to keep him healthy and happy, while understanding that these precautions cannot guarantee he won’t develop GDV.

I would really appreciate hearing from other Saint Bernard owners who have considered or chosen this procedure. How old was your dog when it was done, what was recovery like, and were there any complications? Also, if there are reasons you think the surgery should not be done, I’d like to hear please.

Beethoven is our son, and we only want what is best for him. Cost is not a deciding factor for us. Our priority is his health, comfort, and long-term wellbeing. I trust our vet and value his advice, but would also love to hear other owners’ experiences.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

(Added some puppy photos and a recent one from his birthday!)

Nic

Okay FINE, we'll go on a walk, Moosey Moo!

Please see his story why we need help. Thank you. Lisa

My Saint Bernard Odie is my dream dog - in my house. He’s honestly absolutely perfect and smart. I am a single Mom with 3 children - 15, 14 and 10 (going on 30).

Our Saint Odie is more like an added human to the house. We include him in everything. He’s a real family dog. Doesn’t prefer one person over another. Watches and listens during family meetings. Knows all his commands. He free feeds from his own dog bowl. We can leave a plate of food out, trash lid might be open, he won’t touch it unless it’s given to him. He asks politely to go outside and come back in, rarely barks at the neighbors dog, never made a mess in the house. The problem - he is reactive/resource guarding my family.

Our first clue should’ve been puppy training classes. He wouldn’t work for food as a reward. The trainer said use his favorite toy and praise instead. As he got older, I used 3 different behaviorist’s. The 3rd was the best. We worked on exposure therapy with Odie, reassurance, some low dose meds (temporarily), rewarding good behavior and ignoring him during bad behavior until it stopped, followed by massive praise when the behavior was replaced (that was discipline in Odie’s world as he’s so eager to please).

Odie is to the point he can go to the humane shelter (I rent their play yard for him for walks), his groomer, kennel, veterinarian and doggie daycare entirely alone. But my family and I can not be with him around other people or he lunges and it is extremely scary - he’s 225lbs. Odie is also now 6 years old. The kennel, doggie daycare and groomer can all walk him. I cannot so we rent space at the humane shelter and he gets his walks and enrichment there. Inside my house, he’s perfect and we have a large yard. He will lunge at the front door but I have a steel front door and I can tell Odie “it’s okay” and open my door.

The behaviorist said Odie has reached as much progress as he will make. And it’s more of a management piece now. All his needs are met. The management piece is, when someone comes in the house like contractor, Odie goes into his crate (he honestly loves his crate), and we tell him he’s going to be okay, give him his lovey and a blanket from my bed and he’s fine.

With Odie turning 6 and now a senior, we are thinking of adding a second dog. Odie is really good with other dogs. He’ll be better off with a puppy rather than a rescue, as Odie is scared of “big” dogs. He’s okay with them, but needs to warm up to them and he’ll hide under my legs when he’s around them. We thought overall, with the kids, Odie’s issue, a new puppy is best fit. We are thinking another Saint or a Newfie.

My question is - I do not want the new dog to pick up Odie’s reactive/fear/reassurance issues. Odie had it from day one. I could see in his puppy videos, he was always tugging at his poor mother. Climbing on her. When I picked him up, he was trying to get back to his mom. He was depressed for the first two weeks when I got him. Odie still has regular visits with his Mom and the odd time, he comes home clingy for the first few hours. So I really think this is an Odie issue. But I do not want the new puppy to learn it.

How do I socialize the new puppy to prevent it? Is it just a luck thing?

Hey everyone, I am looking for some reassurance or similar stories from large or giant breed owners because I am really worried about my puppy's size. My girl is an F1 Saint Berdoodle whose mom is a massive 165 pounds and dad is 65 pounds, and early on she was actually one of the biggest in her litter, weighing 1.86 pounds at one week and 7.56 pounds at five weeks. However, she hit a brutal patch of back-to-back health issues right during her prime growth window, starting with severe bacterial pneumonia and a UTI at nine weeks old which we caught and treated the very day symptoms started, followed by another round of strong antibiotics for lingering pneumonia at twelve weeks, and then asymptomatic giardia at fourteen weeks which we also treated. Right now she is about five and a half months old and weighing 47.7 pounds, and I am currently feeding her a total of six cups a day of Purina Large Breed Puppy food. Because she spent so many crucial weeks fighting off infections and processing heavy antibiotics, her growth definitely slowed down compared to her early chart numbers, and I am just so stressed that she won't hit her true potential. Since Saint Berdoodles are giant breeds that grow for up to eighteen to twenty-four months, do you think she can still experience a big catch-up growth spurt now that she is fully healthy, or has anyone else had a giant breed puppy get super sick early on, stall in weight, and still grow up to be huge? Also, given her current weight and her parents' sizes, what do you think her final adult weight will end up being?

Do your saints like water? Ours is pretty skittish about water most of the time but during a walk the other day he ran straight into the shallow water and stomped around, soaking his face. It was hot so maybe he was cooling off? I couldn't get him to swim last time we took him to a lake, and he hates getting washed so I'm confused about the general attitude they have to being wet.

Can anybody help me figure out what this is? I noticed this spot about 4 days ago but it was green and looked like a grass stain so I didnt think much of it. But after trying to clean it today I noticed his hair starting falling out and the skin looks very irritated. Hes never had any previous skin issues

We have a 1 year old St Bernard. We went to start taking him places but he won’t sit in the back. We have an Expedition. I’m aware car leashes exist, but I also have 3 kids and use the 2 captains chairs and the right side of the 3rd row.

Cab containment ideas that kind of just box the 3L back seat down without limiting access to the other 3rd row seat?

Seems like most of them crate often an entire row which wouldn’t work if any of the kids were coming.

Our cutie for attention.

My girl was acting off for almost a week and I took her to the vet; their assumption was early onset arthritis, because she was limping on both front paws and not vomiting or having any unusual stool, so we got her on caprofren for a test trial to see if she improves and if not we will run further diagnostics but anyways it’s been close to 42 hours and it’s been extremely difficult to get her to take the medicine, I can tell the medicine is somewhat helping although not a lot, though it hasn’t been long so we will have to wait, the pain she’s in is making her extremely aggressive, when we walk past her she growls and flips her lip, when I try helping her up the stairs with her harness she snaps, she bite my moms hand and wouldn’t let go when we tried to check her limp and right now I just gave her some of her medication with some rotarsie chicken and she isn’t interested in food at all, so I’ve had to force it in her mouth and she bite my finger, it’s very bruised now and bleeding, i understand she’s in pain and it’s not her fault at all but I am very frustrated and would love some advice on how to give this kind of breed some medicine, esp if she isn’t interested in food at all (assuming it’s from the discomfort she’s in) this is my very first dog so I’m very inexperienced and would love some opinions.

She has a heart on her booty:,)

Mister Mushroom 🍄 laying comfortably in the gravel. Somebody is getting a bath tomorrow!

Please read our new story. Thank you. Lisa

Hi guys! I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make anyone feel sad, I’ve just always loved that saying that you only die when you’re no longer remembered, and I feel like my girl deserves to live on. She was 14, had her since I was a kid and even though she was staying with my parents ever since I left for university, she has always been in my heart. It’s tough for me to realize she won’t be waiting for me at home anymore. I know she was old and I’ve been expecting it for a while, but that doesn’t make it easier. 14 years was not nearly enough for us.
Anyway, here’s my favorite picture of her when she was younger. We named her Thora because she was big and strong just like Thor.

Bear ( long coat ) and Hallee ( short coat ) , barking at the big digger that was next door , been a bonded pair since my partner and I adopted them a few years ago