02/12/2025
For Adoption: Bernice!
Please read our dog bios carefully to be sure that the dog you are applying for suits your family and lifestyle.
We at PDR believe in the benefits of post-adoption training for our dogs and their families. This allows for continued socialization, learning and helps to create a well-mannered and balanced dog. Post-adoption training is a requirement in our adoption process.
To apply for adoption and for more information on our process and requirements, visit our website at https://pounddog.ca/adoption-info/.
Here is our lovely Bernice! She is a joyful and VERY affectionate 5-year old Bernese Mountain Dog who, if she is awake, is constantly wagging her tail. She thinks she was a lap dog in a previous life and would love to crawl into your skin with you when she’s getting her ears scratched.
Bernice is your classic beautiful Bernese, although a little on the short side, she is definitely not a small girl! Her coat and marking are GORGEOUS, especially after a good groom. She came to us a bit matted and dirty, but a good brush, trim and wash and she was picture perfect – she will require brushing and maintaining of her beautiful coat so she doesn’t get mats going forward and perhaps a good blow out of her shedding coat a couple times a year!
She is a high shedding dog, leaving hair everywhere when we first got her, but after her groom and undercoat was blown out it’s been much more manageable.
This lovely girl came to us as a retired mill breeder, she was clearly neglected, however, you wouldn’t know it from her temperament and friendliness! She is delighted to meet every person and dog she comes into contact with. She has learned to keep her paws on the ground (mostly) when she meets new friends and now does a very endearing sit-and-lean, then looks at her new acquaintance as if they are the best thing she’s ever seen. It is quite lovely, and everyone who meets her wants to take her home!
Bernice is nearly house trained, however, if she wanders to the basement after a nap, her foster owners know to follow and redirect her to outside as she hasn’t quite figured out that unfinished basements aren’t bathrooms. Bernice eats, sleeps and spends the day (when her foster owners aren’t home) in her crate. She enters the crate with the command “crate” and even has recently sensed our routines and goes in after a final p*e break or walk at the end of the night. She is happy and quiet in the crate during the day however, she doesn’t love the crate overnight. She has been slowly testing our patience and has required diligence with overnight crate training, but she is adjusting well to the schedule!
Bernice had never been on a leashed walk before she came to our home, but has quickly gotten the hang of it! While she loves a walk, she is a meanderer and not a puller. Until she smells something that catches her nose! Bernice is a big sniffer on walks revealing her true Berner stubbornness when she has caught a good scent and doesn’t want to move on from it. Otherwise, she is nice dog to walk and happily saunters right next to her walker. Another classic Berner stubbornness is if she decides she’d rather nap on a walk than continue, she will lie down in the road, in the snow, in the grass… wherever she is and not want to get up. She will go as far as roll on to her back waiting for belly rubs in the middle of the sidewalk!! While it is pretty funny, we are convincing her to go on with her walks even when she does this and she gets a nice long nap when we get home. When Bernice sees another dog on a walk, she is interested and eager to meet them and may pull at little in their direction but is easily redirected back to her foster owner’s side, she doesn’t react or bark otherwise. Cats don’t seem to interest Bernice at all and we haven’t really seen her interact with one at all to know how she feels about them. Similarly, we haven’t seen her exhibit any prey drive and she doesn’t seem to notice the squirrels in the backyard in the same way other dogs have.
Speaking of napping, Bernice hasn’t shown much interest in dog beds and prefers to lie on cold surfaces like the concrete of our unfinished mud room or the cool tile by the door. Her famous “sploot” sleeping position is very cute. She lies on her belly, chin between her mismatched brown and white feet and her back legs splayed out behind her like a frog. This is her favourite sleeping position and she sort of slides into it whenever she’s ready to relax.
Bernice is not a very young lady anymore and we wouldn’t consider her a high energy dog, she isn’t interested in high energy wrestling with her foster brother or running around playing fetch, but she definitely needs her walks. A couple decent walks around the block or one long walk are enough to keep Bernice happy and snoozing the rest of the day. You can tell with getting up from sleeping on the floor and tackling stairs that her joints aren’t maybe what they used to be, but she is gaining strength with her walks and consistent diet of healthy food!
The ideal home for Bernice would be with a person or family committed to her ongoing training and adjustment to indoor pet living. Bernice loves her foster brother and would do well with other dogs in the house but would also thrive as the sole benefactor of her owners’ affection. While Bernice doesn’t need hours of exercise to keep her happy, her owner would have to be able to handle a large breed on a couple of walks per day as well as bathroom breaks. Bernice LOVES to be outside. She would happily lie in the snow or sun all day outside and so a yard would be nice for her, however not a requirement. Bernice loves all people she’s met so far, including children, but would do best with children beyond the toddling stage as well as elderly persons as she is a bit unaware of her size and strength and her love-lean could topple someone over.
Bernice is a beautiful and affectionate middle aged to older dog (for her breed) who would love to live out her remaining years with someone committed to give her the life of love she deserves. She will require consistency with the training started by her foster owners and all Pound Dog adopters are required to participate in basic training at a minimum.
She is a lovable and sweet Berner looking for a family or individual to love, could it be you?
Name: Bernice
ID # PDR1442
Age: 5yrs
Gender: female
Spayed: yes
UTD vaccines: yes
Breed: Bernese Mountain Dog
Colours: tri
Coat length: med
House trained: yes
Special needs: no
OK with kids: yes
OK with cats: yes
Ok with dogs: yes
Status: adoptable
Microchip: yes
Size: large
Location: Plattsville
Adoption fee: $700
