Bergamasco Shepherd Dog

Features

The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog belongs to the medium-sized dog breeds. Characteristic for him is his shaggy and robust appearance. The body of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is covered with floor-length felt curls (dreadlocks) except for its head, ears and the area around its shoulders.

Important to know

If you can provide the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog with the necessary space as well as employment opportunities, then you can keep this dog breed even if you are not a shepherd.

Reliable & Cordial

Personality

Body & Appearance

Attributes

Coat care
4
Hair
3
Energy
7
Trainability
4
Suitable for children
7
This is the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog

Features

The hair covers the muscular body of the quadruped like a coat. The tail of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is thick and reaches to the hock. When walking, the rod swings back and forth like a flag, while at rest it is carried as a saber rod.

Just like on the head and shoulders, the rougher top coat (goat hair) dominates here.

The exceptional top coat protects the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog from all weather conditions. It also gives him a fearless and fearless expression.

The coat color of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog shows itself in the most different gray variations, but there are also plain black dogs or merle-colored as well as reddish-brown dogs with white markings.

Even though this dog breed has an imposing head of hair, it never looks bulky or heavy. The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is extremely agile with its height at the withers of 54-60cm and its weight, which ranges from 26 to a maximum of 30kg, and it has a well-proportioned and athletic stature.

The life expectancy of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is between 13 and 15 years.

Personality

Since the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog was originally bred as a shepherd dog in the Italian Alps, he has always been loyal to both his shepherd and his flock. Thus, this dog breed is characterized not only the intimate bond with his master or mistress, but also his reliability and cordiality, but also his fearless as well as vigilant nature.

The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is also a dog breed that is willing to work and is also characterized by independent thinking. An intelligent herding dog, he is still used to rounding up sheep and making independent decisions in his native Italy. So he may also question your instructions if he perceives them as not making sense.

Due to its intelligence, the BBergamasco Shepherd Dog is nevertheless also very docile, attentive and can react quickly when the situation requires it.

Posture

The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is a working dog and therefore should not be kept in a small apartment in the city. As a herding dog, the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is used to having a lot of space and being in nature from an early age.

As a herding dog, you should also note that this dog breed is very affectionate and thus should not be kept alone outside or in a kennel under any circumstances. The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is happy to live in a house with a large garden.

Because of his willingness to work, you must give the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog a substitute occupation should you not keep him as a shepherd dog. As an occupation are suitable for the robust dog breed with weather-resistant fur almost any sport, such as horseback riding, jogging or cycling. He also loves long and varied walks, but also dog sports like dogdancing or agility.

Educating the intelligent four-legged friend is also easy once he makes sense of your commands.

You can also keep the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog very well as a family dog, as he is not only patient towards children, but also affectionate.

Whether with or without children, being close to his human pack is very important to this affectionate herding dog.

Nutrition and care

Just like for other dog breeds, a balanced diet that contains all the important nutrients is essential for healthy development.

Nevertheless, the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is not demanding as far as its diet is concerned. He doesn’t care whether his food is dry or wet, as long as the composition is right and he is provided with all the important minerals and nutrients he needs.

When feeding, in addition to the list of ingredients of the food , it is important that you also consider the age, weight as well as the activity level of your four-legged friend.

The coat care of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is manageable. You must not comb the soft fur of the puppies. Only in this way can develop its characteristic villi. You may only comb the area around the head, shoulder and on the tail once a week. The longer puppy hair then usually felts in the second year of life, as the undercoat and wool interweave.

You should shorten the long and slightly wavy villi from time to time so that your four-legged friend’s freedom of movement is not restricted.

Even though the felting of the coat means that the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog hardly sheds at all, there is still quite a bit of dirt stuck in its coat. To remove the dirt again and also to get the coat dry again, after a rainy walk, it takes a lot of patience.

Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is a robust and healthy dog breed, which does not have any hereditary diseases, because it is bred very little.

History

The Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is one of the oldest breeds of dogs in Italy. It was kept thousands of years ago as a reliable working and herding dog. It is not clearly documented where exactly the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog comes from. It is believed to have arrived in the Italian Alps with nomads from Eastern Europe to Europe. However, there are also speculations that the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is descended from the Persian shepherd dogs and that its uranium came to Italy from Asia with Roman and Phoenician soldiers about 2000 years ago.

The Italian name of the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog ,,Cane da Pstore Bergamasco” or ,,Cane delle Alpi” means ,,Dog of the shepherds of Bergamo” respectively ,,Dog of the Alps”. This indicates that it was kept and bred by shepherds as a working dog in the area around Bergamo in the Italian Alps.

Since the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is bred even today primarily for the subsistence of shepherds, its distribution is small. There are only about 2000 copies worldwide.

Conclusion

If you can provide the Bergamasco Shepherd Dog with the necessary free space as well as employment opportunities, then you can keep this dog breed even if you are not a shepherd. The affectionate and warm Bergamasco Shepherd Dog is happy when he is not only allowed to protect you, but also to cuddle with you.