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Appenzeller
Sennenhunde Dog
Appenzeller
Sennenhunde Dog
The Appenzeller Mountain Dogs are
active, calm and friendly. The Appenzeller Mountain Dog
are protective of their family and territorial but never
aggressive unless their human family is threatened, in
which case they are willing to fight to the death. The
Appenzeller Mountain Dogs are gentle, faithful and
loyal. They like to be near the home and do not roam,
and hate being chained up. They are happiest when with
the family, and love to be a part of it. Appenzeller
Mountain Dogs are alert, highly intelligent and
essentially a country dog that enjoys doing a job. The
Appenzeller Mountain Dog are stable, confident, and
devoted. The Appenzeller Mountain Dogs are a breed that
loves to be around children and do very well around
them. Pets and other dogs do well with them providing
they are well socialized early on.
Appenzeller Mountain Dogs obtained their named from the
northern canton of Switzerland. The Appenzeller Mountain
Dog descended from the Mastiffs that once accompanied
Caesar when he invaded Switzerland. These ancient dogs
lived among the Romans. The old Mastiffs probably
intermixed with native Swiss dogs to form the four Swiss
dogs we see today. The Appenzeller worked as a a general
farm dog for herding and guarding. Farmers loved the
Swissy because they could do the work of a horse, yet
ate a lot less. The Appenzeller Mountain Dog was
considered to be the poor mans horse. They also were
seen pulling carts into market, but with the invention
of the automobile, their uses diminished. After a while
the four Swiss breeds diminished so much that they
became a rumor, especially to Franz Schertenlieb. He had
heard stories from his grandfather that dogs of this
type existed in Switzerland, but he had never seen them.
He decided to go on a mission to find the last of these
species. So he set out and scoured farms in search of
the dogs. He eventually came up with at least one of the
species and in 1908 Schertenlieb exhibited the breed in
the Bernese class. Dr. Albert Heim, a knowledgeable
judge, knew the history of the breed and, thinking it
was extinct, instantly praised the find of this rare
breed--encouraging farmers and dog lovers to search out
the rest of the Swiss Dogs. When Schertenlieb discovered
enough of the same breed from this publicity, he began
to breed them again. He succeeded in reviving the breed
from probably around 7 or 8 dogs. In 1910 the breed was
accepted into the Swiss registry. Continuing to breed
the Swiss breeds with other dogs who possessed the same
traits but did not hold a pedigree, the dogs continued
in strength.
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