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Dogs and All about Them by Robert Leighton
page 44 of 429 (10%)
as the associate of a lady or a child.

The St. Bernard is sensitive to a degree, and seldom forgets an
insult, which he resents with dignity. Specimens of the breed have
occasionally been seen that are savage, but when this is the case
ill-treatment of some sort has assuredly been the provoking cause.

The dogs at the Hospice of St. Bernard are small in comparison with
those that are seen in England belonging to the same race. The Holy
Fathers were more particular about their markings than great size.
The body colour should be brindle or orange tawny, with white
markings; the muzzle white, with a line running up between the eyes,
and over the skull, joining at the back the white collar that
encircles the neck down to the front of the shoulders. The colour
round the eyes and on the ears should be of a darker shade in the
red; in the centre of the white line at the occiput there should be
a spot of colour. These markings are said to represent the stole,
chasuble and scapular which form part of the vestments worn by the
monks; but it is seldom that the markings are so clearly defined;
they are more often white, with brindle or orange patches on the body,
with evenly-marked heads.

In England St. Bernards are either distinctly rough in coat or smooth,
but the generality of the Hospice dogs are broken in coat, having
a texture between the two extremes. The properties, however, of the
rough and smooth are the same, so that the two varieties are often
bred together, and, as a rule, both textures of coat will be the
result of the alliance. The late M. Schumacher, a great authority
on the breed in Switzerland, averred that dogs with very rough coats
were found to be of no use for work on the Alps, as their thick
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