Bernese Mountain Dogs live, on average, seven or eight years. That's short for any dog and unusually short for a breed this size.
The reason is mostly cancer. Histiocytic sarcoma appears in Berners far more often than in almost any other breed — often enough that most people who have loved one have lost one to it. There's no reliable cure, and once it's diagnosed, time is usually measured in weeks.
That's the trade every Berner family makes without being asked: extraordinary dogs, not enough of them.
We'd like to change the math.
$1 from every set of PJs we sell goes to canine cancer research through the Berner-Garde Foundation, which funds the genetic and clinical work aimed directly at this disease.
This iis the reason the company exists. My mother has supported this research for years. We're continuing it by another means.
We publish what we've given, every quarter, on this page.