There are many sport disciplines that allow people and their dogs to perform some sport activities.
One of them is water sport. It is perfect at every stage of a dog's life, exercises in the water have a positive effect on muscle development and maintain the good fit of the dog.
In addition to developing musculature, swimming helps to improve the health of the dog, it is great form of training with our dog. Orthopedists recommend swimming as an additional form of therapy for joint diseases - it reduces pain, paresis, restores or improves joint mobility in dogs.
Performing sport activities together with a dog in the water, especially for young dogs, is an opportunity to establish a great lien with the owner and is helpful in the development of a young dog. For older dogs, it's a great way to keep fit.
The water rescue trainings in Poland are carried out, among others, by the TERRANOVA Association, which organizes training camps and certifications every year (the only organization in Poland that organizes such certifications by FCI.The association has existed since 2004 and was one of the first in Poland to organize water rescue trainings with dogs.
For several years now, dogs from my kennel have been participating in training courses organized by this Association and are approaching the certification judged by international FCI judges.
In addition to this organization, there are dog schools that organise training with dog on the water. Water rescue of Bernese Mountain Dogs is also practiced in Poland by those members of WOPR whose members have Bernese trained in this field.
Dogs from the bernevirtus kennel are actively etraining in the summer season and pass the certification exams every year according to the regulations of the Terranova Association.
In 2020, Efi obtained certification in the master class, after successfully passing the certification in previous years from class I to IV.
In 2020, Kati also began her trainings, obtaining certification in class I at the end of the season.
On the photos: Orka and Efi towing the unconscious (exercises) and Kati jumping from the boat. More photos and videoson Facebook. Follow our passion on FB.
Update date: August 30, 2020
The nineteenth century was a time when Bernese Mountain Dogs were widely used not only as guard dogs and to beat cows, but also or even mainly as cheese dogs: where the field conditions allowed, they were harnessed to small four-wheeled carts and provided milk every day to cheese dairies established in the Swiss valleys. Then "cheese dog" became a concept in itself. It was durrbachlers that were called tricolor dogs, large, strong, strong, harnessed to carts.
A. Heim, an expert and lover of Swiss dogs, said: "No other large dog stays as perky, cheerful and healthy as a properly kept work dog." Perhaps not everyone knows that Heim was an avid lover of draft dogs - on the occasion of the exhibition in Zurich in 18906 and the exhibitions in Langthenhal in 1908 and 1913, he organized competitions and constructed a collar harness adapted to the particular body structure of a dog, which was a combination of a harness and a hamster. But even later these dogs were used for train work: the Swiss army in 1939-1945 used Swiss dogs as draft and pack dogs.
As we read in the literature, the fate of these dogs in the very old days was not easy at all, and attempts were made to mitigate it through legal regulations on the use of draft dogs. An interesting fact is that, according to the regulations, dogs performing this work could have at least 55-65 cm at the withers and could be at least 1.5-2 years old, and some regulations allowed for a maximum load of 120-150 kg. Even the type of harness used has been adjusted. One of the cantons has banned the use of bitches as draft animals!
How much weight can a trained work dog carry?
According to the measurements of Belgians, a draft dog on a good track, harnessed to a cart with rubber wheels on ball bearings, can pull a weight equal to five times its body weight, at an average speed of 9-14 km / h - without damaging the joints, heart rate, and without excessive strain.
Today we do not use dogs in the same way - we play dog carting, harness a dog to attach it to a sled, to light decorative trolleys to show dogs in parades or at other interesting cynological events. In this way, we cultivate the history of these races.
Photos: Ora pulling a pram - in Warsaw; Sabi at the dog carting show - Bernese Mountain Dog Club Show - 09.2017
Update date: 10/05/2020
