Can a Bernese Mountain Dog live in a hot climate? A city-by-city guide to Colombia

Because of how it is built. The Bernese Mountain Dog — Boyero de Montaña Bernés in the Spanish text of the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) standard, Bernés de la Montaña or Boyero de Berna in everyday Colombian use — took shape in the pre-Alpine valleys of the canton of Bern as a farm dog: it pulled wagons, guarded the farm and went along with the cattle, through long winters.

• A double coat, long and dense, with an undercoat: it insulates against cold and holds heat in.
• Black over most of the body, which absorbs the sun’s radiation.
• A lot of mass: 36–50 kg (79–110 lb). A big body sheds heat less easily than a small one.
• Dogs barely sweat: they cool down by panting, and for a big, hairy dog that is not enough when the air is hot too.

The result, in a hot climate, is a dog that pants all day, doesn’t want to move, seeks out the coolest tile in the house and is exposed to heatstroke, which is a veterinary emergency.

In Colombia, altitude decides the climate. We use the climate zones (pisos térmicos) of the Caldas classification, the one used by IDEAM, and within the temperate zone we draw one extra line, because living at 1,100 m (3,610 ft) is not the same as living at 1,900 m (6,230 ft):

The 1,800 m (5,910 ft) line is our own cautious rule, not a veterinary standard. A Bernese can be fine somewhat lower in a cool house and unwell somewhat higher in a sun-facing apartment.

This table applies the rule above to the altitude of the cities that have their own page on this site. The altitude is approximate: it comes from an elevation model queried at each municipality’s official coordinates.

If your municipality isn’t here, look it up in Delivery: each department’s table carries this same column for all of its municipalities. (A department is Colombia’s equivalent of a state or province.)

That it can work if the home and the routine adapt to the dog, and not the other way around. In cities like Medellín, Pereira or Armenia, a Bernese needs:

• Cool floors — tile, concrete — and a shaded spot to lie down at any hour.
• Walks at dawn and at night. Never exercise between mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
• Fresh water at all times and, where possible, access to a hose or a small pool.
• No shaving. The coat also insulates it from the sun and protects its skin; what helps is brushing to remove dead undercoat.
• A controlled weight. Every extra kilo is extra heat.
• Ventilation or air conditioning during the hardest hours.

If that isn’t possible — a small apartment, no ventilation, the dog alone all day — the answer becomes no.

We are going to tell you no, and we would rather you read it here than hear it after getting your hopes up. In Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cúcuta, Neiva, Montería, Valledupar or Villavicencio, a Bernese spends most of its life uncomfortable, and this is a breed whose life is already shorter than most.

It is not a lack of love or care on your part: it is physics. There are alternatives:

• If you want a large working dog for a farm, the Australian Cattle Dog is the most heat-tolerant of the breeds we raise.
• If you want a calm family dog, among the small breeds the Maltese and the Maltipoo cope well with the hot lowlands when their coat is kept short.
• If what you want is a big, good-natured dog, ask at your city’s animal welfare centers: there are large mixed-breed dogs (criollos), already acclimatized, waiting for a home.

Very heavy panting that doesn’t ease, very red gums, thick drool, clumsiness when walking, vomiting or collapse. It is an emergency: move the dog into the shade, wet it with cool — not ice-cold — water, give it water to drink and go to the veterinarian immediately.

This guide is for information and does not replace a veterinarian’s assessment. If you already have a Bernese in a hot climate, your veterinarian is the person who can tell you how to help it.