Welcome to Bern-Herr Farms: Home of Bern-Herr’s Bernese Mountain Dogs and an occassional Australian Shepherd. We are located in Lockport, New York, about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls and the Canadian border. We live on a 70 acre beef farm where we raise our Polled Hereford Cattle and Bernese Mountain Dogs. Our family constists of myself; Helena, husband; Jim, and 4 great kids; Daniel, Timothy, Lauren and Katie. All of our kids are involved in one way or another with the animals. We currently have over 50 head of beef cattle, 9 breeding ewes that belong to our daughter Katie, 16 Bernese Mountain Dogs and 1 Austrailian Shepherds - all of the dogs are raised inside our home. I grew up with Dobermans and decided early on, that was not the breed for me. As I began looking for a family dog, I found the Berners and instantly fell in love. Their beauty, size and origin was very appealing to me. My father was born and raised in Switzerland so I was drawn to these beautiful dogs through my roots. I purchased my first Berner, Hobie, in 1996. She instantly stole my heart and I was hooked on the breed. They are a deep love and passion for me. To know a Berner is to love one. No other breed compares!!! Hobie never did turn out to be a conformation dog but she excelled in every other regard. She introduced me to conformation, obedience, agility, therapy work, carting, herding and anything else I asked of her. She did things sometimes to only please me because I asked her to. She is still very special in my heart and remains the matriarch of the family. Hobie’s sister Xena came to live with us for a short period of time so I could have a conformation show dog. We finished her championship and then went on to breed her to an awesome dog, Am/Can CH Swiss Stars Mid Summers Knite. The litter of 4, that resulted from this breeding, is now my foundation. We finished 3 of the 4 puppies and have been going ever since. That litter was born in 1998. We now have 16 champions to date in a short period of time and strive to produce a better Berner with every litter we breed. My breeding philosophy is that first and foremost I want to keep breeding these dogs toward their original origins. They are a family dog, both companion and worker. Their original purpose was to be an all around farm dog, whereby pulling milk carts to market, droving the sheep and cattle and guarding the family. They are one of the most people oriented dogs in existence. They always want to be with and around their families and do whatever they are asked to do. Before any one of our boys or girls are bred, they have been checked and cleared for hips and elbows through OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals), eyes through CERF (Canine Eye Registry Foundation), heart, thyroid, and Type I von Willebrand's Disease (vWD). Most of our Berners have been shown and attained their AKC Championship titles before being bred. We are very selective in our breedings and plan each one very carefully. The resulting puppies are then evaluated for showing and most are placed with loving families to be the family pet they were meant to be. Any dog is first a part of the family before a thought of showing ever enters the picture.
All our puppies are sold to loving
families willing to keep and pre-
serve this beautiful breed. If sold
to a pet home, they go with a spay
or neuter contract and a guarantee.
If you are interested in a puppy
and wish to contact us, just send
us an e-mail and we can talk
further. On this site, you will find
pages for our girls and boys, here
now and ones that have crossed
that Rainbow Bridge. Each page
shows pictures of our gang and
tells a little bit about them. You
will also find a page for our
daughter Lauren who now handles
most of our dogs. She has been
showing in junior showmanship since she was 10 and does very well in the show ring. There is also a page to visit (Rest of the Farm) with the other kids and their achievements in the sheep and beef ring. Please take your time looking through our pages, sign our guest book and/or email us with any questions you may have about our dogs or the breed in general.
Sincerely,
Helena McNeil
Bern-Herr Bernese Mountain Dogs
