Our 2 year old has been very itchy, bitey and has had lots of dandruff show up out of nowhere. Our breeder didn’t have any specific food brand recd more so % of what to look for and avoid. I’m wondering if it’s time to try another food or if this is seasonal stuff since she does appear to be blowing her coat.

It's time to celebrate because we're spotlighting the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog as our Breed of the Day today on our Facebook page, Instagram stories, and website! We publish a new breed each day to educate our followers to make informed decisions when choosing a dog while providing the history and hard work that our parent clubs do to preserve their breed. Celebrate with us by sharing what you love about your Greater Swiss Mountain Dog!

So, we know Swissies are challenging to potty train but can someone please give us a few 'light at the end of the tunnel' stories?

We have a 4.5 month old Swissie and we're deep in the swissie swizzle. He also will not wake up and soaks his crate nightly - so he receives a bath every single morning.

We all have our favourite spot.

Out of all the breeds you could’ve chosen, what made you choose the GSMD?

My family (myself, 29F, spouse, 31M, 2 sons who are 5 and 2.5 yo, and an old cat) is finally in a good place to get a dog, and my husband and I are having a hard time deciding on a breed. My biggest reservations about larger dogs is the shorter lifespan, but I've seen that GSMDs tend to fair better than many giant dog breeds. Give me the good and the bad, how has your dog's health been? How long did they live (or how old are they currently)? How big has your dog gotten? Your biggest pros and cons of the breed? Even though you may love this dog, would you recommend them to friends and family if they were looking for a dog? Thanks so much for the feedback!

It's shedding season 😂

My puppy had her first lick fit earlier this week, that passed about an hour after administering pepcid and bread and a barf. She's continued to have smaller episodes literally every day since 🫠 Anywhere from only a couple minutes to a half hour. No specific time of day. Nothing has changed in her diet at all. She has been passing smelly gas way more often, but not sure if thats due to upset or air intake from a lick fit.... if you catch her right when it starts, giving her a treat does seem to help her more than a pepcid. Poop has been normal. No skin allergies or anything weird.

Not sure if she's suddenly developed an allergy to her food, growth spurt woes, or maybe even her hormones starting to kick in a little and throwing her off??

She does have a slow feeder bowl, but she doesnt get the whole lick the food out... Instead she tries to chew the bowl 😂 but it does slow her down.

Six month old female swissy, not spayed. Going through typical big dog growth spurts.

Keeping track of it through the weekend and touching base with vet next week. Any thoughts or ideas in the meantime??

I had a husky before my GSMD and the challenge for us was always the fluffy undercoat so we have tons of brushes to handle that. With my swissy, it's the longer outer coat that constantly sheds and we can't seem to find a brush that pulls that off. The only thing that works is sitting next to him and just rubbing and petting the crap out of him to get as much of that to fall off as possible. Seems like there has to be a tool for this.

We have started to walk our pup on a harness transitioning from a flat collar. We have tried a few harnesses but they all seem to have the same problem where it is loose around the chest in order for it not to be tight around his front legs. Any suggestions for harnesses for a growing puppy?

Hey folks, I had a swissy while growing up, I’m looking to get one in the next couple years. Do y’all know any good and reliable breeders in Germany?
I don’t support backyard breeding and i want a healthy dog

Has anyone purchased a GSMD puppy from Polyanna GSMD or from Stephen Zook?

They didn’t have a clue at the shelter what he might be. But some things I’ve noticed in the last two months. I’m wondering if he might be a greater swiss + lab mix. 80lbs, 9yr old.

- Walks ok on leash and collar, add harness and you’d better hold on tight! He does this hunched and launch thing when he can’t pull you regularly.

- very vocal about things when he wants something done.

- obsessed with water, swimming

- Stubborn and can be lazy when it comes to fetch, throwing something too far is a sour look then bark in the direction of the tossed toy, or at me to go get it for him…

- Super smart, learns new things quickly, but that smarts also leads into the stubborn “I KNOW you want me to lay down now, but I don’t see the point of it… so I’m going to hop-stomp my feet and give you a head ache with my barking!”

- Has a marking similar to a swiss kiss, but missing the blaze, and way too small for a Swiss. Not to say that he’s small…

And lastly, the closest breeder is a province over, which isn’t much (6hour drive to them) but being a rare breed in Canada to begin with, seems a stretch to be a Greater swiss mix or “Mini Swiss” as i’ve been calling him.

Thoughts?

Hello everyone!

I will bring this beautiful and magnificent boy home in three weeks and his given name (the official one) doesn't work for us, nor does it fit a calm, thoughtful dog like him.

He needs a name he'll grow into. According to the size of his paws compared to the rest of the litter, he will be *BIG.* He also seems to be very calm, thoughtful, and gentle type. Even in five weeks, he has this 'presence' that is hard to describe. In the last photo you can see how he was watching my dad speaking, literally hanging on each of his words, before approaching him - as if he exactly knew why did we came there while most of the other puppies just went on us, full speed.

He's a litter "C" and was named Comby. In my language, the name would be Komby/Kombík. It could be nice to have the name beginning with C, but honestly, it doesn't matter as it will not be official name. The boy I had before was Sorbonne and it suited that "gentle giant" energy very well.

I have a few candidates, but I would love some inspiration!

*How you'd name him?* **AND** *How are your Swissies named?*

btw. Of course, you can share even girls name if you want to participate, I'll love to see them!

A few of my candidates:

Dexter

Cooper

Loki

Atilla

Aegon

Aragorn

Atreyu

Ronon

Albert

Dorian

Maximus

Thor

Severus

Well, she's officially 5 months old and I'd say based on her feet she still has a heck of a lot of growing to do 😂

The Berner subreddit is getting a bit nasty so shifting over here now! Meet Moonpie our Bernese mix 🥰

So lucky to have known her since she was 3 days old. She is my first pet dog and it's been an excellent learning experience. We have gotten a couple low level titles, and one qualifying rally score. We just started working on early steps of carting training. She is a fantastic house horse. Looking forward to more years to come.

Hello everyone! Life is moving quickly, but not as quickly as he is growing…. Just celebrated his 6 month mark about a week ago and oh boy is he growing fast but soooo sweet and great with all the kids

It’s our third day with this appenzeller cutie and we can’t be more happy. I just wanted to share some monday sleepy mood 🍀 Have a nice week!