Hundreds of Saint Bernard dogs gather in Switzerland for world competition
The Saint Bernard competition takes place every year in a country member to the World Union of Saint Bernard Clubs.
Keystone / Cyril Zingaro
Over a hundred Saint Bernards have descended on Martigny, in canton Valais to kick off the World Union of Saint Bernard Clubs competition.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-ATS
The competition “will bring together a total of some 150 dogs from seventeen countries”, David Lüthi, breeder and president of the Groupe Romand du Saint Bernard, told Keystone-ATS.
Check out our selection of newsletters. Subscribe here.
The World Union of Saint Bernard Clubs (UMSB/WUSB) competition brings together some twenty countries, mainly in Europe, but also in South Africa and the United States. The competition takes place every year in one of the member countries.
The aim of the competition is to preserve and present the standards of the Swiss breed, which are sometimes abused. “The Saint Bernard is a mountain dog, not a Walt Disney-style dog, round and furry like a teddy bear,” says Lüthi.
Compared to the famous rescue dog Barry, his successors have put on weight. “If they become too heavy and change their morphology, they risk health problems and a shortened life expectancy”, warns the breeder.
The Martigny amphitheatre will host exhibitions and competitions as part of the Club show of the Swiss Saint Bernard Club, which is celebrating its 140th anniversary. Nearby, the Barryland museum will open its doors free of charge and offer activities.
“A dozen of our dogs will be taking part in the highly prized WUSB competition. They will have to win over the international jury by perfectly matching the breed standard,” notes the Barry Foundation in a press release, pointing out that the kennel has won the breeding batch competition in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023.
Adapted from French by DeepL/jdp.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
Swiss parties spent less than CHF1 million on February green vote
This content was published on
Swiss political parties spent CHF 700,000 ($840,000) on campaigns in the run-up to the overwhelmingly defeated vote on February 9, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office.
This content was published on
Swisswool, the largest Swiss wool processor, is not accepting any wool for the first time this spring. For many sheep farmers, the only option is to get rid of the wool.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.