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Untrue Historic “Facts” It’s Time to Erase

Khalid Elhassan September 8, 2020 35 min

Siege of Budapest - World War II — Red Army soldiers marching into a captured Budapest in 1945. Radio Free Europe

36. The Original Rescue Dogs Looked Quite Different From Modern Saint Bernards

Barry der Menschenretter, a famous nineteenth-century St. Bernard. Wikimedia

As seen in the above painting of Barry der Menschenretter, the most famous Saint Bernard, the original dogs looked significantly different from the Saint Bernards of today. The originals who did most of the work in the breed’s heyday as rescue dogs were about half as big as modern ones – similar in size to a German Shepherd – had longer snouts, and shorter fur.

Modern Saint Bernards attained their ginormous size because kennel clubs and dog shows concentrated on appearance instead of the dogs’ working ability. As Saint Bernards became bigger and their fur grew longer, they became less suitable for Alpine rescue work. The extra weight caused them to plunge deeper into the snow, while the longer fur froze and weighed the dogs down even more.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.