A Bernese Mountain Dog was bred as an all-round Swiss farm dog—pulling carts, moving livestock, guarding property and working closely alongside their people. Their fulfilment is less about frantic exercise and more about purposeful work, connection and steady physical activity. What a Bernese Needs to Feel Fulfilled 🛒 Drafting & Pulling — strong genetic outlet - Cart pulling/drafting - Light pulling exercises once physically mature - Carrying appropriate equipment - Purposeful walking with a job - Draft-dog activities 🐄 Herding & Farm-Style Work - Treibball - Directional movement games - Moving objects between locations - Controlled herding activities - Following handler directions around obstacles 👃 Scent & Search Work Their nose gives you a fantastic lower-impact outlet: - Scent detection - Find It games - Tracking - Hidden-object searches - Food trails - Search boxes 🤝 Working With Their Handler Berners were bred to work with people, so relationship-based activities are important: - Engagement exercises - Loose leash walking - Recall - Heel work - Obedience - Target training - Cooperative tasks 🧠 Problem Solving - Puzzle feeders - Shaping exercises - Trick training - Food enrichment - Object discrimination - Learning jobs around the home 🌲 Exploration & Physical Activity - Sniff-heavy walks - Bush and trail walks - Exploring new environments - Swimming if they enjoy it - Confidence obstacles - Steady hikes once mature Because they're a large, heavy breed, particularly as puppies, I'd prioritise controlled movement and mental work rather than repetitive jumping, hard running or excessive high-impact exercise. Great Genetic Outlets Drafting • Scent Detection • Tracking • Treibball • Search Games • Obedience • Carrying Tasks • Problem Solving • Structured Exploration • Handler Engagement. A Bernese doesn't necessarily need to be run into the ground. They tend to thrive when they feel like they're part of the team and have something meaningful to do.

I want to hear all about your wins this week!

Ok, so this is new, and well out of my comfort zone. But I thought why not. My name is Kathryn (or Kat), and for the past 6 months my house has been home to a lovely dog named Jess. She had a rough 3 or 4 years, but I'm determined to make up for them. I have just completed the course thingo and it mentioned to write on the community page. Jess started at Walkys academy 2 days ago and I can already see a difference in her walking, I know that is more to do with her new lead than because of me. There's loads of things I have no idea how to do, but in time I'll work on, and help Jess with them too. I think that's enough for an introduction, no one will want to read all the bad n boring bits. Kat 🐾

Hi everyone! Be sure to jump on the Calm Collective pod cast on Wednesday at 1PM, to share your wins or any challenges! We can't wait to here about them!

We took full advantage of the delicious weather yesterday and Went for a little waddle with my girl Ruby and Bilbo boy. Beautiful times.