Sherri raises a very interesting point, mentioing that being a heavy boned, deep chested dog w/ a lot of substance seems to be a recessive trait, and even dogs w/ these characteristics often produce many lighter boned dogs. "Regression to the mean" is what this was called in genetics class. I bet Darwin would have an explanation for this. (As much as we fight him!)
Personally I love the look of these dogs, despite their handicap in the performance events, but I would be very interested to know if the lighter boned Berners are actually the longer lived ones. Is that why the dogs seem to "want" to stay smaller?? Darwin, anyone?? Intuitively this would make sense, as smaller and more moderate sized breeds in general tend to live longer. So I wonder if the smaller, lighter boned dogs in a very short lived breed (like Berners) would live the longest, as a whole (not a few individual dogs here and there.) Wonder if this data can be accessed from Berner Garde or any other source? Vilma Briggs (Kistner) Mt. Gilead, OH U-UD Mocha Java Slurp, UDX, HIC, TT Ch. Brighteye Expresso Bean, UD, NDD, TT U-CDX Our Little Buddy, UD, NA, TT Thirdtym's A Charm, CGC and Ted
