The most famous St Bernard was a dog named Barry, who is reputed to have saved between 40 to a 100 lives while working as a mountain rescue dog at the Great St. Bernard Pass near the Swiss-Italian border in the early 1800's.
Barry or Bäri was one of the many dogs who lived and was bred at a monastery on the pass, and it's believed that the earlier St. Bernards look very different to the St. Bernards of today, since an avalanche killed off most of the breeding kennel. They were then cross bred with mastiffs creating the look of the St Bernard we see today.
The St. Bernard is one of the largest known breeds in the world, the largest dog documented in known history across all breeds was a St. Bernard named Benedictine who was recorded as weighing at least 336 lbs, or 152 kg.
That's huge!
And thanks to Midge for reminding me I forgot to add: The monks deny that any St Bernard ever carried a barrel, but think the rumor started from a painting. They did however keep barrels around so tourists could take pictures with the St Bernards wearing them, since the idea was so popular!
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