Bernese Mountain Dog Size Chart – Growth & Weight Chart

Despite their teddy bear-like appearance, the Bernese Mountain Dog grows to an immense size and that is why it is important that you know what to expect as they grow.

Keeping a Bernese Mountain Dog size chart will help you predict their adult size as you monitor them.

Keep in mind that the Bernese Mountain Dog is a big dog when they are fully grown, so before adopting or buying one, you should consider the amount of space that you have.

The Bernese Mountain Dog was used as a working dog herding cattle and to serve as intimidating watchdogs.

However, they are known for their good temperament and nature and are affectionate making them great family companions. Continue reading to learn more.

When Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Stop Growing?

Large breed take a longer time to reach their adult size as their growth is slow than smaller breeds.

Small breeds take one year to reach adulthood, however, large breeds Bernese Mountain Dog take about two to three years to finish growing.

After three years, Berners will still continue filling out and bulking up. By 18 months, most dogs would have reached adulthood but Bernese Mountain Dog still look awkward on their feet and have a puppy look.

Their mental and emotional maturity comes after their physical maturity, so expect them to still behaving like a puppy.

Bernese Mountain Dog Size Chart

The Bernese Mountain Dog weight chart helps you determine whether your puppy is achieving their milestones at appropriate times.

Your puppy’s weight can be affected by some factors such as nutrition, exercise, genetics, and health conditions.

To ensure that your puppy is growing at a good rate, feed them a balanced diet, provide them with adequate exercise, and have regular visits to the vet.

At the age of three months, your Bernese Mountain Dog has a weight of about 20 to 35 pounds.

By the age of six months they have grown quite a bit and weigh around 45 to 70 pounds. At one year, your puppy will weigh around 65 to 105 pounds.

They reach their adult weight at two years which is between 70 and 120 pounds.

Bernese Mountain Dog Weight Chart

Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy Development Stages

Birth – 2 Weeks

Like all puppies, Bernese Mountain Dogs are born blind and deaf, meaning they cannot hear or see anything and hence spend most of their time sleeping, feeding, and growing.

They also cannot move around as their leg muscles are still weak. They will try to sit up or stand and mostly stay in their sleeping area with their mother.

The puppy gets their nutrition from the mother’s milk during this stage as it contains all the necessary nutrients to help with their growth.

The puppy can be fed formula if the milk is not enough for all the puppies.

3 Weeks – 12 Weeks

At the age of three weeks, your puppy’s ears and ears are developed and the leg muscle start becoming stronger.

They will start exploring their space and interacting with their littermates. This is the best to socialize your puppy.

From four weeks, you can begin weaning them off their mother’s milk and introducing puppy food, but do not force them to eat the food if they do not like it.

By 8 weeks, the puppy should be ready to move to their new home.

This means that they should be completely weaned and fed 4 times per day as well as vaccinated and dewormed.

4 Months – 9 Months

Around the ages of four and five months, your Bernese Mountain Dog puppy will lose their puppy teeth and start developing adult teeth.

This can be painful and uncomfortable for your puppy as their gums become tender. They also lose their puppy coat, so you should help them get rid of the fluff by brushing the coat.

Continuous training and socialization are important at this stage to ensure that they develop good habits that are useful in adulthood. A lot of growth spurts will happen in this stage.

10 Months – 18 Months

At this stage, your Bernese Mountain dog becomes a young adult and is going through sexual maturity.

Their reproductive hormones start affecting their behavior and they may appear to have forgotten all they were trained in and become restless.

More training is required to tame their dominance and for them to understand that you are the leader of the pack and not them.

This is the period to neuter or spay your dog as they have become sexually matured.

Adult

Bernese Mountain Dog take up to two to three years to reach their adult height and weight as they are a slow-growing breed.

They will continue filling out until about three years old. This means that you should wait until when they are about two years old to transition them from puppy food to adult food.

This breed needs a lot of daily exercise and attention as they can be high maintenance. Some of them are heavy droolers, so you should wipe the slobber otherwise it will be on everything in the house.

However, they have a calm and good-natured personality and get along well with other pets and children.

How Big Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Get?

As you know the Bernese Mountain Dog is a large dog breed, but it may be hard to imagine how big they will get when they are fully grown.

There are some ways that you can use to predict your puppy’s size.

First and foremost, Look at the Parents as they will give you a clear picture of the adult size of your puppy.

If you know the size of your puppy’s parents, find the average of their weight and that is potentially your puppy’s adult weight. You can find this information from the breeder.

If you adopted your dog and you are not sure which breed they are, do a DNA Test to understand their genetic makeup. This will give you information and guidance so that you can predict their adult weight.

Additionally, you can check your puppy’s Paws as they will tell you if your puppy is still growing or has reached their final size.

If the paws appear to be bigger than the rest of the body, then your puppy is still growing and will reach their final size when the whole body is proportional.

Finally, you can use a Bernese Mountain Dog growth chart to get an idea of how big your puppy will get.

Male vs Female Bernese Mountain Dog Growth Chart 

The male Bernese Mountain Dog is slightly heavier and taller than their female counterpart.

The weight of a male Bernese Mountain Dog is around 80 and 120 pounds with a height of about 25 to 27.5 inches while that of a female Bernese Mountain Dog is between 70 to 95 pounds with a height of around 23 to 26 inches.

You can measure the height of your Bernese Mountain Dog at home as it is very easy to do it.

Take a measuring tape and measure from the ground to your dog’s withers. To get accurate results, ensure that your dog is standing straight.

Will Neutering/Spaying My Bernese Mountain Dog Affect His Growth?

Neutering and spaying are procedures done on dogs to remove their reproductive organs. The growth of your puppy can be affected they are spayed or neutered before they reach their adult height.

This is because the reproductive hormones are responsible for closing the growth plates, so if they are removed, your dog can grow taller or have joint issues.

However, spaying helps minimize the risk of certain cancers such as mammary and cervical and prevents your dog from getting pregnant while neutering helps reduce the risk of testicular cancer, minimizes aggressive behavior, and prevents them from impregnating intact females.

Speak to you’re your vet to know exactly when to neuter or spay your Bernese Mountain Dog.

Golden Retriever vs Bernese Mountain Dog Size

The Golden Retriever is lighter and shorter than the Bernese Mountain Dog and they are considered a medium-large dog breed while the Bernese Mountain is a large dog breed.

The male Golden Retriever weighs around 65 to 75 pounds with a height of about 23 to 24 inches. The female Golden Retriever weighs around 55 to 65 pounds with a height of about 21.5 to 22.5 inches.

On the other hand, the male Bernese Mountain Dog weighs between 80 and 120 pounds with a height of around 25 to 27.5 inches. The female Bernese Mountain Dog weighs around 70 to 95 pounds with a height of about 23 to 26 inches.

Factors That Affect Bernese Mountain Dog Growth

Genetics & Gender

You can determine the size of your puppy when you look at the size of both parents. You can get a great indication of how big your puppy will get in the future by looking at the parents’ size, weight, and breed.

Small dogs typically have small offspring, and large dogs will have large offspring. Parent size has a significant bearing on the puppy’s looks at the age of one.

Nutrition

A healthy and balanced diet guarantees your dog healthy and full growth. You can give your dog quality and healthy commercial dog.

To get the best brands for your dog food, ask your vet for guidance because it can confuse you.

You can also give your puppy a raw diet which includes cooked veggies and raw meat. However, this can be a lot of work for a busy person.

The Bernese Mountain dogs eat their meal twice a day. Too many snacks between meals are discouraged but if you give them snacks, reduce their next food.

Physical Activity & Health

Naturally, The Bernese Mountain dogs have high energy because they were bred as working dogs, hence needing physical and mental stimulation.

They require at least an hour of daily exercise. The exercises can be divided into two or more periods. One period for rigorous yard play and another for a 30-minute walk.

In snowy areas, taking your dog for a tumble in the snow is a good idea. if you are in a warm climate area, ensure that your snow-loving dog does not overheat.

How Much To Feed A Growing Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy?

The food that your puppy takes will increase steadily as they grow. A healthy puppy of 8 to 10 weeks eats about ¾ to ½ cups of food per meal.

Between the ages of 2 to 6 months, they need two meals a day. When they are 6 months and above they can take two meals per day.

Every puppy needs a different amount of food to keep a good body condition concerning their activity level and individual metabolism. A generally healthy Bernese needs about 3-6 cups of high-quality food every day.

A pup who is four months old needs more food that an eight-week-old puppy. When the dog is about 6 to 8 months, they can take adult proportion food or higher depending on their environment and also the system.

How To Tell If Your Bernese Mountain Dog Is Underweight Or Overweight?

Your dog can also fluctuate their weight during their lifetime. But looking at your noticeably skinny dog turning into a fat one, there could be a problem.

Your Bernese Mountain dog being overweight or underweight could indicate an underlying health problem.

There is also a risk of your dog developing serious problems that can affect their life quality if they are not brought back to their healthy weight.

However, the weight gain is gradual and might not be noticeable. There are a few ways to tell if your dog is overweight or underweight:

Feel the ribs

Chum your Bernese Mountain dog and run your hands over the sides. When the dog’s ribs can’t be felt due to too much fat, it is overweight.

The dog is underweight if there are too many ribs between the skin and the ribs that you cannot feel anything between them.

You can also check on the abdominal tuck under the dog’s waist and an inwards couture of the ribcage, these indicate good body condition.

Feel the spine

Run your hands over your dog’s spine gently. You should feel the bones but should not be protruding.

If the bones seem to be buried under the fat, and cannot be felt, your dog is overweight. If the spine has little or no flesh and is well-pronounced, then your dog is underweight.

Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Experience Growing Pain?

Large dog such as the Bernese Mountain dog are susceptible to joint and bone disorders while growing.

The disorders may include Osteochondritis dissecans, panosteitis, and hypertrophic osteochondritis. These can be painful and happen at around 12 months.

Just keep your Bernese Mountain dog on the look to tell when they are in pain.

What To Do If My Bernese Mountain Dog Is Not The Right Weight?

Your Bernese Mountain dog is the right weight when you look at him from the side and has a clear abdominal tuck, and when looking from the top has a clear waistline.

If you can’t see this then the dog is overweight. If the ribs of the dog are prominent then he is underweight.

The Bernese Mountain dogs are naturally healthy unless they are overfed. If you are worried about your dog being underweight or overweight, visit the vet.

This will help to find the truth. Ensure that you feed your dog a high-quality meal rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals but low in cereals.

How To Properly Weight My Bernese Mountain Dog?

There are several ways to weigh your Bernese Mountain dog. It may become a little more difficult as your dog grows bigger. Once a month, weigh your dog to ensure that the weight check is on track.

However, using the Bernese Mountain dog size chart is great but you can still collect other starts to be sure.

For a small puppy, you can use your bathroom scale by weighing yourself holding the puppy, and then weigh yourself. The difference is the weight of your puppy.

When your dog grows big it can be a challenge to lift them. Therefore, visiting the vet for weight checks or buying a large weight scale for your home is ideal.

Bernese Mountain Dog Genetics And Common Health Problems

The following are health concerns for the Bernese Mountain dog to be aware of:

Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) is an inherited eye disease that causes the retina to degenerate. The condition causes the dog to become partially or completely blind. There is no cure for this disease.

They are prone to Elbow Dysplasia can be seen as early as four months. The symptoms include fluid build-up in the joints and the inability to use the forelimbs properly.

Canine Hip Dysplasia is a condition common among large dog breeds including the Bernese Mountain dogs. It is hereditary. It causes the incorrect connection of the femur bone to the hip socket. This condition can result in arthritis in the affected joints.

Histiocytosis(cancer) is a genetic condition common in Berners which can lead to death.

Bernese Mountain dogs suffer from Von Willebrand Disease, a common genetic blood clotting condition in dogs. This condition causes severe bleeding even from minor injuries.

Final Words

The Bernese Mountain Dog is considered as a gentle giant and need plenty of space both outside and inside so that they can stay mentally and physically stimulated.

Even though they are great family dogs, their need for space may make them not suitable for everyone.

Hopefully, this article has provided you with enough information to ensure that your Bernese Mountain Dog grows well.