We knew we wanted a tri-colored dog and the only one we were familiar with was the Bernese Mountain Dog. But after some research we discovered that they don't live very long and because of their size, don't have much energy towards the end of their life.
We ended up borrowing a friends dog encyclopedia and it was through this book we discovered the Entlebucher, Greater Swiss and the Appenzeller Sennenhund. There are four different swiss mountain dogs! The Bernese is the only long haired, the others all have short hair. We did some research on the Appenzeller which is a bit bigger than the Entle. I honestly can't remember who said it but we were told the Appenzellers were not quite as friendly and didn't have the same playful demeanor. I have absolutely NO idea if that is true.
In the end, we opted for the Entle. The size was perfect for us, the energy level was great, they were smart, short haired and didn't drool! All of our criteria had been met!
We ended up borrowing a friends dog encyclopedia and it was through this book we discovered the Entlebucher, Greater Swiss and the Appenzeller Sennenhund. There are four different swiss mountain dogs! The Bernese is the only long haired, the others all have short hair. We did some research on the Appenzeller which is a bit bigger than the Entle. I honestly can't remember who said it but we were told the Appenzellers were not quite as friendly and didn't have the same playful demeanor. I have absolutely NO idea if that is true.
In the end, we opted for the Entle. The size was perfect for us, the energy level was great, they were smart, short haired and didn't drool! All of our criteria had been met!