me and my husband have been going to crufts and looking at the various types of breed for the past couple of years and think that in the next year we will buy a puppy. My husband is very keen to get a Bernese however we are not sure if our house is really big enough (it's a bigish 3 bed semi) we were just wondering if there will be enough space for a dog this size or would it be too cramped?

My friend has a Bernese Mountain Dog, she is a very big dog!!! They used to live in an "average" 3 bed until recently, they have now moved to a 5 bed detached little mansion!! (Not got a very big garden though). The dog is now 4 years old and I have known her since she was a puppy. They seemed to cope ok in the smaller house, although the dog prefered to be outside most of the time and needs a lot of exercise. I used to love that dog when she was young, I saw it daily as I worked with my friend. But over the past couple of years I've actually become quite afraid of her... she has snapped at me a couple of times and non stop barks at me (and any one else who visits the house). It probably has nothing to do with the size of house she lives in! but I do believe they don't give her enough exercise or time, which has made her very dominant, over humans as well as other dogs.

Bernese tend to be quite lazy dogs and lol around most of the day if nothing is going on.  I wouldn't let their size put you off.  They are quite guardy as a breed as Joules has found but I wouldn't describe then as dominant.  They are generally quite submissive with people and low ranking with other breeds.

Julie

I live in an average 3 bed semi (50 ft garden) with my husband, 2 children and Briard (large breed) and have no problems with space. My parents live in a similar size 3 bed semi with a 30 ft garden and TWO briards. Before my brother and I moved out in our early twenties it was 4 adults and a Briard. Without any more waffling about housing, I dont see that there would be any problem having a Bernese in you house. If you had said it was a 1 bed flat then there may have been a space issue (LOL).