All Dog Breeds >>History of Greater Swiss Mountain
The origin of the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog is not definitely known. The Swiss people themselves cannot be clearly defined as belonging exclusively to one of the European tribes; they are inhabitants of a typical transit country. Likewise, the Swiss mountain dogs are probably the result of original farm dogs mating with passing dogs of warriors and travelers. For three centuries beginning in 1515, the remote valleys of Switzerland were more or less isolated from world history, and specific breeds of dogs were created by inbreeding – puppies were given to neighbors and family members.
The Greater Swiss Mountain Dog was developed in the Swiss Alps, Switzerland;there are several theories regarding the origins of the Swiss Sennenhund breeds. The most popular theory states the dogs are descended from the Molosser, a large Mastiff-type dog, which accompanied the Roman Legions on their invasion of the Alps more than 2000 years ago. A second theory is that about 1100 B.C. the Phoenicians brought a large breed of dog with them to settlements in Spain, and that these dogs later migrated eastward to influence the development of the Spanish Mastiff, Great Pyrenees, Dogue de Bordeaux and large Swiss breeds.
A third possibility is that a large breed was indigenous to central Europe back in the Neolithic Period – when humans used wild and domestic crops, as well as domesticated animals. Whether or not a domesticated large breed existed in the Alpine area when the Romans invaded, Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs are almost certainly the result of the mating of indigenous dogs with large Mastiff-type dogs brought to Switzerland by foreign settlers.
The early ancestors of the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog were used by farmers, herdsmen and merchants in central Europe. The breed was bred as a draft dog to pull heavy carts, to guard and move dairy cattle, and as a watchdog and family companion.