Saint Bernard Puppies From Birth

Saint puppies are born weighing about a pound to a pound and a half, they are quite helpless at birth, they are blind,deaf,and very sensitive to the environment because they cannot control their own body temperature, if they get chilled, they can fade and die very quickly.

Their heart valves are not fully formed, many pups have "heart murmurs" at birth, by six weeks their valves will fully close and a murmur will no longer be heard. A puppys liver is the last organ to grow, but the brain is the organ that consumes the most energy, so ideally the liver needs to be almost twice the weight of the brain at birth or the pup quickly runs out of energy; to keep the puppies blood-sugar level from dropping too low a puppy MUST nurse very often, starting about every twenty minutes and gradually lengthen the time to every hour and longer as pup grows. By a couple weeks of age, with proper care, the pup is "over the hump" for the most part and is on their way to becoming a rollie pollie pup.

THE BREEDER
I love my little puppy, she makes my house a home...
She is my sweetest little friend; I never feel alone,
She makes me smile, She makes me laugh, She fills my heart with love..
Did some person breed her , or did she fall from above?

I've never been a breeder, never seen life thru their eyes;
I hold my little puppy and just sit and criticize
I've never known their anguish; I've never felt their pain,
the caring of their charges, through snow or wind or rain

I've never waited the whole night through for babies to be born,
The stress and trepidation when they're still not there by morn,
The weight of responsibility for this body in my hands,
this darling little baby , weighed but 60 grams.

Formula , bottles, heating pads, you've got to get this right,
two hour feedings for this tiny guy, throughout the day and night,
Within your heart you dread you will surely lose this fight,
To save this little baby, but God willing.....you just might.

Should you do that instead of this....or maybe that was wrong?
Alone you fight and hope, one day, He'll grow up proud and strong,
You pray he'll live to bring great joy to someone else's home,
You know it's all just up to you, you'll fight the fight ALONE.

Day one, he's in there fighting, you say a silent prayer,
Day two and three, hes doing well, with lots of love and care,
Day four and five... hes still alive, your hopes soar to the heavens,
Day six he slips away again, day seven , he dies in your hands

You take this little angel, and bury him alone.....
With aching heart and burning tears, and an exhausted groan,
You ask yourself, Why do this?..... Why suffer through all this pain?
Yet watch the JOY your puppies bring, and everything's explained.

So when you think of breeders and label them with "GREED"
Think of all that they endure to fill another's need,
For when you buy your puppy, with your precious dollars part,
You pay only money.......While they pay with all their heart.

If you shop around you can find saint puppies priced from $300 to $3000, like with any breed there is poor quality and good quality, you want something to represent the breed standard, with the big saint bernard head,and massive build; so typically a good saint starts around $1000 on average. Do your homework and find a good breeder, although price does not predict quality, a good breeder cares about what they produce.
If you shop for a "cheap" saint bernard, you will get what you pay for and the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.