Congrats!! I am Pam's daughter, the one who is getting a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in less than 2 weeks. The Berner is one of the four Sennehunds (dogs from Switzerland) (the third largest, the largest being the Swissy). I had the pleasure of meeting several Berners and they are awesome dogs!! Very friendly..but very big I like big

Make sure to research the breeder very thouroghly. Make sure to find out if the parents are OFA certified ( that they have good hips and elbows), and make sure to read up on bloat...a disorder that effects large/giant breeds...that is very serious if not recognized early.

Anyway, my husbnad had wanted a Berner for quite sometime and then we found out about the Swissy, who shed less and have a longer life span...and we just fell in love...but i hope to have a Berner one day too...they are so cuddly. It isnt unlikely to pay that much for a Berner. And it is good if the breeder is very picky about who he adopts out to, b/c it means he takes good care and wants only the best for his dogs...anyway, pm me with any questions, we reserached this breed pretty thouroghly before we decided on our Swissy...so i may be able to answer some questions! Congrats!

Robyn