My cousin, Tim, called my mom yesterday to ask a favor of her. He is in the marines and is going to be deployed back to Iraq in September. His favor? He needs someone to keep his two year old female "spoiled rotten princess" Saint Bernard for about seven months while he is overseas. The Saint is good with kids (he has two kids under 4), housebroken, crate trained, "dry mouthed", and is "a really good dog".

My mom didn't tell him no, but didn't tell him yes either. Her dream dog is a long haired female Saint, but she told me, "There is no way we can have a Saint in the house right now. No way." I agree with her - with our hectic schedule, five kids, and looney animals running around the house (*cough* Pheobe! *cough*) adding a Saint into the mix, no matter how well behaved, isn't a good idea as my mom gets EXTREAMLY stressed very easily. Having a 40lb dog inside the house is already bringing her to the brink and Chloe is kenneled in the back part of our house most of the time my mom is home.

We could keep it outside with no problem. I do have a couple of questions concerning that and other things, though:

1.) I know that Saints can physically handle living outdoors, but since they are big mushes could a Saint used to being inside emotionally handle being kept outdoors?

It would be cared for in the same way Blackie and Rose are - it wouldn't be just thrown out back and left there. It would probably be an outside/inside dog - outside during the day, inside at night or during bad weather. We live in a rural area on ten acres so pesky strangers, loose dogs, and other things associated with outside urban living isn't a problem for us.
Now that we have an invisible fence we may be able to train it to stay in our yard so it would have three acres to roam on under supervision. And, of course, it would get walks and plenty of attention.

2.) On the subject of being outside, the Saint would be kenneled and I'm not going to be happy with anything smaller than a 10'x20' kennel. (A 20'x20' kennel would be even better.) However, to purchase that size of a kennel brand new would be....very expensive. But on the other hand, you can get a deer fence that is 7.5'x100' for $300. That right there is a 25'x25' kennel.
Would deer fencing be able to hold a Saint? Or would I be better off finding multiple used kennels for cheap and linking them together?

3.) Another question that my mind is asking is, "What about expenses?" Tim is having financial problems at the moment and he may not be willing to pay for the dog's care. I think he should at least pay for the food and any vet bills that may arise, we can take care of the rest, but my mom is very antsy about putting too much pressure on him. Does having him pay for food and any vet bills sound unreasonable? Since Blackie and Rose together eat about 6 cups of food a day and we spend about $40 on dog food every month...a Saint's food intake would be about that same amount, correct?

4.) Tim is the same cousin who had an unnuetered Black Lab. While he was going through a divorce, caring for two young kids, and getting back on his feet he decided to buy a female Black Lab puppy. Once he realized they were acting up (because of no training) he got rid of them. Just a couple of weeks ago he purchased a Pittie puppy. It is now gone. Right after that he obtained this Saint. All of the dog change-ups have occured in this past year.
Because of Tim's unreliability, my mom is worried that after we've had the Saint for almost a year that when he comes back he won't want it back. After keeping it for seven months I'm not sure we'll want to give it up, but if we don't, we could always place it in a new home. Does this sound okay, or no?

If we don't end up taking the Saint in it will probably end up in a less than desirable situation - a shelter or just given away on a whim.

What do you all think? My mom is trying to decide for herself, but she values my opinion as well as you guys', even though she doesn't know any of you.