Bergamasco Sheepdog

Calm and steady; weighs things up before acting.
A Bergamasco Sheepdog
Photo: Luigi Guidobono Cavalchini (Josephine06)
Adult male
32–38 kg
71–84 lb
Adult female
26–32 kg
57–71 lb
Lifespan
13–15 yrs
Class · Working
also Watchdog, Companion

What it's like

The Bergamasco is calm, watchful and steady, forming close bonds with its household and tending to be reserved rather than hostile with strangers. It tends to weigh up a situation before acting and responds better to cooperation than to repetition. The mats are not brushed out but separated by hand as they form, and take several years to reach full length.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Decides for itself
Around the home
Sensitivity
Hardy, takes a busy home in its stride
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Usually fine with small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It has a long coat. Loose hair stays caught in the coat until it is brushed, stripped or clipped out. Plan on daily brushing. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Bergamasco Sheepdog is a medium dog, about the weight of a grown Labrador. Males end up clearly heavier than females. It is one of the heaviest medium breeds.

It is a muscular, rustic dog with a large head, a strong muzzle and a tail that hangs low at rest. The coat combines a fine undercoat, harsh outer hair likened to goat hair, and woollier hair that knots with the rest into broad, felted mats over the body and legs, while the hair on the head falls over the eyes. Its colour is mostly grey, from pale to black, and merle also occurs.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Bergamasco Sheepdog puppy is already as heavy as a grown Border Collie. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old. Most males grow into the size large-breed puppy foods are made for.
Fully grown
12 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight8
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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Age
Male
Female
2 months
6.7–8.0 kg 14.8–17.6 lb
6.3–7.7 kg 13.9–17.0 lb
3 months
10.1–12.0 kg 22.3–26.5 lb
8.9–10.9 kg 19.6–24.0 lb
4 months
15.0–17.8 kg 33.1–39.2 lb
12.7–15.6 kg 28.0–34.4 lb
5 months
19.2–22.8 kg 42.3–50.3 lb
16.0–19.7 kg 35.3–43.4 lb
6 months
22.9–27.2 kg 50.5–60.0 lb
18.8–23.1 kg 41.4–50.9 lb
7 months
25.8–30.7 kg 56.9–67.7 lb
20.8–25.6 kg 45.9–56.4 lb
8 months
28.0–33.2 kg 61.7–73.2 lb
22.2–27.4 kg 48.9–60.4 lb
9 months
29.4–34.9 kg 64.8–76.9 lb
23.3–28.6 kg 51.4–63.1 lb
10 months
30.3–36.0 kg 66.8–79.4 lb
24.0–29.5 kg 52.9–65.0 lb
11 months
30.8–36.6 kg 67.9–80.7 lb
24.5–30.2 kg 54.0–66.6 lb
12 months
31.2–37.0 kg 68.8–81.6 lb
24.9–30.6 kg 54.9–67.5 lb
15 months
31.6–37.6 kg 69.7–82.9 lb
25.7–31.6 kg 56.7–69.7 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Bergamasco Sheepdogs live yet. The 13–15 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Bergamasco Sheepdog worked the valleys around Bergamo, in the Italian Alps and pre-Alps, driving flocks on the seasonal moves between high pastures and the plains of the Po Valley. A sixteenth-century painting shows the type, and the Italian stud book registered its first dogs in 1891. Its coat forms flat mats, called flocks, rather than the round cords of the Komondor4,9.

The Bergamasco Sheepdog came close to disappearing in the twentieth century, as seasonal droving declined after the Second World War and demand for working dogs fell away. Its revival is credited largely to Maria Andreoli, an Italian breeder who built a breeding programme from the remaining dogs. Bred to move and watch over large flocks with little direction from the shepherd, the breed was expected to think for itself.

Breed standard

The Bergamasco Sheepdog is judged against standard no. 194, in group 1, Sheepdogs and Cattledogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Bergamasco Sheepdog figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Puli
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Catahoula Leopard Dog
Herding · Large
Bouvier des Flandres
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Large
Briard
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Large
Or compare the Bergamasco Sheepdog with any breed you choose
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Sources

Uncited on this page: Lifespan — no reviewed source yet, so it is a general reference figure rather than a published one.
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Parts of this page were written by AI ·