Entlebucher Mountain Dog

Lively and keen to work, watchful with strangers.
An Entlebucher Mountain Dog
Photo: Pleple2000
Adult male
23–29 kg
50–65 lb
Adult female
18–25 kg
40–55 lb
Lifespan
11–13 yrs
Class · Working
also Family, Watchdog

What it's like

Entlebuchers are lively, self-assured and closely attached to their own people, with a watchful reserve towards strangers. Quick to learn and keen to work, they bring a herding dog's energy and alertness to family life, and some have taken up obedience and agility.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Keen to work with you
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Very vocal
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
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 short coat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

An Entlebucher Mountain Dog is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever. Males end up clearly heavier than females.

Smaller than the Bernese, Greater Swiss and Appenzeller, it is compact, muscular and slightly longer than tall. The short, close, hard coat is glossy and, under the breed standard, tricoloured: black, with tan from yellow to rust on the face and legs, and symmetrical white on the head, chest and feet. Some are born with a natural bobtail, others with a full tail.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Entlebucher Mountain Dog puppy is already as heavy as a grown Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
4.9–6.4 kg 10.8–14.1 lb
4.4–6.0 kg 9.7–13.2 lb
3 months
7.3–9.5 kg 16.1–20.9 lb
6.2–8.5 kg 13.7–18.7 lb
4 months
10.6–13.7 kg 23.4–30.2 lb
8.8–12.1 kg 19.4–26.7 lb
5 months
13.6–17.6 kg 30.0–38.8 lb
11.1–15.3 kg 24.5–33.7 lb
6 months
16.2–21.1 kg 35.7–46.5 lb
13.1–18.0 kg 28.9–39.7 lb
7 months
18.2–23.6 kg 40.1–52.0 lb
14.5–19.9 kg 32.0–43.9 lb
8 months
19.6–25.5 kg 43.2–56.2 lb
15.5–21.3 kg 34.2–47.0 lb
9 months
20.6–26.7 kg 45.4–58.9 lb
16.2–22.3 kg 35.7–49.2 lb
10 months
21.2–27.6 kg 46.7–60.8 lb
16.7–23.0 kg 36.8–50.7 lb
11 months
21.7–28.2 kg 47.8–62.2 lb
17.1–23.5 kg 37.7–51.8 lb
12 months
22.0–28.6 kg 48.5–63.1 lb
17.3–23.8 kg 38.1–52.5 lb
15 months
22.6–29.3 kg 49.8–64.6 lb
17.9–24.6 kg 39.5–54.2 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Entlebucher Mountain Dogs live yet. The 11–13 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Entlebucher Mountain Dog comes from the Entlebuch valley, in the cantons of Lucerne and Bern, where it drove cattle. It has been in the Swiss stud book since 1913, as the fourth of the Swiss mountain and cattle dogs, after four dogs born with bobtails were shown to Albert Heim at Langenthal; though named in print in 1889, it had until then been lumped in with the Appenzeller4.

The Entlebucher Mountain Dog, called the Entlebucher Sennenhund in Switzerland after the Entlebuch valley and the Senn, or Alpine dairy herdsman, stayed rare for years after entering the stud book. A breed club formed in the nineteen-twenties and a written standard followed, fixing the type. Numbers remained small for decades, and wider recognition came late: the American Kennel Club accepted it only in the early twenty-first century, in its herding group. It was bred to drive cattle between farm and pasture, nipping at heels, and to guard the farmstead.

Breed standard

The Entlebucher Mountain Dog is judged against standard no. 47, in group 2, Pinscher and Schnauzer, Molossoid and Swiss Mountain Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Entlebucher Mountain Dog 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

Standard Schnauzer
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Bulldog
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Chinese Shar-Pei
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Boxer
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Or compare the Entlebucher Mountain Dog 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 ·