why do saint bernards carry those mini barrels around their necks?

They don't carry barrels around their neck in real life only in art and cartoons.

An artist years ago did a painting of Saint Bernards with barrels rescuing people in the Alps and the barrel was said to have brandy in it to warm them up. Saint Bernards were bred to rescue people in the snow but have never warn barrels.

"The barrels we see around the dogs' necks in paintings and cartoons is the invention of a kid named Edwin Landseer. In 1820, Landseer, a 17-year-old painter from England, produced a work titled Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler. The painting portrays two Saint Bernards standing over a fallen traveler, one dog barking in alarm, the other attempting to revive the traveler by licking his hand. The dog doing the licking has a barrel strapped around its neck, which Landseer claimed contains brandy."

Landseer also was almost famous for her paintings of black and white Newfoundlands which ended up being called "Landseers" after him.

When St Bernards were used in the mountains for rescue, they carried the little barrels. Its a myth that those barrels contain alcohol. They carry first aid supplies

● "Why do saint bernards carry those mini barrels around their necks?"

The breed-name is St.Bernard. 1,000 years ago monks in a hospice in the Swiss Alps started keeping them for protection and for searching. The dogs were originally known as Barry Dogs, because of one called Barry who'd rescued 40 people lost in the Alps. Read

http://www.fondation-barry.ch/en/history

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_(dog)

unless you prefer to listen to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7O_J-VYGgo.

The keg allegedly held brandy for the found person to make use of, the theory being that it would help the person keep warm.

The German Shepherd Dog has proved much more effective than St.Bernards at finding people buried in avalanches - and being so intelligent they are too likely to find a way to enjoy the brandy themselves, so they don't carry it. Actually, the brandy in the keg was more likely to KILL the human - see

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/al...

It is more likely that the monks' dogs carried a "purse-bag" or a basket, so that the monk had both hands free.

Add

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD_Source...

to your browser, so that you can easily look up all sorts of information about dogs, especially GSDs. "Thanks to" Yahoo's /neo/-nut programmer, the settings have been changed from "Open" to "Restricted", so you'll need to apply to Join by sending an e-mail to

the_gsd_source-subscribe @yahoogroups.com

(WITHOUT the gap before the @ ) then following through.

To discuss GSDs, join some groups such as

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/GSD_Friendly/i...

The people in them KNOW about GSDs. Plus you can include actual photos in your posts.

To find other groups or breeds, type the breed-name into the top field of

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/dir

then choose a couple of groups to Join.

King Les The Lofty - first pup in 1950; GSD breeder & trainer as of 1968

In the early days of the Canadian RCMP, dogs looked for trappers lost in the mountains, and carried a small flask of gin or brandy. That was believed to help keep lost victims alive until help could arrive.

That practice vanished shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.

It was whiskey to revive lost people.

lmao