Barry is the name of another of the most famous dogs in history.
It is, neither more nor less, the predecessor to the Saint Bernard breed.
A mountain rescue dog with Swiss origin in 1800, with reduced proportions and a stylized appearance, unlike the current example of the breed.
The name of the breed comes from the San Bernardo hospice, the place that welcomed Barry and helped travelers who passed through the area.
His recognition was achieved after saving 40 people trapped in the snow due to a large avalanche.
The animal was dragging them out of the snow and standing on top of them to provide them with warmth.
A true hero who has various monuments in his honor.
It was born in the year 1800, during the months in which Napoleon's troops crossed the Saint Bernard pass.
As a puppy he showed outstanding skills, and his training made him an excellent rescue dog.
This Saint Bernard rescued more than 40 people during his active life.
Its qualities, both physical and behavioral, are still an example for all those who breed with the breed.
His willingness to work made him stand out among rescue dogs, he never gave up, he did not seem to need rest and his contemporaries describe a kind of special sense that led him to know where and when someone was in danger.
He always left the Hospice alone, and when he returned to warn the monks, they knew that the dog had found someone in the snow.
In 1805 he starred in his most famous rescue, although by then he was already known throughout Europe.
A widow, when her Italian husband died in Lausanne, decided to return to her homeland in Italy with her young son, having to do it on foot.
It was the beginning of May and she managed to get to the city of Bourg-Saint Pierre with her son in her arms, but when she resumed her journey through the Port of San Bernardo (Switzerland).
That day Father Luigi, who was "Barry's" handler, and several dogs went out on their usual patrol through the mountains, but "Barry" suddenly stopped at one point, and the other dogs with him.
The father explained that shortly afterward he heard a loud noise and an avalanche of snow fell on them, pushing them more than a hundred meters down the hill.
When Father Luigi was able to sit up, he saw "Barry" running toward the source of the avalanche.
When he called him, the dog ignored him, a fact that alerted the father that something serious was happening, since "Barry" always listened to him.
There was a risk of new avalanches, which is why the monk decided to return to the Hospice.
When he told the Prelate what had happened.
They decided to wait a few hours, but at three in the afternoon the uncertainty led him to send the two youngest and strongest monks to look for the dog.
The monks went down to the village and there they were told that a woman and her son had left to cross the Port.
It was very likely that the woman was near the place where the avalanche had fallen, and the dog had somehow perceived her presence, but since then ten hours had passed and a terrible storm was hitting the area.
At eleven o'clock at night the Prelate was still awake, waiting for a miracle, when he heard a cry in the distance.
He ran to the Hospice door and when he opened it, he saw "Barry" with his body covered with snow and an unconscious child tied with a garment on his back.
Apparently, the Saint Bernard found the mother with her son and she, unable to take a step, in a desperate effort to save him, tied her son to the dog so that "Barry" could get him out of there. The monks managed to revive the little boy, while another rescue party went out, again together with the tireless "Barry", to try to locate the woman, who was found dead, lying in the snow.
This dog always worked alone, he knew every section of those inhospitable mountains.
Not even the monks had to give him orders to go out and reconnoiter, he did it on his own initiative.
One day he was found badly wounded lying next to a soldier who was freezing and delirious.
He mistook the dog for a wolf and stabbed him with a knife as he approached him.
Despite this, "Barry" continued to approach the soldier and lay down beside him to keep him warm.
The monks took them to the Hospice.
The soldier survived and "Barry" was able to save his life, although he was unable to go back to doing what he loved most, saving lives.
The prior sent him in December 1812 to Bern with some friends, where he lived for a couple of years, melancholy, hardly active, always looking at the mountains.
At the end of 1814 life abandoned him, when he was almost 15 years old. His body was donated to the Natural Science Museum in Bern where it was embalmed.
Today, after nearly two centuries, its remains still greet visitors who flock there from all corners of the world to see it.
A monument was also dedicated to him in the Asnières cemetery near Paris.
