a very long time ago in a very cold, snowy place there lived some people who were monks
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A very long time ago in a very cold, snowy place there lived some people who were monks. The monks lived near the Alps between - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
A very long time ago in a very cold, snowy place there lived some people who were monks.
The monks lived near the Alps between
Switzerland and Italy. These were mountains
that were very high and covered in snow. The
way through the mountains was called the
Saint Bernard Pass and so the monks named
their big dogs Saint Bernard dogs after the
pass.
At first they kept the dogs as guard dogs and
looked after them like pets. But the monks
soon discovered that the dogs were not only
very strong and friendly but they were also
very clever and so they trained them to do a
very special job.
Travellers had to find
their way through the
snow but the snow
was often very deep
and
dangerous. It was
easy to get lost and
some of the travellers
died
before they could be found by the monks.
In winter the snow would often fall down from
the mountains in an avalanche and anyone out
travelling would be lost in the snow or even
buried by the avalanche.
When the monks took their dogs out walking,
they discovered that the dogs were good at
finding their way and sniffing out travellers who
had been buried in the snow.
So every day the
monks sent their dogs
out in little groups to
search for signs of
strangers who were
lost in the snow.
The dogs were trained to look after anyone
they found by staying with them to keep
them warm while one of the dogs went back
to get help from the monks.
The most famous rescue dog of all was
called Barry and he lived 200 years ago.
Barry was
famous because in his lifetime he helped to
rescue 40 people!
He could smell anyone who had been buried
under the snow or had got lost.
Ever since that time the monks, who still live
there, have
always named the
most beautiful
Saint Bernard pup
in the litter
‘Barry’ in his
honour and when
people get lost in
the snowy
mountains thereare still specially trained dogs to search for
them.