From the time the first traveler was rescued by a Saint Bernard until today, our breed has been setting records and creating goals for others. There is a monument in Switzerland dedicated to Barry, who saved over 40 lives. We don’t know who was the first Saint Bernard to make a rescue at the Saint Bernard Pass; that piece of history has been lost in the passage of time. Over here in the United States of America, we now know of the first Saint Bernards which completed a variety of American Kennel Club (AKC) and Saint Bernard Club of America (SBCA) titles and accomplishments.

Today’s events and titles are our way of keeping the history of the breed alive. It may not be the act of digging out a lost traveler in the snow, but the events reward and help preserve the conformation, obedience, tracking, agility, weight pulling, draft work and temperament of the Saint Bernard.

American Kennel Club & SBCA Breed Firsts For The Saint Bernard. In the arena of Performance events, we also recognize the first Saint Bernards in several ways:
1) The first to earn the different AKC and SBCA Performance titles.
2) One of the original goals of the Hall of Fame criteria is to promote and recognize the breed champion who competes in the different performance venues and they are also honored below.

Click on the links in the Firsts categories below to learn more about these history-making Saint Bernards, plus the photos below will open when clicked. The links contain wonderful stories, photos and historical facts about the dogs. The show record and titles displayed in each dog’s file is complete ONLY up to the time of their breed First. For a complete up-to-date show record of a particular dog, visit Databases. The Firsts are listed in chronological order and grouped by decade from 1879 to date. To view the exhibits of the Saint Bernards who accomplished breed Records, check out the Breed Records.