St. Bernard dogs find new purpose as Alpine tourism shifts

At the Great St. Bernard Pass, on the border between Switzerland and the Italian Valle d'Aosta, St. Bernard dogs still patrol the mountain paths their ancestors have walked for centuries, according to reporting from the Associated Press. A new museum at Bourg-Saint-Pierre now honours the breed's history, from its origins as a rescue animal to its status as Switzerland's national dog. The museum bridges the past—when monks and dogs worked together to find travellers buried in snow—with the present, where the breed has become an icon of Alpine culture and tourism.

The shift reflects broader patterns in how European mountain regions market themselves. As climate change alters snow patterns and avalanche risk, the traditional narrative of Alpine rescue has given way to heritage tourism and cultural preservation. The AP reported that the dogs still walk the same paths, but their role has evolved from survival necessity to living museum exhibit. For regions like Valle d'Aosta, which sits directly across the pass from Switzerland, this transition carries economic weight.