Oregon's Timberline Lodge Welcomes New St. Bernard Puppy

Since 1937, when Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the lodge, St. Bernards have been a part of the alpine landscape.

Bruno is Timberline Lodge's newest St. Bernard. Photo courtesy: timberlinelodge.com

(MT. HOOD, Ore. ) - Oregon's famous Timberline Lodge is a place of traditions, and one such tradition continues this week with the arrival of Bruno, a new St. Bernard puppy.

Since 1937, when Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the lodge, St. Bernards have been a part of the alpine landscape.

The first Timberline St. Bernards were Lady and Bruel.

For a brief while, the St. Bernard mascots were replaced with Huskies, but records are vague prior to the mid 1950's when the Kohnstamm family took over management of the lodge.

The first mascot under Kohnstamm's watch was Mac, who belonged to an employee.

Then, since the early 1960's the Lodge has always had St. Bernards named Heidi and Bruno.

They lived at the lodge, roamed the building, and had the run of the mountain as well, greeting countless visitors and befriending skiers and climbers as well.

Soon, the dogs began being featured in the ski area's brochures, ski pins, and even on Timberline Lodge matchbook covers.

In the 1980's a popular children's book, "Heidi's Rose" was written and their popularity continued to grow. In more recent year's, the dog's have been featured in many of the outdoor oriented fashion catalogs that are often photographed at the lodge.

In the 1990's, as the dog's popularity grew along with Timberline's, their job as mascots unfortunately became more high-stress.

The high volume of visitors to the lodge became a bit of a burden on the dogs, leading to concerns for their health and demeanor.

After considering the situation, management molded the long-term tradition to a changing world and came up with a wonderful solution involving employees.

Since that time, rather than allow the dogs to live at the lodge, Heidi and Bruno have belonged to long-term employees who become their primary care-givers and masters.

The dog's cheerfully come and go to work with their appointed alpha master, and still spending most of their time at the lodge, carrying on the tradition, and bringing happiness to the many visitors.

While this arrangement means it can be sad to see a Heidi or Bruno depart with an employee who has moved on to another job, it is best for the dogs, and it is always exciting to have a new puppy arrive on the scene.

This week, Gift Shop Manager Felicia Santoro is the proud owner of a furry bundle of energy, the Lodge's new pure-bred male St. Bernard mascot, Bruno, who at just 13 weeks is of course getting a lot of attention.

Source: Timberline Lodge