In investigating color in the Saint Bernard, we wondered: What color was arguably the most famous movie Saint Bernard, “Beethoven?” And by the way, what is the rarest of the nine AKC accepted colors in the Saint Bernard (they are Brown & White, Mahogany & White, Orange & White, Red & White, Brindle & White, Rust & White, White & Brown, White & Orange and White & Red.
The answers are: Mahogany and White, and Brown and White.
Which is which?
A bit of digging leads us to believe that Mahogany and White is the rarest of the accepted colors in the Saint Bernard because of (and this won’t surprise anyone) genetic factors related to coat color inheritance. The mahogany color is caused by the ay allele of the ASIP gene (Agouti Signaling Protein), which influences the distribution and type of pigment in the coat. The ay allele produces that reddish-brown or “mahogany” base coat color.
But it’s a bit more complicated than that. The genetic expression of mahogany requires specific combinations of alleles at several coat color gene loci, including the A locus (ASIP) and E locus (MC1R), which control pigment production. These genes interact to produce the distinct mahogany shade. Because mahogany requires the combination of both dominant and recessive genes that are less common in the Saint Bernard gene pool, it results in fewer puppies born with the color, and fewer means rarer.
But wait, there’s more. The mahogany coloration is sometimes accompanied by a black mask and dark shadings on the face and ears which also involves the EM allele responsible for the black mask, and this just adds to the rarity.
As for the movie, Beethoven, the Saint Bernard featured in the film, “Chris,” was brown and white. The two year old, 200 pound Saint Bernard had eight additional dogs as stunt doubles, understudies, and stand-ins, plus sixteen puppies to show Beethoven as he grew up from puppy to adolescent to adult.
Eleanor Keaton, the wife of Buster Keaton, was known for raising champion Saint Bernard dogs and was associated with owning and training dogs, including doubles for films. Teresa Ann Miller, however, was the trainer specifically credited for training Chris and his doubles for the Beethoven movies. Teresa had previously trained animals for Lethal Weapon (1987) and Lethal Weapon 3 (1992).
Chris starred in the first two Beethoven films and won the title of Favorite Film Dog in 2010. After his film career, he enjoyed retirement with Teresa Ann Miller on a farm, his days described by Miller as a relaxed life of “being lazy and drolly and hanging around the house.” Chris passed away in 2007 at the age of 12 from natural causes, but for a giant breed, that is a respectable age!
We circle back to color by sharing that if our sources are accurate, Chris’ brown and white color is, alongside red and white, the most common color in the breed. It should be noted that per the breed standard, necessary markings are: white chest, feet and tip of tail, noseband, collar or spot on the nape; the latter and blaze being very desirable.
Photo by Katerina taken in Pilsen in the western Czech Republic