Owner's shock as 'cockapoo' grows into 7st mountain dog

Bobby had a hernia, half an ear missing, and a broken tail

After her previous dog died during Covid, Laura McFarlane wanted to get another rescue dog, finding one online with a "really sad story".

Bobby had had a tough start to life following a hernia operation, part of his ear was missing and his tail was broken.

He also looked to be a cockapoo, a typically small dog, which can grow to 11kg (1.7 stone).

But when Laura arrived at the rescue centre, she was surprised to see how big the puppy was.

"We were like, 'that's not our puppy. It's too big'," said Laura, 43, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

A DNA test later revealed that Bobby was not a cockapoo, but instead part Bernese Mountain Dog.

He has since grown to weigh seven stone (45kg).

It means Bobby now weighs four times more than she previously expected – and as much as a teenage boy.

Laura said that, after collecting Bobby, everywhere they went, he was by far the biggest puppy.

"We've taken him to a cockapoo café and people have said, 'are you sure he's a cockapoo?'"

Others joked that the owners "needed a saddle" for him.

Laura said, because they wanted to be prepared for potential health issues, they did a test to find out what breed he was.

"It turned out he was a Bernedoodle, a mix between a Bernese Mountain Dog and a poodle – we had a bit of a shock when we found that out," she said.

Bernese Mountain Dogs are a Swiss breed, and their large size means they were developed for farm work, including pulling carts and as guard dogs.

Bobby weighs about seven stone now

Bobby weighs about seven stone (45kg), which is roughly the weight of a 13-year-old boy – in contrast, a cockapoo, the breed Laura thought she was originally getting, typically weighs less than a quarter of that.

"He thinks he's a small dog, so he likes to sit on my lap," she said of some of the challenges of having such a big dog.

"He's also too heavy to pick up - but we love him to bits. We don't regret it at all," Laura added.

She added that Bobby had also had some viral success on social media in recent days.

"I'm usually posting pictures of him on Facebook, and I think my family was getting pretty bored, so I posted him on TikTok and he went viral – people loved him," Laura said.