If and when I reach a point in my life that I can afford to own a dog, I really want a Bernese Mountain Dog.
From what I understand, they are smart, inquisitive, intuitive, and gentle. What's been your experience so far? Pros? Cons?
I'd say that's pretty accurate. Our Berner is the sweetest, goofiest, gentlest, most lovable dog we've ever owned, and we've had quite a few. We rescued her when she was ~10 months old (why anyone would ever abandon one of these dogs, let alone this particular one, remains one of the great mysteries of my life) and she was already 85 pounds, so there are definitely drawbacks. For example, you will buy so much dog food that you'll start buying it in bags that are bigger than the trunk of your car, and you'll vacuum up so much dog hair that your opinion on owning a Roomba will go from "extravagant frivolity for only the uber-rich" to "holy fuck how did I ever live without this thing?!?"
Still, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better breed of dog. They're extremely loyal to their owners, but are also good around other people, dogs or children. They're also surprisingly active for such big dogs, so it's a plus if you have a big yard or are a relatively active person that enjoys hiking, walking, biking, whatever. The downside to having an active 100-pound dog is that bad things can happen, like when ours tore her ACL while playing in the back yard a few summers ago. It's a relatively easy fix with surgery, but that doesn't mean it's cheap (I think ours was ~$2,500) and it doesn't mean it's easy to keep a dog like that from putting any weight on the injury for 4-6 weeks (I had to carry ours up and down the stairs every night/morning so she could sleep in the bedroom with us).
One last consideration would be where you live. These dogs are bred to live in the mountains, so they are wearing the equivalent of a parka with a fleece baselayer at all times. If you live anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line, I'd say getting a Berner is a questionable decision. We get ours clipped in the summer months, which is apparently pretty uncommon among Bernese owners, but she is SO much happier. Our old house had no air conditioning, so the poor dog would just lay on the concrete floor in the garage all day. Even now I find her out in the garage from time to time despite the fact that the house has AC and is usually 10-15 degrees cooler than the garage. No breaking old habits, I suppose.
A few more photos for posterity. As you can imagine, she is never happier than she is when she's buried in five feet of fresh powder...