Hillsdale House Inn Bed and Breakfast Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, is home to Simon the Siamese cat and Hannah a Bernese Mountain Dog . Simon is a Siamese cat who was adopted from a shelter in Red Deer, Alberta at 2 years of age in December 1999. Simon is an indoor/outdoor cat is friendly and enjoys company. If you don't meet her at the Inn you are likely to see her at the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens.

The Traditional Siamese (aka Applehead Siamese) is one of the oldest breeds of domestic cats. It preserves the look of the breed much as it existed when originally imported from Siam - a muscular, athletic cat, with round head and brilliant blue eyes and the striking contrast between point and body color which characterizes the breed. They are very calm, affectionate cats, typically healthy and long-lived - 15-20 years is average, and over 20 is not uncommon.

Hannah is a Bernese Mountain Dog who we adopted from a shelter outside of Atlanta, Georgia at 5 ½ years of age in October 2006. Don't be surprised if you never even see Hannah, as she is very shy and is most happy under the desk in our office.

The distant origins of the Bernese Mountain Dog are not well documented. The breed apparently had its origins in the mastiff type dogs brought by the Romans when they came into Switzerland around two thousand years ago. The Roman dogs were used to guard and drive herds brought with the invaders.

Over the centuries, since Roman times, these dogs remained as general-purpose farmers' dogs, but little attention was paid to preserving the type or developing the breed. Indeed, near the end of the 19th century, the breed was nearly extinct.

Fortunately, around the turn of the century, several Swiss dog fanciers realized that ignoring the many good qualities of the old native breeds would be a mistake. These pioneers brought Bernese from various isolated valleys in their home canton of Bern, and promoted the general interest in these dogs. The breed was originally called the Schweizerische Dürrbach-Klub; after the name of the hamlet and of the inn of Dürrbach, Switzerland where the dog was first developed.