'Barry becomes a superhero dog for the first time in a story that was recounted in Swiss professor Peter Scheitlin's book Versuch einer vollstandigen Thierseelenkunde (1840). According to Swiss geologist and cynologist Albert Heim, the most imaginative narrative about Barry can be related to Scheitlin's book on the souls of animals. Scheitlin had met Barry in 1812 when the dog still lived in the hospice - Barry had in fact growled at Scheitlin. The old dog's aggression cannot have affected his admirer, however, who many years later wrote confidently, "If I had been a miserable man, you would not have snarled at me." Barry was a perfect animal for a naturalist who was collecting samples to demonstrate that animals have spiritual gifts.

To Scheitlin, Barry was "Der heilige auf dem St. Bernard," the Holy One of Saint Bernard, and thus the most admirable dog known in history. As he directly addressed the dog in his eulogy, "You were a big, profound man-dog with a kind soul for the unhappy." If Barry had been a human being, what could he have achieved? He would have founded hundreds of holy orders and monasteries. Indeed, Scheitlin's enthusiasm pushed him so far as to present Barry as a saviour in human form, declaring, "You are the opposite of a sexton, You render the dead their resurrection." This sentence introduces Barry's most famous deed: saving a little boy from perishing in the snow.' (137-138)