I just saw this and wanted to jump in too... I have a Berner, Sammy, who is ten months old. He definitely does not drool, and though maybe he will when he's older, it just doesn't seem that likely to me. No drooling at all.
I've recently spent several months visiting my parents, who have a ten-year-old golden. Sammy adores her. He literally follows her around when I walk them together, stopping to sniff everywhere she sniffs, moving on as soon as she does. At first, she wasn't wild about him- she'd always been an only dog, and she wasn't crazy about other dogs ever. But honestly, she has warmed to him, and even occasionally will seek him out to play. He is definitely a puppy, though, and a BIG one (he weighs about 85 pounds, which honestly I don't think is particularly big for a male Berner his age), so he can get to be a little rough for her sometimes. I've found that there isn't much of a problem though, because when he starts to bother her or tire her out, she gives him a bark and he knows to back off. I guess I can't really base a strong impression of the breed as a whole on just my one dog, but Sammy really seems to only be interested in playing with dogs who want to play with him- he quickly loses interest in dogs that won't play back. So my parents' golden can get her rest pretty easily, even with him around. I set up the mudroom so that she has an extra bed in there, kind of in the back like a little cave, and she'll go in there and lie down when she's had enough.
So if you've decided not to get another dog, certainly stick with that, but my experience with Sammy has been that he's pretty easygoing with an older dog, and frankly, he can be pretty lazy and sleeps A LOT. so he bugs her from time to time, but a good bark (or NO from me) gets him to leave her alone!!
