The Leonberger

Appearance

According to his original purpose, the Leonberger is a large, strong, muscular yet elegant dog. He is distinguished by his balanced build and confident calmness, yet with quite lively temperament. Males, in particular, are powerful and strong and sport the luxurious lion-like mane. Eyelids are tight fitting, like wise flews on the mouth, therefore the dog does not drool. Body height to length proportions are 9/10

Coat:
Medium soft to coarse, profusely long, close fitting, never parted, with the shape of the whole body be visible despite the thick undercoat. Straight, slight wave still permitted; forming a mane on neck and chest, specially in males; distinct feathering on front legs and ample breeches on hind legs.

Colour: Lion yellow, red, reddish brown, also sandy (pale yellow, cream coloured) and all combinations in between, always with a black mask. Black hair tips are permitted; however, black must not determine the dog’s basic colour.
Lightening up of the basic colour on the underside of the tail, the mane, the feathering on the front legs and the breeches on the hind legs must not be so pronounced as to interfere with the harmony of the main colour. A small white patch or stripe on the chest and white hairs on the toes are tolerated. Black and Tan or liver/brown are disqualifying faults.

Height: Dogs 72 to 80 cm, Bitches 65 to 75 cm

History

Leonbergers originate from the town of Leonberg, near Stuttgart in Southern Germany during the mid 18OOs. Heinrich Essig, a town alderman./councilor and a shrewd business man and trader of a variety of dog breeds, set about trying to create a breed of dog that resembled the crest of Leonberg, namely a lion. Unfortunately Essig kept no written records of the breeds he used to establish the Leonberger, although he said he used the St Bernard, Landseer Newfoundland and Pyrenean Mountain Dog. Modern genetics and DNA testing of the fur of all 4 breeds today somewhat refutes this claim and the continuing appearance of black and tan Leonbergers (a disqualifying fault) from time to time suggests that other breeds must have been used as well.

Guido Perosino, in the second edition of his highly regarded book, “The Leonberger” makes reference to the fact that the Leonberger is an older breed than the current German Shepherd and that at that time there were 2 German Shepherd breeds in Germany. The southern variety, long coated and floppy eared and the northern short coated, upright eared variety, both black and tan in colour. Dr. Perosino speculates that Essig probably added the very common southern German Shepherd into the mix but being an excellent marketer of the exotic breeds he exported all over the world to the wealthy, he was not about to mention that he used a very common breed to establish his new breed! Dr. Perosino further explains that he came across a St Bernard / German Shepherd cross litter recently and the resulting pups were remarkably similar to today’s Leonberger complete with black mask.

It was not until the early 1900s that a proper registry for Leonbergers was established and all current Leos stem from one pair, namely Leo E4 born 1/1/1912 registration number 4 and Frika v.d. Müßigmühle exact date of birth unknown but around 8 years younger than Leo, registration number 1. This combination produced 6 litters the last being born in 1927 which shows that Leo E4 certainly lived to and continued to reproduce at quite an old age.

Temperament

As a family dog, the Leonberger is an agreeable partner for present day dwelling and living conditions, who can be taken anywhere without difficulty and is distinguished by his marked friendliness towards children. He is neither shy nor aggressive. As a companion, he is agreeable, obedient and fearless in all situations of life.
In particular, he should exhibit the following qualities:

* Self assurance and superior composure.
* Medium temperament (including playfulness).
* Willing to be submissive.
* Good capacity for learning and remembering.
* Insensitive to noise.

Since the Leonberger is such a large dogs it is important to establish the rules of the household from a very young age. Socialisation from a young age is also important.

Care / Grooming

Owing to the exceedingly dense undercoat, relatively frequent brushing is required to avoid matting and knots, particularly around the underside of the ears and the “pants” on the rear legs.

Moulting generally occurs twice a year and is considerable in quantity. If dog fur bothers you, then the Leo is not the breed for you.

Health

Leos are considered one of the most healthful of all pure breeds, the only genetic disease attributed to this breed being Leonberger Polyneuropathy and this disease is also extremely rare with only approximately 150 cases being diagnosed worldwide during the last 50 years.

Breeding stock need to be screened for cataracts and hip dysplasia and breeders need to be aware that in some countries the incidence of hypo thyroidism is on the increase.

Other problems known to exist are Entropian, Ectropian, umbilical hernias. The largest cause of death is bone cancer.

Find Leonberger Breeders
or
View Leonberger Puppies for Sale | View Leonberger Older Dogs for Sale