Leonberger Dogs & Puppies

Leonbergers come from the German town of Leonberg, where they were supposedly bred beginning in the 1830s to resemble the lion on the town crest. The town’s mayor, Heinreich Essig, was a dog breeder and is said to have crossed a Landseer Newfoundland with a “Barry” (precursor to the Saint Bernard), and then a Great Pyrenees. This claim is disputed, however, as there are also descriptions of very Leonberger-like dogs in Austria as long ago as 1585. Further, modern geneticists say more breeds than those three would be needed to produce the traits seen in early Leos. Regardless, Essig was a talented promoter, and he placed his dogs with the celebrities of the day including several royal families. Regular folk also appreciated the breed as all-purpose farm dogs, watch dogs, and draft dogs. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the breed became very popular and commanded a large fee, largely because the breed's creator gave them to nobility to create a fad for them. During World War I, Leonbergers pulled ammunition carts. Only five Leos survived that war. Only eight Leos survived World War II. All modern Leonbergers trace to these dogs, following a concerted effort by a group of German breeders to rescue them in 1945. Now the breed is popular in Europe, though still fairly uncommon in America. The first Leo came to America in 1971. The AKC recognized the breed in 2010, and it has surged in popularity since. Leos have served as water rescue dogs, trained to leap from helicopters to reach drowning people.