drawings by Mr. Specht - view of the property of Mr. H.
Essig, Leonberg
and A. Krull - Leos from the 19th century
(Translation by E. Steffen from the History-Zuchtbuch
Leonberger Zuchtbuch I. Zusammenfassung)
Leonberger Zuchtbuch I. Zusammenfassung)
Close to Stuttgart there is a small but well known town - Leonberg.
Leonberg - well known by dog all Leonberger Fanciers not only in Germany but also in other countries.
1808 until 1889 there was Mr. Heinrich Essig living in Leonberg.
He was the Major of the City of Leonberg and at that time a famous breeder.
The coat of arms of the City Leonberg shows a Lion. It is said to be that Mr. Essig
desired to breed a dog looking like a lion.
Very famous at that time was the St.-Bernhard-dog, Mr. Essig owned some of that breed, also the Newfoundland-dog and some of the black-white tapped Newfoundlands, later better known as the Landseer-dog.
Mr. Essig started breeding a litter of the Landseer-female and St. Bernhard-male, and he made breeding experiments with the puppies of these two dogs over 4 generations. But he was still not really satisfied with the results of his breeding.
Luckely - one day - he found a Pyrenaen Mountain-dog, a strong, tall, white dog. With this Pyrenaen Mountain he did some other breeding experiments and finally he got the first so-called LEONBERGER.
The first original LEONBERGER was born at 1846 and the breed got the name LEONBERGER
in honour of the city of LEONBERG.
Some photos of the "ancestors" (but the ancestors looked a bit different too in the 19th century):
The Leos nowadays look a bit different ....
The Club fuer Leonberger Hunde shows the remark
"Since 1846 LEONBERGER dog-breeding".
About 1860 1000 Mark had to be paid - a lot of money at these days - for a pure-breeded Leonberger.
At this time - the dog was very famous and owned by kings and artists (e.g. Czar of Russia, "Sissy" Elisabeth v. Oesterreich, Bismarck) - and there was a great break-down about 1900 and another one after the First and Second World War.
Some of the famous old breeders tried almost everything to keep the pure-breeded Leonberger and bring it over these dangerous times.
Now in the present the breeding of the Leonberger is well-settled -, in 1994 there were about 740 puppies p.a. in the
registry of the German Club.
The Leonberger is first of all a family dog, but can also be a good bodyguard and shelters you and what ever of worth you own against almost everybody - and apart from that it is still a very friendly dog, esp.to children.
© E. Steffen
