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Breed Standard UK KC
General Appearance
Large, strong, muscular yet elegant. Confident, calm and lively. Males in particular should be powerful and strong.



Characteristics
Amenable, intelligent and fearless companion; distinguished by his friendliness.



Temperament
Self-assured and playful. Neither timid nor aggressive.



Head and Skull
Head in balance with body and limbs. Strong but not heavy, elongated rather than stocky. Proportion of muzzle to skull equal. No wrinkles. Skull in profile and seen from the front slightly arched. The back part of the skull not substantially broader than at the eyes. Medium stop. Nose black. Cheeks only moderately developed, muzzle moderately tapered but never snipey. Nasal bridge of even breadth and slightly arched (roman nose).



Eyes
Neither deep set nor protruding, of medium size. Oval in shape with kind expression. Medium to dark brown in colour. Eyelids close fitting, showing no haw.



Ears
Set on high and not too far back, pendant, medium sized, hanging close to the side of the head, fleshy with rounded tips, well feathered.



Mouth
Strong jaws with perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, level bite tolerated. Teeth evenly placed and vertical in the jaw, with complete dentition. No constriction of the canines in the lower jaw. Lips close fitting, black, corner of lips closed.



Neck
Strong, flowing into the withers in a slight arch, without throatiness. Moderately long, no dewlap.



Forequarters
Shoulders well laid, elbows close fitting. Forelegs straight, well boned and not too close. Shoulder and upper arm long, sloping and well muscled. Pasterns strong, firm and straight when seen from front, almost vertical seen from side.



Body
Height at the withers to length of body in ratio of 9 to 10 (measured from point of shoulder to point of buttock). Depth of chest approximately 50% of height at withers, which should be pronounced, especially in males. Moderate forechest. Chest broad, deep, reaching at least to the elbows. Oval, not barrel chested. Back firm and straight with broad loins, strong and well muscled. Moderately sloping croup with relatively long, broad rump, gently rounded. Rump never higher than withers. Slight tuck up.



Hindquarters
Legs set not too close together and parallel when seen from rear. Well muscled, long, slanting upper thigh. Moderate bend of stifle. Hocks strong, angle between lower thigh and rear pastern well defined, turned neither in nor out. Dewclaws should be removed.



Feet
Tight and rounded with well arched toes. Front feet pointing directly forwards. Pads black.



Tail
Well furnished, straight, reaching at least to hock. On the move, tail slightly curved, not carried above level of back. Never forming a ring.



Gait/Movement
Ground covering, even movement in all gaits maintaining a level topline. Extending well in front with good drive from hindquarters. Seen from front and behind, legs move in a straight line when walking or trotting.



Coat
Medium soft to hard, fairly long, lying close to body despite good undercoat. Slightly wavy but never curled. Very evident mane at throat and chest.



Colour
Lion gold, red, reddish brown, sandy (fawn or cream) and all combinations in between, always with a black mask. Black hair tips are permitted. Black must not dominate basic colour. Lighter colour on underside of tail, mane, feathering on front legs and breeches on hindlegs normal, but must not be pronounced. A small white patch or stripe on the chest and white hair on the toes tolerated.



Size
Height at withers: Dogs 72-80cms (28¼-31½ ins); Bitches 65-75cms (25½ -29½ ins).



Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.



Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

The background of the Leonberger is a very clouded one, full of mysteries and turbulent tales. Many things have been written, sometimes accounts contradict each other, and little proof has been given for many of the stories, but the Essig Legend below is one of the foremost of the possible early developments of the Breed we know today.

The Leonberger is a German breed which explains why Germany is the only country allowed to change the FCI Breed Standard. It is a mountain dog originating from Swabia (Baden-Wurtenburg) in the foothills of the Black Forest near the picturesque and hilly Swabian Alps.

The name Leonberger is derived from the name of a small, lively town, Leonberg, that was once the centre of a rural community. Leonberg is situated about 15 kilometres from Stuttgart and about 50 kilometres from Rottweil, the cradle of that other dog, the Rottweiler. The ending of the word –er- means belonging to, coming from, so when you speak of a Leonberger dog you mean a dog from Leonberg, just as a Rottweiler is a dog coming from Rottweil.

Whether the Leonberger is a pure breed or the result of a successful mixing up of several breeds was, and still is, a subject for discussion. To start at the beginning, we go back to the early years of the 19th century. Heinrich Essig was born in 1809 in Leonberg. He turned out to be a very ambitious man, and he became a very prominent citizen, elected to the town council and possessing a strong talent for marketing and trading.

His greatest passion was for all kinds of animals and his house (Schwyzerhaus) was more like a private little zoo, with all kinds of dogs, foxes, turkeys, peacocks and so on. This account was written of Essig’s creation of the Leonberger : “Amongst his dogs there was a black and white Newfoundland female (Landseer type). He crossed her with a longhaired Barry-dog (St. Bernard) he owned also. He crossed them for 4 generations, out crossed again with a Pyrenean Wolfhound (Pyrenean Mountain Dog) crossed again with a St. Bernard”. There is, however, no proof that this is in fact what was done and that there were no other dogs involved. Essig started breeding in 1846, the date now attributed to be the birth of the Leonberger.

At that time large impressive dogs were very much in demand and there were years that Essig exported more than 300 dogs. The St. Bernard was very much in favour, but had become very rare. In fact, after a catastrophe in 1855, there was only one couple left at the Monastery at the St. Bernard pass. These dogs were crossed with Newfoundland females from Stuttgart, other local dogs, and English breeders crossed them with Mastiffs to obtain a more powerful head.

So, it is quite logical that Leonbergers were announced as a new breed with the old St. Bernard blood. We see pictures of what appear to be Leonbergers under the names Berghund, Alpine Mastiff, St. Bernard, Leonhardiner and so on. However, to add more confusion, sometimes St. Bernards were presented with these same names. According to records at the Monastery at the St.Bernard pass it seems that the name St. Bernard was used for the first time at the Show in Birmingham in 1862. As a member of the town council Essig was not only able to promote the town of Leonberg but could also do a lot of marketing for his dogs. By donating Leonbergers to royalty and other celebrities like Garibaldi, the Prince of Wales, King Umberto of Italy, The Czar of Russia, and Empress Elisabeth of Austria, he became very well known and he could easily sell more of his dogs. At one time, Empress Elisabeth possessed 7 Leonbergers.

Today we know that there must be more dogs involved than the ones with which Essig claims he started the breed. Modern genetics tells us that is impossible to create the Leonberger from the 3 breeds as described.. At the height of his career he was selling up to 300 puppies a year. Essig was helped a lot by his niece Marie, who practically did all the kennelwork. Later a relative, perhaps the nephew Essig mentioned once, took over the kennel. Essig died in 1889.


It was in the early 1880’s that some breeding rules were written by Kull (a painter from Stuttgart) and a Mr. Boppel from Cannstatt. He was a judge and also a breeder of St. Bernards. It was after Essig and Burger in Leonberg died that the first Leonberger Clubs were founded. The Leonberger Klub Berlin began in 1891 and Klub fur Leonberger, Heilbronn in1895. These two clubs probably did not exist for very long, because in 1895 the “Internationaler Klub fur Leonberger Hunde Stuttgart” was founded. The International Club President was Albert Kull and he created the first standard for the Leonberger. In 1901 the “Nationaler Leonberger Klub, Apolda (Thuringen)” was also founded. These two clubs were still active in 1904 when they were mentioned in Count van Bylandt “Dogs Encyclopedia”. If we look at the portraits from this era, we see that the type has improved as a result of the breeding rules and the written standard (or it may be just a bunch of well-selected pictures.) The type is more uniform and the almost white dogs are gone. Leonbergers were no longer a bunch of different dogs but an official breed and again quite popular. They did very well in shows and had their own specialized judges. They were not unknown in Holland, France, Austria and Bohemia.

Albert Kull wrote the first standard in 1895 so we can say that the breeding started in 1895. Then came the First World War. The Leonberger would have disappeared were it not for the efforts of a few lovers of the breed – the Leonberger population was decimated. A very small number of people had succeeded in keeping their dogs alive, among them Albert Kienzle who died some years ago. In 1958 there were between 300 and 400 registered dogs, there are now more than 8000 Leonbergers in the world.

Also in 1901, there was the “Internationaler Klub fur Rottweiler und Leonberger, Stuttgart”, followed in 1907/1908 by the “Leonberger-Klub Heidelberg”. It is thought that the Heidelberg Club existed until perhaps after World War I. (1914-1918). WWI turned out to be a real catastrophe for the Leonberger. All written records were destroyed, not only from the Apolda club, but also from the International Klub.
Following the war, it is due to Stadelmann and Josenhans that we have our Leonbergers today. Stadelmann started from zero with his breeding records.
The two men tracked down Leonbergers, sometimes with unknown and sometimes partially known ancestors. They found approximately 30 dogs and with about 6 males and 6 females, they began breeding in 1922/1923. Following a lot of hard work, Leonberger number 342 was registered in 1927. They founded the “Leonberger Hunde Club Leonberg” in 1922 but the Club was renamed by the Reich in 1933 in
“Fachschaft fur Leonberger Hunde” and kept that name until after WW II (1940-1945). The second World War also nearly destroyed the breed. During this war, breeding continued and even after the war there were some litters. In 1945, there were 22 puppies registered and in1947, 27 were registered.

It is thanks to Albert Kienzle and Otto Lehmann that it exists today. In 1948, a new club was formed with its seat in Leonberg. There are records from 1945 onwards. In 1945 five litters were registered from which 14 dogs and 8 bitches were registered. In 1970, 21 litters were registered and 61 dogs and 60 bitches. From 1945–1970, 2,132 dogs of both sexes were registered with the German club.

The “Club fur Leonberger Hunde” added “Deutscher” to the front of its name in 1948 and is still going strong today. (DCLH)

After WW II the committee leaded by Hans Weigelschmidt as President and Albert Kienzle as Secretary worked very hard to rebuild the breed. One of the first things they did was to revise the German standard. The rather long (but well commented) standard of 1895 was shortened.

The height of the dogs was brought down to at least 76 cm. for males and to 70 cm. for females. (It previously has been at least 80 cm for males and 70 cm. for females). In the 60s the standard was again revised and the heights were now changed to 72 cm. minimum, and 80 cm. maximum for males and 65 cm. minimum with 74 cm. maximum for females.

Unfortunately this revised standard was never taken to the FCI, so we had German judges that were judging according their standard, and the international judges who were using the FCI standard with the old heights. This caused some trouble between France and Germany, because France had always defended the standard of 1895.

After Weigelschmidt’s death Dr. Herbstreith took over as President, and Otto Lehman became later secretary. In 1964 Robert Beutelspacher was in charge of the breeding records, and in 1968 introduced the first European breed-book. He became president of the DCLH in 1974, but in the meantime had discovered that there were in fact 2 standards. One of the first things Robert Beutelspacher did, as President was to take the German standard to the FCI so at least every judge would be working with the same standard. After Robert Beutelspacher death in 1991 Gerhard Zerle became President of the DCLH.
Leonbergers in 1967

The International Union of Leonberger Hunde (IULH) is the umbrella organisation for all Leonberger Clubs worldwide. In 1975, the German Club brought all the Leonberger Breed Clubs from the major European nations together. Each country has its own Club but they in turn belong to the IULH. The headquarters for this are in Leonberg, Germany and each year there is the major show during the last weekend of September together with a meeting of all the representatives from across the world who work cooperatively to protect the health and quality of Leonbergers and to insure homogeneity of the breed. Today, the Union is led by the President of the (DCLH), Gerhard Zerle.

In the UK, the first modern day Leonberger, Catja v. Tannenhain was imported in 1975 and the first litter born in 1981 from Xilja v. Chrumelbach of Glanzberg and Chatkantarra Adkin of Rossnick. Celia Peters, Fiona Karolus and Sonja Gorbould were the three people who introduced the breed and who deserve the credit for perseverance and dedication which has resulted in the Breed’s strength in the UK today. There had been a couple of Leonbergers in the post war era producing only 1 live litter and some of the first imports of the 70’s did not breed on.

Great article, gives all the facts. I simply love Leonbergers and am sooo looking forward to getting my Leon puppy in the new year!

I have added my own article on my website about the history and the Leonberger breed.

I don't need much encouragement to post some pics of my baby Bear so here you are:








He's 2 and a half now and it's not that long ago he looked like this...

So beautifull

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life is not measured by the breaths wee take in a moment but by the moments that take our breath away...........

Hi,

We are new here and are very interested in purchasing a leonberger. We have a german shepherd already who loves other dogs, particularly her best friend Ben, the leonberger. He is a fantastic dog and has introduced us to the breed. We have been to a breeder local to us who have a litter coming and wondered if anyone had been to them before or had heard anything about them. They are Seaxa leonbergers in Essex, name of Ian and Sherry. If anyone wants to share any photos of their dogs, feel free!

Dave

Beautiful dog.

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www.joannes-petportraits.co.uk

Professional pet portraits which are unique and hand drawn using the finest quality pastels and paper. Commissions welcome just PM me or email me via my website.