Alice White
Leonberger is a large but at the same time elegantly graceful handsome man who knows exactly how to win a place in the heart of the owner. He is calm and reasonable, as befits a purebred “German”, and certainly will never use his own strength against those who are weaker. Good-natured and playful, Leonberger is sincerely glad to guests, whom he willingly meets at the door and sees off, delicately holding his coat with his teeth. At the same time, he manages to cope well with the work of a watchman, sitting royally on patrol and bringing the most hardened lovers of other people’s good to a pre-infarction state with his deaf, bass barking.
#1 Leonberger is a breed that owes its origin to a German official, and its name is from the city of Leonberg, which is in southwestern Germany.
In any case, it was this version that received the greatest distribution. Somewhere between the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, the mayor of Leonberg, Heinrich Essig, set out to develop a completely new type of large dog. According to the idea of the breeder, the breed was supposed to resemble the shape of a mountain lion, which, in turn, was the heraldic symbol of the city.
#2 Initially, a Newfoundland female and a St. Bernard male took part in breeding experiments.
A few years later, a Pyrenean mountain dog joined this "love duo", which made Essig the owner of a litter of several shaggy puppies with a silver-gray coat and a black mask on their faces. This arrangement did not suit the breeder, so the experiments had to be continued. Ultimately, the Leonberger took on the warmer, lion tones of the dog that they were recorded within 1848.
#3 At some point, vanity and a thirst for financial gain began to speak in Essig, therefore, without hesitation for a long time, the official began to promote his wards in aristocratic circles.
So Leonberger appeared at the court of Napoleon III, in the boudoir of the Austro-Hungarian empress Sissi, in the mansion of Richard Wagner and other representatives of the elite. Less than ten years later, the Swabian mayor's pets turned out to be an extremely popular product. Now, in order to acquire a shaggy lump from the nursery of the Leonberg town governor, it was necessary to lay out a tidy sum.
