Country of Origin: The Leonberger is named after the city of
Leonberg in southwest Germany, where it was developed from the
Saint Bernard, Newfoundland, and Pyrenean Mountain Dog in the
early 1800’s. Heinrich Essig, a prominent politician who made a
living trading dogs, is credited with developing the breed.
There is some controversy as to whether the early Leonberger was
in fact a distinct breed or merely a successful marketing ploy,
as no standard for the Leonberger was created in Essig’s
lifetime. According to legend, the Leonberger was bred to
resemble the lion on Leonberg’s coat of arms, but early
Leonbergers were actually mostly white; the modern brown and
black masked coloring developed in the 19th century, likely as a
result of further crossbreeding. The Leonberger was used to
protect livestock and pull heavy loads. Most were lost in World
Wars I and II, with only eight dogs reported as surviving the
second war. All Leonbergers today descend from those eight
survivors. Size: The Leonberger has a shoul