Origin and appearance
The breed originates from Germany and is not more than 150 years old. In Sweden there are about 3000 leonbergers at the moment and the Swedish kennel club are registering about 300 pups each year. The Leonberger is a very big, imposing and elegant dog with a lively yet calm temper. Ideal height in bitches are 70 cm and in males 76 cm. They weigh around 40-70 kg as grownups. They have loads of thick and long coat coloured from lion yellow to red brown, black face (mask) and a long bushy tail. Long coat on front and rear legs (feathers) and also a good mane on neck and chest is preferred.

What are they like?
It is not the most¨ easy to have¨ breed although they are both kind and nice. Their size in it self makes them very strong but the main strain in behaviour is their self assurance. That is the feature that makes them so deeply loved by their supporters but also what make others believe them to be uneducatable. They are enormously intelligent but won't obey without reason. It is a wonderful breed but as said before not altogether easily manageable. They love water and never misses a chance of getting wet, they love being outside and brings all the filth with them when going inside again. They love running in the woods and pretty many prefer doing it without their masters....They hate being bored and needs to be with their humans. They are extremely easy to teach and exceptionally good at figuring out things on their own.

How should they be?
The following is amongst other things what a Leonberger should be: dependable, curious, lively, calm, brave, tough, and amiable. A Leonberger shall be easy to take a long wherever you go, it should coupe with every thinkable situation you may encounter with aloofness and complete dependability.

How much do they need of me?
They do not need excessive coat care or exercise but patience, room, company, stimulating and upbringing. Personally we think that you need to have a good portion of good humour, a not all to brittle home and some tolerance considering filth, dust and dogs hair to be a good Leonberger owner. Beside a general dog interest of course.

Is the breed healthy?
The Leonberger is a relatively healthy breed, but as every other heavy boned breed they need a strong and healthy bone structure and as most other dogs the leonberger has some problems with both hip dysplasia and elbowjoint problems. Both maladies are in high degree hereditary. Therefore one should always carefully control the health status and behaviour of both the parents of the pup before buying anyone. The breeder should show you papers proving that the dog is x-rayed (prefferably both hips and elbowjoints) without remarks and you must by yourself check that the parents of the litter are happy and nice dogs, since one also may observe that they have a mental "defect" which is hereditary and that is cowardice. Those dogs are often very much afraid of humans they do not know and that is not typical for the breed. It is also painful and unpractical both for the dog and it's owners.
Since the Leonberger is somewhat of a challenge to own you should also make sure you feel you will have lot's of support from you breeder in years coming. If not by any other reason it's nice to have someone listening to ¨How absolutely wonderful and special your particular dog is!¨
Please note that every country has it's own breedingrules and that they may wary quite a lot. For instance many countries do not at all consider x-ray of elbows as important and that the grade of faults on hips allowed in breedingdogs also waries alot. It is also in many countries, fully possible to register pup's which parents does not follow the rules issued by the Leonbergerclub. As in Sweden f. ex.
More information about the breed you may have from your countryıs Leonberger club and by all means from our book!
( list of links from those pages to other Leopages are also under constuction)

This site is made and maintained by Ulrika Rogert  also holder of copyright.

last updated 1999-06-21