FCI classification: II. Breed group – pinschers, schnauzers-molossoids
Origin:
The Leonberger, officially called Leonberger, originates from Germany. Its dreamer and creator was a man named Heinrich Essig, who was a councillor of the town of Leonberg in the Baden Württemberg province in the mid-19th century and wanted to create a symbol animal for his town, which could be none other than the Leonberger.
His dream was to create a huge, lion-like heraldic animal, for which he used St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, and Pyrenean Mountain Dogs. The result of this long breeding process was a giant dog of enormous size, big-hearted and family-oriented. Initially, the Leonberger, combining the best traits of the breeds, was considered a peasant dog.
However, the breed soon gained great fame, with Queen Sissi, Napoleon III, King Umberto I, Richard Wagner, Bismarck, and the Russian Tsar’s court surrounding themselves with Leonberger dogs.
General appearance:
The Leonberger is a very large, strong, muscular yet elegant dog, covered with dense long fur, the color of which may range from sand to any shade up to red, especially the males are covered with copper-black tips. The coat lies close to the body and perfectly shows the shape of the body.
Behavior, temperament:
The Leonberger is fundamentally a calm-natured, composed dog that perfectly fits into the family’s everyday life. It adores children and can befriend all kinds of living beings, becoming a friend to all members of the family and their animals. 
It is not bothered by the noise and hustle of the city, tolerating sounds with casual calm. Despite its huge size, it treats the small members of the family, the children, with exceptional gentleness. We can take it on hikes, it loves riding in the car, we can walk with it in crowded places, take it into hotels and restaurants. It excels in every life situation.
It learns very easily and gladly. Basic obedience can be expected from it even without training. It almost reads the human’s thoughts and willingly completes any task to please its beloved owner.
Despite its huge size, it likes to move and loves to play.
Unlike the breeds in its ancestry, it does not drool, and its coat is hypoallergenic, so people with fur allergies can safely keep it.
Breed description:
Head: Overall, deeper than wide and rather long than stocky. The muzzle is proportional to the skull at 1:1. The skin is tight everywhere, no forehead wrinkles.
Skull: Viewed in profile and front, only slightly convex, strong in line with the body and limbs, but not heavy. The rear part is not significantly wider than at the eyes.
Stop: Clearly recognizable, but only moderately, medium pronounced.
Nose: Black.
Muzzle: Rather long, never ending pointed, the bridge of the nose evenly wide, never sunken, rather slightly convex (resembling a Roman nose).
Lips: Tight, black, the labial commissure closed.
Jaw/teeth: Powerful jaw, perfect, regular and complete scissors bite, the upper teeth close to the lower without spacing, teeth are vertical, 42 healthy teeth in accordance with the dental formula (absence of M3 tolerated), a pincer bite is allowed. No narrowing at the canines in the lower jaw.
Cheeks: Only slightly developed.
Eyes: From light brown to preferably dark brown, oval, neither deeply set nor protruding, neither too close nor too far apart, eyelids tight, conjunctiva not visible, sclera not reddish.
Ears: Set high and not very far back, hanging, medium-sized, tight, fleshy.
Neck: Passes into the withers in a soft curve without break, rather long than stocky, no loose skin at the throat.
Tail: Very richly coated, hangs straight when standing, only slightly curled in motion, and preferably not carried above the extension of the topline.
Limbs: Very strong, especially in males.
Front limbs:
Legs: Straight, parallel and not closely set.
Shoulder/upper arm: Long, obliquely placed, forming an obtuse angle with each other, well muscled, flush with the elbow.
Middle part of the legs: Strong, solid, straight viewed from the front, vertical viewed from the side.
Paws: Straight standing (neither turning outward nor inward), rounded, closed. The toes are well arched, black toe pads.
Coat: Dense, long, close-lying soft smooth coat. Slight wave allowed.
Everywhere, despite the good undercoat, it recognizably leaves the body contours visible. At the neck and chest – especially in males – it forms a mane. The front legs are richly coated, the hind legs have pronounced breeches.
Coloration: Lion yellow, red, reddish-brown, sand color, pale yellow, cream color and all combinations thereof are allowed, always with a black mask. Black tips of hair are allowed, but black cannot be dominant in the dog's base color. Lightening of the base color on the lower part of the tail, at the neck ruff, on the flags of the front legs and on the breeches must not be so pronounced as to disturb harmony with the base color. A small white chest spot or a thin chest stripe and white hair tips on the toes are allowed.
Size:
Males: 72-80 (ideal 76) cm.
Females: 65-75 (ideal 70) cm.
Faults: Any slight deviation from the above points is considered a defect, any marked deviation is considered a fault.
Breeding disqualifications:
- timid and aggressive dogs
- dogs with severe anatomical faults, e.g. pronounced cow hocks, pronounced roach back, strongly dipped back, extreme twisting of the front paws, completely insufficient angulation at the shoulder, elbow, knee or hock
- brown nose leather
- very strong pigment loss on the lips
- missing teeth (except M3), overshot bite, undershot bite, other bite faults
- eye color different from brown and its shades
- entropion, ectropion
- strongly ringed tail or tail ringed too high
- brown toe pads
- strongly curly coat
- color faults (brown coat color, with brown nose leather and brown toe pads, black and tan, black and silver, wild color)
- complete absence of mask
- the white is too extensive (from the paws to the chest), a spot larger than the palm on the chest, white in other places
One could write pages about the good qualities of the Leonberger breed, the almost cliché phrases could come to mind like “the Leonberger not only has a golden coat but a golden heart” or “whoever has once fallen in love with a Leonberger is basically unfit to keep any other breed.” In contrast, I think Mr. Essig created the perfect canine companion for us, with whom we can share our daily lives, who meets expectations in every life situation, the jewel of our garden, our property’s brave guardian. When we are sad, he can calm and comfort us incredibly; nothing compares to running your hand through the lush, pleasant golden fur. Our children’s inexhaustible playmate, to whom we can confidently entrust our cherished child, without worrying that this huge bear would harm them. Despite his enormous size, he is gentle with little ones and we need not fear for our other pets with him around. 
However, for the wonderful traits of this amazing breed to surface perfectly, it is definitely advisable to choose a puppy from the right place. As with every breed, for Leonbergers it is very important to select offspring of dogs with good nerves, resulting from serious breeder work, and last but not least, puppy socialization. This breed was not bred for captivity. It does not tolerate confinement; freedom is important to it, and when kept in kennels or tied up, it becomes inward-turning, apathetic, and fearful. A dog raised or kept this way will be afraid of its own shadow, become yappy, and will only resemble externally the Leonberger that Mr. Essig gave us with such great care and long breeding work.
For me, nothing is more dreadful than seeing a huge, imposing dog appear with its tail tucked in, e.g., at a show, or leaving the safety-giving garden gate as an uncertain and skittish cowardly giant who jumps at every noise.
If we have found a suitably socialized and bred Leonberger puppy for us, there is nothing else to do at first but to love it. Feed it according to the breeder’s instructions, and of course, raise it consistently. No matter how friendly, calm, and balanced the Leonberger is, consistent training is indispensable for it as well. Try to be its friend, not its boss. You will succeed. But if we let everything go and do not insist on basic obedience tasks, it can easily get the upper hand, and later it will be quite difficult to keep under control a nearly 50-70 kg creature that way.
With rewards and more praise than scolding, almost everything can be achieved with it. If we strive for a balance in training based on short, concise but firm scolding and ample praise reinforced with treats, our Leonberger can later be our pride, who despite its enormous size does not abuse its physical strength, and can become our excellent companion, partner, and friend.
What is very important is not to lock it up or restrict its freedom; rather, try from the puppy stage to make it understand what we expect from it. In life situations where we might decide on confinement, rather try to make it understand what we expect, what is allowed and what is not! A Leonberger dog wants so much to please its beloved owner that it understands what is allowed and what is not allowed.
If we want to do something good for this big teddy bear dog and the weather also allows it, let's enable him to indulge in his favorite hobby, swimming.
