The Leonberger: A Comprehensive Guide to the Lion King of Breeds

By Caroline Bliss-Isberg

Caroline Bliss-Isberg has spent countless hours researching, interviewing and documenting to produce what is by far the most comprehensive collection of Leonberger facts and history every assembled. With great affection for this imposing but affable breed, Bliss-Isberg explains how it managed to outwit a hostile dog 19th-Century fancy, made inva

• Language: English
• Publisher: Revodana Publishing
• Release date: Feb 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781943824250

Book preview

Chapter 1

Our Better Angels

The year was 1846. The place was Leonberg, a market town in the Kingdom of Württemberg, known for an annual horse market that had drawn crowds to the region for more than four centuries.

Heinrich Essig, one of Leonberg’s most prosperous citizens, beamed as he observed the wriggling balls of fur and their exhausted but satisfied mother. He was witnessing the realization of his dream – the birth of his own dog breed.

But as Essig tended to his whelping box, the citizens of Württemberg were growing ever more restless under the reign of King Wilhelm I. On the horizon were threats of armed rebellions and food riots due to failed harvests.

Throughout the German-speaking areas of Europe, and especially in the southern regions where Leonberg is located, tensions were growing between the ruling aristocracies, oppressed peasants, and an infant middle class of tradesmen, craftsmen and small shop owners itching for civil rights. These discontents soon led to the German Revolution of 1848-49. The unified nation of Germany we know today was a distant and fragmented dream for the future.

Despite these social and political tensions, Essig was focused on building his dog-breeding business. Perhaps he wanted some distraction from the unstable times, or maybe he saw an opportunity to bridge the widening gap between the aristocracy and a developing middle class that was striving for capitalism and civil rights. Whatever his motivation, it was during this challenging period in German history that Essig fulfilled his longstanding dream of creating a dog breed worthy of bearing the name of his town.

Born amid these discontents, this special litter of puppies would, in time, bring the town of Leonberg to the attention of dog lovers around the world.

The fortress town of Leonberg in the Kingdom of Württemberg.

For more than a decade before his dream litter was born, Essig had traveled throughout Europe in search of great dogs. He investigated, bought, sold and bred hundreds of different types of dogs, all the while working toward the combination of traits he desired. Essig had envisioned a highly intelligent, richly coated dog that was large, but not massive – a dog that projected elegance, nobility and power without inspiring fear. It would be the perfect resident for castles and estates because its lively spirit would be tempered by a gentle, calm and loyal disposition. Above all, this dream dog, while lovingly devoted to children and accepting of other animals, would willingly protect and defend family and home should the need arise.

Now, after all these years, his heart told him he had finally succeeded: His dream breed, the Leonberger, had become a reality.

Everything in Moderation — Almost

The Leonberger breed created on that day a century and a half ago predated by well over a decade the founding of the modern dog fancy by the Victorians and the hundreds of pure breeds they produced.

Wealthy buyers eagerly purchased Essig’s first litters of Leonbergers. They not only paid princely sums for them, but underwrote their lengthy travels to new homes throughout Europe, across the Atlantic and even to the Far East.

What was it about these dogs that made them so desirable? After all, Leonbergers are not exceptionally colorful. (Essig’s first dogs did, however, have a range of colors, and some were even spotted.) Their coats are not short and smooth, or lavish, or silky, curly or wiry, or unusually coifed. In the field, Leonbergers are not exceptional hunters, trackers, retrievers, pointers or jumpers.

No, Leonbergers are exceptional because they lack the very extremes of function and form that are the central appeal of many other breeds. Because they were not selectively bred to specialize in a canine sport or working task, they are not dazzling performers in any single arena. Their purpose in life is to be loving, watchful companions and family members.

Heinrich Essig’s little zoo depicted by illustrator T. Specht for the German publication Die Gartenlaube, circa 1880.

Even though Essig had castles and noble families in mind when he envisioned the breed, the size and shape of their home and household don’t matter to Leonbergers, and surely never did. They are as contented in apartments in midtown Manhattan as they are on western ranches, rain-soaked forest trails, sandy beaches, in suburban parks or Alaskan snow. All that seems to matter is that they are granted full membership in the family constellation.

In the Leonberger’s appearance, this lack of exceptionalism and the concept of moderation are ever present. Moderation, harmony and balance are the words most commonly used to describe the dog as a whole. This tendency toward the golden mean is true even regarding height.

Although many canine encyclopedias associate the Leonberger with the giant breeds, nowhere in the official standards of any of the world’s major kennel clubs is the Leonberger referred to as a giant. In fact, it is clear in reading the current FCI standard written by the German Leonberger Club that the Leonberger is large but not ponderous, and that excessive height is not desirable.

Is moderation the magic that makes this an exceptional dog?

A Remarkable History of Peril and Passion

Whatever the reason, for more than 160 years Leonbergers have held a unique and extraordinary place in the lives, pursuits and passions of the people who have come under their spell. From the initial worldwide demand for them among those who could afford to buy a dog for a sum that exceeded most people’s annual wage, until today, when Leonbergers are found in humbler neighborhoods throughout the world, they have taken up permanent residence in the hearts of their people. The power of their unconditional love helped temper the social tensions into which they were born. A few years later, this same power preserved the breed when Victorian dog fanciers tried to ban it from their world.

Incredibly, the threat from the 19th Century dog fancy would be just the first of many times the breed gracefully endured the brutal hostility that humans can heap upon each other and the animals who share their lives. What protected this remarkable breed during the devastation of two world wars? Was it that magical moderation, or something more profound?

Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) with two dogs from Essig’s kennel.

There is no question that some extraordinary quality granted Leonberger people the dogged determination to preserve Essig’s dream of a beautiful animal with a wondrous temperament. Somewhere in the mix of Leonberger traits is a catalyst that captures hearts and changes lives.

The slogan of the Leonberger Club of America is Great Dogs, Great People! It is now often heard internationally, which is appropriate, because it was coined by a New Zealand fancier, Alan Hane. Perhaps it has caught on because it expresses some historical truth. There must be a touch of greatness in a breed that can inspire a touch of greatness in its people. Each time the survival of the Leonberger has been threatened, or its horizons expanded to include a new country or continent, those that rescued or transplanted the breed have had to overcome political and cultural barriers to keep Herr Essig’s vision alive.

The history of the Leonberger is far more than the brief account of breed origins found at the beginning of breed standards around the world. It is an epic story of people and their dogs – a chronicle of grace, courage and beauty in the face of pettiness, brutality and evil. It is a story of survival and passion. The history of the Leonberger provides clues to the mystery of how a dog can come to serve as a living reminder of what Abraham Lincoln famously called the better angels of our nature.

Essig’s ideal, according to illustrator Albert Kull, author of the first Leonberger standard.

Big dogs, little people. Photo by Lori Rose.

It is too quiet

Is that my shoe in the yard

What else is missing

— Laura Bishop

Chapter 2

The Making of a Pre-Fancy Breed

Three decades before breeders of purebreds became a force in the world of dogs, Heinrich Essig was tinkering with animal breeding. During his life, he was also a prominent civic leader, an innkeeper, a lumberman, a farmer, a land developer, an innovator and an entrepreneur – truly a 19th-Century Renaissance man.

Essig loved animals, and they became the central focus of his life. His major business venture was animal trading, especially the buying and selling of dogs and exotic birds.

He loved to travel, too, and animal trading required it. To find the finest specimens for his business, he scoured Europe. During his travels, he met nobles, royalty, famous dog lovers and other successful animal traders. When it came time to create what he visualized as the ideal breed, he had learned where to go to find great breeding stock.

A professional portrait of Heinrich Essig in his prime, with one of his Leonbergers. The typical Leonberger color we know today was not part of established type until after Essig’s death. Photo courtesy Stadtarchiv Leonberg.

How Essig Became Essig

Heinrich Essig was born on January 9, 1808, the fifth child of Johann Conrad and Johanna Friederike Essig. His parents owned the Gasthaus Lamm in Leonberg, a large, prosperous, well-appointed hotel ideally located on the main road just outside the noisy central marketplace. As the fifth-born child, Essig would never have the opportunity to run the inn. He accepted his birth order without complaint, and although he later gave inn-keeping a try, he apparently found it a bit restrictive.

Essig was drawn to adventure and travel. As a very young man, he became a fabric dyer’s apprentice and soon made his way as a traveling journeyman. He also joined the King of Württemberg’s army, which perhaps contributed to his public image as a dashing and courageous fellow.

Early on, Essig wooed and married a wealthy widow, the heir of one of his family’s rival innkeepers. With the help of his new wife, Marie Katharina Benzinger, Essig became a successful businessman and prominent citizen of Leonberg.

As newlyweds, the Essigs purchased a pig farm and successfully developed a new strain of pork that made them famous in the surrounding butcher shops. They also bought some logging property and operated a sawmill.

Throughout their lives together, they developed properties and built some lovely homes in town. Of the five houses they built on Feuerbach Street alone, their prize project was the construction of their home and kennel, the Schweitzerhaus, named for its resemblance to a Swiss chalet.

Essig in the army, carrying the Count of Württemberg’s flag. His early love of dogs is evident.

Image courtesy of Stadtarchiv Leonberg.

Essig was also active as a local public servant. Although he was never the town’s mayor, as is sometimes erroneously reported, he served as an elected town councilman for two non-consecutive seven-year terms between 1837 and 1855. He began his first term on the council when he was only 29 years old. Throughout his life, his peers held him in high regard because of his selfless civic duty and his skill in agriculture. He regularly undertook projects to improve the lives of his fellow citizens, especially the farming community. Indeed, some sources contend he was better known and admired around Leonberg as a farmer than as a dog breeder.

Essig did not let his robust business and civic activities interfere with his devotion to family. He readily accepted the two children his wife brought to the marriage. Katharina bore three more children with him: a daughter Mathilde and twins who tragically died in infancy. Also, the Essigs helped to raise Katharina’s granddaughter, Marie Göhring; Marie lived at the Schweizerhaus for her entire life. She shared Essig’s passion for animals, and it’s clear, reading between the lines, that she was responsible for much of the breeding that took place while he was on the road with his animal-trading business. Marie may have been what we today call a dog whisperer. The friendly, sound Leo temperament that allowed the dogs to be transported great distances was most probably her doing.

In historical documents, Marie is often referred to as Essig’s niece and sometimes his granddaughter. Kathy Beaucher, a long-time Leo person with a passion for genealogy, solved this mystery: Sorting through census reports and church records, Kathy confirmed that Marie was Essig’s step-granddaughter who also became his niece by marriage.

This original illustration of Marie in the Schweizerhaus garden was given to Christian Essig by his brother Heinrich in 1873. The Essig family kindly let us photograph the artwork, which hangs in their living room.

Essig and the Animal Trade

Essig’s residence in a town well known as an animal-trading center allowed his natural talent as an entrepreneur to flourish. In 1835, he formally began his dog-breeding enterprise. From the beginning, he set his sights on dogs that would appeal to the upper classes. He knew that big dogs were the rage and would be profitable.

Fortunately, in the Baden-Württemberg area, large dogs had been common for centuries, primarily guarding stock and carting small loads on the many farms in the region. Both so-called chicken dogs and carting dogs are frequently mentioned in descriptions of Essig’s trading activities. Also typical were the butcher or slaughterers’ dogs found throughout Central Europe. These dogs were sometimes tri-colored, at times black and tan, and often a monochrome yellow. Bred to assist butchers and farmers as carting and guard dogs, they were strong and protective, but also tolerant of other animals that did not threaten their stock or wares.

A 19th-Century illustration of a carting/butcher dog typical of southern Germany.

Essig purchased and sold 200 to 300 dogs of both documented and undocumented parentage each year. His breeding stock was not limited to local, easily available dogs. Early on, Essig demonstrated a willingness to import animals from abroad and purchased dogs for his breeding program from throughout Europe. Additionally, his trading acumen made him highly skilled at establishing foreign markets for the dogs he bred.

Essig’s sales numbers and apparently relaxed breeding practices may come as a shock to readers who have only heard the greatly abbreviated version of the Leonberger origin story. Some might even compare him to a puppymiller. Yes, he did sell a lot of dogs and other animals. But at the same time, it is important to remember that in the 19th Century, animal trading was a respectable business, and Leonberg was a highly respected trading center. In fact, Essig in the 1830s and ’40s was doing nothing more than his British counterparts of the period. The English, the very creators of the rule-governed dog fancy, were also busily crossbreeding dogs that they would later designate as legitimate new breeds.

There was a significant difference, however, between dog breeding in England and Germany. During this early period, the English breeders who created the dog fancy saw their efforts as science. They termed their scientific breeding practices cynology.

Cynology

It is difficult to discuss Heinrich Essig’s life and times without understanding and referencing the term cynology.

Cynologists are amateur scientists who study those aspects of the dog which relate to breed establishment, reproduction, dog behavior, training, breeding and canine competitive activities. The discipline was virtually nonexistent prior to the last quarter of the 19th Century, when purebred canine registries began to be organized.

In the 19th Century, as reverence for science emerged among the general public, cynology, the scientific study of dogs, emerged. This term is used widely within European canine circles today. Although not commonly used in America, the word is easily found in large unabridged dictionaries. Cynology is not considered to be a hard science such as biology, behavioral sciences, genetics or veterinary medicine.

The term cynology is based on the Greek word kynos (dog), in combination with the English suffix –ology, which refers to the study of. Readers will recognize the use of the term in the name of the canine umbrella organization, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI). The French word cynophilia translates to dog amateurism, and cynologique to dog studies.

How Essig Produced the Leonberger

According to his correspondence, when Essig first began to focus his attention on a particular kind of large dog, he started experimenting by breeding a Landseer Newfoundland that he had acquired from Iceland with a Barry-type Saint Bernard. (Barry der Menschenretter, roughly translated as Barry the People Rescuer,was the most famous dog who worked at the Great St. Bernard Hospice, the Swiss hostel where the St. Bernard breed was created.) Essig had traded two of his dogs to the monks at the Hospice of Saint Bernard in exchange for the Barry-type dog.

By some accounts, the Saint Bernard of that time resembled the butcher dogs of the region. Many sources also describe the St. Bernard as being white with yellow patches. Since light-colored dogs, especially white ones, were particularly prized at the time, Essig reportedly added a gray-yellow wolfhound from the Spanish Pyrenees, which he ordered from an animal-trading establishment in Rotterdam, to at least one of the generations of this breeding project.

By 1846, the magic year cited in all Leonberger breed histories, Essig was pleased enough with the size, color, luxurious coats and temperament of these crosses that he named his dogs Leonbergers and began to sell them as such. None of the early buyers questioned whether or not the Leonberger was a breed in the way the term is understood today. What was important was that the dogs were large, had beautiful coats, a noble bearing, could survive a long journey, remained even-tempered and commanded a high price.

Early illustration of Leonbergers by Kull, published in Die Gartenlaube. These dogs are quite different from the beautiful, balanced images that Kull later used in 1895 to illustrate the first Leonberger breed standard.

The 19th-Century dog writer Thomas Häring described Essig’s Leonbergers at the height of their popularity:

... huge, long-haired dogs with broad, thick heads and decided stops. [They were characterized by a] short, strong nose or muzzle, big lips and large, round, intelligent eyes which made them noble or lion-like. [They had] long thick necks with manes. The color of the soft long body hair for most of the dogs was white with rust red or yellow-brown tips or patches. Most had a beautiful even mask. There were also silver grays, deep grays, brindles and lion yellows.

The Lion of His Day

All evidence points to Essig as being the first animal trader to promote the concept of dogs as luxury objects. The local newspaper, Schwäbische Merkur, reported in 1862 that Essig’s big, long-haired dogs have become a luxury to own ... And because of their inbred good nature, they are especially loved by the ladies!

Essig understood the power of public relations and advertising, and he knew how to use the international press to inform the world about his dogs. Understanding the impact of loss leaders before the concept even had a name, he gifted a few prized Leos to royals and other famous people. As he expected, within a short time the dogs became much sought after.

In a stroke of fortune, some notable artists fell in love with the dogs, too. Three very prominent illustrators – Friederich Specht, Heinrich Leutemann and Albert Kull – often used Essig’s dogs as models for their drawings. They described them as a dog ideal.

These artists illustrated articles in animal periodicals and general-interest magazines. Die Gartenlaube (The Arbor), a 19th-Century German magazine that was a mixture of Sunset, People, Life and Time, became so influential that several books have been written describing how it impacted German culture and identity.

Cover of a typical copy of Die Gartenlaube.

Essig and a few of his rival breeders were often mentioned and illustrated in Die Gartenlaube. Other popular European and American magazines picked up the stories and helped spread the word about Leonbergers throughout the world. As the early English dog writer Vero Shaw declared rather sarcastically, Essig was certainly the lion of his day! From an 1875 issue of Diana, a newsletter for hunting and dog fanciers, we learn that Essig sold 374 dogs in 1874 – more than one per day. The newsletter also reported that dogs were selling as far away as Prussia, Austria, Saxony and America. His kennel had sent more than one hundred dogs to Russia.

The Dog-Breeding Place in Leonberg

This piece was written by the dog writer Thomas Häring in the late 1860s and published in a periodical called the Illustrated Craftsman. It is likely the most thorough and vivid description of Herr Essig’s breeding establishment available. It is evident that Häring was an Essig fan. Other writers were not so kind! This article has been condensed from the original, but we did our best to keep the flavor of the Victorian-age German in the translation of this colorful piece.

Once one enters [Herr Essig’s] residence, one or two massive males will greet one, but you don’t have to be afraid because they are very well mannered. The dogs bark, the Herr of the house comes, and the dogs go into their doghouses. If one now thinks that one would find, as in English breeding facilities, a number of kennel assistants and helpers and then be led to kennels with all comfort present, one is in error. Herr Essig is used to many visitors and is open to show his simple kennel to everybody.

After just walking a few steps one sees a beautiful very white male with a black head. With friendly barking he shakes his magnificent strong mane and his curly flanks with the foot-long feathered tail going back and forth. He is a picture-beautiful animal that jumps toward his master with long strides.

He pushes his head under his master’s arm and tries to ask with eye and posture whether the strange person is here with Essig’s acknowledgment. The owner pats him on his wide forehead and says, OK, Marco, lie down, and he leaves him there. After that we walk by a large simple doghouse. A raven-black, long-haired female gets up and points her fine and elegant small head out of the doghouse with her special double nose moving to find out whether her group of puppies is in danger. When the master calls, Be quiet! she lies down again with her puppies and starts to clean them. The puppies obviously enjoy the motherly love. Separated from this happy colorful group on clean straw, there are two picture-beautiful seven-month-old all-white dogs who lick each other’s dense, curly, silky, silver shiny hair. Dogs of such pure white color and faultless figure are of great rarity and are very highly prized.

There are special, very practical transport boxes that are supposed to pick up the six little guys we spoke about earlier, in which they will be, against all whining and protesting, transported for shorter or longer distances to their new owners. Their trip will be very fast and the humanity of the breeder supports them on the trip by having a contract with the train administration that allows for water, food and new straw. In addition, Herr Essig gives the new owners a sheet with suggestions how to take care of them so that the pups will feel comfortable in their new homes.

A beautiful white and black-patched male three-quarters of a year old is lying in the grass. When he notices us, he has just started again to play and tease his playmates – several deer! I was very surprised about this very friendly togetherness of wild animals and the dogs. Even though the dogs from the time they were puppies were used to the situation, it is the breed that allowed it not to attack the wild animals.

To my question of how he trains the dogs, Essig responded that the Leonberger breed was easy to raise and that they had to be treated individually according to their temperament. He mentions that his niece is a young girl that understands the care and special training of dogs in a masterful fashion.

So he has no problem with leaving his valuable, as well as the most surly of his dogs with her. Her word makes the ones that respond to her happy. Her look makes the sinner shake and her power is remarkable.

Essig’s niece Marie at work in the kennel. Illustration by Specht from Die Gartenlaube.

It is the born-in-kindness coupled with bodily strength, beauty and elegance that led to the fact that this breed has so many fanciers and friends. Now, from only one hand there are 3,000 individuals that have been sent in all directions. Their learning abilities, extraordinary smartness and very good performance make them loyal, nonbribable guardians of many farms or a loveable understanding playmate to children. And, they were called to work with lots of hardship-connected loving tasks to substitute for the long-since extinct St. Bernard dogs.

There are many repeated praises and thank-yous from the directors of the Hospice and also special acknowledgments and thank-you letters as well as some precious and rare presents from all sorts of satisfied fanciers that are the property of this good Leonberger [meaning Essig – Ed.]. These are signs of encouragement that should push him to further working and encourage him to continue. The best is to own such a noble creature and it has been probably the most wonderful hours of my life that I wiled with them in the kennel. My loyal Leonbergers share with me all joy but also carry with me every pain. They recognize my thoughts in the eye and try to flatter and caress me as much as possible when I’m sad and unhappy. On the other hand, they are funny, happy and agile whenever they find an opportunity for it. And when you look in their eyes there is openness, honesty and willingness to sacrifice. Their love is so obvious that every layman can see that my loved ones are not only servers, without any wrong in them, but also friends. One has to count them as my best friends.

Essig reported that members of royalty-owned Leonbergers, including Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria, who had seven silver white ones; King Wilhelm of Württemberg; Napoleon II, and Herzog Wilhelm v. Uroch. Essig also wrote that zoos in Brussels, Frankfort and Dresden owned Leonbergers, as well as six having passed through the Suez Canal headed for Japan, Singapore and India. Other writers stated that Bismarck, Richard Wagner, King Edward VII, King Umberto I, Garibaldi and Ulysses S. Grant all had Leonbergers in their households at some point. Some of the dogs were purchased, but Essig distributed many of them as gifts for marketing purposes.

These two illustrations of Cäsar by Heinrich Leutemann were created for an article he wrote entitled Cäsar and Stiefel for an 1872 issue of Die Gartenlaube. Stiefel is the small dog brought in to show Cäsar’s size (below). Courtesy of the collection of Kathy Beaucher and the Leonberger Health Foundation donated by Geeske Joel.

On Essig’s Coattails

Other animal traders and breeders living in and around Leonberg observed Essig’s success and began breeding their own Leonbergers and Leonberger-look-alikes. The most well known of Essig’s colleagues and competitors were Carl Burger of Leonberg, Heinrich Bergmann of Waldheim, Otto Friedrich of Zahna and Ed Kober of Böblingen.

Carl Burger began breeding dogs thirty years after Essig. He established a well-advertised multi-breed kennel, and his dogs participated in many shows. His family kept the business going until 1931, well after his death. According to Leonberger historian Metha Stramer, Burger’s dogs provided the models for the artist Albert Kull when he wrote and illustrated the first Leonberger standard in 1895.

Heinrich Bergmann’s dog, Cäsar, which he bred at his kennel in Waldheim, became very famous after he captured the fancy of the artist Heinrich Leutemann.

The three images of Cäsar on these pages were widely distributed and reprinted in Leonberger circles worldwide. One notable breed book caused a bit of confusion when the author mistakenly labeled Bergmann as Essig in the gorgeous illustration of Bergmann with Cäsar and his family flying over a fence.

Bergmann with Cäsar at the very top. Minka is to his right. Published in Die Gartenlaube in 1873. From the collection of Waltraut Zieher.

The Critics Roar

The cynological movement didn’t start in earnest in Germany until around 1870. Pedigrees and recognized standards came to the European continent from England later than they did to the United States and other countries in the New World. For this reason, Essig wasn’t the only breeder who didn’t feel immediately compelled to change his methods. Changes in practice did not happen overnight, but as more and more breeders accepted the principles of cynology, they closed ranks against those who were slow to conform. Breeders such as Essig, who were still successful despite ignoring the new rules, continued to have buyers willing to pay high prices for what the newly minted cynologists considered impure mixed breeds.

To add insult to injury, well-known artists, famous magazine writers and happy owners continued to idolize Essig’s Leonbergers. In fact, the critics who roared onto the pages of dog magazines during the 1870s would not have bothered to complain had Essig’s dogs not been a threat to their ideas.

In an 1876 issue of Der Hund, an article entitled The So-Called Leonberger Dogs stressed that the authors were not against crossing breeds so long as the crossings followed rational breeding practices. They acknowledged that beautiful dogs could be achieved by chance, but that the results could not be replicated unless scientific breeding practices, with the aim of adhering to a written standard, were followed.

No one can today write a standard [for the Leonberger] because there is no consistent type. A British judge said in 1875 after observing a show in Baden: There was a large number of Leonbergers present just as they are: large, longcoated mix-breeds with long narrow heads, bushy tails, all kinds of colors from milk white to all black with all kinds of body builds. To such a ridiculous extension did this bastard breed develop.

After a show in Hamburg in 1876, judges were so disenchanted by the breed’s offerings that Leonbergers were later excluded from the major shows in Germany and Holland. Those who thought Leonbergers were just poor-quality Saint Bernards sneered and called them Leonhardiners, an amalgam of Leonberger and Berhardiner, a German name for the Saint Bernard. Others taunted the Leonberger by saying, That which you can’t define must be a Leonberger.

Despite this widespread criticism in dog-breeding magazines, Essig’s business continued to flourish. Leonberger owners in Germany remained dedicated and were determined to see their dogs recognized as a legitimate breed.

In 1879, the Delegation Commission, the body responsible for compiling the first national German stud book, permitted Leonbergers to be entered as a legitimate breed. This move angered many dog-fancy purists, who intensified their criticisms. In spite of these obstacles, Leonbergers continued to receive glowing publicity. The popular press’s adoration of the Leonberger angered certain critics to the point that destroying the breed’s reputation became a crusade.

Greed in Leonberg

The general popularity of large dogs increased throughout the 1860s and ’70s. Newfoundlands, Alpenhund Dogs, Böblinger Dogs and other large breeds were selling for high prices around the world. Because it was a well-established animal-trading center, the town of Leonberg profited. Other dog breeders in Leonberg took advantage of the excellent public-relations campaign Essig initiated and began calling their own dogs Leonbergers.

Unfortunately, many breeders who took advantage of this seller’s market were motivated by greed and not a love of animals. Poorly bred big dogs were sent from Leonberg all over the world. They were sold as Leonbergers, Newfoundlands or Saint Bernards, according to what was most popular in the current market. These poorly bred specimens eventually tainted Essig’s reputation since he was so closely associated with the Leonberger breed.

Two photos of a teenage Rachmananoff with his dog Levko. From the collection of Kathy Beaucher.

At the same time, many of the best dogs were exported. Very few stayed in the Württemberg region. So when the fashion spotlight shifted, and purebred, pedigreed dogs became favored, the remaining Leonbergers in Leonberg were not good enough breeding material to prevent the reputation of the breed from plummeting. The editors of Der Hund reported in 1876:

Visitors came to Württemberg to visit and buy dogs from the famous region. Fanciers looked for the parents of puppies that were of interest but often could not see the parents because they were elsewhere. They looked for [Leonbergers] but left angry and disappointed. If one had bred the so-called Leonberger rationally over some years with a certain goal in mind, one could have developed a new breed, but this did not happen. White, black, checker, yellow or red dogs with curly, wavy or straight coats with pointed or short noses with or without double noses, all these are distributed as Leonbergers and as purebreds.

Nonetheless, many people were still impressed and continued to pay significant sums to purchase the dogs from the region. These steady sales, of course, continued to fuel the anger and frustration of those breeders who were attempting to establish purebreds of a predictable type by carefully controlled breeding methods.

The Correspondence

Perhaps the closest we can get to understanding the controversial environment surrounding Essig by the late 1870s is by reading his correspondence with the editors of Der Hund.

In 1876, Essig wrote a widely distributed marketing piece reaffirming that the Leonberger was a legitimate breed. He described the Leonberger as the most beautiful and intelligent of the large, long-haired breeds. This pamphlet was quoted in Canadian and American newspapers. The editors of Der Hund responded that same year by saying: We like successful crosses and rational breeding. But not ‘successful crosses by chance.’ It is in the latter category of uncertain dogs that most Leonbergers have to be categorized.

An illustration of sixteen different dog breeds created by Friederich Specht for Über Land und Meer. Can you spot Cäsar and Stiefel again?

For the next decade, Essig and the Der Hund editors argued about whether or not the Leonberger was a legitimate breed of dog.

Throughout 1879, the arguments became especially heated, most likely because that was the year Leonbergers had been allowed into the German stud book. The following samplings of correspondence between Essig and Der Hund are typical examples of the mean-spirited debate:

Der Hund: "... Whenever Essig talks about breeding ethics he assumedly has followed for 32 years, it would be more correct to say that it is 32 years of trade and nothing more ... He did not manage to create a certain breed. In the last show in Hanover, there was a true disaster of long-coated curs, and whenever one asked what they were, they were Leonbergers. ... We have to take away from him forever the pleasure of having a class for Leonbergers at a well-organized show. It is time that this scandal [of a breed] be put to an end.

Essig: In the magazine Der Hund ... I read several nasty articles about my Leonberger dogs ... The last article is so mean and distorted that it is obvious that one does not deal with an educated opponent, and one cannot respond to it without making oneself dirty ... To write something against my Leonberger dogs is totally ridiculous because every child knows that they are the most famous and most expensive dogs in the world.

Der Hund: [The public should be warned] against the terrible bastard dogs of Essig.

Essig: That person does not know that I myself view my dogs as bastard dogs. They are a successful cross between a Newfoundland and a Saint Bernard, which I slowly elevated to the highest standard.

Der Hund: In addition it doesn’t make sense to discuss anything with Herr Essig because whoever can call any dogs bastards and a breed within 10 lines is not fit for an exchange of opinions and draw the conclusion that we are talking not to him but to those who can think logically and realize that a large beautiful dog is not necessarily a pure bred dog. We are happy to spread the news far and wide that Essig’s dogs are bastards!

The Challenge

After many published pages of hostile exchanges, the editors of Der Hund sent Essig a public challenge: To satisfy the fanciers of the Leonberger and in order to give them a measuring stick so that they can judge the worth of their dogs in relationship to the breed, we are giving Herr Essig a questionnaire. If he is capable of proving that established characteristics can be found in the sum or majority of the dogs he has sold, then we will recognize the breed.

The questionnaire was an outline of a breed standard. Essig stubbornly chose not to respond. His belief in the values that had led him to create a highly successful business and brought him a certain amount of international fame probably kept him from bowing to the dictates of the new kind of dog breeder.