The Leonberger

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322 – June, 2021

By Amy Fernandez

It’s no secret that most modern purebreds materialized during the Victorian Era. And they came at a fast clip, literally multiplying exponentially year by year. For instance, the first genuine startup, the Kennel Club founded in 1873, documented just 40 breeds and varieties in their foundation studbook. By 1900 that number had more than doubled and spawned national kennel organizations worldwide. There’s lotsa reasons for that but a major one doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Those Victorians were an adventurous, inquisitive lot. Okay, that doesn’t jive with current perceptions of Victorian sensibilities. But if you look a bit closer it explains much of the rampaging breed development that occurred back then. Every human concept regarding the natural world underwent cataclysmic revisions in the face of scientific discoveries. Suddenly, mankind possessed fact-based explanations for stuff that had been previously consigned to the realm of mystery and magic. That sort of radical reassessment tends to encourage innovation.

In the dog world, it sparked some very daring breed development. Never before, or since, has that “let’s try it and see” approach prevailed to such an extent. Traditional breeds were tweaked for mainstream appeal and successful new combinations were heartily embraced within the rapidly evolving show scene. Within a few decades, the sport became a weird fruit salad of old/new/restyled breeds. Some took off, a few crashed. The thing is, they all got their “day in court” before the hammer came down. However, there was one glaring exception to this rule, the Leonberger.

In contrast to many breeds, its origins are easily traced to a precise time, place and agenda. And that straightforward disclosure was most likely the source of the trouble. In a day and age when every flimsy excuse for purebred legitimacy offered some romanticized alibi explaining its obscure origin, the Leonberger recipe was right out there.

Click here to read the complete article
322 – June, 2021

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Posted by AnthonyA on Jun 22 2021. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.