Leonberger University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland In the 1830s, Heinrich Essig, a dog breeder and seller and mayor of the town of Leonberg near Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, claimed to have created the Leonberger by crossing a female Landseer Newfoundland with a "barry" male from the Great St. Bernard Hospice and Monastery (which would later create the Saint Bernard breed). Later, according to Essig, a Pyrenean Mountain Dog was added, resulting in very large dogs with the long, white coats that were the fashion for the time, and pleasant temperament. The first dogs registered as Leonbergers were born in 1846 and
Newfoundland dog as the lesser Newfoundland, or St. John's dog. DNA analysis confirms that Newfoundlands are closely related to other Canadian retrievers, including the Labrador, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Golden Retrievers, and Flat Coated Retrievers. The Molosser-like appearance of the Newfoundland are a result of an introduction of Mastiff blood, possibly a from breeding with Portuguese Mastiffs brought to the island by Portuguese fishermen beginning in the 16th century. By the time colonization was permitted in Newfoundland in 1610, the distinct physical characteristics and mental attributes had been established in the Newfoundland breed. In the early 1880s, fishermen and explorers from