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
Swiss mountain dog point Heim and other members of the Schweizerische Kynologische Gesellschaft (Swiss Kennel Club) began sorting out the dogs by what they judged to be representative breed types, and naming the four breeds. The St. Bernard was one of the first breeds of dogs to be documented and differentiated from other large farm dogs of the area. Except for color and historical documentation, the St. Bernard is very similar to the largest Sennenhund. Official documents from the hospice in St. Bernard Pass concerning the dogs date back to 1707, with paintings and drawings of the dog even earlier. The breed was