These photos were taken at Kutsher's Resort located in the Catskills, Monticello, NY back in 1999. This was the final time Biene v. Loh “Mercedes” participated in a show before retiring to become Joe’s service animal, a job she did extremely well.
For those unfamiliar with the breed, the Leonberger is a mix of Great Pyrenees, Saint Bernard and Newfoundland, is lionlike in appearance, intelligent, loyal, obedient, and a BIG dog with BIG needs. Our female Leonbergers weighs around 140, with the male coming in around 180 pounds. The Leo is also known as the “Gentle Giant” and is excellent with children.
Twice the breed almost died out. The first time was during World War I, when many Leonberger breeders got killed or had to run away and leave their dogs behind. There were only five Leonberger dogs that survived the war, but people started breeding them again until World War II came along. And then the same thing happened with the dogs being abandoned. The Leonbergers that are around today all have the same eight ancestors, which were the dogs that made it through the war.
View Bette Gottwald's profile
Comments (21)Subscribe to CommentsComment