If you are one of those who like giant dogs, you will surely like our dog today. Leonberger dog is one of the largest dogs that you can ever see in your life. It may be larger than you making you feel that it is like a lion. The Leonberger dog originated in Germany and its name is derived from the name of a city in Germany that is known as Leonberg and is located in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. There are several nicknames that are usually used for calling Leonberger such as “Gentle Giant”, “Leo” and “Gentle Lion” and all these names reflect the large size of the dog that makes it close in its size and shape to lions. Leonberger was bred in the past to mimic lions making it used as a symbolic dog, but now it is bred for others purposes. Let’s know more about why it is bred now through taking a look at the characteristics and the dog’s personality that are presented to you here.
♦ What are the physical characteristics of the Leonberger dog?
The giant Leonberger dog is a muscular dog with a large head and the face comes with a melanistic mask or black mask that makes the dog look scarier. It has a double coat which is water resistant and this helps the dog to easily swim without problems. The coat comes in different colors such as red, sand, red-brown and lion-yellow which helps in making the Leonberger dog look like a lion. You can find the black color on different parts of the body but it does not affect the main color of the dog and there are specific parts which are always black like the nose, lips and the foot pads.
Discovering more about the weight and height of the Leonberger dog helps us to imagine whether it is really like a lion or not. Those males differ from females in the physical characteristics that are related to height and weight making it easy to differentiate them from each other. The height of males ranges from 71 to 80 cm (28-31.5 inches) and the weight ranges from 54 to 77 kg (120-170 pounds). On the other hand, the height of females ranges from 65 to 75 cm (25.5-29.5 inches) and the weight ranges from 45 to 61 kg (100-135 pounds).
♦ What about the Leonberger dog’s personality?
The Leonberger dog is known for its pride. It is intelligent, kind, loyal, adaptable to different circumstances, highly confident for its ability to accomplish different tasks successfully, obedient making it easy to be trained, playful making it perfect for children and the whole family as a good companion.
♦ It is perfect and bred for different purposes
It is true that the Leonberger dog is really massive and muscular, but these features do not prevent it from being agile, do you believe this. Being agile, giant and muscular help the Leonberger dog to be perfect as a working dog and it is also appropriate for being used as a search and rescue dog especially in water thanks to its strength and the double coat that is water resistant. You can also use the Leonberger dog as an ideal guard dog for protecting your property and the whole family.