The Leonberger Club of America

If you own a Leonberger, or are interested in Leonbergers, and you live in North America you likely know about the Leonberger Club of America, or the LCA for short. You are about as likely to find a Leonberger at Petland/Puppy-Mill as you are finding an Elephant for sale there. LCA is very protective of the Leonberger breed and of Leonbergers in general. You typically buy/get a Leonberger dog from an LCA certified Leonberger breeder or from the Leonberger Rescue Pals, and if you don’t that might be a problem.

This is a photo of our Leonberger Bronco (Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle) in 2007. He was three months old.
We bought our Leonberger Bronco (Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle) in 2007 from Julie Schaffert, a certified LCA breeder since 1992.

There are only about 3,000 Leonbergers in North America and about 2,000 Leonbergers in the United States but the Leonberger Club of America has more than 1,000 members. They publish the Leo-Letter, a quarterly Leonberger magazine. So, the Leonberger Club of America has a very prominent place among Leonberger owners. Click here to see a summary of the Leonberger Breed Standard.

Leonberger winning a price
Photo of a Leonberger from the LCA website

Other clubs associated with the Leonberger Club of America are New Jersey Leonberger Club, Great Lakes Leonberger Club, Greater Bluegrass Leonberger Club, Mid-Atlantic Leonberger Club Of Virginia, AKC Licensed Specialty Club, Tarheel Leonberger Club, AKC Licensed Specialty Club, The Frontier Leonberger Club Of The Southwest, Leonberger Club Of The Northwest, Northern California Leonberger Club, and Surf And Sand Leonberger Club Of Southern California. I am a member of The Frontier Leonberger Club Of The Southwest.

Other more or less related Leonberger clubs are the Leonberger University, Leonberger Health Foundation Internation and the Worldwide Leonberger Database. All proceeds from the sale of my book go to the Leonberger Health Foundation International.

Leonbergers have a long history in North America and the United States—despite the fact that until 1985, there were only seventeen Leonbergers known to be living in the United States.

See: Lusby, Leonberger, page 15.

Front cover photo of Leonberger, Special Rare-Breed Edition, A Comprehensive Owners Guide, Madeline Lusby.
Leonberger, Special Rare-Breed Edition, A Comprehensive Owners Guide, Madeline Lusby. Click on the image to see my five star review for this book.

In the 1870s, Leonbergers were brought to Newfoundland to invigorate the stock of Newfoundland dogs. Around the same time, two Leonbergers named Caesar and Sultan were purchased from Heinrich Essig’s kennel (founder of the Leonberger breed) and transported across the ocean to join the Wellesley-Sterling theater company in the United States as the stars of their productions. Then in 1879, Caesar and Sultan visited President Ulysses S. Grant, who called them the largest and most magnificent dogs he had ever seen and presented them with gold medals. During the years between World War I and World War II, a New Jersey family, the Wolfs, opened their home as a temporary refuge for Jews fleeing Germany: they also imported Leonbergers. Unfortunately, this introduction of the breed into the United States did not last, and it would be another fifty years before the Leonberger appeared in America again.

See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 60, page 64, page 101

Front cover of Leonberger, A comprehensive guide to the lion king of breeds, Caroline Bliss-Isberg.
Leonberger, A comprehensive guide to the lion king of breeds, Caroline Bliss-Isberg. Click on the image to see my five start review for this book.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s, a few families—Waltraut and Klaus Zieher, Brian Peters, Manfred and Sylvia Kaufmann, Keri Campbell and Melanie Brown, and Mary and Reiner Decher brought Leonbergers to the United States. The Dechers had started a breeding program and were looking for a mate for their first dam, Viona. By chance their neighbor discovered through a newsletter that there was another Leonberger in the United States, and that led to the families’ finding and connecting with one another. I should add that the Dechers were careful to conform to the German breeding regulations and performed hip X-rays that they then submitted to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). Viona became the first OFA-certified Leonberger in America.

See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 152.

On Saturday, November 2, 1985, eight of these Leonberger enthusiasts met at a hotel in Denver, Colorado, to found the Leonberger Club of America (LCA). This group of founders, which has since been dubbed the Denver Eight, appointed a registrar, formulated a breeding acceptability checklist, and instituted various policies, including the requirement that OFA certification is mandatory for breeding. LCA membership grew: it held social gatherings, began publishing LeoLetter, and imported an increasing number of dogs. Now the LCA has thousands of members across the country, and Leonbergers receive high ratings on health tests relative to other large breeds. For example, in 2000, the OFA reported that only 14.6 percent of Leonbergers tested positive for hip dysplasia, compared to 47 percent of Saint Bernards.

See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 154, page 176.

Another important historical event was the founding of the Leonberger Health Foundation International (LHFI), in 2000 (it was just called the Leonberger Health Foundation back then). According to its website, the organization was founded by Waltraut Zieher and other memers of the LCA’s health, education, and research committee to “facilitate the solicitation and distribution of donations given to support health related breed-specific research.” The LHFI also administers a program that collects DNA samples from Leonbergers to share with universities and research institutions, and of course it administers the Grey Muzzle Award (long living Leonbergers). Our Leonberger Bronco was a recipient of the Grey Muzzle Award, and we provided them with his DNA.

Bronco's Grey Muzzle Award, which he received for being an unusually long lived Leonberger. It was give by the Leonberger Health Foundation International, for offering hope and potential for longer lives for Leonbergers throughout the world.
Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award, which he received for being an unusually long lived Leonberger.


LHFI’s global biobank contains DNA samples from more than nine thousand Leonbergers. Among the organization’s notable achievements are the eradication of Addison’s disease among Leonbergers and the raising of nearly half a million dollars for research into conditions that affect canine health, including osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, glaucoma, cardiac diseases, thyroid diseases, and neurological disorders. Its research also supports healthful longevity and aging as well as population diversity. Another success is the fact that since 2011, no Leonbergers with two copies of the LPN1 gene mutation (which causes Leonberger polyneuropathy) have been recorded in LHFI’s biobank. LHFI is one of my favorite charities.

The end of the twentieth century marked not only the end of the Cold War but also the beginning of what I call the Dog Wars of America. In 1985, the American Kennel Club (AKC) registry comprised one-third of the world’s known dog breeds. But the AKC had recognized only a few new breeds since 1887—a period of ninety-eight years. So, the organization decided to change that policy, but this did not always go smoothly. The members of rare-breed clubs often did not want to be part of the AKC. For example, the Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) was very reluctant to join, so a relatively small splinter group, the United States Australian Shepherd Association, was formed and designated the official member club of the AKC, which was not welcome news to the ASCA. The border collie is another example. Charles Krauthammer, the late political columnist, called the AKC the politburo of American dog breeding.

See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 159.

Similarly, in 2003, a new Leonberger club was formed—the Leonberger Club of the United States—with the goal of becoming the Leonberger member club of the AKC. This essentially forced the LCA’s hand, so they applied for membership in the AKC, a process that took years to complete. But ultimately the AKC approved the LCA as members in 2010: Leonbergers would officially become part of the Working Group. Fortunately, 90 percent of LCA breeders agreed to continue following LCA regulations regardless of whether the club would remain independent or become part of the AKC. Also fortunately, AKC membership afforded more opportunities for Leonbergers to participate in dog shows, which is important to many owners.

See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 187

For information on the history of the Leonberger starting in 1830’s see this link

Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. My blog feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers

39 thoughts on “The Leonberger Club of America”

  3. This is such an informative article, Thomas. I followed the link to the Leonberger Rescue Pals and read about a sweet boy named Linus.

    The Leonberger is a dog I became familiar with because of you, and I think of them as gentle giants who would be a true friend. I love the sweet nature they seem to have.

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    1. I packed a lot of information and lots of links in this post. Thank you for reading and browsing anyway. It was interesting that you found Linus. We really would like another Leonberger but have practical issues. You are so right. They are such calm and friendly dogs. Thank you very much Kymber.

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  6. Until reading your blog, I had never heard of the Leonberger breed and I have a question. Two sitcoms, “Golden Girls” and Empty Nest” featured an adorable dog named Dreyfus. He looks like a Leonberger. If so, you can add American television celebrity to the history of this amazing breed. Thanks.

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    1. You are right Dreyfus looks like a Leonberger but I don’t think he is. However, in the Canadian movie The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (narrated by Richard Dreyfus), the main character Buck was portrayed by three Leonberger dog “actors”, despite the fact that in the novel Buck was a half-Saint Bernard and half-Scottish shepherd dog. Leonbergers have shown up elsewhere in the entertainment industry, like the sausuage catching world record set by the Leonberger Hagrid on Britain Got Talent (Simon Cowell), and mother Germany giving birth to Leonberger puppies in Ramstein’s official Deutchland video. But it would certainly be nice if Dreyfus was a Leonberger. Thank you for the tip.

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    1. Thank you so much Roberta. He was funny, energetic and he loved people too and he wanted to be held all the time. He walked up to strangers all the time in the hopes they would pet him. He was a fun and innocent puppy that became 100 pounds very quickly (a bit too quick).

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  9. This is so interesting. I am not familiar with such information, but this summer I also learned a bit about the Newfoundland dogs, and the Labradors, when we visited Newfoundland and Labrador LOL I have never made a connection between the dogs and the province🙂

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    1. That sounds like a great experience. Dog breeds often have an interesting history, which reminds me that two Leonbergers were brought to Newfoundland in the 19th century to invigorate the Newfoundland breed and allegedly the Newfoundland breed was part of the creation of the Leonberger breed in the 1830’s.

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  11. What a beautiful breed of dog. Your history is well written and so interesting. My sister-in-law shows dogs but since we have never lived close, I don’t know too much about them. Nice to get to know you through Miriam.

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  13. Hi, Thomas! My husband was watching a golf tournament held in England this morning. The camera panned the audience and a person had a dog. My husband said to me, look at that dog! So I looked over to the TV and it was a Leonberger! The announcer even mentioned that was what kind of dog it was. I told my husband that it was, before the announcer said it, and said I know a blogger who wrote a book all about his dog Bronco.
    So, just to let you know, you are doing a great job of furthering the knowledge of these magnificent dogs. 🙂

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  17. I love these dogs. We live on acerage, abutting 1000+ acres of nature perserve. I would love to get a Leonburger puppy. Herbert the Cat King of this Kingdom might not be super enthusiatic, just based on the puppy size. They are gentle giants though, so he could ponder this development in life while watching the puppy sleep. I know a leonburger would not eat my cat. Unless he was hungry. I think Herbert should want this dog. But, I am not sure if he would agree with me.

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    1. That sounds like a wonderful place for a Leonberger, lots of space and a loving family. I don’t have cats, I’m allergic but from what I’ve read Leonbergers get along well with, not just small dogs (our case), but cats as well. The Leonberger Club Of America (see link above) have a list featuring all the LCA certified Leonberger breeders in north America. There is also the Leonbergers Rescue Pals. Getting a Leonberger from an LCA certified Leonberger breeder or Leonbergers Rescue Pals is recommended so that you actually know what you are getting. We got our Leonberger from Julie Schaffert nearby Vancouver, Canada.

      LCA certified breeders are also willing to take back the Leonberger in case something goes wrong, In fact you are asked to return them to the breeder if something goes wrong. They don’t want you to sell them or give them to someone you don’t know really well.

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