A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO OWNING A LEONBERGER
kicking in, but newly forming adult thought processes are still in their early stages. And with the boys, I tend to refer to them as frat boys in the 18- to 24-month range. In general, they are becoming young adults, and in other ways, they are steeped in hormones and may experience bouts of temporary stupidity. After two years of age, each year of a Leonberger’s life is roughly equivalent to a decade of human life. Thus, a 3-year- old Leonberger is basically similar to a 30-year-old human. But this also means that a 6-year-old Leonberger is beginning to have some of the issues of a 60-year-old human, which means that if they are kept in shape and not allowed to be overweight, they are still very much athletic and ener- getic. And while there are certainly active and healthy 9- and 10-year-old Leonberg- ers, most are beginning to have issues asso- ciated with old age when they reach those double digits. All of this means that the first two years of a Leonberger’s life should be treated as childhood. Expect similar issues that you might find in a human’s first two decades. When you get a Leonberger, you should count on spending time training and socializing them. Even if you have a very outgoing puppy that was given a good foundation by their breeder, you will need to find a puppy kindergarten class, and then a basic obedience/manners class. You will need to introduce them to new situa- tions, new people, new experiences, visits to the veterinarian office, and so on. This is important for every dog, but particularly so for a breed that may well end up out- weighing his/her owner as a mature adult. Training is not a one-and-done thing. Training should continue throughout the dog’s lifetime. You are legally responsible for your dog’s behavior. This means that, even if your dog is well-trained and social- ized, they are still big enough to acciden- tally cause harm to a human or another animal. So, you will need to keep that in mind when considering this wonderful but large breed. What does all this mean if you are showing your Leonberger? Well, it means that when your teenage Leonberger bitch puppy goes into heat, you can expect her to go through some similar symptoms as a human adolescent female. She may expe- rience PMS (pre-menstrual-syndrome), where she might suddenly become some- what unsocial, maybe a bit irritable at times, less tolerant of her housemate dogs’ attention. And then, ah, yes, when she reaches what we so casually refer to as
“standing heat,” she may suddenly become extremely flirtatious with the boys and less tolerant of other female Leonbergers. This is all normal, and does not actually contra- dict any of the other general descriptions of the breed. It does, however, mean that the owners may need to rewind back to their own adolescence and remember the contradictory emotions and moods that can happen in our own adolescence. Likewise, if you have a male Leonberg- er, just think back to the chest-thumping and strutting that can happen in human males at that age, including brief spasms of insecurity and surges of testosterone. In other words, although your 2-year-old Leonberger male may have been a piece of cake to take places, be prepared for the possibility that, ringside at a show, he may suddenly have a brief display of stupidity when there are females in heat nearby. He may suddenly forget his manners, and you will need to step in and instruct him how to deal with it.
Leonbergers can and do take to a vari- ety of companion sports and activities, including water rescue, herding, nose work, barn hunt, agility, rally obedience, draft and carting, obedience, and yes, even flyball and weight pull. Care must be taken when introducing a sport to a young Leonberger, and it is a good idea to find a mentor familiar with the breed when ven- turing into some activities because they do take a long time to mature, physically and mentally, and it is important to let their skeletons and their brains mature without undue stress. Though they get big quickly, they remain a puppy and then a teenager for longer than you might think. After decades of living with, training, handling, and breeding Leonbergers, I have found that the way-too-general for- mula of comparing dog-years to human- years does not apply to Leonbergers. That one-year-to-seven-year ratio is just not accurate with this breed. Rather, for the first two years of a Leonberger’s life, each month is roughly equivalent to a year in human development. Thus, a two-month- old Leonberger puppy is roughly equiva- lent in development to a two-year-old human child. A six-month-old Leonberger puppy (though some may be over 100 pounds by then) is still roughly equiva- lent to a 6-year-old human in terms of development and learning capacity. Mind you, this means that an 18-month-old Leonberger puppy is roughly the same as an 18-year-old human. Hormones are
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2022 | 257
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