,i8 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



wolf that a Hungarian has been known to 

 mistake a wolf for one of his own collies. 

 Dogs of the Pyrenean and Komondor 



L 



MISS LEFROYS KOMONDOR CSINOS. 



type, with drop ears and deep white coats, 

 are curiously distributed over Europe. The 

 pastoral dog of the Abruzzes, often called 

 the sheepdog of the Maremmes, is decidedly 

 of this character, and might readily pass for 

 the Komondor. 



The Leonberg.— It may be 

 expected that something should 

 here be said of the Leonberg 

 dog, as it is supposed also to 

 be a worker among flocks and 

 herds. The variety is recog- 

 nised in Germany and France 

 as a legitimate breed, and spe- 

 cimens may be seen at most of 

 the Continental shows, but in 

 England we have discarded the 

 dog as a transparent mongrel, 

 even as we rejected the Berg- 

 hund. 



Some thirty years ago, when 

 large dogs were in much re- 

 quest, efforts were made to 

 establish the Leonberg in this 

 country, but it was admittedly 

 a cross between the Newfound- 

 land and the St. Bernard, and its 

 merits were recognised by none so much as 

 by the enterpris'ng gentlemen who presented 

 it as " a new breed." Its history is very 



simple. When a disastrous avalanche and a 

 visitaticfn of distemper decimated the kennels 

 of the St. Bernard Hospice, Herr Essig, of 

 Leonberg, generously returned to the superior 

 of the hospice a St. Bernard dog and bitch, 

 which had been presented to him. Before 

 returning them he allowed the dog to be 

 mated with a Newfoundland, and the result 

 was the so-called Leonberg dog. This was 

 some fifty years ago, since when the variety 

 has prospered spasmodically. At the Paris 

 dog show of 1907, ten Leonbergs were 

 entered in the Chicns dc Mo'.itagnc class. 

 They were good-looking dogs, fa\-ouring the 

 Newfoundland rather than the St. Bernard. 

 :\Iost of them were sables with dark points ; 

 but the English visitor, remembering their 

 origin, reflected that in a country where we 

 have St. Bernards such as Cinq Mars, and 

 Newfoundlands such as Shelton Viking, there 

 is no occasion to co\-et the descendants of 

 Herr Essig"s experiment. 



Of the Berghund it is enough to say that 

 it was a large dog fabricated in W'aldheim as 

 a rival to the Leonberg. 



The Owtchar, or Russian Sheepdog. — 



RUSSIAN OWTCHAR (SHEEPDOG) OLGA. 



is pleasing to turn from a 

 a genuine breed. Such certainly 



mongrel 



It 



to a genuine breed. Such certainly is the 



old Russian Sheepdog, who is a yeoman of 



