Dog breed
The Landseer is a dog that originated in Germany and Switzerland. It is a black-and-white descendent of the Newfoundland that is recognized as an independent breed in continental Europe.
History: The Landseer ECT is descended from dogs used by fishermen in the Newfoundland and Labrador region of Canada. It is believed these dogs are descended from water dogs and livestock guardian dogs imported by Portuguese and Basque fishing vessels. In the Victorian era black-and-white Newfoundland dogs were more popular than the solid black coloration, and they were the subject of a number of 19th-century artists including Sydenham Edwards, Philip Reinagle, Samuel Jones, and most famously Edwin Landseer, whose name was used to describe black-and-white Newfoundlands as early as 1896.
In the 20th century the solid black coloration became more popular and supplanted the bi-colored animals, so much so that in the 1930s a concerted effort was made to recreate the dogs seen in the paintings of Landseer. The efforts of these breeders resulted in the Landseer breed. In Great Britain and North America, Landseer coloured dogs are a variety of the Newfoundland breed that is identical in conformation and origin to the black variety of Newfoundland. In 1960 a separate breed club for tall Landseer-coloured dogs was created in Germany registering dogs of Landseer-coloured Newfoundland crossed to livestock guardian dogs. Similar clubs soon followed in Belgium and Holland. The breed has not been imported to Canada and the United States, where Landseer-coloured Newfoundlands are popular.
