Additional information from Thérèse Pelon

One question often comes back in your letters: where does the passion for these dogs come from?
In 1973, when I first laid eyes on what was going to be my first Leonberg, I was totally spellbound. What a magnificent, handsome, dazzling, animal. Where did it come from? What was its character, its origin, its destiny or its future?
Information from the Leonberg Club and from the National Canine Association taught me that the representatives of the original breed - that is, dogs with more than 80 cm at the shoulder - were only a tiny minority. How did that happen to such a superb dog? Who was, who were, responsible for such an enormity?
I was 18 years old and I refused to accept that my future children would never have a chance to see this noble and proud dog in its original size. But who had given permission to interfere witch such a beautiful animal? Did someone at the time - do we still have today - the right to decide to eliminate the qualities inherent to an animal, just for human needs? If certain breeds of dogs are adapted to optimize the partnership between human and dog, that may be permissible. But deciding to eliminate an entire original breed, just by adding two tiny words to the norms - maximum 80 - is a pure aberration.
We have already dangerously reduced the number of elephants in Africa, massacred baby seals, eliminated kiwis, the bears from the Pyrenees, not to mention what we’ve done to the whales and the Indians. We have destroyed entire forests and are responsible for the disappearance of hundreds of species... In the name of what?
Out of the unrestricted arrogance of the human race, out of envy, out of complacency, or, more basic, “for the money”. Why don’t we try to approach matters differently? Why don‘t we respect the life of animals who have existed millions of years, who have been able to adapt throughout the millennia, and who we destroy without any remorse in a few decades? Why must we reduce everything to sameness or monotony, how come we are not capable to differentiate between things? Why do we need to eliminate an entire breed and only allow pale imitations in its place under the pretext that breeding is easier or for some other economic reason? Is that all we can learn from the formidable evolution of mankind? Are we only capable of destruction?
I have chosen to say NO to all these pretexts, to all these pretences and all these false excuses and I will go on trying to save, for as long as it is still possible, a breed of dog which is fantastic - because of its beauty, its character, its nobility, its pride, its equilibrium.
After a good deal of battles, sleepless nights and questions asked a million times.... I am in my late forties now and I do not for one moment regret the road I have chosen all those years ago. I have renamed my “big ones” Lion d’Occitanie, so as to avoid useless terminology wars. They are currently, on average, 94 cm at the shoulder for males and 84 for females. Their character is healthy again, their eyes are bright, their intelligence sparkles and their personality is so well balanced that some of them share the life of handicapped children or adults with total success.
To find the first Lion d’Occitanie, there was made a very rigorous selection, during 17 years, of animals that had long lost their original size. Very strict morphological, psychological and relational choices were made. Detailed behavioral studies were made to establish the physical and mental structures closest to the origin of the breed. This task was given in 1989 to the Canine Psychology Research Center, so that the most prominent character traits of the Lion d’Occitanie could be preserved. Originally originating from a cross between a Siberian Wolf of which they have the gray under coat and a Tibetan Dog, their average size nowadays is between 92 cm and 96 cm at shoulder height for the males and between 82 and 88 cm for the females.

Thérèse Pelon.