HISTORY OF THE LANDSEER ECT

THE EUROPEAN CONTINENTAL LANDSEER  IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH HIS COUSIN THE BLACK NEWFOUNDLAND.  THE BLACK NEWFOUNDLAND WAS CROSSED WITH THE ECT TO PRODUCE A BLACK AND WHITE COLORED NEWFOUNDLAND.  THIS CROSS BREEDING ACCOUNTS FOR THE SIMILARITIES IN  APPEARANCE.. THE ECT  IS NOT  CROSSED WITH THE NEWFOUNDLAND.  IT  IS  REGETTABLE  TO  ECT  FANCIERS  THAT  THE  AMERICAN  NEWFOUNDLAND  CLUB  HAS  FAILED  TO  CALL  THEIR  BLACK  AND  WHITES  JUST  THAT  INSTEAD  THEY  CALL  THEIR  COLOR  VARIETY  LANDSEER  WHICH  IS  MUCH  THE    CAUSE  OF  CONFUSION.  THEREFORE  YOU  WILL  MANY  TIMES  HEAR  OUR  BREED  REFERRED  TO  AS  ECT  TO  AVOID  MISIDENTIFICATION.   I wont  spend  time  attempting  to  compare  the  two  breed  since I  have  little  first  hand  knowledge  of  the Newfoundland  beyond  brief  contacts  with  them.  I  can  note  the  differerances  in  height,  the  ECT  being  considerably  taller,  a  trimmer  more  athletic  body  ,The  coat  texture  is  different.  The  ECT  has  less  coat ,  coarser,  easier  to  keep  groomed.  The  ECT  is  a  more  energetic  breed  and  more  of  a  athlete.  The  health  concerns  of  the  ECT  are  less  than  the  Newfoundland  due  to  careful  breeding  practices  and  genetics.

MUCH  OF  THE  LANDSEERS  HISTORY  CAN  BE  BE  DEPICTED  IN  ARTWORKS  AND  WRITINGS  DATING  BACK  AS  EARLY  AS 1732;BOOKS  SUCH  AS  “PERSON  OF  QUALLITI”.  A  DESCRIPTION  IS  OF  THE  LANDSEER  IS  DEPICTED  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  1774  BY  OLIVER  GOLDSMITH,”AN  HISTORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  ANIMATED NATURE”  .NUMEROUS  PAINTINGS  AND  LITHOGRAPH  AND  PAINTINGS  HAVE  BEEN  FOUND  AS  WELL .   WOOD  CARVINGS   LITHOGRAPHS  AND   PAINTINGS  HANG  IN  MUSEUMS  OF  ENGLAND  AND  EUROPE..  THERE  ARE  HISTORIANS  OF  LANDSEER  MEMORABELIA  AND  HISTORY. 

MUCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  HAS  BEEN  A  MYSTERY  AS  TO  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ECT.  IT  IS  BELIEVED  THE   DOG  WE  KNOW  TODAY  AS  LANDSEER  ECT  WERE  USED  BY  THE  BASQUE  FISHERMAN  TO  TOW  FISHING  NETS  AND  SAVED  PERSONS  FALLING  IN  THE  WATER.  THE  BASQUE  HAD  TRAVELED  TO  THE  ISLAND  IN  NEWFOUNDLAND  CARRYING  A  LARGE  WHITE  LONG  HAIRED  DOG.  IT  IS  REASONABLE  TO  BELIEVE  THAT  WHITE  DOG  WAS  A  GREAT  PYRENEES.  A  LARGE  BLACK  WATER  DOG  MATED  WITH  THE  WHITE  DOG  AND  PRODUCED  THE  FIRST  NEWFOUNDLAND,  THE  LANDSEER  ECT.  WHAT  BREED  THE  BLACK  WAS  IS  UNKNOWN  BUT  HAS  BEEN SAID  TO  HAVE  BEEN  A  CURLY  COATED  RETREIVER  SIMILAR  TO  THE  PORTUGUESE  WATER  DOG.  VERY  EARY  LANDSEER  HAD  A  CURLY  COAT  .THEY  HAD  WEBBED  FEET.  (Note  Newfoundland  is  now  called  a  part of  Canada).

IN  THE  MID  1700S  THE  WATER  DOGS FROM  THE  ISLAND  WERE  BROUGHT  TO ENGLAND.  THIS  WAS  A    TIME  BEFORE  DOGS  HAD  INDIVIDUAL  BREED  NAMES  BUT  WERE   IDENTIFIED  BY  THE  JOB  THEY  DID.  THUS  THE  ECT  WAS  CALLED  ST.JOHNS  WATER  DOG.  THEY  READILY  GAINED  POPULARITY  AND  WERE  OWNED  BY  ARISTOCRATS  AND  COMMONERS.  IT  LEAVES  LITTLE  DOUBT  THAT  THE  BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  AND  WHITE  DOG,  BOB,  THE  SUBJECT  OF  SIR  EDWINS  LANDSEER  PAINTING  THE  DISTINGUSHED  MEMBER  OF  THE  HUMANE  SOCIETY  WAS  IN  FACT  THE  FIRST  NEWFOUNDLAND  DOG  ,  THE  LANDSEER  ECT.  GORDON  STABLES  NAMED  THE  DOGS  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  PAINTER  LANDSEER,  THE  BREED  LANDSEER  WAS  ESTABLISHED  BUT  ONLY  BY  NAME  AT  THIS  TIME.

APPROXIMATELY  80  YEARS  LATER  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  LESSER  NEWFOUNLAND  FROM  LABRADOR  CAME  TO  ENGLAND.  THEY  WERE  BLACK  AND  HAD  AN  ABUNDANCE  OF  FUR  AND  STOUTER  WITH  A  DIFFERENT  HEAD  THAN  THE  LANDSEER.  AROUND  THE  SAME  TIME  DOG  SHOWS  WERE  BEING  INTRODUCED  AND  THE  FOCUS  BECAME  ON  THE  BLACK  NEWFOUNLAND.  SOON  BREEDERS  STARTED  PRODUCING  A  BLACK  AND  WHITE  VARIETY  OF  THE  BLACK  BY  CROSSBREEDING  THE  ECT  WITH  THE  BLACKS  .BEFORE LONG  THEY  HAD  ACCOMPLISHED  A  DOG  LOOKING  THE  SAME  AS  THE  BLACK  ONLY  DIFFERING  IN  COLOR.FEW  BREEDERS  CONTINUED  TO  BREED  THE  PURE  LANDSEER  SINCE  THEY  WERE  NOT  EXCELLING  IN  THE  SHOW  RING.  THEY  ALL  COMPETED  IN  THE  SAME  RING  IN  THE  1800  THERE  WERE  EVEN  BACK  THEN  DOG  WISE  PERSONS  RECOGNIZING THE  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  THE  BLACK  AND  WHITE  NEWFOUNDLAND  AND  THE  LANDSEER  WE  KNOW  TODAY  AS  ECT.  FOR A SHORT  TIME  TWO  BREED  STANDARDS  WERE  DEVELOPED  IN  ENGLAND  FOR  THE  BREED. IT  WASNT  TOO  LONG  THERE  BECAME  A  SINGLE  BREED  STANDARD  FOR  THE  NEWFOUNDLAND.  IT  CAME  TO  BE  THE  US  ADOPTED  THE  ENGLISH  VERSION.

IN  SWITZERLAND  IN  1902  BREEDING  OF  LANDSEERS  IN SWITZERLAND CHAPTERS  OF  THE  NEWFOUNDLAND  WERE  WRITTEN  BY  ALBERT  HEIM  WHICH  DESCRIBE  THE  LANDSEER. .INTERESTINGLY  THE  BLACK  DOG  WAS  NEVER  MENTIONED.

THE  LANDSEER  NEARLY  WENT  INSTINCT  AFTER  WORLD  WAR  1.  MOST  STARVED TO  DEATH.AFTER  THE  DEDICATION  OF  OTTO  WALTERSPEIL    AND EMIL  BURKHARDT  BREEDING  OF  PURE  BRED  LANDSEER  WAS  UNDERWAY.IT  IS  CONTROVERSIAL WHETHER  IT  WAS  A  KUVASZ  OR  GREAT  PYRENEES  TO  RESTORE  THE  BREED.  GENETIC  TESTING IN  RECENT  TIME  DOES  NOT  SHOW  ANY  RELATIONSHIP  TO  THE  KUVASZ  BUT  DOES  IDENTIFY  THE  GREAT  PYRENEES  AS  A  COUSIN.

IN  GERMANY  AND  SWITZERLAND  THE  FIRST  STUD  BOOKS  WERE  DEVELOPED  RECORDING  THE  PUREBRED  BREEDING  OF  LANDSEER.IN  1976  THE  LONGEST  LIVING  LANDSEER  CLUB  WAS  FORMED  AND  IS  THE  KEEPER  OF  LANDSEER  STUD  BOOKS,  DEUTSCHER  LANDSEER  CLUB  eV.

IT  WAS  NOT  UNTIL  1960  THAT  THE  FCI  RECOGNIZED  THE  LANDSEER  AS  A  SEPERATE  BREED  FROM  THE  NEWFOUNDLAND  AND  ADOPTED  THE  BREED  STANDARD  226.  IT  HAD  BEEN  A  SEVERAL  YEAR  BATTLE  WITH  THE  NEWFOUNDLAND  CLUB  AND  GERMANY  AND  SWITZELAND.  EMIL  BURKHARDT  GAVE  PROPELLING  EVIDENCE  DISGRETING  THAT  OF  ENGLAND.   YET  STILL  TODAY  CANADA,  ENGLAND,  AND  THE  US  WILL  NOT  RECOGNIZE  THE  FCI  BREED  STANDARD.ADDITIONALLY  THE  UNITED  STATES  FAILS    TO  RECOGNIZE  A  LONG EXSISTING  BREED,  THE  ECT  TO  BE  A  BREED  AT  ALL.  GENOME  STUDIES  HAVE  IDENTIFIED  THE  EUROPEAN  CONTINENTAL  LANDSEER  AS  A  BREED  UNTO  ITSELF  BUT  FOR  THE  POLITICAL  REASON  OF  THE  NEWFOUNDLAND  CLUB  OF  AMERICA  OUR  BREED  WILL  REMAIN  RARE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  NOT  BE  RECOGNIZED  BY  THE  AKC.    MAYBE  SOMEDAY  THE  POLITICS  IN  DOGS  WILL  END..

THERE  ARE  VERY  FEW  BREEDERS IN  THE  US  WITH  THE  TRUE  DEDICATION  TO  UPHOLD  THE  STANDARDS  AND  PROTECT  THE  BREED  IN  THE  US,  THE  LANDSEER  EUROPEAN  CONTINENTAL.