This blog feature amusing and heartwarming stories about our late Leonberger dog Bronco, as well as other Leonbergers. It also has a lot of information about the Leonberger breed, the history, care, training, Leonberger organizations, etc. I also wrote a Leonberger book, which I am featuring in the sidebar.
Photos of a Senior Leonberger
Our Leonberger Bronco or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle lived a very long life for a Leonberger. Large dogs do not live as long as small dogs and giant breeds such as St. Bernards, Great Danes, and Leonbergers have much shorter life spans. The average life span for Leonbergers is 8 years. Bronco died two weeks short of 13 years. He got a so called, Grey Muzzle Award, from the Leonberger Health Foundation International, and we submitted his DNA to a lab for research. The Leonberger Health Foundation International is an organization that support health related Leonberger-specific research. They fund research on various illnesses common in Leonbergers as well as the longevity of Leonbergers. This research benefit other giant breeds as well.
Dogs are considered senior after they pass 2/3 of their expected lifespan (5.3 years), which means that Bronco technically was a senior for more than 2/3’s of his life. This posts, feature 20 photos from his old age.
Our Leonberger Bronco sitting in the front lawn.In this photo our Leonberger Bronco is eleven years old and standing in front of our hallway. Old age is starting to set in. In this photo he has already had squamous cell carcinoma a toe-skin cancer and he has amputated a couple of toes.Our Leonberger Bronco eleven years old, looking a little bit scruff and getting grey hair.Bronco with our pug Daisy whom he protected with his life. He saved her life by intervening when a lose German Shepherd went after her and he even shared food with her he had stolen from me.Bronco loved our big red sofa. It was great for him but too deep to be comfortable for humans.Bronco and Daisy in the backyard.Bronco is welcoming a new puppy, a mini-Australian Shepherd called Rollo.Rollo loved playing with Bronco. He walked all over him, sat on his head like a hat and dangled in his tail. Bronco was patient.Two buddies in the backyard.Bronco is hungry and is coming to get my attention.Our Leonberger Bronco in Grandpa’s bushes.Our Leonberger Bronco is twelve years old in this photo, a quite respectable age for a Leonberger.Our Leonberger Bronco was a saint. He saved Daisy’s life, he might have saved the life of our Labrador Baylor as well, when he sniffed out an oncoming insulin shock before it happened.A tornado ravaged our neighborhood, smashed our chimney, ruined our roof, and partially damaged our fence. It was not Bronco huffing and puffing. He had just had a toe amputation due to a reoccurrence of squamous cell carcinoma. He has a bandage on his leg, which was protected by a one-gallon zip-lock bag when he is walking outside.Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award has arrived. He received the award for living longer than 12 years, a rare feat for a Leonberger. It is the Leonberger Health Foundation International that give out this award.Our Leonberger Bronco with the, so called, cone of shame. Well, it was a soft cone for comfort and the largest size to match his size. Unfortunately, he swung that cone around sometimes clearing tabletops.Bronco barging into the bathroom with his cone and all. He didn’t like being alone.Old Bronco sitting in the backyard.Our Leonberger Bronco was almost 13 years old in this photo.Among the last photos of Bronco. After this photo he passed away from a heart failure. He always had a heart of gold but even hearts of gold don’t last forever.
My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.
View all posts by thomasstigwikman
7 thoughts on “Photos of a Senior Leonberger”
Oh, this post made me cry. I can tell Bronco was a wonderful fellow. I look forward to reading The Life and Times of Le Bronco!
The hubster’s taking the telescope out tonight for Jupiter!
Thank you so much Priscilla. It is so kind of you. Looking at Jupiter should be interesting. I saw last night that is was right above my head at midnight and it almost formed a line in the sky with the moon and Saturn.
How fortunate that Bronco lived well beyond his expected life span! Of course, it’s never long enough, is it? He was a beautiful dog and you can tell how gentle, from the photos with the little ones. 🙂 I have your book on my Kindle now and look forward to reading it. Have a good weekend!
Leonberger Life 
Oh, this post made me cry. I can tell Bronco was a wonderful fellow. I look forward to reading The Life and Times of Le Bronco!
The hubster’s taking the telescope out tonight for Jupiter!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Priscilla. It is so kind of you. Looking at Jupiter should be interesting. I saw last night that is was right above my head at midnight and it almost formed a line in the sky with the moon and Saturn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How fortunate that Bronco lived well beyond his expected life span! Of course, it’s never long enough, is it? He was a beautiful dog and you can tell how gentle, from the photos with the little ones. 🙂 I have your book on my Kindle now and look forward to reading it. Have a good weekend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Debbie for your kind words and for getting the book. You are right, he lived long but not long enough for us. We miss him every day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All your readers are going to fall in love with Bronco, Thomas. What a wonderful dog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Jacqui for your kind words.
LikeLike