Categories
Leonbergers

Leonbergers and World War I

Today is Veterans Day, a day with roots in Armistice Day from World War I. Did you know that the Leonberger dog almost went extinct during World War I? Below is a short excerpt from my book.

World War I was tough on the breed. Some Leonbergers were used to pull ammunition carts and small cannons during the conflict, and others were left to wander unattended. Often, these dogs starved to death. But after the war, two Leonberg businessmen, Karl Stadelmann and Otto Josenhans, worked hard to save the breed. They scoured the countryside looking for Leonbergers who were still alive. They were able to find twenty-five of them whose owners were willing to cooperate in reestablishing the breed. Of these, only five were suitable for breeding. None of the Leonberger clubs had survived, so they founded a new one in 1922 called Deutsche Club für Leonberger Hunde (DCLH), and Stadelmann created an updated version of Albert Kull’s Leonberger breed standard from 1895. To find out what a breed standard is click here.

Note: I temporarily lowered the price of the Kindle version of my book to $4.99.

For your information the ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR and the ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954

Below are some Leonberger photos from World War I that I came across. Notice; Leonbergers looked a little bit different back then.

Photo of Leonberger with owner from the time of World War I
Leonberger pulling ammunition cart in World War 1
Photo of Leonberger with handlers from the time of World War I
Photo of Leonbergers with handlers from the time of World War I
Photo of Leonberger with handler from the time of World War I

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Finally, I would like to promote my book about Bronco and Leonbergers. It has a lot of color photos, amusing Leonberger stories, and Leonberger information that has been verified and is also based on personal information.

The image shows the front cover of my book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle". Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. The cover is beige and brown and it has the face of an old Leonberger in the middle. Author is Thomas Wikman. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com paperback location for the book.
The front cover of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.
This is the back cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle". Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.
This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.
This is an image of the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.

Below is a list of where you can find the book. Click on the links to go to the respective store. However, if your favorite bookstore is not listed below you can search for it using the ISBN or ASIN numbers.

ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954

ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR

By thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics, but I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, an amateur astronomer, 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 Jacob, David and Rachel. My blog feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger e Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers

19 replies on “Leonbergers and World War I”

Working dogs seem to love their jobs. I like that, the satisfaction these Leonbergers probably felt being part of such important events. In your family, as I read your book, I can see Bronco did some amazing work (the hamster rescue comes to mind)!

Liked by 1 person

You are right. Bronco really loved helping, the hamsters, protecting us, swimming and chasing ducks and egrets, well that wasn’t a job. Leonbergers love finding stuff and they love pulling carts. The Leonberger Club of America have competitions in pulling carts and searching for rodents. We never participated in those events, which we regret.

Like

Something similar happed to the vizsla (our ❤️ breed, even though we are without one at the moment) between WWI and WWII and during the subsequent Soviet occupation of Hungary, when the dogs were targeted as symbols of the aristocracy. I’m happy both breeds made it through to the other side!

Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s