The King of Texas is Cute

Recent dialogues at the Wikman residence concerning our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.

Rollo loves belly rubs.

Rollo: laying down on his side, opening his legs a bit and barking once. That’s how he asks for a belly rub.

Thomas: Honey, can you give Rollo a belly rub? I’ve done it several times today.

Claudia: No, I am cooking. You do it.

Thomas: I walk over to Rollo to give him a belly rub. He loves it, turns over and kicks his legs, and he looks like he is laughing like a child being tickled. Then I stopped.

Rollo: One loud bark. That means he wants more.

Thomas: continues giving a belly rub.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco with Rollo lying on his side on the floor in front of Bronco seemingly asking him for a belly rub.
Rollo is asking our Leonberger Bronco for a belly rub. Unfortunately, it is not easy for one dog to give another dog a belly rub.

Rollo wants to sit where you are sitting.

Rollo: I am sitting on the sofa and Rollo comes over and taps me twice on my knee. That’s the command Rollo gives when he wants to sit where you are sitting.

Thomas: I move over.

Rollo: jumps up and sits where I sat.

Claudia: Thomas do you remember the trainer who said that Rollo thinks he is in charge and that we need to fix that?

Thomas: Yes, but he is so cute.

Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd (left) and Daisy our Pug (right) sitting on a white sofa chair.
Rollo and Daisy in sofa chair.

Rollo wants to sleep on the bed but not alone.

Rollo: I am sitting on the sofa and Rollo comes over and scratches me on my knee while leaning backwards as if he wants to leave. That’s the command Rollo gives when he wants to go to bed but he does not want to go alone.

Thomas: Honey can you go lay down in the bed with Rollo. I am busy reading.

Claudia: No, I am not doing that anymore.

Thomas: stands up and follows Rollo into the bedroom and lays down on the bed as Rollo jumps up on the bed.

Claudia: Thomas you should not be doing that either. Remember, it is not good that Rollo thinks he is in charge.

Rollo: falls asleep while Thomas reads a book on the bed.

The head of our mini-Australian Shepherd sticking out from under the covers on our bed.
Rollo tucked in under the covers on our bed.

Rollo and Bronco

Rollo and Bronco (our Leonberger) were best buddies. We no longer have Bronco, but we have Rollo who is the worst behaved dog we’ve ever had. It already started while we were still having Bronco. Rollo walked all over Bronco, like he did with people. If a few people were sitting on the sofa, Rollo would just walk from one end of the sofa to the other, stepping on everyone’s legs or bellies in the process. He still does that. He frequently bit Bronco’s tail and even swung in it as if it was a swing. Bronco was extremely patient and did not get angry, except one time when Rollo stole his toy. Bronco’s loud booming bark scared Rollo and he let go of the toy. However, to be on the safe side we put Rollo in a playpen, or baby jail, as we called it. Rollo came to love his baby jail.

Our Leonberger Bronco lying in the grass in our backyard with our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo. Bronco is to the left and Rollo to the right.
Bronco and Rollo, best buddies. Bronco is quite old and Rollo is quite young.
The photo shows the back of Bronco to the right including his tail, which Rollo (to the left) is pulling.
Rollo is pulling Bronco’s tail.
The photo shows Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd inside a dog play-pen, also including toys and a water bowl and a small bed.
This was Rollo’s Baby Jail

Rollo’s other commands and peculiarities.

Rollo scratches doors he thinks should be open, which is basically every door, and if no one comes to open the door, then he barks. When he wants to play with a toy, he barks at the toy box with one loud bark until I give him the toy he wants. He barks at balls that roll in under sofas and beds and expects someone to get them for him. Rollo loves balls. I should say, naturally, we have commands for him as well, such as sit, stay, come, and shake, and he obeys them most of the time. But he has commands for us too. He sleeps in our bed, typically in the middle, surrounded by his subjects, me, Claudia and Daisy.

Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd, is holding a soccer ball with one of his paws. They are inside the house.
Rollo loves balls. He loves to chase balls, chew balls and roll balls.
Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd is in the backyard biting an orange volley ball.
Rollo is ball crazy.

The greatest quality that someone could have.

What is the greatest quality someone could have? Is it intelligence? Is it knowledge? Is it wisdom? Is it charm? Is it beauty? Is it courage? Is it strength of character? Is it work ethics? Is it honesty? Is it integrity? No, it is none of that. The most important thing in the world is that you are cute. That is why Rollo is the King of the House, in fact the King of Texas. But seriously, Rollo is spoiled, he sleeps in our bed, he does not like other dogs (except Daisy), and this is our fault. Before we can get another Leonberger we must work on certain bad habits. However, his cuteness and his innocence make this harder.

Photo of Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd, as a puppy.
Rollo as a puppy. Being cute is all that matters.
Photo of our daughter in the middle, with Rollo on the left and Daisy on the right.
Our daughter with Rollo and Daisy.

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Author: thomasstigwikman

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.

59 thoughts on “The King of Texas is Cute”

  1. Loved your behavioural insights into these gorgeous dogs. They are all beautiful inside and out in their own special ways. The shot that shows how Bronco’s tail is almost as big as Rollo made me smile. I feel I need more belly rubs in my life.

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  2. This is so CUTE!!! I loved every word of it and all the pics!! Rollo really is gorgeous. Those eyes!! Beautiful. What breed is Daisy? Pug or Frenchie?

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    2. Thank you so much for your kind comment, Laura. Daisy may not look very old, but she has old age complications such as arthritis, incontinence issues and she is sleepy too often. Things are happening to her.

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  7. Thomas, I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet account of Rollo. He is indeed cute. And in some ways, even though Cesare is a cat, they are a lot alike. Cesare is in charge and has commands for us, too. lol

    I just want to hold and kiss Rollo right through the screen! haha I’m afraid I would be no better… Rollo’s wish would be my command. 😀

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    1. Ja igår var en minnesdag för oss också. Vi besökte våran Labrador och Schäferhund’s gravar och sen skrev jag det här och tänkte på de andra hundarna vi haft. Dom lämnar verkligen tass spår i våra hjärtan. Samma sak för oss med olika personligheter. Alla våra hundar har haft väldigt olika personligheter.

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    1. Thank you so much Diane. Yes I know Claudia is right. Rollo is pretty misbehaved and hostile towards dogs outside of the family. The fact that he thinks he is above his station is not the entire reason for his behavior but it makes it worse. These kind of dogs are emotionally very intense, energetic and they need a lot of exercise. All that old Pugs need is a sofa and a TV, and a lap to sit on.

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    2. Thank you Diana. Yes you are right. A few days before we picked up Rollo (we had already committed) a lose Australian Shepherd (not mini) came up to us while we were walking, and he ran around us in multiple circles, over and over, and would not stop. Claudia told me “Thomas that’s the kind of dog we are getting”. Then after we got Rollo, Rollo would herd me around the lawn, as if I was a sheep, while I was doing tasks (like picking up poop).

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    1. Thank you so much JoAnna. Yes, “give them an inch, and they’ll take the whole bed” is a good saying. Rollo has certainly done that but we’ve spoiled him. Unfortunately, his breed is also very territorial so our spoiling behavior was applied to the wrong breed. Now we have the worst behaved dog that we’ve ever had. We cannot bring any other dogs in our house (except Daisy). He is very cute, but oh so misbehaved.

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    2. It is great that Marley is well behaved. As for Rollo we can’t bring other dogs to our house. We were visiting our in-laws house, which we often do, and on this occasion there was another dog there called Oslo. I did the mistake of petting Oslo and Rollo attacked Oslo in what looked like a fit of jealousy. After that Rollo kept growling at Oslo and Oslo had to be afraid the whole time. Rollo regards our house as well as our in-laws house as his territory and Oslo did not belong, and should definitely not be petted. We have to fix this problem before we can bring any other dogs to our house.

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      1. That sounds like it was scary. Walking dogs as a pack on more neutral territory might help. That’s what we did when David moved down from CT in 2011 with his three dogs and we combined our packs. Walking together also helped with Marley and my son’s dog who is very protective of her family. Best wishes!

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    3. That is not a bad idea. We could try that. In fact we walked Daisy and Rollo with Oslo one time and it seemed to work but they weren’t like a pack, but separated several feet with their own walker. A pack would be more challenging but could work. If it doesn’t work you just separate them.

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    1. Yes you are right Cheryl. However, we have just started to take steps to correct it. A couple of days ago he showed aggression towards our other dog Daisy while on the bed because she was moving around. So he is not allowed on the bed now, at least for a while. Hopefully that will send the message to him that he does not own the bed (which is what he thinks now). We’ll see how it goes.

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