About Me and Our Leonberger and LHFI

Tomorrow I will do book signing at Wautega Public Library here in Texas. I will read a short story from my book and present myself. I will also mention that all royalties from book sales go to the Leonberger Health Foundation International, or LHFI, a charitable organization working towards healthier Leonbergers and healthier dogs in general. Below is my is my 20 seconds video pitch.

Hi, I’m Thomas Wikman, author of the Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, a book featuring funny and informative stories about our Leonberger. It is a great book for all dog lovers. All royalties from book sales are donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. Their work gives us healthier dogs.

My 20 second video pitch.
Me standing in front of a painting wearing a blue suit
That’s me a few days ago.
Leonberger Health Foundation Logo. A Leonberger puppy surrounded by flags from around the world.
The Leonberger Health Foundation International. Click on the image to visit the LHFI’s website.

The Leonberger is an unusual and fascinating dog breed that is known for its size, affectionate nature, and intelligence. I know a lot about Leonbergers because my family was lucky enough to live with one for thirteen years. His name was Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle—but we called him “Bronco” for short.

Bronco wasn’t our only dog, but our world wouldn’t have been the same without him. For instance, he once saved the life of our pug by fending off an attack from another dog. He probably saved our Labrador’s life, too, by sniffing out an impending insulin shock before it happened. Then there was the time he scared off a trespasser who’d been terrorizing my wife and other women in the neighborhood.

Photo of me with one year old Bronco, our Leonberger. He is standing on a sofa.
This is me with our late Leonberger Bronco when he was still young, not even one years old.

Bronco is no longer with us, but even in his passing he was distinctive. Leonbergers tend to live less than nine years—but Bronco came very close to reaching his thirteenth birthday. In fact, he received an award for longevity called the “Grey Muzzle Award.”  We already knew he was a special dog, but we sent his DNA to two labs for research anyway.

Bronco's Grey Muzzle Award. In the middle of the diploma is a photo of Bronco. The text says "The Grey Muzzle Award", "For Leonberger Longevity Is Presented with Gratitude By The Leonberger Health Foundation International To Bronco For Offering Hope And Potential For Longer Lives For Leonbergers Throughout The World"
The Grey Muzzle Award is given to Leonbergers who reach the age of 12 years or older.
YouTube video featuring Grey Muzzle Awardees including Bronco, entry nr 10 out of 34 at 2 minutes. This is an emotional video for me, not only because of Bronco, but I was very familiar with many of the other dogs. Time marches on.
A second part of the Grey Muzzle award is a signed document.
Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award
Unknown's avatar

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.

60 thoughts on “About Me and Our Leonberger and LHFI”

  5. Well, darn, wish I was in Texas. 😀 Michigan is such a long ways, though. How exciting! I just know your book signing will be amazing, and I hope you really enjoy it.

    I liked seeing the video, introducing yourself and your book.

    Have a great day, Thomas!

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      1. That is good to hear. We had a big dog years ago at 175 pounds that had some issues. Although he made ten years old. I wish it could have been longer.

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    1. Thank you so much Jacqui. That would be my lucky day. It would be great to have a Leonberger there, but I currently don’t have one, and the people I know well enough to dare to ask to borrow one don’t live in Texas. But if one shows up, that would be nice.

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  10. I couldn’t help but notice that beautiful painting behind you. Lovely bright colors. Also, good luck with the book signing. Bronco is always smiling down on you, I’m sure! 🙂

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      1. Not sure why though… Comments are enabled on my blog. Tried to disable then enabled them again just now and updated my latest post, see if you can comment now. Don’t know what to do otherwise, hoping WordPress will fix the issue. I’m really sorry 😔

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    3. I just thought you should know. It is certainly not your fault. A lot of people have had problems with not being able to post comments lately and I asked WordPress about it. They are aware of the problem. They are in the process of streamlining comments and they ran into quirks and bugs preventing some people from commenting on some blogs. I can comment on most blogs but there are some that I can’t comment on (even though comments are turned on), and I try to tell those people so they can complain to WordPress if they so wish. I can complain and they can complain. We need to keep wordpress aware that it is still going on and a big deal for us bloggers.

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      1. Thank you, I had no idea. You’re right, and I just reported the issue to WordPress as well. Hopefully they’ll bring everything to normal soon.

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  12. Congratulations on your book signing, Thomas! Super video! I’m glad you have lots of publicity for your book and raising lots of funds. I also have a book signing at the Portland Book Festival tomorrow – Saturday.

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      1. Wishing you the same, Thomas! I think the Portland Book Festival is organized by the Portland Art Center. My writing group participates in the book signing. We have 27 authors, each will have a 30 minute slot for selling the signed book. The Book Festival has speakers, workshops and children’s story reading, etc. etc. It utilizes the museum, art center, theater, two large churches, and a tent in a park. Many authors and speakers come from all over the country.
        The Powell bookstore downtown occupies an entire block with many levels. I can get lost in just one section. There must be people still buying and reading physical books.

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      1. 27 authors only from our writing group. It has more than 1,000 authors for the Book Festival.

        My writing group is a large group with many chapters covering Vancouver, WA and major cities up and down Oregon. I go to the Portland chapter and join an online critique small group.

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    5. It was 13 authors but not a whole lot of people. I sold/signed half adozen books and signed one that was bought elsewhere. A little less than same thing last year (it was my second time). However, it was fun, and I socialized with other authors, and that’s the main point. I read the Bronco’s Hamster Search and rescue for the reading we had and people were laughing and having a good time. I also taught a young boy about Leonberger. He had a lot of good suggestions for what a Leonberger could be used for.

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      1. I’m glad you had such a good time. I had a mixed feeling about ours. The three authors before my slot took too long to exit, cutting the time for our three short. Also the writers group put their bookmarks on the table. The visitors thought the table was for the writers group instead of the authors’ book signing. Only a few asked about our books.

        I’ll give feedback to the director to make adjustments in the future.

        I make connections with other authors also. That was good.

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    6. That’s a bummer. I went early during the reading time and I did not go over my time but we had a few people later on who took longer than they were supposed to. Luckily, the event just lasted a bit longer. No one lost any reading time. But that must be managed better at the Portland Book Festival. The same thing with the writers group putting their bookmarks on the table.

      I had one frustrating thing happening but it was temporary. The author next to me was a teacher and she brought her class to the library, which is nice, it’s being supportive of the event, except they were all standing in a circle around her booth with their backs towards my table, preventing others from seeing me. They were not interested in buying books and had no interest in any other author but her so having a big group of teenagers blocking the view of my table was not what I was hoping for. On the other hand, it was a four hour event and they were there only for one hour. I thought it was better not to say anything because in the end it was a small thing, a “first world problem” as some people call it.

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      1. Being sensitive to others needs and being conscious of what one is doing is so important in human relations, Thomas. In case the event participants neglect to do so, that’s when the coordinator comes in to moderate the situation.

        For our situation, I’ll wait for good timing to give my feedback. But I won’t do it if they’re not asking for feedback.

        When I was a conference coordinator, I walked through the procedure with the district representatives. Then on the day of the conference, I walked around with my walky talky monitoring throughout the day.

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    7. It sounds like you did a great job being a conference coordinator. It is a job that is needed because many people have a hard time respecting others. When I was a student, I participated in several robotics conferences, and I presented research papers. For example, on one occasion we had 30 minutes to present our papers, three in a row between coffee breaks. There were some presenters who took well over 40-45 minutes cutting it short for the next presenter. Some moderatos intervened and asked those stealing the next presenter’s time to stop and sit down, others did not. When the moderators did not do their job it became uncomfortable and stressful for everyone.

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      1. That’s exactly what happened in a conference, Thomas. We asked the moderators to give the presenters warnings by raising the signs for 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 0 minute to end their section. The moderators then clear the rooms to prepare for the next presenters.

        I’m interested in your presentations. You must post something on your blog about what you did!! 🙂

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    8. It is great when moderators do that. It is so stressful when they don’t. When I was young I did a PhD in Robotics and wrote six papers, but afterwards I did not continue with research. I decided that Academia was not for me. My papers were cited by others for a few years but as time went by the type of AI I was doing became mostly obsolete. However, I put my thesis on the web:

      Click to access tswthesis.1.2.pdf

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    1. Thank you David. Yes I think it went well. I sold some books, not a lot, but I was there mostly for the fun of it. The best part was the reading. When I read from my book people were laughing heartily at the funny story and jokes. That gives me a kick.

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  14. What a great promo video!!! I absolutely loved it. What fun to see and hear you!! I hope you had a sellout booksigning, and I’m thrilled we could reconnect again on WordPress. While I was away I missed seeing your posts!! 💗🐶

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      1. You’re very welcome, dear friend. It’s a delightful video!! Btw, as you can see, I changed my username. Much to my surprise, WordPress made up the other one from my email address. I just realized I could change it to the one I wanted. Lol!!

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      1. I know exactly what you mean. I grew up with big dogs (3 German Shepherds, a Norwegian Elkhound, several large mixes, and a beagle). And you have had both large and small dogs together too. They are both wonderful. I love them all!!

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