Leonbergers Giving Gifts to Pugs

Esther’s writing prompt: 17th December : Giving

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Dogs give gifts and do nice things for people and other dogs. In this post I am describing three occasions when our late Leonberger Bronco gave our Pug Daisy gifts.

Leonberger Shares a Gingerbread House

Our Leonberger dog Bronco (his full name was Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle) was an expert counter surfer, which is why we installed a pet gate to the entrance of our kitchen. Bronco knew how to open gates if they were not locked, so you had to make sure that you did not just close the gate but lock it. However, one December day I forgot to lock the gate. That was the day our daughter had made a gingerbread house and left it on the kitchen counter. Guess who ate half the gingerbread house? Guess who ate some of the other half? Bronco shared some with Daisy. He was always very generous. The photo below is what I saw when I got home that day.

A pug on the left, and Leonberger dog on the right. There are pieces of a gingerbread house on the floor. There is an open gate in the background.
The open gate behind Daisy and Bronco permitted their gingerbread-house raid.

Leonberger Shares a Baked Potato

I believe dogs have empathy, and sometimes they want to share—at least Bronco did. There was a time when we were in our home eating take-out food and Bronco stole one of our dinners, including meat, vegetables, and a baked potato. He started eating the meat, then he glanced at Daisy, who was sitting in the middle of the floor looking sad. Immediately he took the baked potato in his mouth and carried it over to her and dropped it right at her feet. I was going to get mad at him for stealing, but when I saw his kindhearted and unselfish act, I let it be.

Daisy our pug is sitting in front of a vent.
Daisy our Pug was sitting there looking sad, but she got a baked potato with bacon and butter. I should say that the photo is from another occasion when she sat in front of the vent because she was cold. But it is close enough.

Leonberger Saves our Pug Daisy’s Life

On another occasion, Bronco did something else amazing for Daisy. Despite having issues with his paws—this was around the time he was being treated for squamous cell carcinoma—he saved Daisy from an attacking German shepherd who was running loose.

We were at my wife Claudia’s parents’ house, just leaving, standing on their driveway, when one of their neighbors came out to drop some garbage in the trash can at the end of her driveway. With her was a young, probably adolescent, German shepherd, and he was not on a leash. As we were standing on the porch, I suddenly saw the shepherd flying through the bushes, his teeth bared. He quickly charged us—viciously.

First, he went for Daisy, but Bronco got between them to protect her. Essentially, Bronco saved her life. The shepherd bit his leg in return. Bronco was almost twelve when this happened, and he was not as strong as he used to be. A German shepherd would have been an easy opponent for Bronco just a few years earlier, but at that point he was old, and he did not need the extra stress.

I kicked the German shepherd in the stomach, and he ran off. Bronco’s legs were weak—he had recently had a toe operation, and his walking was unsteady—so seeing the shepherd going for the leg on which he had had his operation was very upsetting. The shepherd could have bitten me, of course, and I could have been severely injured, but I didn’t care. I was defending my dogs—who were all on a leash, by the way. If the shepherd had bitten me, the owner could have been criminally charged, and there could have been a lawsuit

The owner of the shepherd came over to apologize, but I cursed at her. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but she had a vicious and dangerous dog, and she intentionally let him run loose. In the end, though, there were no major injuries. Bronco’s leg was slightly hurt, but overall, he was fine. These days, whenever we talk about this incident, I jokingly refer to the neighbor dog as Cujo. I should say that we’ve had a German Shepherd who was a sweetheart, so this is story is in no way an attempt to disparage German Shepherds. They are typically wonderful dogs as well.

In conclusion, this third example was an example of Bronco giving up his safety and potential health to protect our Pug Daisy.

The photo shows our Leonberger Bronco standing in the backyard as a sun ray is shining down over his head.
Bronco was a hero saving Daisy’s life.

My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts

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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.

52 thoughts on “Leonbergers Giving Gifts to Pugs”

  1. Wow! That’s quite an encounter! Like you, I once owned a German shepherd – an alpha female – and know from experience how important it is that these dogs be well-trained and under firm control. I’ve seen out-of-control shepherds and yes, they are dangerous. Such a terrible shame because as you point out they are wonderful. People shouldn’t take them on if they are not going to be responsible owners.

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    1. Yes you are right. Sometimes it is not easy to train a dog. They have personalities and a history but if you can’t trust them 100% then never allow them to run loose. A big strong dog like a German Shepherd can do a lot of damage. This time the German Shepherd went after a Pug maybe next time a kid. Responsible owners is a must.

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    1. Thank you so much Robbie. You are right. Not every dog can be trusted 100% at all times, but then you don’t let them run loose, especially a dog that can do a lot of damage like a German Shepherd. Being responsible it the key to dog ownership,

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  6. Great stories, Thomas. I can never understand why owners of undisciplined dogs let them run loose. Dogs on leashes are particularly vulnerable to attack since the loose dog knows they have limited movement. That woman deserved a curse.

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    1. Thank you John. I certainly agree. People with undisciplined dogs who let them run loose make everyone unsafe. Even if they are well behaved but loose big dogs they make people feel unsafe. Always have them on a leash. Loose dogs make it worse when I have my dogs on a leash.

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  8. My aunt loved dogs, but she always taught them to be mean and aggressive. I don’t know why, because she was meaner than the dogs. I hated going to her house because I always ended up being cornered by one of the dogs gnashing its teeth at me.

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    1. That is terrible. Your aunt sounds like an irresponsible dog owner. You should not want your dogs to be mean and aggressive and if you do it for protection keep them away from people and other dogs. I am sorry to hear that your aunt was mean.

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    1. Gingerbread is not good for dogs, so it wasn’t great that they ate that, but Bronco’s stomach seemed to have been made of steel. On time he ate a box of chocolate gnomes filled with liquor, whiskey, gin, cognac, and vodka. He was fine, but it was a scare.

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  12. Lovely stories Thomas.
    I would have been furious with that GSD owner.
    The guy over the road has one which is a few weeks younger than Maya, though he got his first. We’d hoped the dogs would become friends and we could meet up on the beach etc, so started the ball rolling for socialising them in our garden. At first, everything went really well, then Sheba started playing very aggressively and tried to take Maya’s back legs out all the time. We weren’t happy and neither was he, so our plans were scuppered. They had her spayed (didn’t like the mess of her in season) and it has been discovered she has both hip and elbow dysplasia. She’s very vocal on her walks if other dogs are about, and he doesn’t let her mix with any of them. Such a shame.

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    1. Thank you so much Di. Yes I thought it was so terrible that she let an undisciplined big dog run loose and attack neighbors on those neighbors property. It was so irresponsible. It is terrible that Sheba tried to take out (I assume bite) Maya’s back legs. That is aggressive behavior. However, I am sorry to hear she had hip and elbow dysplasia.

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      1. We don’t know why Sheba’s behaviour in play changed, and yes she always went for Maya’s back legs. They had also hoped that having her spayed would calm her down, but sadly no. She does walk well on the lead though, but barks at any dog she sees.

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        1. I think it is just personality. Our Rollo barks at every dog he sees unless he thinks he is going to get a treat for being quiet, and he is hostile to any dog we bring in the house. Bronco and Daisy were the only dogs he accepted in the house. He thinks it is his house. We did not raise/train him any different from the other dogs and they were not like that. Well one difference is that we did not socialize him much when he was young because of covid.

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          1. That could be the key. So many people on our estate got a dog during Covid but couldn’t socialise them. We lost Maggie in November 2020 and were without a dog until February 2022 so we have encouraged introductions of all breeds, some worked, some didn’t. but we did have a few dogs come to play in the garden (not all at the same time!) which helped.

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            1. We should have made a better effort with socializing Rollo during covid. We lost Bronco in July of 2020 and Daisy in April of 2024 and since then he has been alone. Bronco and Daisy were the only dogs he accepted.

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    1. Thank you Cindy. Luckily they didn’t get sick. Gingerbread is not good for dogs. However, Bronco seemed to have a stomach of steel. On another occasion he ate a box of chocolate gnomes filled with liquor, whiskey, gin, cognac, and vodka. He was fine, but it was a scare.

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      1. You’re welcome, Thomas. I wouldn’t think so but I’m glad he did ok with it. I had an Austrian shepherd that ate a box of sees but was fine. They’re all so different. Duke on the other hand was a 600.00 vet bill. That’s some expensive Panama chocolate!
        🍫 ❤️

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        1. I am glad Duke made it and that you were willing to save him. I think the worst for dogs is raisins. Raisins are extremely dangerous to dogs. We took Rollo to the emergency (turned out nothing was wrong with him) and we saw a dog who died from eating raisins.

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            1. Neither did we until we witnessed the tragedy at the emergency room. Chocolate, gingerbread, and liquor can make a dog sick and it is not good for them, but even a small amount of raisins (or grapes) can kill a dog. After witnessing that we googled it. Raisins is poison to dogs.

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                1. I have no idea what they did. The dog was just lying on the floor having seizures while they were running around trying to do things to save him. Then they took him to a room on the side and after a while the family came out crying. I felt very sorry for them. Their dog had died. Our Rollo had thrown up three times, which is why we took him to the ER but he had not eaten anything very bad. Our Rollo was fine but we were shook up over the dog we saw who died from raisins.

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            2. This is what Google AI says

              There’s no known safe amount of raisins for dogs, as even one can cause severe, irreversible kidney failure in some, while others might eat more without issues; the response is unpredictable, making any ingestion a veterinary emergency requiring immediate professional care, don’t wait for symptoms. Contact your vet or an emergency clinic right away if your dog eats any raisins, grapes, currants, or sultanas.

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                1. AI is pretty useful for looking up information. However, it is not always right. It is like Wikipedia, usually correct but not 100%. It searches what it thinks are reliable sources to come up with answers. Speaking about Wikipedia, AI use Wikipedia a lot. What I don’t like about AI is it replacing artists, musicians and authors. I also don’t like people using it to create images, comments, and posts and articles without telling readers that they used AI. That is inauthentic.

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    1. You are Barbara, that was obvious. Luckily they did not get sick. Gingerbread is not good for dogs. On another occasion Bronco ate a box of chocolate gnomes filled with liquor, whiskey, gin, cognac, and vodka. He was fine, but it was a scare. We thought we needed to take him to the emergency but he was fine. Raisins is the worst though. We’ve seen a dog die from raisins at the emergency.

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    1. I remember many years ago, back in New York, our little vizsla Tucker got hold of a box of chocolate-covered dried cranberries (craisins) and ate all of it, foil wrapping and all. We were freaking out because we knew about the chocolate issue and the raisin issue, but our vet at the time assured us that craisins didn’t have the same toxicity and that there really wasn’t that much chocolate involved, and said to just keep an eye on him, which we did. He was fine and showed no ill effects, except he pooped red and green glitter for a day or two because of the foil.

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      1. Oh yeah that could have been bad. However, I just looked it up and craisins are not toxic like raisins and if it wasn’t too much chocolate it wasn’t too dangerous. It was still a good call to take him to the vet. You never know. I am that Tucker was fine.

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