Dog Play

Esther’s writing prompt: September 30, 2026: Play

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For this prompt I decided post stories about dog’s playing as well as pictures of dog’s playing. Some of the pictures are my photos. Some pictures I generated with the help of ChatGPT. My first story is about when our big Leonberger dog playfully greeted our neighbor by putting our neighbor’s head in his mouth like the circus lion trick.

Swallowing the neighbor’s head is impolite

A Leonberger dog is putting his paws on a short man’s shoulders while licking his face.
Our friendly neighbor and our big playful dog. I made the picture with the help of ChatGPT.

On one occasion, one of our neighbors came over to say hello to our big Leonberger dog Bronco. We’d had Bronco for a year by then, so he was big. As our neighbor entered our hallway, Bronco came running, and before I had a chance to stop him, he jumped up and put his paws on our neighbor’s shoulders. This man is somewhat short, so Bronco was able to lick his head, which he proceeded to do. Then Bronco did something we were totally unprepared for. You know the circus trick in which the lion tamer puts his head in the lion’s mouth? Yes, that’s the trick Bronco performed on our friendly neighbor.

Bronco was just playing and having fun, but that’s not how to greet a neighbor. I apologized profusely, but our neighbor said that it was perfectly all right and that there was no harm done. He looked a bit unnerved, and obviously he had not expected to be part of a circus act, but he said that Bronco was a wonderful dog and that he really loved the big galoot.

A Leonberger dog is putting his paws on a short man’s shoulders while opening his mouth big and putting the man’s head in his mouth.
Our shocked neighbor and our big playful dog. I made the picture with the help of ChatGPT.

Despite what happened, our neighbor was always very nice to Bronco. However, for us that first encounter was a red flag. We had to get the jumping-up-on-people problem under control.

Japanese Chin Sings Opera

We used to have a Japanese Chin called Ryu. One of the things that stood out about Ryu was his singing. Japanese Chins are famous for their singing—well, actually, it’s closer to howling, but Ryu’s was a beautiful howl, and he was very proud of it.

The photo shows the bottom half of a girl hold the front paws of a happy black and white Japanese Chin. The dog’s mouth is wide open.
Our happy Japanese Chin Ryu. Our daughter is holding his paws. This is my photo.

As soon as he discovered that he got a lot of attention for it, he started doing it quite often. Whenever we came home, he would sit politely, look at us intently—it seemed like he was clearing his throat, too—and howl. Like an opera singer, he would slowly turn his head to look at us, as if he were performing. In fact I think Ryu’s howling sounded just like a night at the opera—especially when the lyrics are sung in Italian.

We would say, “Good boy, Ryu,” and clap, and he looked mighty proud. Other people thought it was cute and wonderful, too, and they gave him lots of praise, and of course he loved doing it and got good at it. When Rachel played the harmonica, Ryu would howl along. They made quite a duo. “Good boy” might not be the kind of praise Andrea Bocelli would want, but Ryu was perfectly happy with it.

The picture shows the same hallway as above. However, in this case there is Japanese Chin howling, a girl playing the harmonica and a family of four standing in the background clapping their hands.
Ryu howling while our daughter is playing the harmonica. I made the picture with the help of ChatGPT.

Our German Shepherd Baby & our Leonberger Puppy Bronco

We used to have a German Shepherd called Baby. She came from a shelter and from not so good circumstances. Even though Baby was a shy and anxious dog at first, once we got our Leonberger puppy Bronco, her personality changed. She loved Bronco, and she took on the job of being Bronco’s adoptive mom. She played with him; she watched him; she was fiercely protective of him. Bronco was her puppy. She seemed rejuvenated, as if she had found an important job to do a purpose, if you will. It was beautiful to see her take care of Bronco and play with him. She became happier and more confident, and Bronco loved her.

A black female German Shepherd and Leonberger Puppy almost as big as her are lying on the floor playing with each other.
Our German Shepherd named Baby is playing with our Leonberger puppy. She was like his mother. Photo by me.

Tug of War the Not So Great Game

Photo of Baylor and Baby. They are laying down.
Our yellow lab Baylor on the left. Our black German shepherd named Baby on the right. My photo.
A close up photo of a yellow lab.
Our labrador Baylor (allegedly quarter mix with Rhodesian ridgeback) was a very playful dog. Our photo.
Yellow lab grabbing a thick rope with his jaws as a man on the right is pulling hard.
I sometimes played tug of war with Baylor. We had fun but I’ve learned that this is not a good game. It can make a dog aggressive. Baylor never became aggressive though. I created this image using ChatGPT.

Dogs at Play

A photo from a dog park. Our lab and our Japanese Chin are in the photo and so is one more dog.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu playing at the dog park. Baylor is running in the background. My photo.
Black and white Japanese Chin lying on a red sofa.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu on the sofa. My photo.
Our Pug Daisy is wearing a pink birthday hat.
Our pug Daisy. It is her birthday. My photo.
A toy duck and our Pug Daisy laying on her back.
Our pug Daisy taking a rest in the sun after playing with her duck toy. My photo.
Our Pug Daisy has her head stuck in a tissue box.
Playing with a tissue box is risky. Poor Daisy. My photo.
Illustration showing a man chasing a Leonberger dog.
Our big and strong Leonberger Bronco was playful. Once when I walked him the leash failed and he got lose. He had a lot of fun with me chasing him around the neighborhood. I made this picture with the help of ChatGPT.
Our Leonberger Bronco swimming in slightly brownish water.
Our Leonberger dog Bronco loved to swim and chase ducks and egrets. He had no regrets. My photo.
A dark brown and white mini-Australian Shepherd peering from behind a sofa.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo as a puppy. He loves to play and run around. My photo.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is lying playfully on his side showing his belly to our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo loved to play with our Leonberger dog Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. My photo.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is rolling and biting an orange volleyball.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo love balls. Here he is playing with an orange volleyball. My photo.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is rolling and biting a soccer ball.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo love balls. Here he is playing with a soccer ball. My photo.
Rollo is lying on his side facing Bronco who laying down.
Our little mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo wanting to play with our big Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. My photo.
The photo shows a mini-Australian Shepherd biting a Leonberger’s tail.
Rollo loved our Leonberger Bronco, but he was all over him, biting his tail, swinging in his tail, sitting on him like as if he was a horse. Well, his name was Bronco. Bronco was very patient, but we had to intervene. My photo.
The photo shows Rollo surrounded by a plastic fence that constituted his baby jail.
When left Rollo alone with Bronco, we put him in a playpen that we called baby jail. We trusted Bronco completely, but Rollo could be obnoxious and for his own safety we thought baby jail / playpen was best while we were gone. My photo.
Leonberger is swimming with a ball in his mouth.
Leonberger is swimming with a ball in his mouth. Leonbergers are playful and love swimming. Stock Photo ID: 720242263 by Christian Mueller.
Two sand colored Leonberger puppies playing.
Two Leonberger Puppies at play Shutterstock ID:2141564415 AnetaZabranska
The picture shows a Leonberger running on grass chasing a green tennis ball.
A Leonberger dog is chasing a tennis ball. Leonbergers are playful but not fond of repetitive play, so throwing the ball will only work for so long. I made this picture with the help of ChatGPT.
The picture shows a little boy sitting on a Leonberger. The picture has a big red X over it.
Playing with Leonbergers is fine. They are friendly and playful, but don’t do this. Don’t do this to any dog. I made this picture with the help of ChatGPT.

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.

55 thoughts on “Dog Play”

  4. I used to play a game with our vizsla Tucker called “Hop on Pop” (named after a Dr. Seuss book) where I would get down on the floor with him and he would jump on my head and off my head. We also used to play “Kill the Hand” where I would grab at him and he would try to catch my hands as I did it. Being faster than me, Tucker usually would win. Dennis the vizsla liked to play “chase the stuffie” where I would move one of his toys in circles around myself while he tried to catch it. Trixie of course was too dignified for any of that, although she did like it when I would stamp my feet and pretend to chase her. Bean and Lulu are both into general roughhousing, Lulu more so than Bean, especially if it turns into belly rubs eventually. My wife the dog trainer calls all this “personal play” and has been trying to get the local shelter to run a class in it, basically “how to play with your dog”, but so far they haven’t …

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    1. Those are some rough games and I know Lulu and Bean are both into general roughhousing like you say. I’ve the many videos you made. They are a lot of fun to watch. I’ve played chase the stuffie as well with Baylor and Bronco. Rollo also likes to be chased like Trixie. He can run very fast.

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    1. Thank you Jacqui. I wish I had taken more photos. However, I certainly would not want a photo of the Bronco-neighbor that would be rude and I think I needed to instantly intervene. It would also be a photo I would not want to post. That’s why I had to rely on AI to illustrate that one.

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    1. Thank you Luisa. Yes the last one is a bad one that I’ve seen people actually do with a Leonberger. They say “is that a dog or a poney” and they put kids on its back. That can really hurt their back. And the tug of war can teach them to fight and be aggressive and that was my bad. Our little Rollo certainly did not respect Bronco’s boundaries so we had to keep after that little rascal and put him in baby jail for his own safety.

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      1. I realize that dogs of that size need to be trained not to be aggressive or overly boisterous; over the years, I’ve owned a female Rottweiler, Dogo Argentino, Doberman, and even a wonderful Harlequin Great Dane—all of them incredibly sweet.
        Now, I have an elderly little Poodle.😉

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        1. Those are indeed and potentially dangerous dogs. It is great that they were all incredibly sweet. You must be a great trainer. Leonbergers tend to be both playful and friendly naturally, but they can be rambunctious when young. The hopping up on people’s shoulders with their paws is a very common misbehavior. It is sweet that you now have an elderly little poodle.

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          1. Thank you! Yes, my little poodle Sissi is very special. She actually belonged to my mother before me. She is now over 16 years old, almost blind, deaf, and has been treated for heart problems for years. She also can’t control her needs anymore. But as long as she can stay with me without suffering, I am happy to have her here. I’m more than glad to skip vacations just to keep her comfortable in her usual environment. 🐾💗

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            1. Luisa, you are a true dog lover, something every dog deserves. It is wonderful that you care for her so nicely in her old age. Caring for aging dogs is special and in the longrun very rewarding experience. Thank you for being a good dog mama.

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    1. Yes Leonbergers tend to be very friendly towards strangers they meet on walks, but the incidence with our neighbor was very embarrassing. I am so sorry about Brandy, Misti and Jade. I hope you’ll have more dogs in your life.

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Barbara. The Bronco-neighbor incidence was impossible to have a photo from. I think my neighbor rather me help him right away instead of immortalizing the embarrassing moment. we had a problem with Bronco jumping up on peoples shoulders, licking their face, and on this one occasion playing circus lion. However, accidents can happen and we had a few visiting kids crying as a result. We had to make him stop and we did with the help of spray bottles (spraying in the face). You are right, they all have their special personalities and we get to know them.

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  11. Constant entertainment, Thomas. You’ve got so many fun memories. I’m trying to think How I might respond if one of my dogs suddenly got a neighbor’s head inside his mouth. My favorite is the birthday photo of Daisy. The birthday hat seems so natural on her.

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    1. Thank you so much Pete. I do have a lot of fun memories, even though the Bronco-neighbor incidence was quite emabarassing. Luckily our neighbor was very good about it. He could have said that Bronco was big nasty dog, but he said that what happened was OK, no big deal, and that he loved Bronco. However, we realized that we had to put an end to his jumping up on people, putting paws on peoples shoulders and then doing less desirable things. It was a problem and we got it fixed with spray bottles.

      Thank you for your kind words about Daisy’s birthday photo. I think that is my most stolen photo. I posted it in a Facebook pug group and then I saw it showing up in dozens of pug groups I was not even a member of. People / wanna-be influencers posted my photo claiming it was their pug, typically with female or male names that were not “Daisy”. Protesting in a comment did not help because it was typically the influencer’s group so the truth was deleted. I realized that 90+% of the FB pug groups were fake in that sense. First red flag was a photo of a young beautiful woman being the founder of the group. It attracted followers but was likely a fake photo. They were full of fake or stolen photos.

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        1. My daughter told me that it was standard practice among young people wanting to be influencers. It is pretty difficult to get lots of your own good photos so they just copy other people’s photos and claim them as their own and no one is stopping them. There are Leonberger FB groups doing the same. However, our breeder caught one of them using my Bronco photos and making up a fake story. She wrote a scathing comment about the photo theft but people are not paying attention. That’s why I don’t join FB dog groups anymore. The founders of those groups are typically stealing photos in pretty much all of them.

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  12. What a wonderful, fun-filled post, Thomas! 😀 Your anecdotes are so amusing, and I love all the photos. 💖 Can’t imagine what your neighbour was thinking when Bronco grabbed his head! 😆 Good thing he took it in stride.

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Debbie. I have to admit I was a bit surprised but happy that our neighbor took the incident so well. He did not get hurt. Bronco was just playing. However, it was still pretty bad but he said it was OK, no big deal, and that he loved Bronco.

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        1. Actually, they became dog owners despite us. His wife was (is still maybe) a real estate agent and she sold a house for a family who abandoned a dog at the house they were selling. She found the dog in the house, the family did not want it, and she offered to take care of the dog.

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    1. Thank you so much Robbie. Yes that circus lion incident freaked us all out. The neighbor was a bit shocked but took it well, and we were extremely embarrassed. But it made us realize that we really needed to stop his jumping up on people.

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  16. Dogs are a constant source of entertainment! Better than TV. We have our two and the neighbour has adopted one as well. The neighbour is not always well so we take his dog for walks and play dates. They are so cute playing together.

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