This blog feature amusing and heartwarming stories about our late Leonberger dog Bronco, as well as other Leonbergers. It also has a lot of information about the Leonberger breed, the history, care, training, Leonberger organizations, etc. I also wrote a Leonberger book, which I am featuring in the sidebar.
A little over a month ago I found out that an article about me, our late Leonberger Bronco and my book about him had been published in the September issue of the Preston Hollow People’s Magazine. It was a very nice surprise. Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine, which calls itself the best community magazine in Texas (I totally agree), is a monthly magazine with 47,000 online or print version subscribers. I can add that Preston Hollow is a large historic neighborhood in the northern part of Dallas with many famous residents including former President George W. Bush, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, previous Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, the late Presidential candidate Ross Perot and many others.
What I am posting about today is that I finally acquired a couple of print versions of the September issue of the Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine, so I am posting a few here. I am also including a link to the online article because it might be easier to read.
Front page of the September issue of Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the image to view the online version of the article.Page 10 of the September issue of Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the image to view the online version of the article.Close up of the article about Bronco in the Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the image to view the online version of the article.Close up of the article about Bronco in the Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the image to view the online version of the article.
Today is Rollo’s fifth birthday. Rollo grew up with his big brother the Leonberger Bronco, but we lost him three years ago and now it is just Rollo and his sister Daisy the Pug. Today they both had a so called pupcake, a cupcake especially made for dogs. Unlike some other pupcakes, it was soft, like a human cupcake and the dogs liked that, especially Daisy who is 15 years old and missing half her teeth.
Rollo with his pupcake. We are singing happy birthday to him, and our daughter is holding him. Daisy participated but is not in the picture.Rollo’s birthday last year (4th birthday, coincidentally also on October 12).Another photo from Rollo’s birthday last year, with Daisy.Rollo almost five years ago, at his new home.Rollo almost five years ago, at his new home.Rollo almost five years ago, meeting his big brother Bronco.Rollo around four years ago, terrorizing his big brother Bronco.
In this Leonberger blog I sometimes post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote, and this is a book that I would like to promote. I recently read In the Tree’s Shadow: A collection of stories that exist in your dreams… and nightmares the paperback version, by D. L. Finn. I found this book to be very imaginative, fun and great reading for Halloween, and therefore I would like to promote it. It comes in a paperback edition and a Kindle edition.
Paperback – April 14, 2023, ASIN : B0C1J5GSFZ, ISBN-13 : 979-8986158723, 214 pages, item weight : 10.2 ounces, dimensions : 6 x 0.49 x 9 inches, it is currently $ 11.24 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – April 17, 2023, ASIN B0BWL7LX9K, 225 pages. It is currently $2.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
This is a photo of the front cover of the book In the Tree’s Shadow. Click on the photo to go to the Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.
This book is a delightful collection of entertaining and suspenseful horror, paranormal, sci-fi, and fantasy stories. There are a few dark ones, but the stories are mostly imaginative, fun and captivating. Perfect for Halloween for those of you who want something a bit less disturbing than Hellbound Heart. At the end of the book there is also a 23-page teaser for another of her books “This Second Chance”.
This is Amazon’s description of the book.
Nestled inside these pages, you’ll meet a couple in their golden years who take a trip with an unexpected detour, a boy desperate to give his brother the Christmas gift he asked for, a girl with a small glass dragon who is at the mercy of her cruel uncles, and a young mother who has a recurring dream about murder. You’ll be introduced to worlds where people get second chances and monsters might be allowed their desires, while angels and dragons try to help. Happy endings occur, but perspective can blur the line between good and evil in these twenty-seven tales. Since the stories vary between 99 and 12,000 words, whether you have only five minutes or an entire evening to settle into reading, there is something that will suit your time and taste.
My Amazon Five Star Review of In the Tree’s Shadow
Nightmares and Beautiful Dreams
In the tree’s shadow is a collection of 27 captivating and unique short stories ranging from half a page to almost 30 pages. Some of the stories are paranormal horror stories, other stories are delightful fantasy and science fiction stories and yet other stories are personal journeys about finding your self-worth and inner strength to live the life you want. The stories feature nightmares, beautiful dreams, fantasy creatures, ghosts, space aliens, demon-like entities, castaways, karma, and civil war. You just don’t know what you are going to read next as you finish one story.
The book engages your imagination a lot, which I enjoy. It is also well written and easy to read. Some of the stories are dark and scary, like “A man on the pier”, but most of these stories are entertaining and intriguing, and even heartwarming. It is a perfect book for Halloween if you want to keep it a little bit on the lighter and happier side. For me the book was a page turner and I highly recommend it.
This is a photo of the back cover of the book In the Tree’s Shadow. Click on the photo to go to the Amazon location for the kindle version of the book.
About the Author
D.L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to the Sierra foothills in Nevada City, CA. She immersed herself in reading all types of books, but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, being surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed.
Her creations vary from children’s books, young adult fantasy, and adult paranormal romance to an autobiography with poetry. She continues on her adventures with an open invitation for her readers to join her.
If you own a Leonberger, or are interested in Leonbergers, and you live in North America you likely know about the Leonberger Club of America, or the LCA for short. You are about as likely to find a Leonberger at Petland/Puppy-Mill as you are finding an Elephant for sale there. LCA is very protective of the Leonberger breed and of Leonbergers in general. You typically buy/get a Leonberger dog from an LCA certified Leonberger breeder or from the Leonberger Rescue Pals, and if you don’t that might be a problem.
We bought our Leonberger Bronco (Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle) in 2007 from Julie Schaffert, a certified LCA breeder since 1992.
There are only about 3,000 Leonbergers in North America and about 2,000 Leonbergers in the United States but the Leonberger Club of America has more than 1,000 members. They publish the Leo-Letter, a quarterly Leonberger magazine. So, the Leonberger Club of America has a very prominent place among Leonberger owners. Click here to see a summary of the Leonberger Breed Standard.
Leonbergers have a long history in North America and the United States—despite the fact that until 1985, there were only seventeen Leonbergers known to be living in the United States.
See: Lusby, Leonberger, page 15.
Leonberger, Special Rare-Breed Edition, A Comprehensive Owners Guide, Madeline Lusby. Click on the image to see my five star review for this book.
In the 1870s, Leonbergers were brought to Newfoundland to invigorate the stock of Newfoundland dogs. Around the same time, two Leonbergers named Caesar and Sultan were purchased from Heinrich Essig’s kennel (founder of the Leonberger breed) and transported across the ocean to join the Wellesley-Sterling theater company in the United States as the stars of their productions. Then in 1879, Caesar and Sultan visited President Ulysses S. Grant, who called them the largest and most magnificent dogs he had ever seen and presented them with gold medals. During the years between World War I and World War II, a New Jersey family, the Wolfs, opened their home as a temporary refuge for Jews fleeing Germany: they also imported Leonbergers. Unfortunately, this introduction of the breed into the United States did not last, and it would be another fifty years before the Leonberger appeared in America again.
Leonberger, A comprehensive guide to the lion king of breeds, Caroline Bliss-Isberg. Click on the image to see my five start review for this book.
During the late 1970s and the 1980s, a few families—Waltraut and Klaus Zieher, Brian Peters, Manfred and Sylvia Kaufmann, Keri Campbell and Melanie Brown, and Mary and Reiner Decher brought Leonbergers to the United States. The Dechers had started a breeding program and were looking for a mate for their first dam, Viona. By chance their neighbor discovered through a newsletter that there was another Leonberger in the United States, and that led to the families’ finding and connecting with one another. I should add that the Dechers were careful to conform to the German breeding regulations and performed hip X-rays that they then submitted to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). Viona became the first OFA-certified Leonberger in America.
See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 152.
On Saturday, November 2, 1985, eight of these Leonberger enthusiasts met at a hotel in Denver, Colorado, to found the Leonberger Club of America (LCA). This group of founders, which has since been dubbed the Denver Eight, appointed a registrar, formulated a breeding acceptability checklist, and instituted various policies, including the requirement that OFA certification is mandatory for breeding. LCA membership grew: it held social gatherings, began publishing LeoLetter, and imported an increasing number of dogs. Now the LCA has thousands of members across the country, and Leonbergers receive high ratings on health tests relative to other large breeds. For example, in 2000, the OFA reported that only 14.6 percent of Leonbergers tested positive for hip dysplasia, compared to 47 percent of Saint Bernards.
Another important historical event was the founding of the Leonberger Health Foundation International (LHFI), in 2000 (it was just called the Leonberger Health Foundation back then). According to its website, the organization was founded by Waltraut Zieher and other memers of the LCA’s health, education, and research committee to “facilitate the solicitation and distribution of donations given to support health related breed-specific research.” The LHFI also administers a program that collects DNA samples from Leonbergers to share with universities and research institutions, and of course it administers the Grey Muzzle Award (long living Leonbergers). Our Leonberger Bronco was a recipient of the Grey Muzzle Award, and we provided them with his DNA.
Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award, which he received for being an unusually long lived Leonberger.
LHFI’s global biobank contains DNA samples from more than nine thousand Leonbergers. Among the organization’s notable achievements are the eradication of Addison’s disease among Leonbergers and the raising of nearly half a million dollars for research into conditions that affect canine health, including osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, glaucoma, cardiac diseases, thyroid diseases, and neurological disorders. Its research also supports healthful longevity and aging as well as population diversity. Another success is the fact that since 2011, no Leonbergers with two copies of the LPN1 gene mutation (which causes Leonberger polyneuropathy) have been recorded in LHFI’s biobank. LHFI is one of my favorite charities.
The end of the twentieth century marked not only the end of the Cold War but also the beginning of what I call the Dog Wars of America. In 1985, the American Kennel Club (AKC) registry comprised one-third of the world’s known dog breeds. But the AKC had recognized only a few new breeds since 1887—a period of ninety-eight years. So, the organization decided to change that policy, but this did not always go smoothly. The members of rare-breed clubs often did not want to be part of the AKC. For example, the Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) was very reluctant to join, so a relatively small splinter group, the United States Australian Shepherd Association, was formed and designated the official member club of the AKC, which was not welcome news to the ASCA. The border collie is another example. Charles Krauthammer, the late political columnist, called the AKC the politburo of American dog breeding.
See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 159.
Similarly, in 2003, a new Leonberger club was formed—the Leonberger Club of the United States—with the goal of becoming the Leonberger member club of the AKC. This essentially forced the LCA’s hand, so they applied for membership in the AKC, a process that took years to complete. But ultimately the AKC approved the LCA as members in 2010: Leonbergers would officially become part of the Working Group. Fortunately, 90 percent of LCA breeders agreed to continue following LCA regulations regardless of whether the club would remain independent or become part of the AKC. Also fortunately, AKC membership afforded more opportunities for Leonbergers to participate in dog shows, which is important to many owners.
See: Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger, page 187
For information on the history of the Leonberger starting in 1830’s see this link
Three weeks ago, I made a post about our late Leonberger Bronco (and my book) being featured in a local Dallas magazine called the Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. This magazine has 47,000 subscribers. In that post I posted screenshots of the printed version. Today they posted the free online version of the magazine. Click here to see the article about Bronco, my book and me. Click here to see the front page of the online version of Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. The headline of my article can be found on the front page.
The page showing the article in Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the image to see the front page of the free online version of Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine.The article in Preston Hollow Peoples Magazine. Click on the picture to go to the article in the free online version of the magazine.Bronco and me
This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I want to promote. This is a book I would like to promote. Last week I read The Bubble Reputation, Kindle Edition by Alex Craigie. I loved this book and therefore I would like to promote it. It comes in a paperback edition and a Kindle edition.
Paperback – October 12, 2022, publisher : Ashford Carbonell Publishing, ISBN-10 : 0995696640 ISBN-13 : 978-0995696648, 134 pages, Item Weight : 7.7 ounces, Dimensions : 6 x 0.31 x 9 inches, it is currently $4.38 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – October 11, 2022, Ashford Carbonell Publishing, ASIN B0BHZL8J9G, 147 pages. It is currently $2.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
False claims and rumors can destroy your good reputation in instant, like a bubble popping. Click on the image to go to the amazon page for the book.
Today, just 10 minutes before I started working on this post, I came across a great and allegedly true story on Facebook. It was touching, infuriating, and engaging, but having developed a nose for fake stories on social media I suspected it might not be true. I looked in the comment section. People were touched, excited and infuriated by the story, and no one questioned the story except one person who stated that it was a fake story. I checked out the story and indeed, it was just another fake story debunked by snopes.com and by Stanford University, and it also contradicted what Wikipedia had written about the same incident. What I would like to point out is that almost everyone fell for it instantly. Almost everyone forgot to ask the simple basic question, is it true?
The incident I am hinting at in my review below was when a friend of mine shared a story on Facebook that could be defamatory of Syrian refugees. The source claimed that mainstream media did not want to tell the story, which is why it was not well known. I have learned that such claims are a red flag, so I checked it out. Snopes.com debunked it stating that it was false. The only source carrying the story was a site that intentionally creates and disseminates fake news and stories, and there were no records of the people in the story even existing. So, I left a helpful comment explaining that sorry, but it turns out that this is a fake story and provided a link to Snopes.com. My friend deleted my comment. I was the only one questioning the story and I got no support from anyone. I asked why he did that. He was angry with me for posting the comment and he told me I could be al-Qaeda’s lawyer, which had nothing to do with the story. After I tried posting it a second time and explaining that this was “bearing false witness” intentionally using religious language I hoped would work with him, he blocked me. Later on, he sent me a friend request which I briefly accepted. However, I soon blocked him after seeing that he had not learned his lesson. We are no longer friends.
Social media is full of fake stories, ill-intentioned trolls, conspiracy theorists, Qanon BS, defamatory fake news about actors and other celebrities, and people eat it up way too easily. That is a big problem. I believe I have noticed that it is especially my demography, white men of the age 50+ that keeps falling the most for fake news and stories. I read a study that confirmed what I believe I am seeing; my demography is the worst in this regard. I think it has a lot to do with a lack of social media savviness and a tendency to believe what you want to believe. Your existing beliefs and your gut feelings are your worst enemy in this regard. I believe a science background can really help you with this. In Science you learn to focus on the evidence.
What I wanted to say with all this, is that we may always have had this problem, but it has been amplified through social media and internet and don’t think for a minute that the gullibility and crazy behavior of people in this novella is in any way unrealistic or exaggerated. I also want to highlight how big of a problem this is. False news and conspiracy theories has resulted in genocide. Why do we have to believe what we want to believe rather than what is most likely true? Why can’t we be more rational? This is an incredibly important topic. Anyway, enough of my rant, now to the book.
The Bubble Reputation from the Amazon Page
If you want to destroy someone’s reputation, social media provides the perfect tool.
Emmie Hobson, children’s author and TV presenter, is riding high on a wave of popularity when an unscrupulous newspaper editor, desperate for a scoop, brings Emmie’s world crashing down.
Social media picks up the baton and a terrifying backlash of hate and abuse is unleashed. Threats are made and there are those, inflamed by the rhetoric, prepared to take the law into their own hands.
My Amazon Review of The Bubble Reputation
Bearing False Witness
Emmie Hobson is a popular children’s books author and TV personality. She is happily married, has a great relationship with her parents, and a rocky relationship with her sister who is an addict. One day an editor for a gossip magazine decide to slander Emmie in an attempt to boost sales. She fabricates evidence to support her false accusations. Despite the evidence being questionable a lot of people are quick to believe it and social media is used to supercharge and spread the false accusations even further, while inventing new rumors. People eat it up and suddenly Emelie is a hated pariah and a target for emotional and physical abuse.
I think this book is an important wakeup call for all of us because it highlights a very dark side of humanity that has grown worse. Gossipers, rumor mongers, conspiracy theorists, and mean trolls are tremendously successful today, thanks to social media, internet and divisions in society. “Bearing false witness” is a special kind of black lie that can kill. Defamatory conspiracy theories enabled the holocaust, the Tutsi genocide and the recent genocide in Myanmar. This is a very serious topic.
I found the apparent extreme gullibility of the public in this story to be very believable, perhaps even an understatement, because of what I’ve seen on social media. For example, someone posted a false defamatory story on Facebook, and I responded with a comment debunking it. My comment included a link to snopes stating that the story was false, I pointed out that the only source for the story was a fake news creation website, and that the story had other plausibility issues. Despite all that, all other commentors on the story believed it and the person posting it launched a silly ad hominem attack against me instead of arguing the case. Social media is indeed wild.
I can add that I don’t think it is as much gullibility as a desire to believe ill about others that is rooted in envy, politics, worldviews, bias, plain meanness, or perhaps a desire to be judgmental or feel superior. Accepting unsubstantiated claims whilst being very skeptical of what you don’t want to believe, isn’t skepticism but the opposite of it. We need to do better, use common sense, and examine the evidence. The story about Emmie, despite being fiction, makes it very clear as to why.
This is one of the most intense thrillers I’ve ever read, and it is very timely. The author is describing a very believable scenario that grows more and more intense and darker and darker. Many of the characters in the book are infuriating and yet so average, so unethical and foolish, yet so sure of their righteousness, so incredible yet so realistic. The author also describes the love between Emmie and her parents, and her husband, and their unyielding support for each other throughout all this craziness. The book asks us to be careful about what we believe and to stand up against rumors and lies. It is a gripping page turner that will shake you to your core while asking you to think. It describes a slice of a drama that we are all part of everyday. I highly recommend this excellent thriller.
About the Author
Alex Craigie is the pen name of Trish Power.
Trish was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and written in pencil in a book with imperial weights and measures printed on the back.
When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines before returning to the teaching job that she loved.
Trish has had three books published under the pen name of Alex Craigie. The first two books cross genre boundaries and feature elements of romance, thriller and suspense against a backdrop of social issues. Someone Close to Home highlights the problems affecting care homes while Acts of Convenience has issues concerning the health service at its heart. Her third book. Means to Deceive, is a psychological thriller.
Someone Close to Home has won a Chill with a Book award and a Chill with the Book of the Month award. In 2019 it was one of the top ten bestsellers in its category on Amazon.
This post is just a public service announcement. Have you noticed that it recently has become significantly more difficult to leave comments on certain WordPress websites? Your website might be one of them and you may not know about it. The people having difficulty leaving comments on your website may have a hard time telling … Continue reading “Recent Commenting Difficulties on WordPress”
This post is just a public service announcement. Have you noticed that it recently has become significantly more difficult to leave comments on certain WordPress websites? Your website might be one of them and you may not know about it. The people having difficulty leaving comments on your website may have a hard time telling you.
There are no comments to be had! That’s the reality on some WordPress websites. Photo by Monstera Production on Pexels.com
I like to use the emails I get by subscribing to certain WordPress websites. I can often read the post in my email inbox and then press the comment link. I also like to go straight to the webpage and read and comment there. When I do this (both cases), I have issues with leaving comments on some people’s posts, and I’ve come to realize, it’s not just me, it is a general problem. There is an alternative way of leaving comments, and that is to use the WordPress-Reader. This is an indirect way of leaving, or sending, a comment, and this seems to always work. A friend of mine, Alex, pointed this out to me and I finally got around to doing it this way instead. However, if people have issues with leaving comments on your website you may not be aware of it, for quite understandable reasons. You will just get less comments.
I like to use the email I get by subscribing to certain WordPress websites. Photo by Torsten Dettlaff on Pexels.com
This is typically what happens when you try to leave a comment on the websites that have commenting issues. Again, this happens only on some websites, but it is a quite common problem.
The Reply button is greyed out. You are asked to login to WordPress even though you are already logged in.
So, you login to WordPress (despite already being logged in).
After logging in two duplicate WordPress-Reader windows popup and cover almost the entire page.
To get rid of them so that you can write your comment you have to reload the page because there’s no close feature. Doing this will erase whatever you have already written in the comment box.
Now you can typically write and post your comment (but not always)
In some cases, it does not matter what I do, I cannot leave a comment directly from the webpage (but it is possible using the Reader).
Are you having issues with commenting on certain webpages? Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
I talked to a Happiness Engineer about this. I was told that they are streamlining the commenting feature and there are currently some issues. He did not seem to know the extent of the problems but appreciated people’s input on the issue. He did not have an exact date as of when it will be fixed.
A bug in the system. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Have you noticed these problems?
If you see this on my webpage, please use the contact page to tell me (or comment if you can).
This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I just read Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story (Kindle Edition), by Sally Cronin. It was a book that I loved and therefore I want to promote.
Kindle – November 10, 2013, Publisher : Moyhill Publishing, ASIN B0CBTY2K5C, 108 pages. It is currently $3.50 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Sam, the adorable Collie. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the book.
This book is about a dog, a Collie named Sam who comes to live with David and Sally Cronin in Ireland. The story of Sam’s life is told through his voice by Sally. Due to the author’s skill and understanding of her dog this way of imaginary telling of a dog’s story works extremely well. It is plausible and beautiful. Click here to view my review on Amazon.
My Amazon Review of Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story
The Story of the Life of a Dog Told by the Dog
This is the story of the Collie Sam, told through the voice of Sam. His mistress Sally imagines what he must have been thinking as we follow him on all of his adventures, including his happy, sad and crazy moments, throughout his life. Sam has many dog and cat friends, and he understands cat language and so does his mistress. There was his friend Henry, the almost dead stray cat who found a home with Sam’s family. There was Danny the mischievous little dog who led Sam astray, the dangerous attack by the big vicious dog, the car rides, the beaches, and how Sam learned how to say a word in English, for real, and much more. It is the life of a dog, told by the dog himself, and it is a story well told.
Sam is also a very well-traveled dog and as you are reading the book you will learn something about traveling with dogs within the EU. You also learn something about the dog owner’s experience. I think the author is apt at figuring out how a dog must be feeling and what he might be thinking in different situations. She is well informed about dog behaviors and the reasons behind them. I’ve owned many wonderful dogs throughout my life, and I felt that the author was interpreting dog behavior and putting it into imagined dog feelings and thoughts in a very plausible manner.
I think this was a fun and interesting read. It was a real page turner, well it’s kindle, so location traverser, as you want to find out what is going to happen to Sam next. It is gripping and emotional in a good way. I think putting the story of Sam as if it is told by Sam is a clever and unique way of presenting the story of a dog’s life. I highly recommend this kindle book to all dog lovers.
About the Author
Sally Cronin is the author of sixteen books including her memoir Size Matters: Especially when you weigh 330lb first published in 2001. This has been followed by another fifteen books both fiction and non-fiction including multi-genre collections of short stories and poetry.
As an author she understands how important it is to have support in marketing books and offers a number of FREE promotional opportunities on her blog and across her social media. The Smorgasbord Bookshelf.
Leonberger Life 