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.
I just received a couple of photos from our niece Jessica and her husband Eric. They live in Minnesota. They had encountered a Leonberger dog named Oliver, and they took a couple of photos. For those who do not know, Leonbergers are large family friendly dogs related to Saint Bernards. It is a rare breed, so you don’t see them very often. If you want to read more about this amazing breed, see the list of all my blog posts.
A friendly Leonberger named Oliver. Photo by Jessica Sardas.A friendly Leonberger named Oliver. Photo by Jessica Sardas.
Other Leonberger Chance Encounters
Another amazing Leonberger chance encounter happened when we visited my native country Sweden. We had hiked up a mountain in the high coast region (that’s where I grew up) called the Skule Berget, or Skull Mountain in English. The elevation of the hike was nearly 1,000 feet. Guess what we found at the summit besides the red cabin restaurant selling waffles to the brave souls who managed to finish the hike? A Leonberger named Amie. We took some photos of Amie. I hope she got some waffles too. You can read more about our adventure here.
Amie at the top of Skule Berget.Amie was playful but very well behaved.
Another chance encounter was when our daughter-in-law’s mother had a chance encounter with a Leonberger at her mother’s nursing home. Leonberger dogs are big but friendly, trusting, calm, confident, and very trainable, making them perfect therapy dogs. They are therefore often used as therapy dogs at hospitals, nursing homes and mental institutions. You can read more about this encounter here.
Our daughter-in-law’s mother is on the left and her mother is on the right. She gave me permission to use this photo. The Leonberger is in the middle front.
A Therapy Leonberger Called Scout
Speaking about therapy dogs. Below is a video about a Leonberger called Scout by CBC news in Canada. This Leonberger is helping residents at Hamilton mental health hospital. He was bred by Concorde Ridge Leonbergers. They have a website and a blog which I follow. You can visit my post about Scout here. The 1-minute video is shown on the website below.
About the book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle
Finally, I would like to mention that I wrote a book about our late Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. The title of the book is “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. The book features the amusing adventures of our Leonberger Bronco and his dog friends, as well as information on how to train and care for Leonbergers and other large breeds, their breed history, breed standard, Leonberger organizations, and an extensive resource guide at the end. I can add that all photos and illustrations are in color. The price of the paperback version is 17.95 (normal prize is $19.95) and the price of the Kindle version is $4.95 All proceeds go to the Leonberger Health Foundation International, an organization that works to improve the health and longevity of Leonbergers and other large dog breeds.
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the United States Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the kindle version of the book.Again, these are the endorsements for the book by some very prominent members of the Leonberger community. Click here or on the image to go to the location for the book Amazon in Canada.
This is another post with the “25 Leonberger photos” theme. This time the theme is “25 Leonberger Pictures with People”. I’ve selected photos and illustrations of our late Leonberger Bronco that also feature people. A few of the photos are stock images from Shutterstock but most of the pictures are mine. Below is a list of the previous posts using the theme 25 Leonberger photos.
Also, if you have not checked out my superfactful blog yet feel free to do so.
25 Leonberger Pictures with People
This is a photo of our family. It is a few years old. From left to right, our oldest son, our Japanese Chin Ryu, my wife Claudia and I am standing behind her, our Leonberger Bronco, our younger son, and our daughter with our Pug Daisy. I would like to add that since then I’ve gotten in better shape.Our one-year-old Leonberger Bronco wants to give me a hug. He wanted to give hugs all the time. We also danced a lot. He was a good dancer.Bronco’s direct ancestor on the male side Leo von der Sagmuhle in Germany about 100 years ago (18 generations). I got this information from the World Wide Leonberger Database.Leonbergers are muscular, big and strong. Bronco is pulling our daughter along the ground as she is desperately trying to hold on to him. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.Bronco is chasing off a peeping Tom who was terrorizing the women in the neighborhood including my wife. The trespassing peeping Tom never came back. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.This illustration depicts an occasion when Bronco was not so well behaved. We saw a dog across the street and our Leonberger Bronco became wild. He started barking and jumping around and he accidentally pushed our German Shepherd into a storm drain. I had to get her out while holding onto an agitated Bronco. The man across the street lifted his dog and ran as fast as he could down the street. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.Once Bronco had a toe amputation due to cancer and the doctor put a full leg cast on him. He told us that he should not bump the cast, and that he should not go for walks for ten days. But Bronco was begging to go out, so my wife finally took him for a walk. She did not use the leash because she thought that he could barely walk. A few minutes later I heard screaming, and I opened the door and saw this. Bronco was chasing our neighbor and his two corgis as Claudia was running after him and screaming at him to stop. The cast went bump, bump, BUMP, in the sidewalk. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.Our Leonberger Bronco got tired of watching the kids play games all day long. So, one day he calmly walked over to their laptop and bit the laptop hard. That was the end of the laptop. You could see the bite marks on the laptop. I took it back to Best Buy where the Geek Squad guy really wanted to know what happened. He said he had never seen anything like it. Luckily, they replaced the laptop. It is written Nerd Brigade instead of the Geek Squad in the illustration because of potential copyright issues. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.Our Leonberger Bronco at the dog park at five/six months old. He is wearing a bandage on his knee because he got a condition from growing too fast. The two ladies are the owners of the little dog.Our Leonberger Bronco is sitting in my wife’s lap. He was 167 pounds at the time. Silly Bronco thought he was a lap dog.My wife Claudia with Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award. Leonbergers typically don’t live long and therefore Bronco’s long life was unusual. The Leonberger Health Foundation International awards Leonbergers who live longer than 12 years with an award called the Grey Muzzle Award.Bronco lived very long for a Leonberger. The typical lifespan is 8-9 years. As mentioned above, the Leonberger Health Foundation International gives out a grey-muzzle award to Leonbergers who have lived 12 years or longer. Here Bronco is receiving his grey-muzzle award.Photo of our Leonberger Bronco when he was very young. Less than one years old. He is sleeping on the floor. The kids are playing in the background.Our niece Jessica is giving Bronco a kiss.Our oldest son and our daughter are sitting in the sofa. Our Leonberger Bronco is in the foreground. In the back is our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.My wife Claudia with our Leonberger Bronco.Me and Bronco during Covid-19 times.Claudia with Bronco and our pug Daisy down by White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.A nurse is putting on a bandage on Bronco’s paw. This was because he had a toe amputation due to a cancer cyst on his toe. The cancer was not aggressive and did not spread. The toe amputation took care of it. First, he had a cast. Then he had bandages.Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is giving Bronco a kiss. Our son is overseeing and petting them both.Young Leonberger, probably less than a year old. Leonbergers aren’t fully grown until they are close to two years old. Stock Photo ID: 2089116934 by cynoclub.Young Leonberger and woman in front of white background Asset id: 2022376910 by cynoclub.A little boy is playing with a giant dog in the garden Asset id: 1044912799 by Lolostock – by Apex Studios.RONNEBY, SWEDEN – JULY 05, 2014: Blekinge Kennelklubb international dog show. A Leonberger dog and a female handler running in a show ring. Asset id: 204221011 by ImfotoA woman and her Leonberger dog. Asset id: 1741753382 by Elena Podrezenko
I try to avoid politics on my blogs but considering the circumstances I think this is OK. The picture you see above and below is from Trine Helen Løken. Thank you for letting us use it, Trine. It was passed around in various Leonberger Facebook groups and other Leonberger places back in 2022 and now it is in vogue again. It is to show the Leonberger community’s support for Ukraine. I added a couple of somewhat less artistic photos using a couple of photos of our late Leonberger Bronco and a Ukrainian flag that I got from pexels.com Photo by Engin Akyurt.
Art by Trine Helen Løken. This picture is popular in the Leonberger community.Our Leonberger BroncoOur Leonberger Bronco, the hero. He found runaway hamsters, saved our Pug Daisy from an attacking dog, and detected an oncoming insulin shock in our Labrador.
Rollo the Politician
Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd is not easy to walk. Sometimes he sits and refuses to walk and sometimes he barks his head off at other dogs. Therefore, we started bribing him, and this works. On several occasions, I asked Claudia, my wife, “should I bribe him?”. So, he ended up learning the word “bribe”. Now when you say the word “bribe” he comes running hoping for a handout. In other words, we accidentally taught him to be a politician. Below are a few photos of Rollo.
Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd as a puppy.Rollo with his duck toy.Rollo loves sleeping in our bed, especially on my side. He is taking over.
Canis Lupus Familiaris, the dog, is a close relative of the grey wolf. Dogs and wolves share a high percentage of DNA and are in fact the same species. They can mate and produce offspring referred to as wolf dogs. However, keeping wolves or wolf dogs as pets is not recommended. Our late Leonberger dog Bronco was in fact accused of being a wolf by a little boy and he was accused of being a bear by a neighbor. The boy was very close to being right.
Leonbergers are big dogs, and little boys may think they are wolves, but Leonbergers are very friendly.Mini Australian Shepherds like our dog Rollo may look like wolves but are rarely mistaken for wolves. A quacking duck can be very scary to little mini–Australian Shepherds.
Are Big Dogs Wolves ?
The short stories below are from my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. A Leonberger is a large type of dog, a so-called giant breed, closely related to Saint Bernards, and allegedly also Great Pyrenees dogs Newfoundland dogs. Bronco weighed 140 pounds when he was not overweight.
Bronco was a big dog. Once when I was walking Bronco around the neighborhood, a neighbor who always let his black Labs run loose saw us. He shouted to his wife, “Honey, get the dogs inside! Someone is walking a bear out here.” I guess letting your large dogs run loose isn’t a problem until someone walks a dog much bigger than yours.
On a number of occasions, we’ve met people who said to us that Bronco is the biggest dog they’ve ever seen. However, there are bigger dogs. We’ve met bigger English bullmastiffs and bigger Great Danes.
One day I took Bronco into PetSmart, and after I did my shopping, he and I were standing in the checkout line. Bronco was very quiet and well-behaved, but a boy ahead of us in line became quite alarmed when he saw us. He shouted, “Look! A wolf, a wolf, a wolf!” He pointed his finger at Bronco. His mom tried to calm the boy, but he would not stop shouting. He didn’t seem to be afraid of Bronco, but he was really concerned that there was a big wolf in the pet store. I tried to explain to the boy that Bronco was not a wolf. He was just a big dog.
Since our neighbor called Bronco a bear, I am including a second image from Kevin’s post that I think illustrates what our neighbor saw as I walked passed his house. Well, I had only one Leonberger/Bear and I don’t have antlers or a beard, and our neighborhood does not have that many trees. Other than that, it is spot on.
Finally, a beautiful Nordic Lullaby sung by Jonna Jinton. Jonna Jinton is a Swedish singer who lives nearby Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden, which is the town where I am originally from (now I live in Dallas, Texas). So, if you watch the video, the nature you see is from my old neighborhood.
The Lullaby is about a wolf who is hungry and cold, but he can’t have the singer’s baby for dinner. But she could offer a pig tail. What some may find remarkable about the Lullaby is that the mother being threatened by the wolf shows the wolf empathy. The existence of the stomach creates conflict between us creatures. To see the English translation turn on subtitles.
It is easy for me to answer the daily prompt “What are your favorite animals?”, it is Canis Lupus Familiaris, or dogs of course, especially Leonberger dogs.
ur Labrador Baylor and German Shepherd Baby. They were both rescues.
Dogs are very social and often quite intelligent. They are loving, loyal, fun, innocent, playful and they can provide protection whether it is physically or just via their barking, which alerts us to the presence of strangers. Dogs provide companionship and encourage physical activity since you need to take them for walks and play with them.
A black and white photo of our Leonberger Bronco at three months old.Our Leonberger Bronco is in the front yard.
Among dogs my favorite breed is the Leonberger. Leonbergers are confident and brave gentle giants. They are great with children, very social and good companions and they can also be guard dogs. They are not aggressive and were not bred for that purpose, but their size, strength, courage, protective nature and acute senses make it a natural role for them. Our Leonberger Bronco protected the entire neighborhood by chasing off a peeping Tom. Leonbergers are double-coated, and they have webbed paws, so they’re natural swimmers as well. They are sometimes used in water rescue operations. But be careful, they are big, full of energy, and can be rambunctious when they’re young.
Below are various photos of our dogs
Our Leonberger Bronco and our Pug DaisyOur Japanese Chin Ryu with our daughter who was 9 years old at the time.Our Japanese Chin Ryu.Our pug Daisy loved to sunbath even when it was hot. Here she is catching some rays while lying on our old backyard porch, which had gravel.Our daughter with our pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.A gray wolf on the left. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo sitting in a stroller on the right. Whenever there was a sound that scared him, such as quacking ducks, or someone banging on something, he wanted to sit in Daisy’s stroller.Our Leonberger Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.
All official dog breeds have a breed standard. If you want to show your dog your dog has to closely match the breed standard. Below is the breed standard for the Leonberger.
The physical breed standard for the Leonberger. There is also one for character/behavior. The AKC / the USA has its own breed standard for the Leonberger but it closely resembles the international one.
Today, October 20, 2024, is the 5-year anniversary of the EF3 Tornado that ravaged our neighborhood. Our chimney was smashed by a piece of concrete flying off a neighbor’s house, our roof was damaged and needed to be replaced, our garage door was destroyed, and the wiring and pipes in the attic were destroyed. In addition, our fence was damaged, and my grill flew across the yard. The cost of the repairs was $50,000.00. However, we were lucky compared to many of our neighbors whose houses were destroyed.
A neighbor’s house the morning of October 21st, 2019.Another neighbor’s house. This house was about 100 yards from our house. It took a direct hit from the tornado.
The house of my wife’s parents was more severely damaged than our house. The wind from the Tornado lifted my 89-year-old father-in-law up in the air and he was hit by a broken marble table that injured his back. He had a sore that was about one foot long. He did not go to the hospital. The school where our boys used to go, St. Marks School of Texas, was badly damaged and the walls of the gymnasium blew away. The neighborhood looked terrible afterwards.
Inside Claudia’s parents’ house. This was the morning after. We are walking into their house to check on them (that’s my wife).
It was also a tough time for our Leonberger dog Bronco. He was more than 12 years old, which is old for a Leonberger, and he had various age-related illnesses. Earlier in October he had amputated a toe due to a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. One week after that we discovered a large deep ulcerous sore on the same paw a few inches above the surgical scar. Fortunately, it was not cancerous, as we first thought, but we would have to treat this sore in addition to nursing him back from his amputation. In addition, he also had the first signs of geriatric-onset laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy (or GOLPP).
Bronco our Leonberger and Daisy our Pug the evening before the big storm. None of us suspected what was about to happen.
We lost power for four days due to the tornado and about one week after the tornado Bronco had a congestive heart failure. He eventually recovered but October 2019 was a very difficult month for him.
Bronco had just had a toe amputation. He did not blow down our fence.We had to change Bronco’s bandages every now and then but Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd made sure we did it right.Bronco and Rollo a few days after the Tornado.
I remember October 20, 2019, as if it was yesterday. I was sitting outside in my backyard drinking my favorite SMASH IPA, Yellow Rose, from Lone Pint, Texas, ABV 6.8%. IPA stands for India Pale Ale, a type of beer that contains a lot of hops. SMASH IPA is an IPA brewed with one type of Malts and one type of Hops (Single Malt, Single Hop). The single hop in this case is Mosaic. My phone started making a loud sound. It was an alarm announcing a tornado warning and, in the distance, I could hear a faint tornado siren. At first, I thought it was nothing but when I saw the lightning approaching, I decided to go inside. Two minutes later a hailstorm made things very loud, the wind was strong, and the house shook, and then we heard a loud explosion. That was a concrete block that had smashed our chimney.
I was sitting in my backyard drinking Yellow Rose my favorite SMASH IPA, not knowing that a tornado was advancing down the street nearby.
After the wind had died down a bit, I opened the door to the backyard, and what I saw shocked me. My gas grill had flown across the patio. There were bricks and pieces of concrete all over the patio and the lawn. There was a big sheet of metal lying on the patio. Big tree branches covered the lawn. There was debris everywhere. We had also lost power. It turns out that the EF3 tornado had gone through our neighborhood and passed within fifty to one hundred yards of our house.
Another neighbor’s house (a bit further away from us).
My wife Claudia asked me to go check on her parents. I drove about 50-100 yards when a neighbor’s roof lying across the road stopped me. I turned around but this time I was stopped by a large pile of trees lying across the street. So, I started walking, but this time I was stopped by a group of firemen telling me that it was too dangerous to be outside. They told me to go back home, and I did.
This is the next-door neighbor of Claudia’s (my wife) parents.
I can add that we got some unexpected help from our congressman at the time, Colin Allred, congressional district 32. My wife left the neighborhood in her car, but the police would not let anyone back in. This made it difficult to, for example, go shopping. I complained about this on Colin Allred’s Facebook page and within hours I received an email from Colin Allred’s legislative director (Judith). They had contacted city hall and the police and now the police would allow residents back in the neighborhood as long as they could show ID. Colin Allred’s office had my email from a previous communication. I did not leave that with my Facebook comment. My wife was happy since she now could go shopping.
Below are some additional photos that I took, showing the carnage in the neighborhood.
The remains of the Gap, a store at a nearby shopping center.Destroyed house in the neighborhood.View of the shopping center in our neighborhood.This was a school bus belonging to the school where my boys went.Streetview from the neighborhood.Another house in the neighborhood.The remains of the veterinary clinic where we used to take our dogs. Luckily there were no animals staying overnight at this time.Our street, just two/three houses down from us.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd turned six years old on October 12, 2024. However, we were at a wedding in Chicago, so we had to miss his birthday. We celebrated when we came home. In the past we’ve put a funny birthday hat on him. Unfortunately, he hates hats so this time I took pictures without a hat. To celebrate Rollo’s birthday, I am posting 20 photos I took of Rollo through the years, including some with our late Leonberger Bronco. If you’ve been following my blog, you will have seen many of these photos already but not all of them, certainly not the ones I just took.
Rollo eating a pupcake from our daughter’s hand. A pupcake is a cupcake for dogs.Rollo reaching for a piece of a pupcake on the sofa.This is an old photo from his fourth birthday. He is unhappy with the hat.Rollo almost six years ago. He had just arrived at our house. Our Leonberger Bronco is welcoming Rollo.Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy.Our Leonberger Bronco with little Rollo.Close up of Rollo as a puppy.Rollo on his first walk. It wasn’t really a walk. More like carrying him around the neighborhood.Rollo peeking out behind the sofa.Rollo playing with a volleyball.Rollo rolling a soccer ball.Rollo frequently bit our Leonberger Bronco’s tail, and he even swung in it like a swing. He climbed all over Bronco. Bronco was very patient with him.When Rollo was young, he loved chewing shoes. Here the artist is posing with his art.When we left the house we put Rollo in his baby jail for his own protection. We were afraid he would bother Bronco so much that Bronco lost his patience. Rollo ended up loving his baby jail. It was his own special house and no one else was allowed in.When Bronco had a toe amputation and we had to change his bandage every day, Rollo helped out. He was a dog nurse.Rollo liked to play with Bronco. Here he is asking for a belly rub.Our daughter with our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo and Pug Daisy.Sometimes there are scary sounds and Rollo wanted to sit in the stroller we bought for our Pug Daisy.Two friends.Daisy our Pug and Rollo are watching something from the window.
This is another of my 25 Leonberger photos posts. This time the theme is old Leonbergers. Most of the photos are of our late Leonberger Bronco from the age of 11 years old and up. Since Leonbergers typically live 8-10 years, eleven years old and up is indeed old for a Leonberger. One of the photos is a photo of Bronco with my wife standing next to him holding his Grey Muzzle Award. This is an award given to Leonbergers who have reached the age of 12 years or older.
The first two photos are photos of Leonbergers belonging to friends of mine, then there are 17 photos of Bronco and finally there are six Leonberger stock photos. If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen many of these photos already but not all of them. Below is a list of the previous 25 Leonberger posts I’ve made.
A Canadian Leonberger called Mak with my book. Photo by Debbie Ireland.Digory and Obi two Leonbergers. Photo by Jen O’Keefe.Bronco’s 11th birthday.Bronco taking a resting in the grass in our backyard.Bronco and our Pug Daisy. Daisy is leaving because she thinks Bronco is hogging the sofa.Our Leonberger dog Bronco is coming up to me. Maybe it is dinner time.Our Leonberger Bronco in the backyard with our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo. This is the first time they met.Our Leonberger dog Bronco is eleven and a half years old and we have acquired a new puppy, a mini-Australian Shepherd by the name Rollo.Rollo wants Bronco to play with him, but Bronco is old.Bronco got his Grey-Muzzle award from the Leonberger Health Foundation International for reaching the age of 12 years old and thus giving hope for a longer life to all Leonbergers.Bronco our Leonberger dog is taking a rest during a walk. He is twelve and a half years old.A rambunctious Rollo is biting Bronco’s tail. Bronco was very patient. One time Rollo swung in his tail as if it was a swing.Our Leonberger Bronco is in the bushes at grandpa and grandma’s house.After a toe amputation due to toe cancer, Bronco needed to wear a cone, a big soft cone. Unfortunately, he frequently cleared tables as he swung the cone back and forth. Here he has just pushed a pile of books and papers off a table.Rollo wants Bronco to give him a belly rub. But Bronco does not know how to give belly rubs.Bronco taking a break during a walk. He is old for a Leonberger. He is 12 years old and 10 months.Bronco our Leonberger is hanging out with Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd. Bronco is 12 years old and 11 months, in this photo. You can see his blue help-em-up around his waist. He needed help to get up. Unfortunately, he only had two more weeks to live in this photo.Big dog Leonberger portrait in the studio Stock Photo ID: 193024763 by Csanad Kiss.Old Leonberger Stock Photo ID: 2342234815 by theimagebooth.Mature big Leonberger Stock Photo ID:731020957 by Peter Josto.Old Leonberger Stock Photo ID: 1844035084 by Daniel Lesk.Old Leonberger Stock Photo ID: 1957113277 by AnetaZabranska.Old Leonberger in the snow Stock Photo ID: 1944789826 by Anna Krivitskaya.Old Leonberger in Norway Stock Photo ID: 1779931691 by Britta Paasch.Closeup of old Leonberger Stock Photo ID: 1942925251 by Wirestock Creators.
Also don’t forget to check out my new blog if you haven’t done so.
For American Father’s Day (yesterday) I got a number of presents and cards including a portrait of our late pug Daisy. She passed April 5th. For my birthday in March, I got a portrait of our late Leonberger Bronco. With this post I just wanted to show these portraits. They are made by a company called Etsy and the portraits are based on our photos.
A painting of our late pug Daisy who passed two months ago. It is based on one of our photos and created by Etsy. I believe by the same woman who made Bronco’s portrait (have to verify this).The portrait was drawn by Veniceme at Etsy (Natasha Dall’Ara) and it is based on one of our photos.
Today, or rather yesterday, since it is past midnight, was a wild day here in Dallas. We had severe thunderstorms with strong winds ripping up trees around the neighborhood as well as our patio parasol and one of our small trees. There were large hails, lightning and thunder, flash floods, as well as a tornado. Luckily the tornado was not anywhere near us, but we lost power during a significant part of the day, just like more than 650,000 people here in Dallas. Oncor said it will take 8 days to restore power to everyone. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is very afraid of bad weather, so he had a bad day. I am sure many other dogs had a bad day too.
A so called supercell but without a tornado. Stock Photo ID: 1768468151 by Laura Hedien.
When I talked about the weather with friends and family, I realized that many people do not know the difference between a tornado and a hurricane, so I thought I would explain. A hurricane is a big rotating storm system originating in the ocean that sometimes makes landfall and devastates our coasts. Hurricanes are big, thousands of square miles and even a million square miles. A hurricane has wind speeds of 74 miles per hour (mph) or higher. That’s 119 kilometers per hour or 33 meters per second. They are called hurricanes in the Atlantic and the northeast Pacific, and Typhoons in the northwest Pacific, and otherwise just cyclones.
Satellite photo of hurricane approaching Cuba and Florida. Stock Photo ID: 2202605185 by Emre Akkoyun.
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cloud. They originate with thunderstorms, especially supercells, and are more of an inland phenomenon even though hurricanes can sometimes generate tornadoes. They are much smaller than hurricanes in area, almost always much smaller than a square mile, or just 10 or 30 meters across. The reason they can be as deadly as hurricanes is that they tend to have stronger winds and they appear and disappear quicker thus taking people by surprise. Tornadoes can happen anywhere, but they are more common in North America and especially in tornado-alley. Despite tornado alley’s small size, a quarter of all significant tornadoes in the world occurred there according to a study (1921 – 1995).
A tornado. Stock Photo ID: 2369175167 by g images.com.
Below is a list of how hurricanes (Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) and tornadoes (original Fujita scale) are classified. The unit is miles per hour (mph). Also note that as the wind speed doubles the force quadruples, so an F5/261 mph Tornado has a force that is 2.8 times stronger than category five/155 mph hurricane.
Hurricane category one: Winds 74 to 95 mph. Tornado F1 : 73 to 112 mph
Hurricane category two: Winds 96 to 110 mph. Tornado F2 : 113 to 157 mph
Hurricane category three: Winds 111 to 130 mph. Tornado F3: 158 to 206 mph
Hurricane category four: Winds 131 to 155 mph. Tornado F4 : 207 to 260 mph
Hurricane category five: Winds greater than 155 mph. Tornado F5 : 261 to 318 mph
Map showing Tornado Alley. It includes north Texas / Dallas. Stock Vector ID: 1719764089 by Adansijav Official.
The weather today reminded me about what happened on October 20, 2019. An EF3 Tornado ravaged our neighborhood, and it came close to our house, about 100 yards, and it damaged our house. Our chimney was smashed by a piece of concrete flying off a neighbor’s house, and our roof was damaged and needed to be replaced. In addition, our garage door was destroyed, and the wiring and pipes in the attic were destroyed, our fence was damaged, and my grill flew across the yard. The cost of the repairs was $50,000.00.
Bronco had just had a toe amputation. He did not blow down our fence.
However, we were lucky. Several of our neighbors’ houses were totally destroyed and my wife’s parents house was a lot more damaged than our house was. The wind from the Tornado lifted my 89-year-old father-in-law up in the air and he was hit by a broken marble table that injured his back. The school where our boys used to go, St. Marks School of Texas, was badly damaged and the walls of the gymnasium blew away.
A neighbor’s house the morning of October 21st, 2019.
I was sitting outside drinking a beer, a Yellow Rose, when my phone started making a loud sound. It was an alarm announcing a tornado warning and, in the distance, I could hear a faint tornado siren. At first, I thought it was nothing but when I saw the lightning approaching, I decided to go inside. Two minutes later a hailstorm made things very loud, the wind was strong, and the house shook, and then we heard a loud explosion. That was our chimney being smashed.
Another neighbor’s house. This house was about 100 yards from our house. It took a direct hit from the tornado.
After the wind had died down a bit, I opened the door to the backyard, and what I saw shocked me. My gas grill had flown across the patio. There were bricks and pieces of concrete all over the patio and the lawn. There was a big sheet of metal lying on the patio. Big tree branches covered the lawn. There was debris everywhere. We had also lost power. It turns out that the EF3 tornado had gone through our neighborhood and passed within one hundred yards of our house.
Another neighbor’s house (a bit further away from us).
My wife Claudia asked me to go check on her parents. I drove about 50-100 yards when a neighbor’s roof lying across the road stopped me. I turned around but this time I was stopped by a large pile of trees lying across the street. So, I started walking, but this time I was stopped by a group of firemen telling me that it was too dangerous to be outside. They told me to go back home, and I did.
Inside Claudia’s parents’ house. This was the morning after. We are walking into their house to check on them (that’s my wife).
I can add that October of 2019 was a very difficult month for our Leonberger Bronco. He was getting old. He was twelve years old, and he had the first signs of geriatric-onset laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy (or GOLPP), which made his breathing a bit labored and affected his gait. In addition, he had developed another case of squamous cell carcinoma, a toe-nail cancer, and this time on his right rear paw. We amputated his toe on October 3—the day he turned twelve years and three months old.
We had to change Bronco’s bandages every now and then but Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd made sure we did it right.
The surgery went well, but after around ten days it was discovered that he had a large deep ulcerous sore on the same paw a few inches above the surgical scar. Fortunately, it was not cancerous, as we first thought, but we would have to treat this sore in addition to nursing him back from his amputation. Then on October 20 we were visited by the tornado. One week after the tornado Bronco had his first heart failure. So, something bad happened every week in October 2019. It was a dark time for Bronco. However, he took it very well, he kept his brave and positive outlook on life, and he was able to recover.
Below are a few more photos from that day.
Bronco and Daisy the evening before the big storm. None of us suspected what was about to happen.This is the next-door neighbor of Claudia’s (my wife) parents.Destroyed house in the neighborhood.View of the shopping center in our neighborhood.A store at a nearby shopping centerThis was a school bus belonging to the school where my boys went.Streetview from the neighborhood.Bronco and Rollo a few days after the Tornado.
Leonberger Life 