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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the past I’ve made a few posts featuring 25 photos of Leonbergers around a certain theme.
This is another post featuring 25 photos. This time it is photos of Leonbergers in the company of other dogs. Most of the photos are of our late Leonberger Bronco and the dogs he grew up with (our Labrador Baylor, German Shepherd Baby, Japanese Chin Ryu, Pug Daisy, and mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo). However, I have also included photos of other Leonbergers. A few photos from friends and two stock photos. I hope you will like them.
This morning at 10:20AM our pug Daisy died. She was 15 ½ years old. She had an enlarged heart, her back legs were giving out, and she had breathing problems. She took lots of different medications. Yet, the breathing crisis she had this morning came unexpectedly. Our veterinary told us it was time. We did not want her to suffer. I was holding her in my arms and my wife, daughter and doctor Sara Thomas petted her. Then when we were ready Dr. Thomas gave her the injections.
Daisy was a sweet, friendly and funny pug who loved cuddling, eating and sitting on the sofa. She also loved sunbathing as well as sitting in front of the vent when it was cold. All our dogs loved her, and our Leonberger Bronco saved her life once. He protected her from an attacking young German Shepherd. Our Labrador Baylor and our German Shepherd Baby loved her. Our Japanese Shin loved her more than anything. They were always together. They made mischief together, they escaped together, and they went for walks together and at the dog park Ryu wouldn’t let any other dog be too friendly with Daisy. Later, our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo loved her too. Unfortunately, Rollo is now alone. He is confused and sad like we are.
I wrote a poem in French, a language I am learning. I am not a poet. I think it is my first poem as an adult in any language. I chose French because everything sounds so much better in French. It rhymes/ I apologize for any errors.
Ce soir, il pleure dans mon coeur. (tonight, tear falls in my heart, pleure & coeur rhyme with fur)
Notre belle carline Daisy est mort (Our beautiful pug Daisy is dead)
Il est temps, dit notre docteur (It is time said our doctor)
Tu es parti dans un coup du sort (You are gone in a twist of fate)
Nous nous souviendrons toujours (we will always remember)
Ta gentillesse. Tes yeux aimants (Your kindness. Your loving eyes)
Tu auras pour toujours notre amour (You will forever have our love)
pour nous tu étais comme un enfant (to us you were like a child)
Below are two YouTube songs that express how I feel. The first one is in French “Je suis malade..” / I am sick without you, I am ugly without you, …. Warning this one is very sad. The second one is your love….to feel your love again… to feel you close once more… (no lyrics in song) by Ennio Morricone.
Goodbye Daisy
Today is National Puppy Day. Therefore, I am posting 25 puppy photos. It is mostly Leonberger puppies but there are also puppy photos of some of our other dogs. Most of the photos in this post are mine but I am including a few Leonberger puppy photos from shutterstock. If you want to check out the Leonberger book I wrote click here, or look to the right if you are on a desktop or at the bottom if you are on a mobile.
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Happy National Puppy Day
Today, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, is National Love Your Pet Day. So, I thought I would show some photos of our current dogs and dogs from the past, naturally including our late Leonberger Bronco. I think the photos I am displaying show some of our love for them.
It was a rainy day today, but we didn’t just sit here all day. In the morning my wife Claudia and I had a French lesson. It was over zoom. We discussed tourism including tourism to cities. I spoke about my visits to Paris and Aix-En-Provence. Daisy, our Pug sat and slept under the computer desk during the class. Her snoring was audible to the rest of the class. Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd is very afraid of the sound that rain makes on the roof and on our skylights, so he was very nervous.
Falling in mud
After the class it was no longer pouring, but it was still raining. However, Rollo still wanted to go for a walk so I took them for a walk. Daisy is old, 15+ years old, and she has a problem walking. Therefore, I put her in our pet stroller and raised the hood of the stroller over her. It was wet and muddy and after walking a quarter mile I slipped badly, feet straight up, and landed on my behind and back in a muddy puddle. Daisy’s stroller fell over but luckily, she did not fall out. I was not so lucky though. I was soaking wet; it was cold and my back and behind was covered in mud. I tried to nudge Rollo to go home, but he insisted on continuing. I was worried about what people who saw me would think but we took a long walk.
Behold, the vaccine is killing us all
When I came home, I had a text from one of my Swedish aunts. She thanked me for a Holiday Card I had sent, and that she had just gotten. What’s wrong with the post office? She also warned me about the covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer)s, which she claimed have killed 17 million people and given 567 million people injuries for life. In other words, one in ten people who received the vaccine worldwide was injured for life. I know about people in my circle who died from Covid-19, but I don’t know of anyone who died from the covid-19 vaccine. I don’t even know anyone who was injured by it. How is that statistically possible? In addition, my family doctor, who is an extremely good and caring doctor, recommends it, and thinking about it, so does every doctor I know. Most importantly, there are no reliable sources backing up her claim. Her claim was bunk of course.
So, I told her that her information was false and not to worry. When I was young, I did not want to contradict people, but I’ve come to realize that we are drowning in misinformation, and it is very common that people blindly believe whatever seems to support their preexisting beliefs. Therefore, it is important to contradict misinformation when we know that it is false. It is a public service.
We don’t pick up dead animals
After doing the laundry I noticed that the city had picked up our recycling, finally. They are supposed to pick it up once a week, but it took them three weeks. Last week I tried to file a report about the missed pick up. I was not able to do that using the city’s cryptic website, and search yielded nothing useful. I know you can file a report because I’ve done it before. Therefore, I started the chat, and I got a chatbot.
The bot: How can I help you?
Me: The recycling has not been picked up and I would like to make a report.
The bot: We don’t pick up dead animals.
End of chat……
So, the chatbot was useless. It seems like they are always useless. I’ve gotten restricted on Facebook several times, for selling beer outside the marketplace and without stating the price, when all I did was write a beer review in a beer review Facebook group. When Facebook still employed people for those tasks I could complain, get the restriction revoked and an apology. Once all that remained were bots that ended.
After I gave the dogs dinner Rollo came to sit next to me on the sofa. He loves sitting next to me and pushing his back towards my side. It seems very cozy, but there’s a problem. Rollo is very possessive and jealous, and he gets aggressive towards others he thinks may threaten his position. Yesterday, he started showing his teeth and growling at Daisy as he was snuggling with me, and I immediately put him down on the floor. He screamed like a choleric two-year-old as I did that. This is one major reason we are hesitating to get another Leonberger. We don’t know how that would play out with Rollo. We have a behavior problem with Rollo that we need to solve. We also set up another baby jail for Rollo.
Towards the end of the day Rollo and I played with his duck, and then he asked for a belly rub. When Rollo wants a belly rub, he lays down on the floor on his side , a couple of legs up, and then he barks one time and then he waits. If no one comes he loudly barks one time and then he waits. Eventually he gets his belly-rub.
Now Daisy is asleep, and Rollo is almost asleep
Photo above is mine. Below is from a Facebook page, Amazing Dogs and Far Side (bottom). The original creator is noted on the cartoon.
I wanted to write a post about craft beer, but I realized that putting everything I wanted to say about craft beer into one post would make it a very long post. I am starting with a post about fruity beers, craft beers or otherwise.
First a word about Lager beer. Lager beer is a relatively recent invention that originated in Bavaria. Lager beers use a special kind of yeast for the fermentation process, it is typically bottom fermented, and fermented and conditioned in cool temperatures, unlike other beer styles. Lager beers can be of many colors, pale, amber, dark, even black such as Schwarzbier. The Pale Lager originated in Pilsen in Bohemia (Western Czech Republic) in the mid-19th century. The pale lager has become the world’s most common beer style and bland tasting mass-produced pale lager beers dominate the market. In countries that are not traditional beer countries such as France, Italy, China, Japan and South America, the bland pale lager is very dominant. I’ve come across many people who think that the more tasteless the pale lager is, the better beer it is (Corona).
Many people believe that beer is the same thing as pale lagers. However, the beer advocate counted 120 beer styles (so far). I can add that some mass-produced American pale lagers, such as Budweiser, contain adjuncts, such as rice and maize, which is prohibited by the German Reinheitsgebot tradition. The Reinheitsgebot tradition states that the only ingredients allowed in beer are water, malt, hops, and yeast and for bottom fermented beer (lager) the malt must be malted barley only. Therefore, what many people think of as beer, well, it’s complicated.
Beers with fruity flavors
Pale lager beers aren’t associated with fruity flavors, which can lead to the incorrect impression that beer with fruity flavors isn’t real beer. However, beers with fruity flavors have a very long history, and many fruity beers, perhaps surprisingly to some, follow the German Reinheitsgebot tradition. In addition, many beers with fruity flavors are among the most celebrated beers in the world. There are many fruit Lambics (Belgium) that are sold for several hundred dollars per bottle. There are a number of ways to add fruit flavors to beer.
Below are some photos of beers with fruit flavors
I’ve been, or am, a member of several Facebook dog groups. I’ve found that most of them are awful. Take for example the Pug groups. I’ve joined a few Pug groups so that can post about Daisy. What I’ve found is that almost all of the Pug groups have preapproval turned on for all posts. Most other groups (Leonberger groups, beer groups, discussion group, etc..) do not. It would not be a bad thing if it wasn’t for the fact that the administrators/moderators of several of the Pug groups take weeks before they approve a post, all while shamelessly doing constant self-promotion, promoting products, and spamming the group they are supposed to moderate. I am a moderator or administrator in several groups, and I certainly don’t behave that way.
Another thing that annoys me is that they copy the photos that members post and then repost them in multiple places and multiple groups without attribution. Look at my photo from Daisy’s birthday below. That photo was copied (not shared) without attribution in lots of groups, multiple times, receiving several thousand reactions and thousands of comments, which is something I only found out about by accident. Who knows how far and wide the photo was spread. Unless someone explained it to you, you would think that it was their pug and that it was they who took the photo. I assume they do this because they want to get attention and be social network influencers. I’ve never complained, that probably would get me banned from the groups in question. However, I don’t think that is the way to run a group. I have not yet found a decent Pug group.
This brings me to the seven Leonberger groups that I am a member of (there are many more). I’ve listed them below. Only one group does post pre-approval and they typically approve posts within a few hours. None of moderators/administrators of these groups spam their groups, try to push products, or copy members photos/posts without attribution. People have friendly informative discussions, and they get to know each other. The Leonberger community is smaller, and the owners/administrators/moderators of the groups are more mature and responsible. I think it makes a difference that Pug groups tend to be run by attention seeking youngsters. I wish I could find a Pug group that was more like a Leonberger group.
I think my favorite Leonberger group is the Leonberger Double Digit Club. It is a group for Leonberger owners with Leonbergers who ten years are old or older. Leonbergers tend not to live very long so that is why this is an exclusive club. It was one of the former administrators (and founder) of this group who suggested to me that I write a book about our Leonberger Bronco.
Below I am posting a few screenshots of my posts from the Leonberger Double Digit Club.
Jacqui pointed out to me in a comment below that you can take action when people are using your stuff without attribution. A photo that took me a second to take may not be a big deal, even though it is bit rude to use it as if it is yours. However, when people copy artwork, as had happened to a few commentors below we have a more serious situation. So anyway, here is the link that Jacqui posted in her comment. (You can also visit the comment).
Send them a DMCA take-down order (https://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown) or turn them into Facebook for copyright infringement.
Leonberger Life 