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.
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.
Baby (German Shepherd) is playing with our four months old Leonberger Bronco.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 five/six months old Leonberger is sniffing a dog at the dog park.Our not yet one year old Leonberger Bronco at the dog park. Bronco has not yet finished growing, he has not yet filled out and he is gangly. Not quite the Leonberger look yet. Our beige-brown Labrador Baylor can be seen in the background.Again our not yet one year old Leonberger Bronco at the dog park. Baylor in the background.Our not yet one year old Leonberger Bronco at the dog park with our German Shepherd Baby.Our Labrador Baylor behind our Leonberger Bronco at a dog park.Our old Labrador Baylor running behind our Japanese Chin Ryu at a dog park. Bronco is not in this photo, but he was there.Bronco our Leonberger once sniffed out an oncoming insulin shock in Baylor and alerted us. Bronco was a hero.Once when Bronco was not so well behaved. He pushed our German Shepherd into a storm drain and I had to get her out while holding onto an agitated Bronco. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.Ten Leonberger puppies. My guess is that they are about two months old. Shutterstock-ID:561107710 by Akbudak Rimma.A Leonberger and a Pug running through the snow. Shutterstock-ID:1659034960 AnetaZabranska.Digory and Obi, two Leonbergers. Photo by Jen O’Keefe.Digory and Obi, two Leonbergers. Photo by Jen O’Keefe.Six Leonbergers from left to right: Caspian (Obi’s nephew), Austin (Obi’s son), Delfi, Obi, Digory, and Rilian (Obi’s son). Photo by Velvy TheLion.Our Leonberger Bronco with our Japanese Chin Ryu and our pug Daisy.Our Leonberger Bronco stole and smashed a gingerbread house. He shared some with his little pug sister Daisy.Our Leonberger Bronco with our Japanese Chin Ryu and our pug Daisy.Our Leonberger Bronco with our Japanese Chin Ryu and our pug Daisy.Our pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo in the little bed and Bronco our Leonberger is lying on the floor.Our pug Daisy and our Leonberger Bronco is sharing the big red leather sofa, but Daisy decided Bronco took up too much room.Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo is playing with Bronco’s tail. Bronco did not like it but tolerated it. Well, when Rollo was swinging in the tail it was a bit much.One day Bronco left us, leaving Rollo and Daisy behind. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.
The coat of arms of the town of Leonberg, Germany, was allegedly the inspiration for the first breeder of the Leonberger, Heinrich Essig.
The Leonberger breed was originally created by Heinrich Essig (1808–87) in the German town of Leonberg, in what was then the kingdom of Württemberg. According to legend, Essig bred the dog to resemble the lion in the town’s coat of arms. Indeed, as you can see in the image above, the lion in the coat of arms doesn’t look like a real lion, so you could say that the Leonberger looks the way it does because Germans were bad at drawing lions back then. All joking aside, though, Leonbergers do bear some resemblance to lions and maybe even bears. In any case, they are beautiful dogs.
The town square in the city of Leonberg. Shutter Stock Photo ID: 1689829297 by Martin Dutkiewicz.
When people would stop me and ask me questions about the kind of dog Bronco was, I would say he was a Leonberger, a cross between a Saint Bernard, a Newfoundland, and a Great Pyrenees and that the breed was created by the mayor of the German town of Leonberg. But, as the economist Tyler Cowen said, “Be suspicious of simple stories.” As it turns out, the story I kept telling was a simplification and not entirely true. History is more complicated. I was unintentionally spreading misinformation about Leonbergers.
Our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle at 3 months old.
Simple and interesting stories are easy to remember, easy to believe, and easy to propagate. But first, Heinrich Essig was never the mayor of Leonberg. He was a prominent citizen of the town, and he was a successful businessman, farmer, innkeeper, horse and dog trader, large dog enthusiast, dog breeder, and town councilman, but he was never the mayor.
Our Leonberger Bronco sleeping on our big red leather sofa.
Essig claimed to have created the Leonberger in the 1830s by crossing a female Landseer Newfoundland with a male long-haired Saint Bernard from the Great Saint Bernard Hospice, a monastery in Switzerland. He continued crossing the Landseer Newfoundland and the Saint Bernard over four generations, then he crossed his Newfoundland Saint Bernard mix with a Pyrenean wolfhound not, as is often asserted, with a Great Pyrenees (called a Pyrenean Mountain dog in Europe). He then crossed that dog with the Saint Bernard again. In 1846, he was finally ready to announce and register his “lion of a dog.” A few years later, Leonbergers were officially introduced to the public at the Munich Oktoberfest.
Me and our Leonberger Bronco when he was young.
However, the story is more complicated than that. There’s no specific breed named Pyrenean wolfhound today, so Essig could have used a Great Pyrenees or a Pyrenean mastiff . In addition, later in the nineteenth century, Leonbergers were used to breed the long-haired Saint Bernard dog, and this likely saved the Saint Bernard dog from extinction. At one point, too, Leonbergers were deliberately mixed with Newfoundland dogs to strengthen the Newfoundland breed. In other words, breeding happened in both directions, and the characteristics of the large breeds were in constant flux. The dogs, including Leonbergers and Saint Bernards didn’t look like they do today, either. Essig’s Leonbergers were multicolored, mostly white, and lacked the black mask that is so important to the breed now. What has not changed is the essence of what Essig was aiming for: a large but moderately proportioned dog that is friendly and loving and a great companion.
A modern Saint Bernard Dog. Shutter Stock Photo ID: 1713912484 by fred12.
Ultimately, the origins of the Leonberger, as well as the Saint Bernard and the other large breeds from this region, are complex and shrouded in mystery. In addition, some of Essig’s claims have been disputed. Breed standards wouldn’t be codified until the end of the nineteenth century. It should also be noted that it was Essig’s niece Marie who to a large extent bred and cared for the dogs.
Modern New Foundland Dog. Shutter Stock Photo ID: 1925281937 by Marsan.
Essig was selling his Leonberger dogs as luxury items to the wealthy. He was also a marketing genius and was able to get the attention of European nobility and royalty. The czar of Russia, Emperor Napoleon II, Otto von Bismarck, the king of Belgium, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Emperor Maximilian I, the Prince of Wales, King Umberto of Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the mikado of Japan were among those who owned Leonbergers. Not everyone was happy about this. Some people viewed the Leonberger as a fashionable knockoff of the Saint Bernard that could hinder that breed’s development.
Modern Leonberger. Shutter Stock Photo ID:705193912 by Anna Krivitskaya.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the discipline of cynology, or the scientific study of dogs, emerged. Cynologists pushed for breed classification and systematic breeding practices, and breed standards were created. But Essig and others viewed dog breeding as an art rather than a science, and this led to a conflict with the cynologists. Heinrich Schumacher, for example, was a breeder who strove to create a clearly identifiable Saint Bernard type. He was upheld by the cynologists as a paragon, in contrast to Heinrich Essig to the detriment of the Leonberger.
Face of modern Leonberger. Shutter Stock Photo ID: 193024763 by Csanad Kiss.
After Essig’s death, in 1887, other people more willing to please the cynologists continued breeding Leonbergers. By that time, the dogs looked for the most part like Leonbergers do today. Then, in 1895, Albert Kull created the Leonberger’s first breed standard. It would go through several revisions in 1901, 1926, 1938, 1951, 1955, and 1972—until finally, in 1996, the FCI approved version was established. The Kennel Club in the UK and the American Kennel Club also have their own breed standards. However, most of them are similar to Albert Kull’s 1895 version. The first Leonberger club was formed 1891 in Berlin: two more were created in 1895, then two more were formed in 1901. The most prominent was the Internationaler Klub für Leonberger Hunde, of which Albert Kull was the first president.
There are so many bad dog owners out there. There are owners who mistreat their dogs. There are owners who return their dogs to shelters or worse owners who abandoned their dogs. There are owners who get rid of their dogs when they become old, less fun, more difficult to take care of and have expensive veterinary bills. So many dog owners should never have been allowed to become dog owners. Imagine if prospective dog owners had to go through an interview and sign a contract protecting the dog’s well being before they are allowed to buy a dog. Another problem is substandard breeders and puppy mills.
Bronco our Leonberger was very old in this photo. Almost 13 years old and he had health problems.
The Leonberger Club of America (LCA) and the Leonberger community have taken control of both of these problems. The Leonberger Club of America keeps a list of breeders who follow approved breeding practices (there are inspections), treat the dogs well, and have pledged to take back the dog in the event an owner is unable to care for the dog. The breeder will also stay in contact with the new owners, mentor them, and help them with training and care. I am pretty certain there are no Leonberger puppy mills.
Leonberger photos. All photos are of Bronco except the two on the far left are from Shutterstock ID:705193912 and ID:46221958.
As a prospective owner you are required to go through an interview with the breeder and to sign a contract. For example, as an owner you are required to return the dog to the breeder if you are unable to care for the dog or transfer the dog to another approved owner in a manner that is endorsed by LCA. If you break the rules, you are never allowed to own a Leonberger again. Caring for a Leonberger is a serious commitment and you can feel it. Leonbergers are dogs that are larger than life. But maybe all dogs are larger than life.
Our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle in my wife Claudia’s lap.
Below is the transcript of the online interview that my wife Claudia did with our breeder Julie Schaffert. I’ve posted this before here. However, that post is one my earliest posts, and this is my attempted improvement.
Kennel von der Löwenhöhle Questionnaire Questions are in bold :
Why do you want a Leonberger?
We have a dog book, and while looking at dogs we came across the Leonberger, a gorgeous dog from Germany. We also had the opportunity to meet some Leonbergers, a mother and her puppies, which were wonderful. We have read that Leonbergers are great with children and good guard dogs, which is something we’d like. We have two dogs, but we have not raised them as puppies. We have never had a puppy and would like to have one.
What do you like about the Leonberger and what do you know about its characteristics? Do you prefer male or female? Why?
They are very beautiful and love to swim. We have a huge pool, and my children love to spend their summers swimming. Leonbergers also make wonderful pets and are good guard dogs, and best of all they don’t drool. We don’t prefer a male or a female dog.
Are you aware this is at least a ten-year commitment?
Yes. We have two other dogs, and of course we are aware that they live up to ten years—hopefully more.
Do you have any other pets? Have you had any experience raising a giant-breed puppy?
We have a Lab and a German shepherd. We have two dwarf hamsters, Moldova and Montenegro. My son also keeps a baby ball python in a cage in his room (UGGH). As I said before, we have never owned a puppy, but we met some Leonberger puppies from a breeder who resides in Houston.
Where will your dog be kept—indoors or outdoors? Backyard or kennel?
Our dog would be kept mostly indoors. (We live in Texas, and it would get too hot outside.) At night we take all our dogs for walks and for occasional swims during the year. When the dog is still a puppy, we would keep it in a puppy playpen and take it out every half hour to go to the bathroom (until obedience training). We do have a fenced backyard the puppy can play in, and we have a dog run with a dog door so the dogs can come and go as they please.
Is your yard fenced?
Yes. Our yard has a seven-foot-high solid wood fence all the way around
How many hours will you be out of the house? Where will your Leonberger be while you are gone?
I am a stay-at-home mom, and we would almost always have someone in the house, such as our housekeeper, children, and family. If we are gone for a long periods of time, we have a dog sitter who comes to our house to take care of our dogs.
Do you have children? If so, what are their ages?
We have three kids, ages thirteen, ten, and eight. Two boys and one girl (in that order).
Describe a typical day at your house now. How do you think it will change once the puppy arrives?
On a typical day, the kids go to school, and I like to take a long walk. I go through some paperwork, I prepare dinner, then everyone comes home. On weekends, my younger kids have sports, but my oldest kid stays home (he plays during the week).
I would be with the dog most of the day and would do my shopping while the housekeeper is there. I do not plan on leaving the puppy for any long period of time. I’m sure that having the puppy will be like having another child. We have been told that the puppy will be quite rambunctious for the first three years of its life.
Have you observed any obedience classes in your area? It is very important that Leonberger puppies start obedience classes by sixteen weeks of age. Would you attend such classes?
We have not observed any obedience classes yet. However, we are interested in the International K9 training facility in Dallas and would absolutely attend these classes.
Von der Löwenhöhle puppies start their crate training at our kennel. Will you continue this training? If not, why not?
Yes, we would continue crate training at our home. We will follow your advice and that of our veterinarians in regard to further training.
What plans do you have for your Leonberger—e.g., showing, breeding, obedience, family companion, therapy? If you plan to show or breed, what experience, if any, have you had?
Our major purpose for wanting a Leonberger is to have a family companion.
Please add any other information you feel will help us pick out a puppy for you.
We would like a dog that will fit in well with our family.
Our Leonberger Bronco three months old and almost 13 years old.
The end result was that we were allowed to buy Bronco. We did not follow through with the crate training as we promised because Bronco was whining at night when he was in the crate. So, we let him sleep between us in our bed. A few months later he started pushing me out of bed with his paws. I don’t like sleeping on the floor, so we had to put an end to that. We got him a big dog bed and he accepted that.
What do you think about having dog owners being approved and signing a contract ?
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 came to us a little pug puppy 15 ½ years ago. Our son David, eleven years old at the time, was holding her. Today I held her for the last time.
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.
Rollo and Daisy in our red sofa. Rollo was one year old, and Daisy was 11 years old.
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.
Je suis malade / I am sick … without you
to feel your love againDaisy on the sofa after an exhausting day of doing nothing.Our pug Daisy when she was young.Daisy our new pug puppy with our son David.Daisy liked to sit in front of the vent when it was cold or alternatively too hot.Daisy loved sunbathing.Daisy in sunglasses.Ryu and Daisy jumped into our suitcase to protest that we were leaving for a trip.Daisy is taking Ryu for a walk.Daisy sunbathing on our patio in the backyard.Daisy standing on our kitchen floor.Daisy on the red sofa.Once when we came home Daisy met us in the doorway with a tissue box over her head. She had gotten her head stuck in a tissue box.Daisy decided to leave because Bronco our Leonberger was taking up too much room.Daisy resting her head on Claudia’s knee.Bronco our Leonberger, Ryu our Japanese Shin, and then Daisy our Pug.Daisy’s 11th birthday.Daisy is sitting on our bed.Daisy and Rollo in the sofa.Our daughter is petting Rollo and Daisy.Daisy and Rollo barking at the mailman + a joke.Daisy’s 15th birthday.Towards the end of her life Daisy had to wear diapers with suspenders.Towards the end of her life Daisy had a hard time walking so she sat in a stroller during our walks.
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.
Our Leonberger Bronco at three months old.Our Leonberger Bronco at three months old.Our Japanese Shin Ryu when he was young.Our son David with our pug Daisy when she was a puppy.Our son David is holding our pug Daisy when she was still a puppy (now she is 15 ½ years old).Two Leonberger puppies. Shutter stock Photo ID: 2294202331 by Olga Shusters.A Leonberger puppy running in the snow. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 2056502327 by Nikky de Graaf.A Leonberger puppy standing in the snow. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 2390810457 by VeronArt16.Another Leonberger puppy. Stock Photo ID: 561111403 by Akbudak Rimma.Ten Leonberger puppies. My guess is that they are about two months old. Shutterstock-ID:561107710 by Akbudak Rimma.Leonberger puppy. My guess is that he is around two months old. Shutterstock-ID: 629624396 by TOM KAROLA.Two light colored Leonberger puppies playing. My guess is that they are three months old. Shutterstock-ID: 2141564415 by AnetaZabranska.Our German Shepherd Baby playing with our 4 months old Leonberger Bronco.Our Leonberger Bronco about 9 months old is lying on his back on the floor.Bronco our Leonberger at the dog park. He is about one year old. He is maybe not a puppy but far from an adult. He is an adolescent, which is why he looks so thin and gangly. Our Labrador Baylor is in the background.Our Japanese Shin Ryu sleeping next to our pug Daisy.Our Japanese Shin Ryu licking our pug Daisy’s ear.The day we picked up our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo. He was nine weeks old. The other puppy is an English bulldog puppy.Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Our pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo playing with an orange ball.Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is playing with our Leonberger Bronco’s tail. Once he even dangled in it like a swing.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers and when I do it is books that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I just read The Good Dog: A Novella Paperback – March 30, 2023, by Laura Stamps. It is a book that I loved and therefore I want to promote it.
Paperback – Publisher : Prolific Pulse Press LLC (March 30, 2023), ASIN : B0BXK1Y9FB, ISBN-13 : 979-8987520024, 62 pages, Item Weight : 3.03 ounces, Dimensions : 5.83 x 0.14 x 8.27 inches, it cost $10.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of The Good Dog. Click here or on the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
Ashley is not a dog person. She’s not. Just ask her. Yet for some reason she’s obsessed with Chihuahuas. And she’s not happy about it. No, not at all. Not when she has other issues to deal with. Like chronic anxiety. And panic attacks. And a crazy ex-husband who can’t stop stalking her. Yeah, the last thing Ashley needs is a dog. Or so she thinks. Until a stranger at PetSmart tells her a dog is better than a husband. Could this be true? Ready or not, Ashley is about to find out! Endearing, empowering, entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny. “The Good Dog” is all of this and more!
If you’ve ever had even the remotest wish to be wild and crazy, take a twirl with Walter and Ashley in this adorable novella. Find out how one little dog can change someone’s life in big ways just by listening and barking a couple of times. THE GOOD DOG will leave you begging for more!
– Nolcha Fox, Author of Memory is That Raccoon
Anyone who takes guilty pleasure in tiny dog sweaters and pup handbags will enjoy this sweet romp into Chihuahua love. Even if you’re a cat person or a bona fide foe of fuzzy, needy critters, you’ll find yourself falling for Walter. Laura Stamps does warm and funny like no one else.
– Lorette C. Luzajic, Author of Winter in June
Like a Chihuahua, THE GOOD DOG may be small, but it is perfectly formed. And like Walter, the good dog himself, this novella has a big heart. Stamps deftly and delicately creates characters to care and root for, as well as handling complex subjects. Written in her trademark short and snappy style, Stamps’ latest novella is a compelling read – one I finished in a single sitting!
– Laura Besley, Author of 100neHundred
My Amazon Review of The Good Dog
Dogs are better than Husbands
Ashley is not interested in getting a dog, but she is obsessed with Chihuahuas, and she goes to PetSmart just to look at them. After a staff member at the store tells her that dogs are better than husbands and that a Chihuahua named Walter did not get a single like on his Facebook page, she buys Walter. How can you reject someone who has been so tragically rejected? Walter turns out to be a very good dog. A second thread in the story is Earl, her emotionally manipulative hypochondriac ex-husband who is stalking her. He doesn’t like dogs. He also thinks that a little red bump on his skin is cancer and that he is going to die soon.
This book is hilarious, and I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions. The book also managed to pull at my heartstrings quite a bit and it had a serious side to it as well. The book is beautifully written and very entertaining. Above all it tells a great story. It is fast paced, and a real page turner, which is why I read it today in one sitting in less than two hours. I highly recommend this book.
Back cover of The Good Dog.
About the Author
Laura Stamps is a poet and novelist who loves to create experimental forms for her poetry and fiction. Author of over 50 novels, novellas, and poetry books. Winner of the Muses Prize. Recipient of a Pulitzer Prize nomination and 7 Pushcart Prize nominations. Published in more than 2000 literary magazines and anthologies worldwide. Lover of Chihuahuas, Yorkies, and cats.
This post features ten Leonberger photos. First there are two photos of our Leonberger Bronco from when he was three months old. Then there are three shutter stock photos of Leonberger puppies, who are probably about two months old. We did not take many photos of Bronco when he was a little puppy so that’s why I am including three puppy photos from shutter stock. Then there are five photos of our Leonberger Bronco between the ages 4-5 months to around one year old. He is bigger in those photos but still not an adult.
Bronco our Leonberger three months old.Bronco our Leonberger three months old.Ten Leonberger puppies. My guess is that they are about two months old. Shutterstock-ID:561107710 by Akbudak Rimma.Leonberger puppy running in the grass. My guess is that he is around two months old. Shutterstock-ID: 629624396 by TOM KAROLA.Two light colored Leonberger puppies playing. My guess is that they are three months old. Shutterstock-ID: 2141564415 by AnetaZabranska.Our German Shepherd Baby is playing with young Bronco. Bronco is perhaps 4-5 months old in this photo. He is getting bigger, but he has not yet filled out and does not have a lot of fur.Bronco less than one years old. He is a Leonberger teenager. He fell asleep on the floor.Young Bronco at the dog park. Our Labrador Baylor is in the background. Bronco does not yet look like an adult Leonberger. He will fill out and get more hair.Bronco is still young, but he is getting close to being an adult. In the photo he just gave me a kiss and he loved to dance on his back legs.Bronco, our Leonberger, is young but not yet an adult, which we can see from his swanky back. Leonberger sometimes have a swanky back before they are done growing. We had a gate to the kitchen to prevent Bronco from raiding the kitchen. The gate lever had a lock on it because he knew how to lift levers with his nose and open gate doors. The hat he is wearing is a pilgrim hat, the kind of hats the pilgrims wore. Well at least that’s what the pilgrims looked like in our children’s books.
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.
My muddy jacket and jeans after the walkWet pup at the doorRollo after the walkDaisy in her stroller
A little video of Rollo by the door.
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.
Daisy after an exhausting day of doing nothing.
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.
It was Daisy’s birthday (pug in the middle). Rollo is growling at Oslo sitting at the end of the table. It is an old photo.
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.
Rollo’s Baby JailPhoto from the past. Our Leonberger Bronco is sharing the sofa with Daisy.
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.
Leonberger Life 