Tag: Féderation Cynologique Internationale

Categories
Leonbergers

My Leonberger Blog Goals for 2023

I launched this Leonberger dog blog in March of 2022. The purpose of the blog was to promote my upcoming book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, stories and tips from thirteen years with a Leonberger” and to spread the word about Leonbergers, a rare but very special breed of dog. They are very large, friendly, unafraid but sensitive and loving, protective and strong, energetic and funny, especially when they are young.

Photo of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle at three months old.
Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle at three months old.

In addition, Bronco was a very special Leonberger. Purebred Leonbergers typically live 8-10 years, but Bronco lived almost 13 years. He was two weeks short of 13 when he died from heart failure. Therefore, he received an award for longevity from the Leonberger Health Foundation International and we donated his DNA for research. I can add that I donate all royalties from sales of my book to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. It is a great organization that has improved the health of Leonbergers and other giant dog breeds substantially.

Image showing Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award presented by the Leonberger Health Foundation International. He received this award because he lived longer than 12 years.
Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award presented by the Leonberger Health Foundation International. He received this award because he lived longer than 12 years.

My on-line friend Alex Diaz-Granados, who is an experienced blogger (see “A certain point of view”) helped me get started. He suggested that I use wordpress.com, and here we are. I can add that Alex and I have been on-line friends for a long time. It started with epinions.com, a review site that paid reviewers for writing reviews. I joined epinions.com in 2008. He had joined a few years before that. I focused on software, travel, books, computer hardware and electronics. He focused on books, film, travel, and I think on-line stores and a few more topics. He can fill me in. I can add that sometimes epinions.com paid pretty well, so after a while it became more than a hobby for me. It became a source of supplementary income. I joined twitter and Facebook in 2010 and he was already there, and we both eventually joined Instagram. Unfortunately, epinions.com went belly up in 2014.

In March of 2022 I invited friends and Facebook friends to visit and follow my blog if they wished to do so, and many did. I had some traffic and comments in the beginning but then it died down, and it didn’t seem like search engines picked up my blog. In July of 2022 I released my book in honor of Bronco’s birthday on July 3rd. In the beginning I sold many books, well for a Leonberger book anyway, and I also had more visitors to my blog, but after a while the activity on my blog as well as book sales died down.

Alex suggested that I visit, comment and like the posts of other bloggers and in August I started doing that using Alex’ blog as a starting point and now I was getting more visitors and a lot more comments and likes, and search engines started to pick up my blog a lot more. Lately I even had a couple of posts go sort of viral with thousands of visitors in a couple of days. Those unknown visitors tend not to leave comments (or likes) but other wordpress bloggers do. That was not the best part though. The best part was meeting other bloggers and authors on-line, reading their blogs, reading their books, typically great books. This was fun. Blog visits and book sales became secondary. Blogging is now a hobby.

Photo of Bronco in my wife Claudia’s lap.
Bronco in my wife Claudia’s lap.
Photo of Bronco a few weeks after his first heart failure heading towards the end of his life.
Bronco a few weeks after his first heart failure heading towards the end of his life.

So, what are my goals for my Leonberger blog in 2023?

  • Continue my Leonberger blog and keep promoting my book on the blog for at least six more months.
  • Virtual Book Blast For Natural Selection with Jacqui Murray on February 13 2023.
  • I still have a lot to learn more about wordpress.com. I don’t know how to do inline images, I don’t know how to store images for later use, I don’t know how to make those little icons, hearts and clover, etc., that people put in comments, I only know the basics of the 20/20 template, I don’t know other templates. I have a wordpress book that I am planning to read. I need to learn more.
  • I will read more books by authors I know online. Knowing an author and reading their book(s) is a completely different feeling compared to reading someone you’ve never talked to (I have a long TBR list).
  • Post 20-30 book reviews on my blog. I don’t post all my book reviews on my blog. Most of my book reviews are only for Amazon (or Goodreads). On my blog I just post reviews for Leonberger books and reviews for books by fellow bloggers that I love and want to promote.
  • I want to start a second blog that is about facts and insights that could have a high impact on someone’s worldview and yet may not be well known, understood, believed or are controversial, yet are fully backed by the expertise in that field. As someone who have studied modern physics, loves gapminder, and have read a ton of books on all kinds of topics, I’ve come across quite a few, and I have radically changed my view of the world several times. However, I am hoping for good suggestions from visitors so I can expand the collection. I can be in charge of the fact checking, at least to begin with.
Image showing the Leonberger breed standard from the Féderation Cynologique Internationale.
In case you are interested. This is an overview of the Leonberger breed standard from the Féderation Cynologique Internationale.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and a Great 2023!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Finally, if you would like to learn about more about my book and find out where to buy it, click here or here. You can also click the image below to buy it from Amazon.

This image shows the front cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle". Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. The cover is beige and brown and it has the face of an old Leonberger in the middle. Author is Thomas Wikman. Click on the image to go to the Amazon location for the book.
This is the front cover of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.
Categories
Leonbergers

What Is A Dog Breed Standard

A dog breed standard is a description of the characteristics of an ideal example of a dog breed. The description may include physical characteristics, genetic criteria, behavioral characteristics, or criteria of athletic or productive performance. Breed standards are devised by breed associations, and are written to reflect the use or purpose of the dog breed. The Federation Cynologique Internationale regulates breed standards for dogs internationally. However, the American Kennel Club, does not belong to the international body and uses its own breed standard format. In practice the breed standards are very similar.

For the AKC, the breed standard, and any revision thereof, originates with an AKC parent club. For Leonbergers the parent club is the Leonberger Club of America. It was very lucky that it became that way. To read about the history of the history of the Leonberger breed standard, Leonberger Club of America and the great dog wars, click here.

Below is a visual depiction of the physical aspects of the Leonberger breed standard. To find out more click on the image.

Image showing the physical criteria of the Leonberger breed standard. Click on the photo to read more about the Leonberger breed standard.
Physical physical criteria of the Leonberger breed standard. Click on the photo to read more about the Leonberger breed standard.

Finally, I would like to promote my book about Bronco and Leonbergers.

This is the front cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle". Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.
This is the back cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle". Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.
This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.
These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.

Below is a list of where you can find the book. Click on the links to go to the respective store. However, if your favorite bookstore is not listed below you can search for it using the ISBN or ASIN numbers.

ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954

ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR

Categories
Book Reviews

Leonberger Special Rare Breed Edition

This is the second Leonberger book review on my blog. This time I am reviewing Leonberger, Special Breed Edition, a comprehensive owner’s guide, by Madeline Lusby, ISBN 978-1593783143. This is a Kennel Club book and part of a large series of dog breed books (167 books). You can buy it from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and it exist in both printed version (hardcover) and e-Book (kindle/nook). It is not expensive $9.95 on Amazon for a used hardcover version and $24.99 for the kindle version (nook a little cheaper). It appears that you can no longer buy it new (as I did). I remember buying the book new for $24.95. It is 155 pages, in a medium sized format (6.75 x 0.75 x 8.25, 1.27 pounds) and it is in color.

Photo of the book Leonberger, Special rare breed edition, by Madeline Lusby.
Leonberger, Special rare breed edition, by Madeline Lusby. Click on the photo to go to the Amazon page for the book.

This book was published in 2005 before the Leonberger breed was recognized by the AKC and therefore there was no Leonberger AKC breed standard at the time. However, the FCI Leonberger breed standard certainly existed, and it is still the most prominent Leonberger breed standard. I was very impressed by the image summarizing the FCI Leonberger breed standard on the inside front cover (see below). I should mention that FCI (Féderation Cynologique Internationale) is the international organization that defines the dog breeds. However, some local organizations, such as the AKC (American Kennel Club) have their own breed standards that typically exactly match (but differ in language) or very closely match that of the FCI.

Photo of the inside cover of the book Leonberger, a Kennel Club book. It features the FCI (Féderation Cynologique Internationale) breed standard illustrated.
The FCI (Féderation Cynologique Internationale) breed standard illustrated

As the front cover states this is a pretty comprehensive book on Leonbergers. Due to the age of the book a few of the chapters may not be up to date, but overall, the book contains useful information for all Leonberger owners or potential owners. Leonberger history is interesting and fascinating, and this book contains some Leonberger history even though some of the claims should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, there is no proof that Leonbergers were used to pull ammunition carts during World War II as they were in World War I. There are chapters on the characteristics of the Leonberger, the breed standard, the Leonberger puppy, proper care, training, healthcare and the showing of your Leonberger. The chapter on healthcare is detailed and very well written and organized with nice sidebars, illustrations and photos. Unfortunately, this chapter is also a bit outdated. As the book points out, a Leonberger is not for everyone. Do you have the time and money to take care of it? Do you have the space? You can find out if a Leonberger is right for you by reading this book.

Overall, the book is well written, well organized and professionally made. There’s amusing anecdotes, and it is filled with interesting and beautiful photographs, tables, illustrations and colorful sidebars and notes. It was a pleasure reading it and despite its age and some inaccuracies I highly recommend this book. I gave it five stars.

Finally, below is my book

This is a photo of the front cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle".
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.
This is a photo of the back cover of the book "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle".
This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.
This a picture showing the endorsements for the book.
These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.

Below is a list of where you can find the book. Click on the links to go to the respective store. However, if your favorite bookstore is not listed below you can search for it using the ISBN or ASIN numbers.

ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954

ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR