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 am overjoyed to see this very beautifully written and supportive review of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle.” Please take a look at this blog post.
It should be noted that I did not see a reblog button on the post so I hope it is OK that I just link to it here.
Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People Magazine here in Dallas (Preston Hollow) received 15 awards in this year’s National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest. The National Newspaper Association (NNA), founded in 1885, has over 2,300 members, making it the largest newspaper trade association in the United States. There are slightly more than 100 categories and there is a first price, second price, third price, and an honorable mention, so a bit more than 400 opportunities for an award. Considering that there are 2,300 newspapers I think winning 15 is quite impressive. It is certainly a high-quality magazine. They earned three first-place awards, two second places, five third places, and five honorable mentions. One of the honorable mentions was for Best Book Review. That book review was written by Journalist Kersten Rettig and the book in question was “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”.
Big congratulations to Kersten Rettig for winning the honorable mention for best book review.
It is certainly not my accomplishment. It is the newspaper’s award and Kersten Rettig’s accomplishment, but I am very happy about this for myself as well, since I wrote the book, and that is kind of exciting.
I’ve written about this book review before back when it was published in September/October last year (2023). You can click here or here to see those blog posts. Finally, a reminder. To celebrate Bronco’s birthday (July 3rd), for the month of July I am lowering the price of the paperback on Amazon from $19.95 to $17.95 and I am lowering the price of the kindle from $4.95 to $2.95. That applies to all countries. By clicking on the pictures below you can visit the Amazon locations for the book.
Below is a list of places where you can get my book.
I was overjoyed to see this very supportive and beautifully written review of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle.” It is detailed and filled with helpful information. Please take a look at this blog post.
Our late Leonberger Bronco’s birthday was a few days ago, and so was the two years anniversary of the release of my book about him. It is a special occasion and therefore I’ve decided to have a promotion for the month of July. I lowered the price of both the paperback and the kindle version on Amazon by two dollars in all countries (or close to two dollars). For the United States I lowered the price of the Kindle version from $4.99 to $2.99 and for the paperback from $19.95 to $17.95. In Sweden I lowered the price from 180 Swedish Crowns to 150 Crowns or 159 Crowns with VAT.
I should add that I am donating the proceeds from the sale of this book to the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
If you’re thinking of getting a Leonberger, or if you’ve already owned one and know how rewarding the experience can be, or if you are just a dog lover, then you’ll want to read the story of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, called Bronco, who came to live with us in Dallas, Texas, in 2007. Bronco, a recipient of the Leonberger Health Foundation International’s Grey Muzzle Award, lived an unusually long life for a Leonberger—almost thirteen years. We believe that what helped him exceed his breed’s normal life expectancy was his brave and loving heart.
In this book you’ll read about some of Bronco’s amazing feats: the night he scared away a prowler; the day he performed a hamster search and rescue; the time he stumped the Geek Squad; and the late night he snuck into the kitchen and ate a two-pound bag of dog treats, a box of pastries, a loaf of bread, a grilled chicken, and a Key lime pie, all in one sitting. You’ll also read about his unflappable calm during a north Texas tornado and his stoicism as he endured health challenges in his later years.
In addition to entertaining stories, these pages contain a wealth of practical guidance, including:
Bronco’s fearlessness, tolerance, and affectionate nature warmed the hearts of everyone who met him, and his sometimes uncanny adventures with his human and canine companions will bring a smile to the face of every dog lover.
Below is a list of places where you can get my book.
If you haven’t already, please take a look at my book
Our Leonberger Bronco was born in British Columbia, Canada (nearby Vancouver), on July 3rd, 2007. That was 17 years ago today. His full name was Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. His father’s name was Priamos Vom Dreiburgenland and his mother’s name was Justus Aria Von Drevas. He had four full siblings, or twins, Little Jonah, Love Ryan, LRV’s Moose, and Lakeisha Makita. That was his litter. Notice that all names begin with an ‘L’. He had 83 siblings in total. The breeder’s name was Julie Schaffert, who is a Leonberger Club of America certified breeder (since 1992), and arguably North America’s most prominent breeder.
About 8-9 weeks later he came to Dallas, Texas to be with his new family. That was us. 13 years later he passed away. The name we picked for him was Bronco. However, we were told that his name needed to begin with an ‘L’, so my wife said, “Let’s do Le Bronco”, intending it to be “Le Bronco”. It took us several years to change his name from “Lets Do Le Bronco”, which also begins with an ‘L’, to “Le Bronco”.
Bronco quickly grew to become a big dog. At one point he was 167lbs but his ideal weight was 135lbs. When he joined our family, we had two other dogs, a Labrador (or Labrador mix) called Baylor and a female German Shepherd called Baby. Baby was like a mother to Bronco, and she was fiercely protective of him. We would soon get two more dogs, a Japanese Chin called Ryu and a pug called Daisy. Once Bronco was older, we would get one more dog, a mini-Australian Shepherd called Rollo. Bronco loved all the other dogs, and he was very protective of them. He saved the life of our Labrador by sniffing out an oncoming insulin shock and he saved our pug Daisy from an attacking German Shepherd.
One thing that we are proud of is that Bronco lived very long for a Leonberger. The typical lifespan for a Leonberger is 8-10 years. Giant breeds tend to have a short lifespan. The Leonbergers who live at least 12 years are awarded the so-called Grey-Muzzle Award by the Leonberger Health Foundation International, and Bronco was a recipient. The Leonberger Health Foundation International (LHFI) is supporting research that aims to solve health issues in Leonbergers and other giant breeds. All proceeds from the sale of my book are donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. I can add that when Bronco passed away, we sent his DNA to the University of Minnesota to be used in research. This was facilitated by the LHFI.
Bronco was a very special dog, and he also gave us many amusing stories. Some of the stories were great, like when he chased off a trespasser / peeping Tom who had been terrorizing my wife and the other women in the neighborhood, but that the police and the private detectives I hired could not catch. Or when he saved runaway hamsters or saved the lives of other dogs. He also gave us some embarrassing stories, such as when he put our neighbor’s head in his mouth, like the circus lion trick, or pushed our German Shepherd into a storm drain. After Bronco passed, I decided that the world needed to know about Bronco, so I wrote a book about him. It is a tribute to him as well as a collection of funny stories. I also added information about Leonbergers in the book, their origins, care, training, health, etc.
Finally, I would like to give an overview of my book about Bronco and Leonbergers. I intended to release the Book on July 3rd, 2022, on what would have been Bronco’s 15th birthday. However, Amazon was quicker than I expected. The Kindle version became available on the day I uploaded it July 1st, 2022, and the paperback version July 2nd, 2022, but I did not tell people about it until July 3rd. Well today it is July 3rd again. To read more about my book click here.
If you haven’t already, please take a look at my book
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.
In the past I’ve made a few posts featuring 25 photos of Leonbergers around a certain theme. This is one more of those posts. This time it is photos of Leonbergers in nature, whether it is in a park, in our yard, on top of a mountain, swimming in a lake, a forest, etc. The first half of the photos are of our Leonberger Bronco or Leonberger photos by a friend. The second half of the of the photos are shutter stock photos. Below are the previous 25 photos of Leonbergers posts.
Note, I am going to a CCL conference this weekend and the beginning of next week, so I will not be posting or do anything related to blogs for a while.
I once apologized to our neighbor Sam because our Leonberger Bronco had been barking. To my surprise Sam told me not to worry, let him bark he said, it scares the bad guys away, and is good for the entire neighborhood. I think the story below, which is an excerpt from my book might explain his thinking.
A quiet and spooky evening alone
It was a quiet evening, and I was home alone. My wife, Claudia, was visiting her parents a few blocks away with Rachel, our daughter. Our son Jacob was meeting with his debate team; our other son, David, was visiting a friend.
I was making myself a ham sandwich in the kitchen when I suddenly felt a hand on my right shoulder. I startled and turned my head to face what I feared was an intruder, and there he stood on his hind legs—our Leonberger, Bronco. His big paw on my shoulder felt for a moment exactly like a human hand.
Bronco looked at me with his kind, wise eyes, then he looked at the sandwich. Then he turned his head toward me again and held my gaze. At that moment I understood what he wanted. I cut the sandwich in two and gave him his half.
The night stalker
I should explain that we had a problem with a trespasser at that time, which was the reason I was startled. This trespasser would sit outside our bedroom window at night and make threats and shout obscene comments at Claudia when I was not present. At first, though, we didn’t know where the threats and comments were coming from. I doubted Claudia’s accounts of these incidents, especially because she thought the voice might be coming from within our bedroom, perhaps via an electronic speaker. I thought she was just having nightmares.
Then one night I heard it myself—a voice screaming, “I am going to burn your house down!” Just as Claudia had said, it sounded like it came from within our bedroom, almost as if it were right next to me.
After Claudia and I went through our “Oh, so now you believe me” routine, I started looking under our bed and inside the heating and air-conditioning vents for hidden speakers and/or microphones. It was hard to believe that someone had planted these things in our bedroom, but that seemed to be the case. Then it finally dawned on me. Next to the headboard of our bed, on Claudia’s side, just inches from her pillow, is a window. At night, when the blinds are lowered and the slats are partially open, you can see in, even if we have just a few lights on in the house. But of course under these conditions, you can’t see anything that might be outside.
I ran out the front door and around the back of the house, and there, right in front of our bedroom window, was one of our lawn chairs. The trespasser had climbed our fence, taken the chair, sat down in front of the window, and spied on us. Whenever I left the room, he would shout obscenities and threats at Claudia. When his face was planted in front of our window, he was just two or three feet away. This was why the voice felt so close. This had been going on for two weeks. We were happy to have finally figured it out, but we realized we had a problem.
We talked to our neighbors about the situation, and they told us that the trespasser had terrorized them as well. He had been quite busy looking through bedroom windows at night. People in the neighborhood were scared. I called the police, who told us they could do nothing unless the man was caught in the act or he committed a crime other than trespassing.
The detectives
Therefore, I decided to hire private investigators. I found them in the phone book. Phone books still existed back then.
The investigators told me that they typically spy on people suspected of cheating on their spouses, so this would be a more interesting job for them. The plan was for them to hide behind the bushes in our backyard and in a dark car parked on our street. When the man appeared, they would record him on video. They had a lot of fancy equipment and instruments, including big microphones, cameras, and metal detectors. They reminded us of Ghostbusters with all their technology and enthusiasm. They clearly loved their job. Unfortunately, though, the trespasser didn’t show up, so after a couple of days I decided to let the investigators go.
However, I soon figured out who the trespasser was. I started paying attention to what was going on in the neighborhood, and one evening, I noticed a strange-looking but relatively young man, apparently homeless, who seemed to be stealthily roaming our neighborhood. I did not confront him, because I had no proof.
Bronco saves the neighborhood.
But a few days later, I heard shuffling noises outside our bedroom window. The trespasser was finally back. This time I sent Bronco out to chase him, and he did. Like the detectives, Bronco was enthusiastic but didn’t catch him. Still, he chased the man off. Having a big bearlike dog rushing toward you at night is probably a bit unnerving, even if the dog just wants to lick you. We never experienced or heard about the problem after this event, so Bronco may have helped the entire neighborhood.
A couple of weeks later, while walking Bronco on a neighboring block, I saw the homeless man across the street, at a bit of a distance. He stared at us in fright. Bronco just calmly looked at him without barking. The man was clearly terrified of Bronco, and he ran away. But despite the nightmare the homeless man had inflicted on us, I felt sorry for him. My guess is that he was suffering from mental illness and that he had had a very tough and lonely life.
Did your dog(s) or pets do something heroic?
Read this review of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Bronco was my best friend and I love when someone loves the book about him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For additional information see :
The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger by Thomas Wikman.
Madeline Lusby, Leonberger: A Comprehensive Owner’s Guide (Allenhurst, NJ: Kennel Club Books, 2005).
Caroline Bliss-Isberg, Leonberger: A Comprehensive Guide to the Lion King of Breeds (Sea Cliff , NY: Revodana Publishing, 2017), 23, 41, 45, 48–49.
Leonberger Life 