Tag: Leonberger book

Rollo From Baby Jail to Four Years Old

Today it is Rollo’s 4th birthday. Our late Leonberger Bronco welcomed him into our family when Rollo was just a 9-week-old puppy. Rollo is a mini-Australian Shepherd. They became very good friends and Bronco was very patient with the rambunctious puppy who climbed all over him and played with his tail, even hung in it. Well, we no longer have Bronco, but we have Rollo and his 14-year-old pug sister.

This is a photo of our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo. It is his birthday so he has a birthday hat on. Rollo did not like the hat, so he took it off right away.
Rollo did not like the hat, so he took it off right away.
Photo of our pug Daisy left and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo (right). It is Rollo’s 4th birthday.
Rollo and Daisy. It is Rollo’s 4th birthday.
Edited photo of Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd. He has a hat on, a steak, and candles. It is Rollo’s 4th birthday.
Rollo’s 4th birthday.
Photo of Bronco our Leonberger welcoming Rollo to our house. Bronco is very big. Rollo is very small.
Bronco our Leonberger welcoming Rollo to our house.
Photo of our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo when he was just a puppy.
When Rollo was just a puppy.
This is another photo from when Rollo was just a puppy.
Another photo from when Rollo was just a puppy.
Photo of our mini-Australian Shepherd playing with a ball.
Rollo playing with a ball.

Next, I am including a little snippet from the book. This snippet is about Rollo.

Rollo often pushed his luck with Bronco—climbing all over him, sitting on him, and stealing his possessions. Bronco was very patient and protective of little Rollo, but we were afraid he would lose patience with him one day when we were not present. Therefore, we put Rollo in a playpen whenever we left the house.

Photo of our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo playing with our Leonberger Bronco’s tail. When he was a puppy he even hung and swung in it. Naturally, we stopped it as soon as we saw it.
Rollo often played with our Leonberger Bronco’s tail. When he was a puppy he even hung and swung in it. Naturally, we stopped it as soon as we saw it.

The playpen had a door that swung open and could be locked. Soon he learned to go through the door on his own when we asked him to. We would say, “Rollo, playpen,” and he would march right in. We made sure that the playpen contained water and toys and that the door was locked behind him. Of course, we didn’t leave him there too long. Experts recommend a maximum of two hours when the puppy is two months old and a maximum of three hours when the puppy is three months old. Even when Rollo was older than that, we never left him in the playpen longer than four hours.

Rollo’s relationship with his playpen was interesting. When Daisy tried to walk in, Rollo would get angry. The playpen was Rollo’s, and no one else could enter. It was his little house within a house. Sometimes he would walk in even if we didn’t ask him to, and he would just sit there for a while, as if he needed some alone time.

Photo of Rollo in his playpen called Baby-Jail. When Rollo was in his playpen, we were sure he would be safe in case Bronco decided he had had enough of his younger sibling’s antics. To read more about Rollo click on the photo.
This is the baby jail. When Rollo was in his playpen, we were sure he would be safe in case Bronco decided he had had enough of his younger sibling’s antics. To read more about Rollo click on the photo.

Our son David’s girlfriend, Meranda, came up with a great name for Rollo’s playpen: baby jail. So that’s what we called it, and Rollo seemed to like it. When we told Rollo, “Rollo, baby jail,” he would march right in, just as he did when we called it a playpen. Even though he didn’t seem to mind it, he was always eager to come back out when we got home. He would stand on his hind legs, jump up and down, and bark. Then we would rush to greet him and lift him out of his baby jail.

To read more about Rollo click here.

Review of A Simple Ad

This blog is primarily about Leonbergers and Leonberger books but sometimes I review other items. In this post I will review a short film that brings attention to the fight against cancer. The name of the movie is “A Simple Ad”. The screen writing was done by an on-line friend of mine Alex Diaz-Granados.

My mother passed away from cancer at the age of 56. This was devastating. She left us too early. However, every parent’s worst nightmare is losing a child. I believe that losing a child to cancer is a loss too enormous to imagine. This short film brings attention to the pain and the enormity of this loss, and it brings attention to the need to fight cancer.

I can add that fighting cancer the easy way, via the kind of donations that we all can make, or by bringing attention to it, is not futile. In the end this supports cancer research and treatment, and it has been successful. For example, today, it is very unlikely that I would die from the cancer that killed my mother.

At the beginning of the movie, we see a bookcase with family pictures including a baby, a little boy, a wedding, among others. Next, we see a couple working in the same room. The man is working on a skateboard and the woman on an ad. From their discussion the tragedy becomes apparent. The couple love each other, they carry on, but it is clear that an immense sense of loss resides in their lives.

This short film features beautiful music, a children’s choir. It is poignant and has a sad atmosphere, but it is not overly dark. To me it felt like a call to action. You can watch the movie here.

Title: A Simple Ad (2019)

Directed by

Juan Carlos Hernández

Writing Credits

Alex Diaz-Granados

Cast

Adria K. Hernandez…Sara

Juan Carlos Hernández…John

My Leonberger and Me

I updated my “About Me” page and made a 20 second video for an upcoming Indie-author day. I am also turning my updated “About Me” into a post:

Welcome to my website! My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a retired software / robotics engineer with a background in physics—but this blog is primarily about Leonbergers, an unusual and fascinating dog breed that is known for its size, affectionate nature, and intelligence.

I know a lot about Leonbergers because my family was lucky enough to live with one for thirteen years. His name was Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle—but we called him “Bronco” for short.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco and me. He was an extremely affectionate dog.
Bronco our Leonberger was an extremely affectionate dog.

Bronco wasn’t our only dog, but our world wouldn’t have been the same without him. For instance, he once saved the life of our pug by fending off an attack from another dog. He probably saved our Labrador’s life, too, by sniffing out an impending insulin shock before it happened. Then there was the time he scared off a trespasser who’d been terrorizing my wife and other women in the neighborhood.

My 20 second video presentation for Indie-author day.

Bronco is no longer with us, but even in his passing he was distinctive. Leonbergers tend to live less than nine years—but Bronco came very close to reaching his thirteenth birthday. In fact, he received an award for longevity called the “Grey Muzzle Award.”  We already knew he was a special dog, but we sent his DNA to two labs for research anyway.

Image showing the back cover of the book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle.
Back cover of The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, which was released on July 3rd, 2022. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.

As for me: in addition to being a dog lover, I am a craft beer enthusiast and brewer, an amateur astronomer, a student of French, and an avid reader. From time to time, I may write about these or other subjects here, in addition to writing about dogs. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children: Jacob, David, and Rachel.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy!

Life with a Labrador

This blog is primarily about Leonbergers and Leonberger books but sometimes I review books about other dog breeds. Today I am reviewing Lab Tested: The Layman’s Guide to Living With A Labrador – June 16, 2022 by Nick Embrey. I got the paperback version on Amazon. It currently cost $8.99 and the Kindle format cost $2.99. It is 168 pages, weighs ‎ 5.9 ounces, and the size is small with dimensions 5.06 x 0.38 x 7.81 inches. The ISBN number is 978-1739631307 and the ASIN number for the Kindle is B0B4B631S8. The book is comical reflections on the life with a Labrador, and you can find the book here.

Photo of the book Lab Tested: The Layman's Guide to Living With A Labrador – June 16, 2022 by Nick Embrey.
Lab Tested: The Layman’s Guide to Living With A Labrador – by Nick Embrey.

In this book the author is ruminating, with humor, on his life with a chocolate brown Labrador called Dudley. The pages are filled with fun discoveries, hilarious analogies, clever turns of word, and as a result laughter. The writing style comes across to me as very British and as I was reading the book, I imagined Hugh Grant narrating it in my head.

We’ve owned several dog breeds including a yellow Lab called Baylor and I definitely recognized Dudley’s voracious appetite, apt food thievery, and the sometimes less than palatable choice of nutriment. However, Dudley was worse than Baylor. Dudley and Gordon Ramsey would definitely have a disagreement. Our Leonberger Bronco also had a voracious appetite. Once he finished off 5lbs of roast beef meant for a dinner party. However, the difference between Bronco and Labradors such as Dudley and Baylor is that he left broccoli, carrots, and dip for the dinner guests whilst dogs like Baylor and Dudley wouldn’t have.

Like Dudley our Baylor loved swimming (see picture below) and so did our Leonberger Bronco. I knew that Leonbergers had webbed feet and are double coated but reading this book I learned that so do Labradors. In fact, several dog breeds do. I guess I did not pay attention to that. That explains why our Baylor and Bronco were our best swimmers.

Like Dudley our Baylor was mischievous, but I have to say that Dudley takes the cake. The always hungry and rambunctious Labradors can cause quite a bit of commotion, or as some call it “acts of dog”. I’m not trying to brag when I say that our Labrador was not as bad as Dudley. I just wanted to point out that’s how you get good stories. I highly recommend this witty and very entertaining book. I don’t have a photo of Dudley, so I am including a photo of our yellow Labrador swimming.

Photo of our Labradir swimming in our in-laws swimming pool.
Our Labrador Baylor swimming in our in-laws swimming pool.

The Hay Bale Better Horror Than the Books of Blood

This blog is primarily about Leonbergers and Leonberger books but on rare occasion I write a review for a book or story that I find to be exceptional and therefore want to promote. Yesterday I read a horror story on my kindle that I found to be unprecedented and therefore I want to promote it. Incidentally, strange things happened today, which tells me this is going to be an interesting Halloween. The Hay Bale Kindle Edition by Priscilla Bettis is a short story that cost $0.99 or nothing if you have Kindle Unlimited, which I don’t. However, one dollar is quite frankly almost nothing. It is 42 pages, was released in January 2022 and the ASIN number is B09P4PJQLT.

Cover image of The Hale Bale by Priscilla Bettis a very creepy story. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle story.
The Hay Bale is a creepy short horror story that is better than any short horror story I’ve ever read. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle story.

Horror is not the literary category I primarily focus on, but I do like horror, and I’ve read a significant amount of horror literature including some classic horror, Stephen King’s books and several of Clive Barker’s books, such as Hell bound Heart and Mister. B Gone. I especially loved Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, which are collections of his short stories. I and my son are also inscribed into Dracula’s or Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler’s) family of protectors, which happened in a ceremony led by Dracula’s monk at the Snagov monastery in Romania. Therefore, horror is not a literary category that is foreign to me. It should be noted that the ceremony was a tourist ploy. We are not really vampires.

Photo of Books of blood, which was a large collection of short horror stories that really impressed me. Despite that fact “The Hay Bale” is the best short horror story I’ve ever read.
Books of blood was a large collection of short horror stories that really impressed me. Despite that fact “The Hay Bale” is the best short horror story I’ve ever read.

A few decades ago, Stephen King said of Clive Barker;  I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker. Considering that “The Hay Bale” is the best short horror story I’ve ever read and assuming Priscilla Bettis will continue writing great short horror stories I would like to say, “I have seen the future of horror and her name is Priscilla Bettis”.

The Hay Bale is creepy, disturbing, scary and odd. The main character Claire is a Microbiologist. She is separated from her ex-husband Dan, who seems to have emotionally abused her. She has also suffered several miscarriages and is unable to adopt due to her emotional state. To get away for a while she rents a home in rural Virginia for the summer. The setting is a bit “children of the corn” like, perhaps “midsommar” like, whilst the story development reminded me of some of the stories in the Books of Blood.

What Claire experiences is both creepy and bizarre but unlike many of Clive Barker’s stories it’s not too adult, which I personally appreciate. It also makes the story readable by both adults as well as teenagers. The story is fast paced, unsettling, atmospheric, and it’s full of creepy imagery. I read the story while drinking two Halloween themed Texas beers, which I almost forgot to drink because I couldn’t take my eyes of the Kindle. I should add that Priscilla has her own unique style. She is not a Clive Barker clone. I am very much looking forward to more of her stories.

Photo of Kindle displaying the “The Hay Bale” plus a Halloween Themed Pumpkin Ale called Rumpy.
Me reading the “The Hay Bale” and drinking a Halloween Themed Pumpkin Ale.
Photo of the Kindle showing the last page of "The Hay Bale" and a Halloween Themed Stout.
Finished reading the “The Hay Bale” and drinking a Halloween Stout.

I should mention that following my Amazon review for the story and me posting about it in a dozen beer groups with around 30,000 members something strange happened. It is possible someone played a prank on us. This afternoon my daughter and I saw a horror movie and then we sat outside in the backyard and discussed it, Dracula and this story. That’s when she noticed that there was an old rusty medieval axe in our backyard. Someone must have placed it into our fenced in backyard today. But who? The strange Axe is included in the photo below. Where is this axe coming from? Any suggestions?

Photo of rusty medieval axe, a Kindle and a Pumpkin Ale called Rumpy. After posting my review for “The Hay Bale” and talking about it on Facebook and Instagram a strange medieval looking rusty axe mysteriously appeared in our backyard. Is someone playing a prank on us?
After posting my review for “The Hay Bale” and talking about it on Facebook and Instagram a strange medieval looking rusty axe mysteriously appeared in our backyard. Is someone playing a prank on us?

Support the Leonberger Health Foundation International

Purebred large dog breeds tend to have shorter life spans compared to most other dogs and they have more health issues. However, Leonbergers are  fortunate compared to other large breeds, especially those bred in North America, primarily for three reasons:

  • The Leonberger breed standard does not call for traits that can be detrimental to health.
  • The precise and restrictive breeding regulations of the Leonberger Club of America (LCA) and other Leonberger clubs.
  • The work of the Leonberger Health Foundation International or LHFI, have resulted in Leonbergers being relatively free of inherited illnesses compared to other large dog breeds in America.

Today I received my first payment for the sale of my book from Amazon (for the month of July) and I donated all proceeds to the Leonberger Health Foundation International like I said I would. Regardless of whether you get my book or not you can donate to LHFI. It is one of my favorite charities. LHFI “facilitate the solicitation and distribution of donations given to support health related breed-specific research.” The LHFI also administers a program that collects DNA samples from Leonbergers to share with universities and research institutions.

Among the organization’s achievements are the eradication of Addison’s disease among Leonbergers, the raising of nearly half a million dollars for research into conditions that affect canine health, including osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, glaucoma, cardiac diseases, thyroid diseases, and neurological disorders. Another notable achievement is the fact that since 2011, no Leonbergers with two copies of the LPN1 gene mutation, which causes Leonberger polyneuropathy, have been recorded in LHFI’s biobank (featuring 9,000 Leonbergers). Its research also supports healthful longevity and aging as well as population diversity.

One happy event for our family was when Bronco received his Grey Muzzle Award, which is an award given for longevity by LHFI. LHFI bestows the award on any Leonberger who has reached the age of twelve. To find out more about the Grey Muzzle Award click here. To see the 2019–2020 awardees video featuring Bronco click here.

Photo of Bronco receiving his grey muzzle award. Claudia is holding the award.
Bronco receiving his grey muzzle award.
Photo of the Grey Muzzle Award certificate from the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
Grey Muzzle Award certificate from the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
Photo of the Grey Muzzle Award from the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
The Grey Muzzle Award from 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.

Leonbergers On Postage Stamps

Today I received a nice gift from a couple of friends, six stamps from Grenada and Grenadines featuring six dogs, a Leonberger (upper left side), a Newfoundland dog (upper right side), a boxer (mid-left), a St. Bernard (mid-right), a silky terrier (lower left side), and a miniature schnauzer (lower right side). I was very happy receive this gift, especially since one of the dogs is a Leonberger. FYI: The Grenadines is a chain of small islands that lie on a line between the larger islands of Saint Vincent and Grenada in the Lesser Antilles.

Postage stamps from Grenada and Grenadines featuring dogs including a Leonberger.
Stamps from Grenada and Grenadines featuring dogs including a Leonberger.

Out of curiosity I decided to search the internet and I found that not only are stamps featuring dogs common but stamps featuring Leonbergers are common as well. I found Leonberger stamps from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Congo, Niger, Monaco, Malawi, and Christmas Island. Below I am showing a few of them.

Image of postage stamp from Monaco featuring Leonberger and Newfoundland dog.
Stamp from Monaco featuring Leonberger and Newfoundland dog.
Image of postage stamp from Malawi featuring Leonberger.
Stamp from Malawi featuring Leonberger.
Image of postage stamp from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Congo, Niger and country I can’t make out featuring Leonbergers.
Stamp from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Congo, Niger and country I can’t make out featuring Leonbergers.

The Leonberger at the Mountain Top

We are visiting Sweden, specifically the High Coast. I am originally from here. This is a beautiful area with fjords, mountains and forests. We took a ski lift up to the top of a mountain called Skule Berget/Mountain. At the top there is a cabin that’s open for tourists.  You can also walk up the mountain on a steep long trail. In addition to visiting the cabin and watching the views from the mountain top we climbed down a cliff to visit a cave and after our visit we walked down the trail. It was a day filled with exercise. However, the highlight of the day was that we met a Leonberger, Amie, and her owner at the top of mountain.

Amie a female Leonberger at the Skule mountain top.
Amie at the top of the Skule Mountain.

We shouted, “look a Leonberger”, and Amie started wagging her tail and running towards us. She obviously loved attention. Her owner let us pet her and take a few photos of her. Amie was very playful, she rolled around and wanted to be petted. She was very friendly. She reminded us of our late Leonberger Bronco, but being a female she was a little bit smaller and more feminine looking.

Photo of Amie, a female Leonberger. She was playful but well behaved.
Amie was playful but very well behaved.

Amie is nine years old, which is old for a Leonberger. We were impressed that she walked all the way up to the mountain top.

Photo of view over the High Coast in Sweden
View from the Skule Mountain top
Photo of the cabin at the Skule mountain top
The cabin at the Skule mountain top
Photo of us walking back down from the Skule mountain
We are walking back down

A Prehistoric Woman and her Loyal and Brave Dog

This blog is primarily about Leonbergers and our late Leonberger Bronco as well as the book I wrote about him and his dog friends. However, sometimes I review other Leonberger books and on occasion other great books. This time I am reviewing Born in a Treacherous Time, the first book in the Dawn of Humanity series – March 8, 2019, by Jacqui Murray. This paperback is 381 pages, ISBN‏‎ 978-1942101451, item weight 1.23 pounds, dimensions 6 x 0.96 x 9 inches. You can buy it from, for example, Amazon or Barnes and Noble, as a paperback or e-Book. The paperback version is currently $15.99 on Amazon.

Photo of front cover of the book Born in a Treacherous Time by Jacqui Murray. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Front cover of the book Born in a Treacherous Time by Jacqui Murray. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.

This book, “Born in a Treacherous Time” is the story of a Homo Habilis woman, Lucy, who lived 1.8 million years ago in Africa. The book also features a large, loyal, and brave dog “Ump” who reminded me of our large, loyal and brave Leonberger dog Le Bronco von der Löwhenhöhle.

Lucy suffers many great losses, she travels across a great rift, she is very resourceful, she is a huntress and a healer, and she survives many potentially deadly challenges. She interacts with many interesting characters and experiences many harrowing adventures. She is a survivor but a survivor with a good heart. The characters in the book are compelling, and they will touch your heart despite being of a primitive human species. The many action-packed adventures in the book, makes it difficult to put it down.

The depiction of life in the early Quaternary is realistic, which some may have a problem with. The characters in this book hunt and kill, and they are hunted and killed. They don’t eat pizza and hot dogs with relish and mustard. Life back then was brutish, cruel and short and food was raw and whatever you could get. In this book there’s loss, sadness, starvation, violence as well as a lot of adventure. So many of us hide behind our modern comforts. We eat meat without considering the destructive environmental impacts of factory farming or that the animal providing our meal was treated much more inhumanely than any free running animal killed by a hunter. We forget how harsh life used to be. I prefer realistic depictions over Disney like fairy tales.

The same is true for Ump, the friendly and brave prehistoric dog that became one of Lucy’s companions. Their friendship began after Ump’s tragic loss of his family. He did not want to move on but Lucy, having suffered so much great loss herself, encouraged him to move on. Ump was very loving and fiercely protective. Perhaps he carried a Leonberger gene? Fossil records show that prehistoric dogs and hominids came across each other in Africa 1.8 million years ago. Any domestication might have been unlikely but that doesn’t mean the story about Lucy and Ump couldn’t have happened.

Just like some of Jean M Auel’s work was made into a film, I think this book and the rest of the series could be made into a film, or a TV series. There are so many fascinating stories in this book. I should mention that Jean M Auel wrote about a time period about 20,000 years ago towards the end of the last glacial period and it was taking place in Europe. Jacqui Murray is writing about a time period 1.8 million years ago at the beginning of the ice age (Quaternary) and the first glacial periods and it is taking place in Africa. So, the setting is quite different. Like Jean M Auel Jacqui Murray did her research. I highly recommend this thrilling and enlightening book of adventures and I am looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

Photos of a Senior Leonberger

Our Leonberger Bronco or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle lived a very long life for a Leonberger. Large dogs do not live as long as small dogs and giant breeds such as St. Bernards, Great Danes, and Leonbergers have much shorter life spans. The average life span for Leonbergers is 8 years. Bronco died two weeks short of 13 years. He got a so called, Grey Muzzle Award, from the Leonberger Health Foundation International, and we submitted his DNA to a lab for research. The Leonberger Health Foundation International is an organization that support health related Leonberger-specific research. They fund research on various illnesses common in Leonbergers as well as the longevity of Leonbergers. This research benefit other giant breeds as well.

Dogs are considered senior after they pass 2/3 of their expected lifespan (5.3 years), which means that Bronco technically was a senior for more than 2/3’s of his life. This posts, feature 20 photos from his old age.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco sitting in the front lawn.
Our Leonberger Bronco sitting in the front lawn.

In this photo our Leonberger Bronco is eleven years old and standing in front of our hallway. Old age is starting to set in. In this photo he has already had squamous cell carcinoma a toe-skin cancer and he has amputated a couple of toes.
In this photo our Leonberger Bronco is eleven years old and standing in front of our hallway. Old age is starting to set in. In this photo he has already had squamous cell carcinoma a toe-skin cancer and he has amputated a couple of toes.

In this photo our Leonberger Bronco is eleven years old, looking a little bit scruff and getting grey hair.
Our Leonberger Bronco eleven years old, looking a little bit scruff and getting grey hair.

Bronco with our pug Daisy whom he protected with his life. He saved her life by intervening when a lose German Shepherd went after her and he even shared food with her he had stolen from me.
Bronco with our pug Daisy whom he protected with his life. He saved her life by intervening when a lose German Shepherd went after her and he even shared food with her he had stolen from me.

Photo of Bronco and Daisy in our bug red sofa. Bronco loved our big red sofa. It was great for him but too deep to be comfortable for humans.
Bronco loved our big red sofa. It was great for him but too deep to be comfortable for humans.

Photo of Bronco and Daisy in the backyard.
Bronco and Daisy in the backyard.

Bronco is welcoming a new puppy, a mini-Australian Shepherd called Rollo.
Bronco is welcoming a new puppy, a mini-Australian Shepherd called Rollo.

Rollo loved playing with Bronco. He walked all over him, sat on his head like a hat and dangled in his tail. Bronco was patient.
Rollo loved playing with Bronco. He walked all over him, sat on his head like a hat and dangled in his tail. Bronco was patient.

Two buddies in the backyard.

Photo of Bronco's face. Bronco is hungry and is coming to get my attention.
Bronco is hungry and is coming to get my attention.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco in Grandpa’s bushes.
Our Leonberger Bronco in Grandpa’s bushes.

Our Leonberger Bronco is twelve years old in this photo, a quite respectable age for a Leonberger.
Our Leonberger Bronco is twelve years old in this photo, a quite respectable age for a Leonberger.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco with sunrays shining down on him. Our Leonberger Bronco was a saint. He saved Daisy’s life, he might have saved the life of our Labrador Baylor as well, when he sniffed out an oncoming insulin shock before it happened.
Our Leonberger Bronco was a saint. He saved Daisy’s life, he might have saved the life of our Labrador Baylor as well, when he sniffed out an oncoming insulin shock before it happened.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco in front of a broken fence. Bronco has a bandage with a ziplock bag around it. A tornado ravaged our neighborhood, smashed our chimney, ruined our roof, and partially damaged our fence. It was not Bronco huffing and puffing. He had just had a toe amputation due to a reoccurrence of squamous cell carcinoma. He has a bandage on his leg, which was protected by a one-gallon zip-lock bag when he is walking outside.
A tornado ravaged our neighborhood, smashed our chimney, ruined our roof, and partially damaged our fence. It was not Bronco huffing and puffing. He had just had a toe amputation due to a reoccurrence of squamous cell carcinoma. He has a bandage on his leg, which was protected by a one-gallon zip-lock bag when he is walking outside.

Photo of Bronco with his Grey Muzzle Award. He received the award for living longer than 12 years, a rare feat for a Leonberger. It is the Leonberger Health Foundation International that give out this award.
Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award has arrived. He received the award for living longer than 12 years, a rare feat for a Leonberger. It is the Leonberger Health Foundation International that give out this award.

Our Leonberger Bronco with the, so called, cone of shame. Well, it was a soft cone for comfort and the largest size to match his size. Unfortunately, he swung that cone around sometimes clearing tabletops.

Photo of Bronco barging into the bathroom with his cone and all. He didn’t like being alone.
Bronco barging into the bathroom with his cone and all. He didn’t like being alone.

Photo of old Bronco sitting in the backyard.
Old Bronco sitting in the backyard.

Our Leonberger Bronco was almost 13 years old in this photo.
Our Leonberger Bronco was almost 13 years old in this photo.

Among the last photos of Bronco. After this photo he passed away from a heart failure. He always had a heart of gold but even hearts of gold don’t last forever.
Among the last photos of Bronco. After this photo he passed away from a heart failure. He always had a heart of gold but even hearts of gold don’t last forever.