Tag: Lullaby

Wolves and Dogs and Leonbergers

Image above by Kevin from The Beginning at Last

This is a submission for Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

Canis Lupus Familiaris

Canis Lupus Familiaris, the dog, is a close relative of the grey wolf. Dogs and wolves share a high percentage of DNA and are in fact the same species. They can mate and produce offspring referred to as wolf dogs. However, keeping wolves or wolf dogs as pets is not recommended. Our late Leonberger dog Bronco was in fact accused of being a wolf by a little boy and he was accused of being a bear by a neighbor. The boy was very close to being right.

The left-hand side of the picture shows a grey wolf looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus, the grey wolf is a fearsome and courageous hunter in nature. The right-hand side of the picture shows our Leonberger dog Bronco looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus familiaris, a close relative of the grey wolf, is sometimes also brave. This specimen bravely protects the life of smaller dogs and hamsters.
Leonbergers are big dogs, and little boys may think they are wolves, but Leonbergers are very friendly.
The left-hand side of the picture shows a grey wolf looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus, the grey wolf is a fearsome and courageous hunter in nature. The right-hand side of the picture shows our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo sitting in a stroller and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus familiaris, a close relative of the grey wolf, is sometimes less brave. This specimen prefers to sit in a stroller when he hears strange sounds.
Mini Australian Shepherds like our dog Rollo may look like wolves but are rarely mistaken for wolves. A quacking duck can be very scary to little mini–Australian Shepherds.

Are Big Dogs Wolves ?

The short stories below are from my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. A Leonberger is a large type of dog, a so-called giant breed, closely related to Saint Bernards, and allegedly also Great Pyrenees dogs Newfoundland dogs. Bronco weighed 140 pounds when he was not overweight.


Bronco was a big dog. Once when I was walking Bronco around the neighborhood, a neighbor who always let his black Labs run loose saw us. He shouted to his wife, “Honey, get the dogs inside! Someone is walking a bear out here.” I guess letting your large dogs run loose isn’t a problem until someone walks a dog much bigger than yours.

On a number of occasions, we’ve met people who said to us that Bronco is the biggest dog they’ve ever seen. However, there are bigger dogs. We’ve met bigger English bullmastiffs and bigger Great Danes.

One day I took Bronco into PetSmart, and after I did my shopping, he and I were standing in the checkout line. Bronco was very quiet and well-behaved, but a boy ahead of us in line became quite alarmed when he saw us. He shouted, “Look! A wolf, a wolf, a wolf!” He pointed his finger at Bronco. His mom tried to calm the boy, but he would not stop shouting. He didn’t seem to be afraid of Bronco, but he was really concerned that there was a big wolf in the pet store. I tried to explain to the boy that Bronco was not a wolf. He was just a big dog.

Since our neighbor called Bronco a bear, I am including a second image from Kevin’s post that I think illustrates what our neighbor saw as I walked passed his house. Well, I had only one Leonberger/Bear and I don’t have antlers or a beard, and our neighborhood does not have that many trees. Other than that, it is spot on.

AI generated image showing an old man with a long beard wearing antlers as he is walking his two Grizzly Bears through a dense coniferous forest.
Walking my bear through the neighborhood. Image from Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

Nordic Wolf Lullaby

Finally, a beautiful Nordic Lullaby sung by Jonna Jinton. Jonna Jinton is a Swedish singer who lives nearby Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden, which is the town where I am originally from (now I live in Dallas, Texas). So, if you watch the video, the nature you see is from my old neighborhood.

The Lullaby is about a wolf who is hungry and cold, but he can’t have the singer’s baby for dinner. But she could offer a pig tail. What some may find remarkable about the Lullaby is that the mother being threatened by the wolf shows the wolf empathy. The existence of the stomach creates conflict between us creatures. To see the English translation turn on subtitles.