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.
Cartoon dog pets with happy muzzles. Shutterstock Asset id: 2497974643 by Foxy Fox.
Today is National Dog Day. According to this website “Every year on August 26, National Dog Day celebrates the bond between humans and dogs while spotlighting the many dogs still in need of a loving home.”. It was Jacqui Murray who alerted me to the existence of National Dog Day. As a family we’ve owned six dogs including two rescues. They were:
Baylor our funny and brave Labrador Rhodesian Ridgeback mix.
Baby our nurturing and motherly German Shepherd.
Bronco our funny and loving Leonberger. He is the focus of this blog.
Ryu our Japanese Chin and energetic little opera singer (howling).
Daisy our calm and easy pug.
Rollo our rambunctious but loving mini-Australian Shepherd.
I should say we’ve been around many other dogs and owned other dogs further back in time. To celebrate National Dog Day, I decided to show photos of our dogs as well as dogs owned by friends and a few stock photos of dogs. A lot of the dog photos are of Leonbergers since this is a Leonberger blog. However, I would like to point out that we are celebrating all dogs, pure bred, as well as mixed breeds.
Cartoon illustration of 20 dog breeds including the Leonberger. Shutterstock Asset id: 2658034883 by A7880S
Below are some of my previous Leonberger photo posts:
Ten Leonberger puppies with mama. Shutterstock-ID: 561107650 by Akbudak Rimma.Six Leonbergers celebrating a birthday celebration. Photo by Jen O’Keefe.This is a photo of our Leonberger Bronco when he was three months old.This is a black and white photo of our Leonberger Bronco when he was three months old.Our Leonberger dog Bronco as an adult. He is coming up to me. He wants my attention.Baylor our Labrador Rhodesian Ridgeback mix on the left and our German Shepherd Baby on the right. They were both old in this photo.Baylor is younger in this photo. The photo is from around 2005 or 2006. Baylor had a smile that would warm the coldest hearts.Baylor loved to swim in Claudia’s parents’ pool. Claudia is my wife.Our German Shepherd Baby was always a little wary at the dog park.Our German Shepherd Baby is reluctantly playing with another dog at White Rock Lake dog park near Dallas, Texas.Our Japanese Chin Ryu with our daughter who was 9 years old at the time.Our Japanese Chin Ryu.Our Japanese Chin Ryu and our Pug Daisy are protesting our travel by sitting in our suitcase. They want to come with us.Our pug Daisy loved to sunbath even when it was hot. Here she is catching some rays while lying on our old backyard porch, which had gravel.Digory and Obi are two Leonbergers. Digory was a very brave Leonberger who fought cancer. He was featured in the Leo-Letter a Leonberger Magazine Photo by Jen O’Keefe. Jen is a friend in the Leonberger community.Digory with Leonbergers friends on the beach. Photo by Jen O’Keefe.Hachi is a Canadian Leonberger. Here he is featured with my book. The owner and photographers are Brenda Saito and her husband.A Canadian Leonberger called Mak with my book. Photo by Debbie Ireland.Our Leonberger Bronco and our Pug DaisyWho is peeking out behind the sofa? The answer is Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd.Our Leonberger Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.Rollo loves rolling and chasing balls.Rollo is anxious and easily frightened. Daisy’s stroller is a good thing to sit in for such occasions.Our Leonberger Bronco is in the front yard.Our daughter with our pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo.This is a photo I took. It was Daisy’s 15th birthday. I can add that this photo was stolen by the administrators of several Pug groups on Facebook and posted as if it was their own photo. Sometimes her name was Daisy but sometimes they made up new names for her including male names. They also used the approval feature to prevent you from complaining. This was very common. I was unable to find an honest Pug group on Facebook. Posting dog photos on a blog is much more rewarding.A painting of our late pug Daisy who passed away last April. It is based on one of our photos and created by Etsy. I believe by the same woman who made Bronco’s portrait (see below).The portrait was drawn by Veniceme at Etsy (Natasha Dall’Ara) and it is based on one of our photos.
Dog Books to Check Out
I wrote a book about our amazing and funny Leonberger . The book also features tips for care and training of Leonbergers and other large dogs, as well as a resource guide. The title of the book is The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. You can buy the paperback version here or the Kindle version here. You can buy it on Canadian Amazon here. To find out more about the book and where else to buy it click here.
This evening around 7:45PM my daughter came to me and said that my wife, Claudia, and her, wanted to take Rollo for a walk. I said that I had told Claudia that I would go with her and Rollo for a walk at 8:00PM, and that I was in the middle of something right now. We had an argument, which ended with my daughter and my wife taking Rollo for a walk at around 7:50PM, and I stayed home to finish what I was doing. The reason we are walking him late in the evening is because here in north Texas it is pretty hot, so you need to wait until twilight.
They left, but at 8:00PM I decided to join them, so I went after them. However, I could not find them. When I reached an intersection, I called my wife on her phone to find out which way they went. She did not answer because she had left her phone at home. The same was true for my daughter. But then I thought I heard Rollo barking, so I went that way. It turned out it was another dog. I turned around and started walking home. I had about a mile back home.
Soon after I had rounded a corner in an intersection, I heard a bark. I turned around and there was Rollo running towards me with my daughter running behind him holding the leash. She explained that Rollo had picked up a scent about half a mile back and had started running. She thought he had smelled another dog and along the way they passed a dog. However, he just ran passed the dog without acknowledging the dog. He was obviously after something else. She was wondering what he was running after, and she found the answer as they rounded the corner and saw me.
He had smelled my scent and had started running to find me from half a mile away. It wasn’t like I stank to high heaven. I took a shower today. How could he smell me, just from walking around the neighborhood? The sense of smell of dogs is amazing. Clearly Rollo’s sense of smell was better than my hearing. According to this article (and this) a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than that of a human. You can read more about Rollo here and here and here. Below are a few photos of Rollo.
Close up of Rollo as a puppy.Rollo playing with a volleyball.Rollo frequently bit our Leonberger Bronco’s tail, and he even swung in it like a swing. He climbed all over Bronco. Bronco was very patient with him.
The Day Our Leonberger Bronco Sniffed out an Insulin Shock
According to the article that I mentioned above “Dogs’ powerful noses are being used in medicine to detect diseases, sniffing them out in a less invasive manner than the currently available diagnostic tests”. For example, dogs have been able to accurately detect cancer, predict seizures and identify people with low blood sugar just by using their noses. This is exactly what I am going to describe below.
We used to have a Labrador called Baylor who had diabetes. Well, more exactly he was ¾ Labrador and ¼ Rhodesian Ridgeback. I used to give him insulin shots after every meal. We also had a Leonberger called Bronco. This was a large dog. Leonberger are related to Saint Bernards and about the same size.
One day as we had just gone to bed our Leonberger Bronco started barking while looking intently at Baylor, then he looked at us, then he turned his head toward Baylor and started barking again. He did this a few times—not aggressively, but to get our attention. It became clear to us that Bronco wanted us to look at Baylor. I examined Baylor but saw nothing wrong at first. Then I looked again. This time I saw that his back legs were shaking slightly. It quickly got worse. His gait became wobbly, then within perhaps fifteen seconds he fainted. He had gone into insulin shock. “Insulin shock” is another name for severe hypoglycemia, a condition where blood sugar (glucose) is dangerously low. Exactly, what dogs can smell out according to the article above. We rushed him to the emergency clinic, where fortunately the doctors were able to revive him.
Bronco detected a problem with Baylor before we could see anything wrong. His warnings gave us that little bit of extra time we needed to save Baylor’s life. Imagine if we had gone to bed, fallen asleep and not noticed the problem. I can add that Leonbergers have a very keen sense of smell. We had never taught Bronco to detect insulin shock or any other condition. It was entirely his own instinct. This was one of the amazing superpowers Bronco had. I should say that we didn’t know this at the time, but giving a dog sugar, or something sweet, can bring him out of insulin shock. To read more about this incident click here or here. Below are some photos of Bronco and Baylor.
Baylor is young in this photo. The photo is from around 2005 or 2006. Baylor had a smile that would warm the coldest hearts.Me and our Leonberger Bronco when he was young.Our Leonberger Bronco is ready for dinner
Today, July 31st is National Mutt Day. Our Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, was not a mutt, but our Labrador Baylor was. We kept referring to him as a Labrador, but he was actually 3/4 Labrador and 1/4 Rhodesian Ridgeback. Therefore, I am making a post about him today. You can also read about Baylor here . here and here.
Baylor our Labrador Rhodesian Ridgeback mix on the left and our German Shepherd Baby on the right. They were both old in this photo.
About Baylor
Our first family dog was Baylor, a yellow Labrador retriever mix who allegedly was one-quarter Rhodesian ridgeback. He was a rescue dog first adopted by our niece Jessica, and then when she went to college he stayed with Claudia’s parents until we finally adopted him a couple of years later. He was familiar with us, so the change was not a difficult experience for him. Naturally he was potty trained and well trained in other regards, so taking care of him was a relatively easy job.
Baylor is younger in this photo. The photo is from around 2005 or 2006. Baylor had a smile that would warm the coldest hearts.
Baylor was the dog who taught me what it means to be a dog owner. I didn’t grow up with dogs, and for years I felt like dogs were annoying and somewhat unpleasant and even scary. To me, they were just barking machines. People who let their aggressive and poorly trained dogs run loose and bother people on the street and children walking to school had cemented that impression on me. A dog was something I wasn’t interested in having. Hamsters and turtles seemed a lot easier to take care of, and they don’t run around growling and barking at people. But there was Baylor, and I had a lot to learn.
Baylor was an energetic and fun dog. He was also very social. He loved visiting the dog park and playing with other dogs. Like Bronco, he loved swimming. He loved running, chasing balls, and playing tug-of-war. I later learned that tug-of-war is not a great game to play with dogs. It can make them aggressive. Anyway, over the years I grew quite fond of him. I loved coming home to his enthusiastic greetings and then taking him for a walk.
Baylor loved to swim in Claudia’s parents’ pool. Claudia is my wife.
On several occasions, Baylor proved to be a hero. My wife Claudia’s mother told me that once, when she was walking him along a road near her house, she fell into a deep hole in the road. There were no other people around at the time, and the hole, which wasn’t covered and hadn’t been roped off, was around waist high. Not being young anymore, she couldn’t climb her way out. However, Baylor started pulling her. She held on to his leash while he smoothly but forcefully dragged her upward. Working together, they managed to pull her out of the hole. Baylor understood how to help, and he was strong enough to do it.
The Dog Fight
Baylor could also defend himself when he needed to. One time, as he and I were walking down a long straight road in the neighborhood, I turned around and saw two dogs running out of an alleyway around half a mile behind us. Right behind them came a woman, and she was running as well. The dogs were racing toward us and barking, and the woman behind the dogs was screaming at them. It was obvious that they had snuck out of a house and were ignoring their owner. For a moment I thought that maybe we should be running as well, but I decided against it. I would not be able to outrun the dogs, even though Baylor could, and letting him loose would be a bad idea. I decided to keep calm and continue walking.
A few seconds later I turned around to look again. The dogs were coming closer. I could see their glistening teeth and their faces full of rage as they charged toward us. The woman behind them was going as fast as she could, but she couldn’t keep up. Both dogs were around the size of Baylor. One of them looked like a pit bull, and the other looked like a golden retriever. I braced for the worst, and Baylor and I positioned ourselves for a fight.
Then the dog who looked like a golden retriever stopped and sat down. He seemed to be less aggressive. But the pit bull came right at us as if he wanted to kill us. There was a violent clash. Baylor fought back valiantly, and he was able to control the situation, despite being on a leash. (Well, I gave him all the leeway I could.) There were loud growls and snarls and sharp white teeth snapping and biting.
The woman finally arrived. Her face was red, and she was sweating profusely. It didn’t look like she was in good shape, and she had just sprinted half a mile without stopping. Breathing heavily, she grabbed her aggressive dog and apologized. I didn’t respond, even though I felt sorry for her. I knew the whole thing was probably an accident, but after that experience I couldn’t spare much sympathy for her. Luckily, there were no serious injuries.
Many dog owners intentionally let their dogs run loose in public, thinking they have them under perfect control, but then the dogs snap when they don’t expect it and they don’t know why. It probably wasn’t what happened in the episode with Baylor, but instances like this serve as powerful reminders of why we have leash laws.
After it was all over, I felt proud of Baylor for defending himself so well. He was a lot stronger and feistier than I expected, yet he was a very friendly and loving Labrador (mix).
Goodbye Baylor
All life ends and so did Baylor’s, in a tragic and sad way. Those who have read my book might know what happened. If you do read my book, this section is marked in grey and called an intermezzo. This way you can avoid reading this sad part. Less sensitive people are welcome to read it and learn some lessons from our experience.
You were our favorite HELLO and our hardest Goodbye. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.
About the book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle
Finally, I would like to point out that I currently is running a promotion for my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. The book is focused on our late Leonberger Bronco, but Baylor and several other dogs are also featured in the book. The price of the Kindle version of my book is now only $2.99 and the price of the paperback version is 17.95 (normal prize is $19.95). You can read more about the promotion here.
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the United States Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the kindle version of the book.Again, these are the endorsements for the book by some very prominent members of the Leonberger community. Click here or on the image to go to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
Leonberger Life 