Tag: Rollo

Total Eclipse Day in Dallas

Black circle surrounded by a wispy white fog like light. That’s the sun’s corona.
What we saw today. Solar Eclipse Stock Photo ID: 2344355767 by aeonWAVE

When I made my blog post Dallas On April 8 2024 I promised to follow up with what happened. We had a small solar eclipse barbeque. It was just me and my wife, our daughter, grandpa and grandma and  our dog Rollo. Our daughter dressed up Rollo in a vampire dog cap and put bows on the beer glasses, my wife prepared the food, and I grilled chicken and hot dogs. Then we enjoyed the show. It was a great show, and we were lucky with the weather.

A Westvleteren 12 in front and my open grill in the background.
Grilling and drinking a Westvleteren 12 a Belgian Ale Quadrupel from Brouwerij de Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren in Belgium, ABV 10.2%.
A table set for five with a large parasol.
Our patio table. The little brown packages contain AAS / ISO certified solar eclipse glasses.
My daughter holding a Westvleteren 12 glass with a bow. Grandpa and grandma sitting on chairs in the background.
Our daughter holding a Westvleteren 12 glass with a bow. Grandpa and grandma in the background.
A mini-Australian Shepherd sitting on the patio floor.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd on the patio.

The Partial Eclipse

It was partially cloudy during the partial eclipse, but we were able to get a good look at the eclipse as it progressed. To see the partial eclipse, you have to use good solar eclipse glasses. It is primarily for safety reasons, but it is also pointless to look at the sun during a partial eclipse. You won’t see the eclipse because the powerful light from the sun overwhelms your view. I had a little filter that was placed in front of my phone camera as I took a few pictures. Admittedly they were pretty bad. I have an old Samsung Galaxy S8+ but even using newer phones it is difficult to get decent photos of something like this. This is why I need to invest in a real camera.

The photo shows a shiny crescent on black background.
Partial eclipse photo taken with my old Samsung Galaxy phone and a filter.

The Total Eclipse

1:40PM Dallas time the total solar eclipse happened and luckily it was not covered by clouds. At this point it suddenly got dark and it was safe to look straight at the sun without using the eclipse glasses. The total eclipse lasted four minutes. I have included a shutter stock photo below which closely represents what we actually saw. We saw a black circle and around the black circle was a wispy white fog like light. This was the sun’s corona and it shone with about the same power as the full moon. It kind of looked like a black hole. Our phone cameras distorted what we saw quite a bit, especially mine. The corona was blown up to 3 times its actually size and it looked messy, perhaps because it got dark. One thing this photo does not show is that the stars came out, which provided us with a little surprise.

Black circle surrounded by a wispy white fog like light. That’s the sun’s corona.
What we saw today. Solar Eclipse Stock Photo ID: 2344355767 by aeonWAVE

The Venus Surprise

Below is a photo my daughter took with her phone. The sun looks tiny (it wasn’t) and the corona is overblown and does look like it actually did. However, you can see a star looking object down on the right above and on the left of the cloud and left of the airplane contrail. I used the Google Sky Map App to find out what star it was, but it wasn’t a star. It was the planet, Venus. It was located straight south high in the sky three quarters to zenith. I have certainly never seen Venus in that position in the sky before, and it was unusually luminous as well. I’ve seen Venus many times low in sky in the west soon after sundown (then called the evening star) and I’ve seen Venus many times low in sky in the east in the morning (then called the morning star), but never like this. The total solar eclipse provided an unexpected Venus show.

The photo shows the sun totally covered by the moon. It is very small in the photo. There is star like object, that’s Venus, a cloud and airplane contrail.
Total solar eclipse photo that my daughter took. Can you find Venus?

Total Eclipse Photos

These eight pictures above were taken with cell phones by my daughter Rachel, Denise Mosier-Wanken, and Margaret Weiss Bloebaum.

How was your Eclipse Day ?

Tears Are Falling in My Heart

This morning at 10:20AM our pug Daisy died. She was 15 ½ years old. She had an enlarged heart, her back legs were giving out, and she had breathing problems. She took lots of different medications. Yet, the breathing crisis she had this morning came unexpectedly. Our veterinary told us it was time. We did not want her to suffer. I was holding her in my arms and my wife, daughter and doctor Sara Thomas petted her. Then when we were ready Dr. Thomas gave her the injections.

A puppy in the arms of our son wearing a red shirt
Daisy came to us a little pug puppy 15 ½ years ago. Our son David, eleven years old at the time, was holding her. Today I held her for the last time.

Daisy was a sweet, friendly and funny pug who loved cuddling, eating and sitting on the sofa. She also loved sunbathing as well as sitting in front of the vent when it was cold. All our dogs loved her, and our Leonberger Bronco saved her life once. He protected her from an attacking young German Shepherd. Our Labrador Baylor and our German Shepherd Baby loved her. Our Japanese Shin loved her more than anything. They were always together. They made mischief together, they escaped together, and they went for walks together and at the dog park Ryu wouldn’t let any other dog be too friendly with Daisy. Later, our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo loved her too. Unfortunately, Rollo is now alone. He is confused and sad like we are.

Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo on the left. Our pug Daisy on the right.
Rollo and Daisy in our red sofa. Rollo was one year old, and Daisy was 11 years old.

I wrote a poem in French, a language I am learning. I am not a poet. I think it is my first poem as an adult in any language. I chose French because everything sounds so much better in French. It rhymes/ I apologize for any errors.

Ce soir, il pleure dans mon coeur. (tonight, tear falls in my heart, pleure & coeur rhyme with fur)

Notre belle carline Daisy est mort (Our beautiful pug Daisy is dead)

Il est temps, dit notre docteur (It is time said our doctor)

Tu es parti dans un coup du sort (You are gone in a twist of fate)

Nous nous souviendrons toujours (we will always remember)

Ta gentillesse. Tes yeux aimants (Your kindness. Your loving eyes)

Tu auras pour toujours notre amour (You will forever have our love)

pour nous tu étais comme un enfant (to us you were like a child)

Below are two YouTube songs that express how I feel. The first one is in French “Je suis malade..” / I am sick without you, I am ugly without you, …. Warning this one is very sad. The second one is your love….to feel your love again… to feel you close once more… (no lyrics in song) by Ennio Morricone.

Je suis malade / I am sick … without you
to feel your love again
Our pug Daisy on top of the sofa. Her legs are dangling over the sofa and her tongue is out.
Daisy on the sofa after an exhausting day of doing nothing.
Our pug Daisy is stranding on the wood floor.
Our pug Daisy when she was young.
Daisy is sleeping in our son’s arms, and he is sleeping on the sofa.
Daisy our new pug puppy with our son David.
Our pug is leaning on vent located close to our wood floor.
Daisy liked to sit in front of the vent when it was cold or alternatively too hot.
Daisy our pug loved lying on her back and bathe in the sun.
Daisy loved sunbathing.
Our pug Daisy is wearing sunglasses.
Daisy in sunglasses.
Our Japanese Shin Ryu is on the left and our Pug Daisy on the right. They are sitting in our red suitcase.
Ryu and Daisy jumped into our suitcase to protest that we were leaving for a trip.
Our Pug Daisy is holding Ryu’s leash in her mouth. Ryu is our Japanese Shin.
Daisy is taking Ryu for a walk.
Our pug Daisy is lying on her back on the patio.
Daisy sunbathing on our patio in the backyard.
Daisy our pug is standing on kitchen floor tiling.
Daisy standing on our kitchen floor.
Daisy our pug is sitting on a red sofa.
Daisy on the red sofa.
Daisy our pug has a tissue box over her head.
Once when we came home Daisy met us in the doorway with a tissue box over her head. She had gotten her head stuck in a tissue box.
Our Leonberger is spread out on our leather sofa and Daisy our pug is walking in front of him.
Daisy decided to leave because Bronco our Leonberger was taking up too much room.
Daisy our pug is sleeping and resting her head on my wife Claudia’s knee.
Daisy resting her head on Claudia’s knee.
From left to right, Bronco, Ryu, Daisy.
Bronco our Leonberger, Ryu our Japanese Shin, and then Daisy our Pug.
Our Pug Daisy is sitting at the table to the left. She is wearing a blue birthday hat. Our Leonberger Bronco is on the right.
Daisy’s 11th birthday.
Daisy is sitting on our bed, and she is looking into the camera.
Daisy is sitting on our bed.
Daisy our pug (left) and Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd (right).
Daisy and Rollo in the sofa.
Our daughter is sitting on her knees on the floor. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo sits on her left and our Pug Daisy sits on her right.
Our daughter is petting Rollo and Daisy.
Daisy and Rollo are looking out the window. Daisy says : Rollo do you want to hear a joke? Rollo says : OK. Daisy says : Knock! Knock! Rollo says : Woof! Woof!, Woof!. Daisy says : Woof! Woof! Woof!.
Daisy and Rollo barking at the mailman + a joke.
Daisy is wearing a pink party hat. She is sitting in front of a cake and my wife is giving her cake.
Daisy’s 15th birthday.
Daisy is standing on the wood floor. She is wearing blue diapers with black suspenders.
Towards the end of her life Daisy had to wear diapers with suspenders.
Daisy our pug is sitting in a blue stroller.
Towards the end of her life Daisy had a hard time walking so she sat in a stroller during our walks.

Goodbye Daisy

25 Leonberger Puppies and Other Puppies for National Puppy Day

Today is National Puppy Day. Therefore, I am posting 25 puppy photos. It is mostly Leonberger puppies but there are also puppy photos of some of our other dogs. Most of the photos in this post are mine but I am including a few Leonberger puppy photos from shutterstock. If you want to check out the Leonberger book I wrote click here, or look to the right if you are on a desktop or at the bottom if you are on a mobile.

This is a black and white photo of our Leonberger puppy Bronco at three months old. He is sitting and staring at the camera. He is wearing a silk scarf.
Our Leonberger Bronco at three months old.
This is color photo of our Leonberger puppy Bronco at three months old. He is sitting and staring at the camera. He is wearing a silk scarf.
Our Leonberger Bronco at three months old.
Our black and white Japanese Shin Ryu is on our red sofa. You can see our pug Daisy in the upper left corner.
Our Japanese Shin Ryu when he was young.
Photo of our son David on the sofa holding a little pug puppy in his arms.
Our son David with our pug Daisy when she was a puppy.
Photo of our son David on the sofa holding a little pug puppy in his arms.
Our son David is holding our pug Daisy when she was still a puppy (now she is 15 ½ years old).
Two brown Leonberger puppies lying on a wood floor.
Two Leonberger puppies. Shutter stock Photo ID: 2294202331 by Olga Shusters.
A Leonberger puppy running in the snow.
A Leonberger puppy running in the snow. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 2056502327 by Nikky de Graaf.
A Leonberger puppy standing in the snow.
A Leonberger puppy standing in the snow. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 2390810457 by VeronArt16.
A Leonberger puppy sitting on a white floor next to pink flowers.
Another Leonberger puppy. Stock Photo ID: 561111403 by Akbudak Rimma.
Ten Leonberger puppies sitting on a sofa. They are brown with black face masks.
Ten Leonberger puppies. My guess is that they are about two months old. Shutterstock-ID:561107710 by Akbudak Rimma.
Leonberger puppy running through green grass. The puppy has its mouth open, and he is looking straight into the camera.
Leonberger puppy. My guess is that he is around two months old. Shutterstock-ID: 629624396 by TOM KAROLA.
Two sand colored Leonberger puppies playing in the snow. The play seems to be a little bit rough. Like all Leonbergers they have a black facemask.
Two light colored Leonberger puppies playing. My guess is that they are three months old. Shutterstock-ID: 2141564415 by AnetaZabranska.
The German Shepherd is lying on the floor and the Leonberger puppy is on his back.
Our German Shepherd Baby playing with our 4 months old Leonberger Bronco.
Our Leonberger Bronco about 9 months old is lying on his back on the floor.
Our Leonberger Bronco about 9 months old is lying on his back on the floor.
Bronco our Leonberger at the dog park. He is about one year old. He is maybe not a puppy but far from an adult. He is an adolescent, which is why he looks so thin and gangly. Our Labrador Baylor is in the background.
Bronco our Leonberger at the dog park. He is about one year old. He is maybe not a puppy but far from an adult. He is an adolescent, which is why he looks so thin and gangly. Our Labrador Baylor is in the background.
Our black and white Japanese Shin Ryu (left) sleeping next to our beige pug Daisy (right).
Our Japanese Shin Ryu sleeping next to our pug Daisy.
Our black and white Japanese Shin Ryu (right) licking our pug Daisy’s ear (left).
Our Japanese Shin Ryu licking our pug Daisy’s ear.
Photo shows a little mini-Australian Shepherd puppy on top. He is looking up at us. Right below him is an English Bulldog puppy.
The day we picked up our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo. He was nine weeks old. The other puppy is an English bulldog puppy.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo is lying on the grass.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo is lying on a blanket.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
The photo shows our pug Daisy on the right and our little mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo on the left. They are on the sofa.
Our pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
The photo shows our big Leonberger on the left and our little mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo on the right. They are in the backyard.
Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
The photo shows our big Leonberger standing behind our little mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo is playing with an orange volleyball on the green grass.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy Rollo playing with an orange ball.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo (left) is biting Bronco’s tail and pulling on it.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is playing with our Leonberger Bronco’s tail. Once he even dangled in it like a swing.

.

Happy National Puppy Day

National Love Your Pet Day with Leonbergers and Other Dogs

Today, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, is National Love Your Pet Day. So, I thought I would show some photos of our current dogs and dogs from the past, naturally including our late Leonberger Bronco. I think the photos I am displaying show some of our love for them.

Photo of a Leonberger puppy looking into the camera
Our Leonberger Bronco when he was a three-month-old puppy.
A yellow lab on the left and the dark brown German Shepherd on the right
On the left our Labrador Baylor and on the right our German Shepherd Baby. Baby took care of and protected Bronco when he was a pup, just like a good mother.
Our Leonberger Bronco is standing on our red sofa and giving me a hug and a kiss
Our young Leonberger Bronco is giving me a hug.
Jessica is on the left and she is giving our Leonberger Bronco a kiss
Our niece Jessica giving Bronco a kiss
Our 167-pound Leonberger is sitting in my wife’s lap and she is disappearing behind him.
Our Leonberger Bronco sitting in my wife Claudia’s lap. He was the perfect lap dog.
Our Japanese Shin Ryu is sitting in the middle of the floor
Our Japanese Shin Ryu
Our mini-Australian Shepherd puppy is lying on a blanket on the floor while turning his head and looking into the camera.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo as a puppy.
Our 20-year-old daughter is sitting in between our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo (left) and our pug Daisy (right) while petting them both
Our daughter petting Rollo and our pug Daisy
Our pug Daisy’s 15th birthday.
Our dogs are sitting on a very nice leather sofa chair. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is sitting on the left and our pug Daisy on the right. They are looking into the camera.
Rollo and Daisy own the best furniture.
Photo of 32 Leonberger faces
The 2019-2020 Grey Muzzle Awardees. Bronco is on the second row from the top and second from left. Click on the picture to visit the YouTube video. Bronco is at two minutes.
Video showing 32 2019 & 2020 Grey Muzzle Awardees (Leonbergers). Bronco at two minutes in.

A Typical Day with The Dogs

It was a rainy day today, but we didn’t just sit here all day. In the morning my wife Claudia and I had a French lesson. It was over zoom. We discussed tourism including tourism to cities. I spoke about my visits to Paris and Aix-En-Provence. Daisy, our Pug sat and slept under the computer desk during the class. Her snoring was audible to the rest of the class. Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd is very afraid of the sound that rain makes on the roof and on our skylights, so he was very nervous.

A comical cartoon showing a man in a rainjacket and a dog. The dog is saying "Thanks, anyways. But I think I'm just gonna poop somewhere in the house tonight."

Falling in mud

After the class it was no longer pouring, but it was still raining. However, Rollo still wanted to go for a walk so I took them for a walk. Daisy is old, 15+ years old, and she has a problem walking. Therefore, I put her in our pet stroller and raised the hood of the stroller over her. It was wet and muddy and after walking a quarter mile I slipped badly, feet straight up, and landed on my behind and back in a muddy puddle. Daisy’s stroller fell over but luckily, she did not fall out. I was not so lucky though. I was soaking wet; it was cold and my back and behind was covered in mud. I tried to nudge Rollo to go home, but he insisted on continuing. I was worried about what people who saw me would think but we took a long walk.

A photo of my muddy jeans and my muddy jacket
My muddy jacket and jeans after the walk
Our wet mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo in front if the front door.
Wet pup at the door
our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo inside but still a little bit wet
Rollo after the walk
Our pug Daisy in her green and black stroller. She has a coat on.
Daisy in her stroller
A little video of Rollo by the door.

Behold, the vaccine is killing us all

When I came home, I had a text from one of my Swedish aunts. She thanked me for a Holiday Card I had sent, and that she had just gotten. What’s wrong with the post office? She also warned me about the covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer)s, which she claimed have killed 17 million people and given 567 million people injuries for life. In other words, one in ten people who received the vaccine worldwide was injured for life. I know about people in my circle who died from Covid-19, but I don’t know of anyone who died from the covid-19 vaccine. I don’t even know anyone who was injured by it. How is that statistically possible?  In addition, my family doctor, who is an extremely good and caring doctor, recommends it, and thinking about it, so does every doctor I know. Most importantly, there are no reliable sources backing up her claim. Her claim was bunk of course.

So, I told her that her information was false and not to worry. When I was young, I did not want to contradict people, but I’ve come to realize that we are drowning in misinformation, and it is very common that people blindly believe whatever seems to support their preexisting beliefs. Therefore, it is important to contradict misinformation when we know that it is false. It is a public service.

Our pug Daisy with her tongue sticking out. She is on top of our sofa.
Daisy after an exhausting day of doing nothing.

We don’t pick up dead animals

After doing the laundry I noticed that the city had picked up our recycling, finally. They are supposed to pick it up once a week, but it took them three weeks. Last week I tried to file a report about the missed pick up. I was not able to do that using the city’s cryptic website, and search yielded nothing useful. I know you can file a report because I’ve done it before. Therefore, I started the chat, and I got a chatbot.

The bot: How can I help you?

Me: The recycling has not been picked up and I would like to make a report.

The bot: We don’t pick up dead animals.

End of chat……

So, the chatbot was useless. It seems like they are always useless. I’ve gotten restricted on Facebook several times, for selling beer outside the marketplace and without stating the price, when all I did was write a beer review in a beer review Facebook group. When Facebook still employed people for those tasks I could complain, get the restriction revoked and an apology. Once all that remained were bots that ended.

Photo showing our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo on the left, then our pug Daisy and then a visiting dog, Oslo, on the right. Rollo is threatening Oslo.
It was Daisy’s birthday (pug in the middle). Rollo is growling at Oslo sitting at the end of the table. It is an old photo.

After I gave the dogs dinner Rollo came to sit next to me on the sofa. He loves sitting next to me and pushing his back towards my side. It seems very cozy, but there’s a problem. Rollo is very possessive and jealous, and he gets aggressive towards others he thinks may threaten his position. Yesterday, he started showing his teeth and growling at Daisy as he was snuggling with me, and I immediately put him down on the floor. He screamed like a choleric two-year-old as I did that. This is one major reason we are hesitating to get another Leonberger. We don’t know how that would play out with Rollo. We have a behavior problem with Rollo that we need to solve. We also set up another baby jail for Rollo.

Picture of our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo inside a playpen. He has a toy and water.
Rollo’s Baby Jail
Our late Leonberger Bronco and our pug Daisy sharing our red sofa.
Photo from the past. Our Leonberger Bronco is sharing the sofa with Daisy.

Towards the end of the day Rollo and I played with his duck, and then he asked for a belly rub. When Rollo wants a belly rub, he lays down on the floor on his side , a couple of legs up, and then he barks one time and then he waits. If no one comes he loudly barks one time and then he waits. Eventually he gets his belly-rub.

Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd holding a duck in his mouth.
Rollo with his Duck
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo lying on his side in front of our Leonberger Bronco as if he wants a belly rub.
Rollo wants a belly rub.

Now Daisy is asleep, and Rollo is almost asleep

Leonberger Facebook Groups Are the Nicest Dog Groups I Have Found

I’ve been, or am, a member of several Facebook dog groups. I’ve found that most of them are awful. Take for example the Pug groups. I’ve joined a few Pug groups so that can post about Daisy. What I’ve found is that almost all of the Pug groups have preapproval turned on for all posts. Most other groups (Leonberger groups, beer groups, discussion group, etc..) do not. It would not be a bad thing if it wasn’t for the fact that the administrators/moderators of several of the Pug groups take weeks before they approve a post, all while shamelessly doing constant self-promotion, promoting products, and spamming the group they are supposed to moderate. I am a moderator or administrator in several groups, and I certainly don’t behave that way.

Another thing that annoys me is that they copy the photos that members post and then repost them in multiple places and multiple groups without attribution. Look at my photo from Daisy’s birthday below. That photo was copied (not shared) without attribution in lots of groups, multiple times, receiving several thousand reactions and thousands of comments, which is something I only found out about by accident. Who knows how far and wide the photo was spread. Unless someone explained it to you, you would think that it was their pug and that it was they who took the photo. I assume they do this because they want to get attention and be social network influencers. I’ve never complained, that probably would get me banned from the groups in question. However, I don’t think that is the way to run a group. I have not yet found a decent Pug group.

Photo of our Pug Daisy being fed a pupcake.
Photo from Daisy’s 15th birthday on October 22. This photo has been spread all over Facebook without attribution.

This brings me to the seven Leonberger groups that I am a member of (there are many more). I’ve listed them below. Only one group does post pre-approval and they typically approve posts within a few hours. None of moderators/administrators of these groups spam their groups, try to push products, or copy members photos/posts without attribution. People have friendly informative discussions, and they get to know each other. The Leonberger community is smaller, and the owners/administrators/moderators of the groups are more mature and responsible. I think it makes a difference that Pug groups tend to be run by attention seeking youngsters. I wish I could find a Pug group that was more like a Leonberger group.

  • Leonberger’s All Colors Worldwide
  • LEONBERGER
  • Leonberger Double Digit Double Club
  • Leonberger Forum
  • Global Leonberger Lovers
  • Leonberger Lovers
  • Frontier Leonberger Club of the Southwest

I think my favorite Leonberger group is the Leonberger Double Digit Club. It is a group for Leonberger owners with Leonbergers who ten years are old or older. Leonbergers tend not to live very long so that is why this is an exclusive club. It was one of the former administrators (and founder) of this group who suggested to me that I write a book about our Leonberger Bronco.

Below I am posting a few screenshots of my posts from the Leonberger Double Digit Club.

Photo of our Leonberger Bronco and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo in the lower right corner. Both close up to my face.
Our Leonberger Bronco standing in the kitchen. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is behind him.
This photo is from Bronco’s 12 years and 8 months birthday. He demanded a greenie by slamming his paw in the floor. Daisy our Pug and Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd are looking on from behind.
Bronco our Leonberger just got his grey muzzle award, which is given to all Leonberger (who’s owner apply) older than 12 years old. Being older than 12 years old is rare among Leonbergers. The photos show Bronco with my wife holding his diploma.

Jacqui pointed out to me in a comment below that you can take action when people are using your stuff without attribution. A photo that took me a second to take may not be a big deal, even though it is bit rude to use it as if it is yours. However, when people copy artwork, as had happened to a few commentors below we have a more serious situation. So anyway, here is the link that Jacqui posted in her comment. (You can also visit the comment).

Send them a DMCA take-down order (https://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown) or turn them into Facebook for copyright infringement.

Changing the Bandages on a Leonberger and Why Rollo Could Be a Nurse

October 2019 was a tough month for us and especially for our Leonberger Bronco. He had a toe amputation due to a cancer growth on his toe, mysteries sores on his paw that wouldn’t heal for a long time, a tornado destroyed our neighborhood and damaged our house (cost $50,000.00), and then Bronco had a heart failure. All in one month.

Bronco, our Leonberger lying on the basketball court / runway by our broken fence. He has a bandage and a plastic bag around his back right foot.
Bronco lying in front of our fence, which was damaged by the tornado. His paw is in a bandage and there’s a plastic bag around it. I can add that we only put the plastic bag on while he was outside. If you keep it on longer than 15 minutes you may have problems with condensation.

Our veterinarian’s office had been destroyed by the tornado, so we took Bronco to the veterinary surgical center (where he had his toe amputated) for bandage changes (amputated toe and mysterious sores). After a few visits, the technicians suggested that we do it at home to save time and money. More important, it would be easier on Bronco. So, they gave us instructions, and we started doing it at home.

Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt of Bronco running with a cast. He is looking very excited.
Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt of Bronco running with a cast.

But changing Bronco’s bandages wasn’t as easy as just rolling out some gauze and tape. First, we had to clean the sores with chlorhexidine, an antiseptic solution. Then we had to apply a healing ointment, such as manuka honey or QuickDerm. This involved spreading it on an Adaptic pad (breathable and nonstick), then wrapping the pad with a Telfa pad (or gauze pad). After that came the soft bandage, then the outer bandage, then something sticky to hold it all together. The latter was necessary because bandages easily slip off dog hair.

Two dogs on a brown blanket. Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd on the left. Le Bronco our Leonberger on the right.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd on the left. Le Bronco our Leonberger on the right. The outer bandage is purple in this picture but we also used green.

I did most of the bandage changes, but my wife Claudia and the children helped, and even Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd helped. He was very curious: he stood by and watched everything I did as if he were checking to see that I didn’t forget anything. He loved Bronco’s bandage changes and seemed to think that they were very interesting. He followed every move I made with my hands and it seemed like he wanted to help. It was never a problem—except for the time he drank the chlorhexidine.

Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is standing next to Bronco our Leonberger. He is looking at Bronco and the bandage equipment.
Rollo carefully inspecting the bandage change.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is standing next to Bronco our Leonberger, and he is looking at the bandage equipment.
Rollo making sure I don’t forget anything.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is standing next to Bronco our Leonberger. He is sniffing the Hypafix tape.
Rollo thinks the Hypafix tape, chlorhexidine and manuka honey is very interesting.

Therefore, I think that Rollo was a little bit like a dog nurse.

Todays Wag the Dog Adventure

Walking our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is often an adventure and so was today’s promenade. Daisy, who is fifteen years old and has arthritis walks very slowly and cannot walk far. Therefore, I let her sit in a pet stroller on our walks. However, I let her walk a little bit, go to the bathroom, well the grass, and sniff around a bit. She also has incontinence problems and wears a dog diaper inside the house. I take it off for our walks.

Daisy our pug in her blue and black pet stroller
Daisy in her pet stroller

Rollo our mini–Australian Shepherd, on the other hand, is very energetic and fast, and unfortunately very misbehaved. He is the worst behaved dog that we’ve ever had, and he growls and barks aggressively at every dog we meet. Yes, I know that is our fault and we need to fix this problem, but it requires some time and discipline. He also does not seem to understand that he is too small to take on large dogs like Bernese Mountain Dogs. Perhaps, he acquired that belief because our Leonberger Bronco was so patient with him.

Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd bites our Leonberger Bronco's tail. Bronco just ignores him.
Rollo pulling Bronco’s tail. Once he even bit it and swung in it like a swing. Bronco’s patience with him was great.

So, what happened today?

During our walk I stopped to let Rollo go to the bathroom and I also let Daisy down, who also went. Right at that moment a woman with her two Bernese dogs approached us and Rollo went crazy. He barked loudly and the Bernese dogs barked loudly back. As Rollo ran towards them Rollo’s leash got stuck around the stroller wheel and he tipped the stroller over. As I tried to fix it, I made it worse, and the stroller tipped upside down. Luckily, when the woman saw this, she turned and went a different way.

Our neighbor Dave, who is a nice guy, had watched the commotion from his window and came out  to help. As he ran towards me, he shouted, “Thomas are you OK?”, “are you OK?”. I thanked him and I was able to turn the stroller over and I put Daisy back in the stroller. As I did this Daisy peed all over me, but other than being wet and in need of a shower, I was back in business. I was annoyed with Rollo, but I did not say anything. I wonder what will happen on tomorrow’s walk.

Finally, a few words about Daisy’s pet diaper. It is a diaper with a hole for the tail. I think it is a great idea. Dogs eventually get old, and they may have bathroom problems. You cannot get angry with the dog when they pee on the floor or the carpet, they already feel bad about it. A diaper will solve the problem and make them feel better about it. They will quickly understand how it works. However, one problem with the diapers is that they easily slip off and to solve that we got suspenders with Velcro holding the diaper. You can buy this stuff from online pet stores, Amazon and many other places.

Daisy our pug standing on the wood floor wearing a blue diaper and her suspenders.
Daisy in her diaper with suspenders holding it.