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.
Me and our Leonberger Bronco, my book about him, and other dogs are featured on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine as a Guest Post. The post described how Bronco (and the other dogs) influenced my life. Dogs and other pets can mean so much to us and reshape our lives. Please take a look.
I also would like to thank Alex Diaz-Granados for his wonderful review of my book. It is featured on Smorgasbord Magazine, so you can read it there, but you can also read it here on Amazon.
Please take a look at Smorgasbord Blog Magazine’s feature of my super fact #19 “An account impersonating you on Facebook does not mean you have been hacked“, and my Leonberger Dog book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”.
Please go and check it out. Thank you so much Sally.
This is a guest post written by Ryan Goodchild. He emailed me asking me if he could publish this post regarding caring for aging Leonberger. I said yes. I am very grateful to Ryan for his contribution. I added the photos. See his post below.
Leonbergers are among the most majestic of dogs, gentle giants with deep eyes and a noble temperament. Yet as they age, their impressive size can make the journey into senior years more complex. Providing attentive, structured care can extend both their lifespan and their sense of ease.
As Leonbergers age, mobility becomes one of the first visible signs of change. These dogs are stoic by nature, and they’ll often mask discomfort until it’s advanced. Structured daily activity, rather than long or sporadic walks, helps maintain joint lubrication and muscle tone. Before implementing the list below, remember: consistency outperforms intensity in senior dogs.
Proper nutrition is the most controllable lever for supporting your Leonberger’s aging body. Senior diets should favor lean protein, omega fatty acids, and joint-supportive ingredients like glucosamine and chondroitin. Maintaining a stable weight relieves stress on the joints and heart, critical in large breeds prone to orthopedic and cardiac issues.
Before introducing supplements or new foods, ask your vet for metabolic screening. Senior metabolism slows down, and caloric needs can drop by 20–30%.
Keeping your Leonberger’s medical and health information in one place transforms how you coordinate care, especially across multiple veterinarians or specialists. When you can easily review past test results, medication schedules, or dietary shifts, you reduce oversight risks and improve continuity of care. Centralized documentation also helps detect subtle changes over time, like gradual increases in kidney markers or weight fluctuations.
For this reason, an online PDF platform like this is worth a look.It offers practical tools to manage your pet’s documents in PDF form, and you can even convert, compress, edit, rotate, or reorder files. Keeping your records as PDFs ensures they’re universally accessible and easily shareable with any vet clinic.
Leonbergers are emotional creatures, they notice routine disruptions and physical discomforts more than we realize. Making environmental adjustments will enhance both safety and serenity. Here’s a simple how-to checklist to start with:
➢ Schedule consistent feeding, exercise, and sleep times.
➢ Install nonslip rugs or mats along walking paths.
➢ Keep water bowls elevated to reduce neck strain.
➢ Adjust room temperatures; older dogs chill more easily.
➢Use gentle lighting to help those with fading vision.
➢ Offer mental enrichment through scent games or puzzle toys.
Veterinary visits every six months (instead of annually) are invaluable in the senior stage. They allow for the timely detection of thyroid imbalances, early arthritis, and cardiomyopathy, all common in Leonbergers. Blood pressure checks, urinalysis, and cardiac ultrasounds should be part of your preventive plan. Here’s a quick comparison of recommended tests for senior Leonbergers:
| Test Type | Frequency | Purpose |
| Bloodwork & Urinalysis | Every 6 months | Detect organ stress or metabolic changes |
| Orthopedic Exam | Yearly | Identify joint deterioration early |
| Echocardiogram | Every 12–18 months | Screen for dilated cardiomyopathy |
| Dental Cleaning | Every 6–9 months | Prevent systemic inflammation |
| Weight & Body Condition | Monthly at home | Track obesity risk |
Leonbergers thrive on companionship. As they age, separation anxiety or confusion can intensify, especially if cognitive decline begins. Maintain a calm household rhythm, avoid sudden relocations, and keep them close to family life. The reassurance of your presence often does more for their comfort than any supplement or therapy.
Caring for an aging Leonberger is both an art and an act of devotion. It’s about more than prolonging life, it’s about enriching every moment your dog still wants to share. With consistent monitoring, gentle activity, and a serene home rhythm, your Leonberger can continue to live with grace, dignity, and the steady comfort of your presence.
I just received a couple of photos from our niece Jessica and her husband Eric. They live in Minnesota. They had encountered a Leonberger dog named Oliver, and they took a couple of photos. For those who do not know, Leonbergers are large family friendly dogs related to Saint Bernards. It is a rare breed, so you don’t see them very often. If you want to read more about this amazing breed, see the list of all my blog posts.
Another amazing Leonberger chance encounter happened when we visited my native country Sweden. We had hiked up a mountain in the high coast region (that’s where I grew up) called the Skule Berget, or Skull Mountain in English. The elevation of the hike was nearly 1,000 feet. Guess what we found at the summit besides the red cabin restaurant selling waffles to the brave souls who managed to finish the hike? A Leonberger named Amie. We took some photos of Amie. I hope she got some waffles too. You can read more about our adventure here.
Another chance encounter was when our daughter-in-law’s mother had a chance encounter with a Leonberger at her mother’s nursing home. Leonberger dogs are big but friendly, trusting, calm, confident, and very trainable, making them perfect therapy dogs. They are therefore often used as therapy dogs at hospitals, nursing homes and mental institutions. You can read more about this encounter here.
Speaking about therapy dogs. Below is a video about a Leonberger called Scout by CBC news in Canada. This Leonberger is helping residents at Hamilton mental health hospital. He was bred by Concorde Ridge Leonbergers. They have a website and a blog which I follow. You can visit my post about Scout here. The 1-minute video is shown on the website below.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.6835161
Finally, I would like to mention that I wrote a book about our late Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. 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”. The book features the amusing adventures of our Leonberger Bronco and his dog friends, as well as information on how to train and care for Leonbergers and other large breeds, their breed history, breed standard, Leonberger organizations, and an extensive resource guide at the end. I can add that all photos and illustrations are in color. The price of the paperback version is 17.95 (normal prize is $19.95) and the price of the Kindle version is $4.95 All proceeds go to the Leonberger Health Foundation International, an organization that works to improve the health and longevity of Leonbergers and other large dog breeds.
Today’s writing prompt is “What is good about having a pet?”. I can easily think of many good and wonderful things about having a pet but let’s not forget that it also comes with responsibility. Having a pet is a lifelong commitment, well their lifetime at least, and you need to treat them like family. If you cannot handle the pet when it gets old, and you are not going to treat it like family, then don’t get it.
We’ve owned many pets in our life, fish in aquariums, bearded dragons and other lizards, snakes, rabbits, and hamsters. We’ve owned many dogs, and we’ve had a cat for a short time. Unfortunately, we found out that I was allergic to cats and my allergy was bad. Luckily, we found a good home for the cat. My wife and I were very sad that we had to part ways with the cat, but I just got too sick, so sick that it was dangerous. I should say I am not allergic to dogs.
We were not always good pet owners. Mistakes were made. For example, our five year old daughter brought home a dozen minnows that we put in an aquarium. They were basically fish that did not end up as bait. We did a lot of fishing for a while. We placed the minnows in a clean aquarium and fed them what we were told to give them. Our daughter named them Sally one, Sally two, Sally three, Sally four, Sally five, Sally six, Sally seven, Sally eight, Sally nine, Sally ten, Sally eleven, and Sally twelve.
As I mentioned, we were not always good pet parents. Our five year old daughter thought that the minnows needed a more interesting environment, so she poured cranberry juice in the aquarium. We were able to clean it out and save the minnows that time. But when she poured red paint in the aquarium, we were not successful in doing so. Our son also had a snake that needed to be fed subdued but live mice. We discovered that if you walk into a pet store and tell them you want to buy mice to feed your snake, they won’t sell the pet mice to you. Long story short we struggled with feeding the snake and eventually he died. We felt awful, but we realized that keeping a snake as a pet is not a good idea unless you really know what you are doing.
The dogs we own and have owned have a very special place in our hearts. They’ve given us so much unconditional love, special moments, entertainment, and not to mention hilarious moments that we are still laughing about years after they happened. We used to have a Labrador called Baylor. Well, more correctly, he was one quarter Rhodesian Ridgeback but mostly a yellow Labrador. He was a funny and loving dog and the most skilled surfer counter I’ve ever witnessed. We also had a German Shepherd named Baby. She was also a rescue. She was a great guard dog and a loving stepmother to our Leonberger puppy Bronco. She fiercely protected him.
Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, was our Leonberger dog. This is a big dog and a rare breed related to Saint Bernards. We got him as a puppy from a Canadian breeder who likely is North America’s most prominent Leonberger breeder. Before we were allowed to buy him, we had to go through an interview to make sure we would be good dog parents. Bronco was a friendly, confident, loving, and funny dog. He was also very protective of our other dogs as well as our hamsters. He rescued run away hamsters on several occasions. He even put them in his mouth once and carried them to safety. He had a great sense of smell and one time he alerted us to Baylor having an oncoming insulin shock and on another occasion he saved our Pug Daisy’s life.
In addition to Baylor, Baby and Bronco we’ve had small dogs including our Japanese Chin Ryu, our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo who is still with us. Ryu and Daisy were funny and easy dogs and Rollo is very energetic, curious, intelligent and funny, but admittedly a bit of work.
Pets bring a lot of entertainment and joy and they add life to a home. They keep you busy and keep your mind off problems, conflicts and doom scrolling. Intelligent mammals, such as dogs, will also give you cuddles, unconditional love, and they can comfort you. For example, a few weeks ago I was watching a movie that was touching and bit sad and I got a bit emotional That’s when I noticed our dog Rollo staring at me with loving eyes as he tilted his head. Then he came over to me and gave me a dog hug (pressing his body towards mine).
Another advantage of owning a dog is that they need a walk every day. Walking your dog a couple of miles per day will keep you healthy as well. Studies show that dog owners live longer than other people. In addition, dogs can provide practical services such as alerting you when strangers approach your house, they can be guard dogs, sniff out diseases and seizures, in our case without any training.
You need to feed your pet, provide clean water at all times, wash those food and water bowls daily with soap and hot water, care for your pet, keep it healthy, wash it and clean it, pay for veterinary bills, play with it and provide opportunity for exercise. If your pet is a mammal or a more advanced animal, such as a dog, you need to love it, train it, and it needs to be part of the family. If you are going to keep it on a chain in the backyard, leave it to be lonely most of the time, or uncomfortable, or let it take its own walks without supervision, or return it to a shelter when it gets old and sick, then don’t get a pet, especially not a dog.
Finally, I would like to mention that I wrote a book about Bronco and Leonbergers. About 60% of the book is about Bronco’s daring and often hilarious adventures and 40% of the book is information on Leonbergers, breed history, breed standard, training, care, health, how to get one, and there is an extensive resource guide towards the end of the book.
The book is available in a lot of places including Amazon in the US, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and many other places.
This post is to highlight a post by Lauren Scott featuring two exceptionally well written as well as supportive reviews of Jacquie Murrays book Endangered Species and my book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. I would also like to remind everyone that today is World Animal Day. Please visit her post, I reblogged it below.
Naturally I would also like to mention my review of Lauren’s wonderful book King Copper: Our dog’s life in poetry. Click here to see it
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:
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.
Below are some of my previous Leonberger photo posts:
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.
I would also like to recommend a great dog book, Sam: A Shaggy Dog Story by Sally Cronin. To read my review for the book click here.
Another recommendation I have is The Good Dog: A Novella by Laura Stamps. To read my review for the book click here.
I am also looking forward to receiving a new promising poetry dog book, King Copper: Our dog’s life in poetry by Lauren Scott.
We just came back from a trip to Baltimore. Our oldest son and his wife are having a baby, a son, due in September. He will be our first grandchild. On Saturday they held a baby shower. That is Saturday yesterday or two days ago depending on your time zone. Our son and his wife had organized a barbeque for about forty people. It was what they called a Baby-Q. They have a smoker and had smoked brisket throughout Friday-Saturday night.
I was talking to our daughter-in-law’s mother when she mentioned a recent chance encounter with a Leonberger. It was at her mother’s nursing home. I can add that Leonbergers are great therapy dogs because of their calm temper, friendly disposition, intelligence and trainability. They are therefore frequently found at hospitals, nursing homes, and similar places.
As I mentioned, Leonbergers are great therapy dogs and are often used in hospitals. Below is a video about a Leonberger called Scout by CBC news in Canada. This Leonberger is helping residents at Hamilton mental health hospital. He was bred by Concorde Ridge Leonbergers. They have a website and a blog which I follow. You visit my post about Scout here. The 8-minute video is shown on the website below.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.6835161
Speaking about Leonberger chance encounters, one very unexpected Leonberger encounter happened to us at the top of a mountain in northern Sweden. My wife, my daughter, my brother and his wife and children were hiking/climbing up to the top of a mountain in the high coast region of northern Sweden. This is a coastal region of Sweden that is quite mountainous and feature fjords, like in Norway. This is the region where I was born and where I grew up. The name of the mountain was Skule Berget, or Skull Mountain. We did it for the adventure, the views, and to visit a famous cave. Below is the view from the top of Skull Mountain in the High Coast.
At the top of the mountain, we met a man who had brought his dog, and it was not just any kind of dog, it was a female Leonberger Named Amie. The owner told us that Amie was nine years old, which is old for a Leonberger. It was quite a hike to the top of the mountain so the dog must have been in good shape despite her age. Well, the man we too were in good shape too. You can read about our Skull Mountain adventure here.
As soon as we them, 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. Below, are a couple of photos of Amie.
Finally, I would like to mention that I am 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”. It is to celebrate Bronco’s birthday and his memory. I should say the book features the amusing adventures of our Leonberger Bronco and his dog friends, and information on how to train and care for Leonbergers and other large breeds, as well as breed history, breed standard, Leonberger organizations, and a resource guide. I can add that all photos and illustrations are in color.
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. I will keep the promotion going for a few more days.
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Leonberger Life 