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.
Tag: The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle
Our Labrador Baylor was a stealthy, opportunist and quick food thief. Food tended to disappear around him as if it never was there. Our German Shepherd on the other hand never stole food and took it upon herself to guard the entrance to the kitchen to the chagrin of Baylor. If she could have spoken, she would have said “you shall not pass”.
Baylor and Baby
Our Leonberger Bronco was our biggest dog, and he could eat a lot. Once we had prepared a big plate with five pounds of roast beef for a dinner party. Bronco finished those five pounds of roast beef with astonishing speed. I saw him do it, but I was not quick enough to stop him. Luckily, he thoughtfully left us the carrots, the broccoli and the dip, so the guests had something to eat. All our dogs were, and are, great dogs, but many dogs have this vice, food theft. I should say that Bronco often willingly shared his loot with other dogs. He was not selfish. Below I am including a few excerpts from my book concerning food theft.
Labrador food theft stories
Photo of our Labrador Baylor
In addition to his hatred for mailmen, Baylor had one more vice, and that was stealing food. He was always hungry, and he was pretty good at culinary theft. On one occasion, I was standing in the kitchen holding a sandwich in my hand. Suddenly the sandwich disappeared from my fingers as if it had been teleported. I didn’t feel a thing—no pull, no touch, no wet nose. It just vanished. I turned around, and behind me stood Baylor, swallowing something. He looked at me, wagging his tail. Was he innocent? Did Captain Kirk beam my sandwich to another dimension? How could I be mad at him when I didn’t have proof?
On another occasion, Baylor jumped up on top of the kitchen table using a chair as a step stool and cleared it of the desserts that Claudia’s grandmother had brought for the kids and the family. That’s how I learned that she had a swear-word vocabulary—and that it was substantial. Fortunately, the kids weren’t nearby. On yet another occasion, Baylor emptied a tray of baklava that had been sitting on the kitchen counter.
His most notable food raid was probably when he stole the Thanksgiving turkey and ran off with it. We salvaged most of it, but knowing that Baylor had been all over it, we decided not to eat what he left us. It wasn’t very appetizing.
Leonberger food theft stories
Our Leonberger Bronco is ready for dinner
I believe dogs have empathy, and sometimes they want to share, at least Bronco did. There was a time when we were in our home eating take-out food and Bronco stole one of our dinners, including meat, vegetables, and a baked potato. He started eating the meat, then he glanced at Daisy, who was sitting in the middle of the floor looking sad. Immediately he took the baked potato in his mouth and carried it over to her and dropped it right at her feet. I was going to get mad at him for stealing, but when I saw his kindhearted and unselfish act, I let it be.
On another occasion, Rachel made a gingerbread house and left it on the kitchen counter. I had forgotten to lock the kitchen gate, and the photograph above shows what greeted me when I got home. Guess who ate half the gingerbread house. I should say that Bronco shared some with Daisy. He was always very generous.
Bronco and our Pug Daisy sharing a gingerbread house
On yet another occasion, Bronco got hold of a box of chocolates in the shape of small gnomes. Each gnome was filled with liquor—some with gin, some with vodka, some with whiskey, and some with rum. It was a gift from Rachel, who had just come back from a visit to China. She had bought the present for us at the airport in Hong Kong. But Bronco ate the entire thing—tinfoil wrappers, chocolate, liquor, and all. We were afraid he might get very sick, and we carefully monitored him, ready to rush him to the emergency clinic if necessary. Fortunately, nothing happened, except he threw up a little bit of tinfoil. I guess he had a stomach of steel.
So, for this Thanksgiving watch your dogs so they don’t run off with your Turkey
As you know this blog is primarily about Leonbergers and Leonberger books but sometimes I write a review for a book or story that I find to be exceptional and therefore want to promote. Today, well it is after midnight so yesterday, I read a really fun and intriguing adventure novella by Sara Kjeldsen called “The Pup and The Pianist”. I wrote an Amazon review for it, and it showed up pretty quickly. It was a real page turner and therefore I would like to promote it. I bought the paperback version since I prefer that over Kindle. The Pup and The Pianist paperback version currently cost $12.99 on Amazon.com and is 86 pages. The kindle version cost $4.99 and is 70 pages. It was released January 5, 2018. The paper version is 6 x 0.22 x 9 inches, it weighs 5 ounces, and the ISBN number is 978-1976819599. The ASIN number for the Kindle Edition is B078TMT9KX.
The front cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the paperback version.
Below is my review of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. I also shared on my social media. Click here to go to my review.
War, Loss, Friendship and Captivating Adventure
This is a beautifully written and fast paced novella. Right from the start you are thrown into the Napoleonic wars as seen through the eyes of a young “powder monkey” on a British warship. A lot happens after that.
As I read it, I was reminded of when I read Treasure Island as a kid. That was a long time ago back in my native country of Sweden. I had the same feelings of anticipation and adventure all while the descriptions stimulated my imagination. However, the author of this book added another dimension represented by the emotions and thoughts that comes with a complicated and unlikely friendship, a friendship that developed despite initial extreme hostility, and compelled by the human instincts for companionship and survival. At the same time this novella is also a statement on the senselessness and cruelty of war. A side note: at least six million people died in the six Napoleonic wars.
The scenic descriptions were vivid and beautiful, the character development was excellent, the dialog was well crafted and realistic, and the story was truly captivating and unique. It was a true page turner, which is one reason I read this novella in one sitting this afternoon. Sara Kjeldsen is a truly gifted author and I highly recommend this novella.
The back cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the Kindle version.
October 2019 was a dark time for us and especially for our Leonberger Bronco. At the beginning of October, he had to amputate a toe due to a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, then he developed large ulcerous sores that would not heal, perhaps related to the surgery. Then on October 20 an EF3 Tornado ravaged our neighborhood. Our chimney was smashed, our roof was damaged, and we needed a new roof, a new fence, garage door, wiring in the attic and a new grill and outdoor furniture. However, compared to many of our neighbors we were lucky. As you can see below our neighbor was not as lucky.
The damage to my neighbor’s house after the tornado of October 2019 was devastating. Her roof lay across the street.
We had no power for almost a week and due to the rubble it was very difficult to leave the house. We had no internet, no air conditioning, and it was hot. Perhaps because of this situation Bronco had a heart failure a week after the tornado, and it was bad. We thought that was the end of our 12-year-old Leonberger. However, as you will see in the extract below from my book, Bronco recovered miraculously. He still had eight more wonderful months to give us.
Bronco, who was not at his best in this picture, rests next to our tornado damaged fence. We put a plastic bag around his bandage when he went outside.
We don’t know if the heat had anything to do with it, but about a week after the tornado, Bronco developed congestive heart failure.
As a result, he could no longer walk. The veterinary cardiologist at the surgical center told us that Bronco was not in good shape, but we all agreed that we should give him a chance to recover.
We bought Help ’Em Up harnesses for him, but more often we used a smaller sling to help him stand up. We also treated his heart with various medications. Since our veterinarian’s office had been destroyed by the tornado, we took him to the veterinary surgical center (where he had his toe amputated) for bandage changes. 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.
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.
I did most of the bandage changes, but Claudia and the children helped, and even Rollo, (our 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. It was never a problem—except for the time he drank the chlorhexidine.
Rollo helps change one of Bronco’s bandages.
We called our veterinarian’s office, and the technicians told us that the chlorhexidine was probably not harmful to Rollo. Chlorhexidine is a type of salt, and unless it’s ingested in large quantities, it’s nontoxic—unlike peroxide.
During this period, we gave Bronco a lot of attention. We slept next to him at night and petted him a lot. He needed help to get up, and we were ready to do that at any time. Sometimes he just wanted to walk around. Sometimes he wanted water, and sometimes he wanted to go out in the backyard to pee or just lie in the grass.
In the beginning it was Claudia who did most of the caretaking. But I took early retirement in November, and I started taking over the night duty. Bronco came to expect constant company, which was okay with us, even though at times it was very tiring. For example, if I was petting him and stopped doing so, he would whine or bark and essentially order me to continue.
At the same time, taking care of him was an amazing experience for me. Bronco usually slept on his dog bed next to the sofa, and I slept on the sofa next to him. When he wanted something, he sat up and looked at me. He did not make a sound. I would wake up, probably because I could feel him staring at me. I would open my eyes, and there would be Bronco’s big beautiful face looking down at me, his gentle expression asking for help. I would get up and help him with whatever he needed.
Bronco was able to communicate what he wanted just by looking at me. It felt like I could understand what he was thinking and feeling even though he couldn’t speak. It almost felt as if he were becoming an extension of me, or maybe the other way around, I was becoming an extension of him. We were two very close buddies who understood each other. They say that a dog is man’s best friend, but for us it was not just a cute cliché. We were best friends.
The veterinarians advised us not to take Bronco out for walks until he was in better condition. But one day he lay at the front door, scratching it and whining. I could clearly see that he wanted to go out. So I took him on a very slow walk. We walked, then he rested; he sniffed his surroundings, and I brought water for him to drink. Along the way we met a woman who looked him and said, “What a beautiful dog.” You can see in the photo below, taken during that walk, that he was old and tired, but he was still beautiful.
You can see how happy Bronco was to be outside, even as his health was not the best.
This warmed my heart. The woman asked what kind of dog he was, and she appeared to be really interested and impressed. It was the first time Bronco had been out walking in perhaps a month, and after all we’d been through, I have to admit I needed the experience, and Bronco did, too. After that, we started taking short walks every now and then, and when we were finished, Claudia would pick us up in the car.
After a while, Bronco was able to get around on his own and even go to the bathroom on his own, and his sore got closer to healing. In fact, he recovered almost miraculously. We were extremely happy about this, and it made everyone’s lives easier.
We had been planning a big family vacation for several months, which Claudia and I had considered canceling. It was a one-week cruise along the Mississippi River, and it was scheduled for December of 2019. Because of Bronco’s improvement, we decided to go. But we had learned our lesson: while we were gone, a friend of ours lived in our house and watched our dogs. We showed her how to change Bronco’s bandage, and that arrangement worked out well.
Bronco had a tough October followed by a difficult but successful recovery. Taking into account his other health scares, including heatstroke and the freak accident with the metal rod when he was young, our veterinarian told us that Bronco must have nine lives, like a cat.
Note the books above are Leonberger books that I do recommend. I can add that the first book Leonberger by Caroline Bliss-Isberg is a masterpiece, but it is very expensive.
However, I’ve also read Leonberger books that have substantial issues and that I therefore cannot recommend. This blog is about them.
The problems with the books I am presenting below include that the author has never owned a Leonberger, the book is full of factual errors, it’s full of grammatical errors, spelling errors and other typos. In addition, two of the books were copy and paste operations. What I mean by that is that the author wrote a book about how to train a dog, any dog, for example a Pug, and then changed the word Pug to Leonberger (copy and replace) to create a Leonberger book. Of course, they needed to add a few Leonberger facts, that may or may not be correct. Repeat the process for 65 breeds, or 167 breeds. You can write hundreds of books in one day using this procedure. The last book was written by a Russian who obviously did not speak English and probably rammed Russian text through a mediocre translation app with comical results. Parts of the book was unreadable. None of the books had any photos or illustrations to make them more interesting.
They say that you should not slam the competition. It will come back and to haunt you. That’s true. However, I don’t think these authors are my competition because they are not “Leonberger people”, and they are unlikely to ever read this. Below I am presenting and reviewing three books which I have given three stars, two stars and one star respectively on Amazon.
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The Leonberger: A Complete and Comprehensive Owners Guide to: Buying, Owning, Health, Grooming, Training, Obedience, Understanding and Caring for Your Leonberger. By Michael Stone. Three stars.
It was published July 4, 2019
The paperback is 112 pages
ISBN-13 is 978-1078136211
Weight is 6.2 ounces
The dimensions : 6 x 0.28 x 9 inches
The price of the paperback is $8.00
Prcie of Kindle version is $2.99
Kindle unlimited is of course $0.00
Review below
A brief Dog Owner’s Manual with some Leonberger specific information, plus comical typos
This is a very basic book, about 14,000 words, no pictures or photos (other than the front page), and no diagrams or graphs, just text. However, considering that the printed version is eight dollars and the kindle version is free that is to be expected. The book should be judged accordingly. It is a simple and inexpensive book. The book description here on Amazon may not be entirely helpful. According to the “Final Thoughts” on the last page the author is planning to publish “multiple other dog care manuals …”. He is associated with the Dog Care Professionals organization. Based on the focus of the book and from what I can “read between the lines”, I am fairly certain the author has never owned a Leonberger and that he is not very familiar with the Leonberger breed or the community. For example, I don’t think he is part of the Leonberger Club of America. Maybe he can correct me if I am wrong.
However, where the author shines, is in his knowledge regarding the training of, and caring for dogs. I assume he is a professional dog trainer or a dog care professional. The book may not be a true Leonberger book, but it is useful for Leonberger owners none the less. We would have been helped by reading this book while training and caring for our Leonberger, or our German Shepherd, or our Pug, or our Labrador, or our Japanese Shin, or our Australian Shepherd, you get the picture. Therefore, the book is useful to Leonberger owners but may not be the best book for those specifically interested in the Leonberger breed.
I found the typos in the book a bit distracting. On page 74 he is giving a “Breif overview” and he is urging us to contact our local “Keenle Club” (my guess is that was supposed to be Kennel club), and “Heir on the side of safety” I can’t even guess what that means. That’s just one page. On page 15 he claims that the Leonberger will stand between 25 to 31 inches (? To ? cm) tall at the shoulder and weigh between 120 to 170 pounds (? to ? kg). He could have used a calculator or Wikipedia to complete page 15 without question marks. Better still, hire an editor. Question marks in the text looks sloppy. Also, the 25 to 31 inches refers to the withers, not the shoulders, it is close, but not the same thing.
From a training and caring for your dog perspective this is not a bad book. In fact, I found it to have a lot of useful information. The author is without doubt a skilled dog trainer professional. Hiring him to train our Leonberger would have been a good idea. Hiring him to spell our dog’s name, not so much (Le Bronco Von Der Löwenhöhle). Leonbergers have fancy names. Intimate understanding of Leonbergers seem to be missing in this book, and the editor is missing too. Therefore, I cannot give this book a five star rating.
The question is, should I give it three stars or four stars. I decided to give it three stars. It is an inexpensive book, that is an easy and quick read that is helpful to Leonberger owners, or prospective Leonberger owners from a general dog knowledge and training perspective. However, between the feeling you get of something missing in the Leonberger department and the comical typos, I don’t think it can be highly rated. An editor and a Leonberger (owned by the author) would have guaranteed a five star review from me.
Back cover of the book Leonberger by Michael Stonewood
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Leonberger Training Book for Dogs & Puppies By BoneUP DOG Training, Dog Care, Dog Behavior, Hand Cues Too! Are You Ready to Bone Up? Easy Training * Fast Results, Leonberger. By Karen Douglas Kane two stars. Two stars.
It was published December 13, 2020
The paperback is 102 pages
ISBN-13 is 979-8580681658
Weight is 5.3 ounces
The dimensions : 6 x 0.23 x 9 inches
The price of the paperback is $11.97
Prcie of Kindle version is $5.19
Kindle unlimited is of course $0.00
Review below
A good dog training manual, but it is not a Leonberger book
This book contains a lot of good dog care and dog training advice. The author describes how and when to feed dogs, brushing, cleaning teeth, health related issues, raising and training dogs, how to train your dog to obey commands, clicker training, hand signals, etc. It is fairly complete and written with some lighthearted humor. I noticed a few typos but not many. As a dog training manual, this is a good book.
On page 5 it says, “Thanks to a British Politician Heinrich Essig the Leonberger was created”. The author got the most basic Leonberger fact wrong. Heinrich Essig was a German businessman, dog breeder, horse breeder, and occasional councilman of the town of Leonberg in the Kingdom of Würtenberg (now Germany). “Heinrich Essig” doesn’t even sound British. The rest of the extremely short two paragraph Leonberger history section was pretty misleading as well and did not do Leonbergers justice.
On page 21 and 22 the author presents a guideline for feeding dogs that starts at 5lbs and ends at 100lbs. The book says; “But keep in mind that the average Leonberger is about thirty-five to sixty five pounds fully grown…”. It is difficult to find an adult Leonberger under 100lbs, unless he starved to death. On another page in the book she says (more correctly) that adult Leonbergers weigh between 90 to 170lbs, thus contradicting herself. A lot of interesting and useful Leonberger information is missing. There’s nothing about their love for swimming, webbed paws, breed characteristics, natural drafting/pulling skills, and the explanations of how and if to get a Leonberger left a lot to be desired. The most important American Leonberger kennel club; the Leonberger Club of America was never mentioned. By the way, they have a ton of useful Leonberger information on their website.
It is obvious that the author has never owned a Leonberger and that she does not know much about them. Considering that her website (or their website) is mentioned several times in the book and the fact that she has written 65 identical looking books on different dog breeds it seems like this book is a quick “search and replace” operation of a dog training manual created for advertising purposes. To me the book looked exactly like she did a search for “your dog” and replaced it with “your Leonberger” (in a few hundred places), and then added a little bit about the specific breed (using google) but without much care for getting it right. You can write 65 books very quickly that way. By the way, she is not the only dog trainer doing this. It is a clever advertising trick. However, as a Leonberger enthusiast this rubbed me the wrong way. She should have written one generic dog training book or taken the time to research the breed better if she wanted to make it Leonberger specific. Therefore, despite the overall good dog training and dog care advice in the book I can only give it two stars.
Back cover of the book Leonberger by Karen Douglas Kane
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Leonberger Dog: Complete Guide Book and Everything You Need To Know in Selecting, Raising, Health Care, Grooming, Crate Training, Feeding, Choosing the best dog food, and Loving Your Cute Puppy. By Nelson Dawson. One star.
The paperback is 145 pages
ISBN-13 is 979-8834953302
Note, the book was deleted from Amazon before I had a chance to write a review so the review below was never published. In fact, all of Nelson Dawson’s dog books disappeared from Amazon. He had written hundreds of books on hundreds of breeds. I suspect Amazon deleted them.
Priceless translation errors
This book has a lot of quality issues. First of all, it contains a lot of incorrect facts. For example, it states that the Leonberger was created in the 1930 and 1940’s (it was 1830’s and 1840’s), that the breeder tried to match the appearance of a mountain lion (it was a lion), that the first Leonberger arrived in Russia 1989 (no they existed in Russia in the 1800’s), etc. The book also contains a lot of grammatical errors, strange sentences, and incorrectly used words. For example, puppies are sometimes referred to as “children”, dogs are sometimes called “cattle”, and crates are called boxes. The word “order” is used instead of “command”, as in: Simple orders include ”Next”, “Fu”, “Give a paw”, and “Tumble”. By the way can anyone guess what the commands “Next” and “Fu” are supposed to be? I think “Tumble” is “Roll over”.
The book also features many bizarre sentences that I could not figure out what they meant. On page 28 the book states: “It is not advisable to bring two Leonberger puppies into the house at the same time. Representatives of this type are gregarious men who easily make friends with their tribesmen.” Yes, the Leonberger puppies are called “gregarious men”, which is hilarious. On page 30 the book states in regard to teaching the Leonberger a trick: “Leonbergers are true virtuosos who may stomp on the neck of their own song in order to gratify the owner. These individuals are the ones who compete in agility events.” On page 46 the book states: “When you return to work, have someone check on your dog, let him out, play with him, and reshape him with a yummy kong.” In regard to crate training the author states out of the blue: “if your home has battens, you may wish to select wood”. I have no idea what that means.
Since the prices mentioned in the book are in rubles and the intended audience seems to be Russian my guess is that the book was created by running a Russian book through a mediocre language translation application. I don’t think it could have been Google Translate because it is not that bad, not anymore. I believe the author may have taken a large stash of Russian books for different breeds and just rammed them through a translator and then uploaded it Amazon without anyone checking if the English made sense.
In any case, this book has a lot of problems, and I cannot recommend it. One star.
Back cover of the book Leonberger Dog by Nelson Dawson
I typically end my blog posts with a promotion of my book that includes a few images and a list of links to places where you can get it. I’ve come to realize that doing this takes away from the blog post itself. One image with a link is not too much but the full length three images and a list with 13 links is too much. This piece of repeated information often takes up half the post. So, I decided to make a book promotion post to which I will be linking to instead of repeating every time. By the way, I will delete this paragraph later on.
This post is a promotion of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”, stories and tips from 13 years with a Leonberger and it lists the places where you can get the book. I can add that the price of the Kindle version is temporarily reduced to $4.99.
In the book you can read about some of our Leonberger Bronco’s amazing feats: the night he scared away a prowler; the day he performed a hamster search and rescue; the time he stumped the Geek Squad; and the late night he snuck into the kitchen and ate a two-pound bag of dog treats, a box of pastries, a loaf of bread, a grilled chicken, and a Key lime pie, all in one sitting. You’ll also read about his unflappable calm during a north Texas tornado and his stoicism as he endured health challenges in his later years.
In addition to entertaining stories, these pages contain a wealth of practical guidance, including
a history of the Leonberger breed;
advice for the care of very large dogs;
breed-specific health and genetic information;
training and feeding tips;
suggestions for finding a breeder;
the official breed standard; and
an extensive resource guide.
Bronco’s fearlessness, tolerance, and affectionate nature warmed the hearts of everyone who met him, and his sometimes uncanny adventures with his human and canine companions will bring a smile to the face of every dog lover. The book has a lot of color photos, amusing Leonberger stories, and information about Leonbergers that has been verified.
The front cover of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
Below is a list of where you can find the book. Click on the links to go to the respective store. However, if your favorite bookstore is not listed below you can search for it using the ISBN or ASIN numbers.
Today is Veterans Day, a day with roots in Armistice Day from World War I. Did you know that the Leonberger dog almost went extinct during World War I? Below is a short excerpt from my book.
World War I was tough on the breed. Some Leonbergers were used to pull ammunition carts and small cannons during the conflict, and others were left to wander unattended. Often, these dogs starved to death. But after the war, two Leonberg businessmen, Karl Stadelmann and Otto Josenhans, worked hard to save the breed. They scoured the countryside looking for Leonbergers who were still alive. They were able to find twenty-five of them whose owners were willing to cooperate in reestablishing the breed. Of these, only five were suitable for breeding. None of the Leonberger clubs had survived, so they founded a new one in 1922 called Deutsche Club für Leonberger Hunde (DCLH), and Stadelmann created an updated version of Albert Kull’s Leonberger breed standard from 1895. To find out what a breed standard is click here.
Note: I temporarily lowered the price of the Kindle version of my book to $4.99.
For your information the ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR and the ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954
Below are some Leonberger photos from World War I that I came across. Notice; Leonbergers looked a little bit different back then.
Last Saturday (11/5-2022) I participated in Indy Author Day at Watauga Public Library north of Fort Worth, Texas. Each of us had a booth where we sold and signed our books. We talked to each other and shared experienced. Some of us did presentations. didn’t sell a whole lot of books, six to visitors, and the library had already three before the event, but that was not the main point. It was a fun experience that was entirely new to me. Because of this event and other events coming up I have temporarily lowered the price of the Kindle version of my book to $4.99.
I can add that if your kindle device (or other eBook reader) is capable of displaying colors you will be able to to see all the color photos and colorful illustrations.
For your information the ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR and the ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954
I am not lowering the price of the paperback version because it is printed in color and the printing cost make that difficult. All Royalties are donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International (LHFI). So, for the Kindle edition, 30% of the $4.99 is Amazon’s cut and 70% is royalty ($3.49). That Royalty is donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. $3.49 is less than the $6.29, which was the royalty when the price was $8.99. However, if you wish to donate more to LHFI you are welcome to.
I made a poster for my booth at Watauga Public Library. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com Kindle location for the book. $4.99 for a limited time.This is a group photo of the attending authors. I am on the far right. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com Kindle location for the book.
Finally, below is my typical blog post promotion of the paperback version of my book that I end almost every blog post with.
The front cover of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.se location for the book.These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to got to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
Below is a list of where you can find the book. Click on the links to go to the respective store. However, if your favorite bookstore is not listed below you can search for it using the ISBN or ASIN numbers.
The next few days are going to be interesting. I am participating in an Indy-Author Day tomorrow at a local library, I might be interviewed by a local magazine, and there might be other events coming up related to my book. Because the next few days or weeks are going to be special, I am temporarily lowering the price of the Kindle version of my book to $4.99.
For your information the ASIN number for the e-book edition: B0B5NN32SR and the ISBN number for printed edition: 978-0998084954
I am not lowering the price of the paperback version because it is printed in color and the printing cost make that difficult. All Royalties are donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International (LHFI). 30% of the $4.99 is Amazon’s cut and 70% is royalty ($3.49). That Royalty is donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. $3.49 is less than the $6.29, which was the royalty when the price was $8.99. However, if you wish to donate more to LHFI you are welcome to. Below I am showing an Ad for the Leonberger magazine, the front and back cover of the book, and a few selected pages as they would look like on a kindle with color or as the pdf version of the book. Note: the book snapshots below may be too small to read, but if you can read them, I don’t mind.
Ad for the Leonberger magazine. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com Kindle location for the book. $4.99 for a limited time.This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com Kindle location for the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com paperback location for the book.Page 2-3 in the bookPage 24-25 in the bookPage 42-43 in the bookPage 92-93 in the bookPage 122-123 in the bookPage 132-133 in the bookPage 194-195 in the book
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 other great books. This time I am reviewing Laws of Nature, the second book in the Dawn of Humanity series – July 3rd, 2021, by Jacqui Murray. This paperback is 307 pages, 978-1942101604, item weight 14.6 ounces pounds, dimensions 6 x 0.7 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.
Not only is this book great Historical Fiction but it was released July 3rd on my best friend’s birthday. I am talking about Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, our late Leonberger. The pre-historic canine in this book, Ump reminds me of Bronco. I feel there is a special connection. Reading this book was a great joy. I wrote a review on Amazon, which can be found here (Lucy, Ump and their motley crew survive in brutal pre-historic times), as well as on my social media. Here I am presenting a reworked version of the same review. From now on I will be focusing on her next book “Natural Selection” in her Dawn of Humanity series. I recommend that you read all three books. Who knows what will come next?
Front cover of the book Laws of Nature by Jacqui Murray. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Lucy, Ump and their motley crew survive in brutal pre-historic times
The story follows Lucy, a Homo Habilis woman who lived 1.8 million years ago, her tribe, and her canine companion Ump. Lucy’s tribe is attacked by a tribe of Homo Erectus, and we follow them as they migrate across Africa. They have to fight for their survival in various ways, finding food, finding shelter, fighting off saber tooth tigers, other dangerous animals as well as hostile tribes. Fortunately, Lucy is a special kind of pre-historic woman, a healer, a hunter, clever and wise.
I know a little bit about human pre-history, but I am not an expert. However, I find the author’s depictions of life in the early Quaternary quite believable and fascinating. Like Jean M Auel before her, Jaqui Murray has done her research. At the beginning of the book, she is explaining the background, the groups, what the various animals are, etc. This helps readers understand what is going on. It is especially helpful to readers who did not read the first book, Born in a Treacherous Time. I also highly recommend this book.
I was especially intrigued by Ump. Ump is a large pre-historic canine who became one of Lucy’s companions. Ump is friendly, he is brave, and he is very loving and protective of Lucy and her group. Ump is able to communicate with the hominids using body language in a manner that reminds me of how dogs do that today. It is amazing how much you can say using body language and how this translates across species boundaries. I see this with my dogs today. If you pay attention there’s so much a dog can tell you.
Ump reminded me of our late Leonberger Bronco. Like Ump Bronco was friendly, brave, protective and he loved his family. Like Ump he saved the lives of fellow family members a few times, and he chased off threating people. Like Ump he was a good communicator using body language, growls, grunts and barks, and like Ump he was in tune with the feelings of his family. Reading about Ump and other canines in this book was a joy.
Another thing I think the book makes clear is that even though diversity makes communication more challenging it makes for a stronger group. A group that is homogenous might be great for defense temporarily, but to venture out, to seek new pastures, to survive the unfamiliar you need diversity; and thus, we have Lucy’s and Ump’s diverse group. Ump’s canine skills, Boah’s special skills with traveling through the canopy, and the skills of the different hominid races and their experiences, all within Lucy’s small group allow them to survive challenges beyond what you can expect to be bearable.
This book is full of action-packed adventure. The stories are not only thrilling but imaginative, captivating, and full of surprises. This book feature some quite unexpected and surprising but credible plot twists towards the end. I love it when story lines are coming together in surprising but logical ways that you do not expect. The book also introduces some new characters, one of them “Wild”, which was, well quite wild to say the least. I highly recommend this book, but now I will focus on her next book “Natural Selection”.
Leonberger Life 