My name is Kisa and I’m a Leonberger.

I was born on February 15, 1999 at LionHill Kennels in Alberta, Canada. My parents are Sir Yen-Yinbar-Clay of Pelgrims Ring (Barclay) and Tilly of LionHill. I came to live with Tom and Brenda on April 12, 1999.

If I had to sum myself up in five words or less, I’d have to say “I’m not your typical Leonberger“. In my younger days, I used to fetch and guard the house and do all of those things they say don’t come naturally to Leonbergers. What do they know?

Oh, yeah… and I’m smart. Really smart. When I was 10 months old, Grandma Bell gave me a little squeaky soccer ball for Christmas. A few days later, Mom decided to teach me to play hide and seek with that ball. Dad thought she was nuts, but boy was he surprised when 20 minutes later she had me sitting and staying in the family room while she went to hide the ball… waiting patiently for her to come back and say “Kisa, go find the ball“. I found it every time and didn’t peek once… honest!

My name is Larkin and I’m a Leonberger.

I was born June 7, 1999 at LionHill Kennels in Alberta, Canada. My parents are Sir Yen-Yinbar-Clay of Pelgrims Ring and Lady Fawn of Buschcastle. I came to live with Tom, Brenda and Kisa on August 17, 1999.

I’m your basic lazy Leo — way smarter than Kisa, but putting my intelligence to good use requires too much energy. I’d never win any obedience awards because I’m too stubborn and the only command I really like is down-stay which is pretty much what I do all the time without being told. Unless I’m really tired, I will do pretty much anything for a pig’s ear.

My name is Cricket and I’m a tortoise-shell tabby.

I was adopted by Kisa, Larkin, Brenda and Tom on April 10, 1999 after having spent seven or eight months living at the Lakes Region Animal Shelter and who know how long as a stray without a family before that.

To say that I was skittish is an understatement. I spent three days hiding behind the computer cabinet until the back door blew open and I escaped. I lived under the old barn with a groundhog for five whole weeks, only allowing myself to be seen once for a few minutes when I decided to sun myself on top of the stone wall behind the barn.

I’m not sure where I’d be now if Brenda wasn’t so adamant about turning me into a house cat. She kept putting food and water in the animal shed and made sure I had a cozy box to sleep in… right down to the pink and white striped towel I had with me when they brought me home.

To make a long story short, I guess I got tired of all the wandering about. One night Tom came out to let Kisa pee and saw me from the other side of the yard. He took Kisa back inside, came back out and sat in the middle of the yard until I got close enough to let him pick me up. I tried to bolt when he got me to the back door, but he held on and got me inside.

I went back to hiding behind the computer cabinet for a few days, but eventually starting warming up to the idea of a dry place to sleep and a never-ending supply of food and water. Except for when Kisa’s in the mood for a game of cat toss, life is good. Hmmm… whoever wrote that slogan for Jeep must have had some feline heritage.

My name is Ginger and I’m a tortoise-shell tabby.

I was adopted by Tom, Brenda, Kisa and Larkin on April 14, 2001 after my owner passed away. While the animal shelter was really nice and I only had to spend a few days there, I was pretty happy to be heading to a real home. That is until I got there and met these two humongous dogs and another tabby who does not play well with others.

Larkin wasn’t too much interested in me, but Kisa drove me nuts. Lucky for me, she’s got this phobia about using her paws and being underneath things. You should hear her whine when I make her chase me and run under the bed just far enough to be out of reach. Silly dog… doesn’t she know tricks are for cats?

My name is Dakota and I’m a Leonberger puppy.

I was born September 30, 2008 at LionHill Kennels in Alberta, Canada. My parents are Lejonslands Jerry and Faubara O Cha Cha of LionHill.

I don’t have much of a history… being so young and all.  But I’m sure to create a name for myself as I get older and become the lord of the Leonberger mansion.

My name is Brenda and I’m a human.

I’m not about to give my birthday because I’m older than God (but still two years younger than my husband, Tom). I’m a Native American, born and raised in the state of Virginia.  We now live in Henniker, NH and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

I was a music major — started taking piano lessons when I was six… but now I’m a dedicated software engineer which doesn’t leave much time for anything else… but I manage to keep my head above water and still squeeze in a yearly vacation. I like to sew and quilt and knit and make jewelry when there’s time, which there usually isn’t.

If someone asked me to name one thing I’d change about my life, my answer would be absolutely nothing. Tom and I have been married since January 25, 1997 and it was just one of those things that was meant to be.  I often tell people we share a brain.  We’re not alike — that would be rather boring — but we’re highly compatible and that’s the most important thing.

In a nutshell, life is good.

My name is Tom and I’m a human.

Well, I can’t give you my birthday either… because you’d then  be able to figure out how old my wife is and there’d be holy hell to pay around here.  Nope… I’m a guy, but I’m just not that stupid.

I’m also a software engineer, but my real passion is flying. I have a Piper Lance that would be spending a lot more time in the air if my wife wasn’t so skittish about flying. She was fine back when we were traveling a lot, but the more we stayed on the ground, the harder it was to get her back in the air.  There may be hope though… she has to fly to Canada once a month for work and seems to be more comfortable — not turning into a basket case even if it’s snowing.

My second passion is diving.  I was really worried when Brenda and I got married because she never learned to swim.  Turns out I was worried about nothing… she started snorkeling with one of those vests, has had a great time on several resort dives and learned to swim on her own last year.

My third passion is tinkering.  I build things and I fix things — usually after I’ve done something to break them. The easy part is the fixing — the hard part is hiding the fact that I broke it in the first place.  Wife always says “you don’t pay attention to what you’re doing”.  That’s simply not true… there are a few things I broke that took real concentration. I always know she’s giggling about it though — she seems to take enormous pleasure in my goofs and that’s okay with me.