Goodbye Leo

My niece Roslyn's dog Leo passed on last night. We are all very sad, and will miss him a great deal.

Leo came into our lives about four years ago right before Christmas. I was taking my son to school and I saw a beautiful golden Cocker Spaniel running down a busy street. There didn't seem to be anyone with him, so I stopped & opened the minivan door. He jumped in as if he belonged.

I assumed that he had gotten out of his yard and that his people were frantic. He was a sweet, well-mannered dog & I couldn't imagine that he was homeless. His tag was from a local animal shelter, so I called a reported that I had him.

We kept him overnight, but our fence had a hole in it and our cats did not like the DOG in the house. I imposed on some loving friends, Butch and Cathy, who fostered him. They are known to say things like, "Oh well, what's another dog for a couple of days?" But as we know, another dog is ANOTHER DOG, and I couldn't tell them how much I appreciated their help. And we thought I'd be getting a phone call any minute from a grateful owner.

A few days passed and I called the shelter again. They told me that a woman had recently adopted him, and they gave me her address. We drove to the address, but it didn't exist. We found a similar name in the phone book and left a message, but no return call. We thought she might be a student gone home for the holidays, and expected her to call in January, but no.

Coincidentally, fortuitously, my niece Roslyn wanted a dog. She was even then filling up her chore chart with stars in order to prove to her mother that she was responsible enough for a dog. And here was THE DOG. Ellen was skeptical, since Cocker Spaniel was not what she was thinking, but Leo won her over.

We assumed by Leo's energy and spirit that he was a young dog, but the vet told Ellen that he was at least 10 years old, maybe older. He lived with Roslyn for the last years of his life. I have no idea what his life was like before we found him, but I think most of it must have been good. How else could he have such a loving, trusting personality?

So goodbye Leo, thank you for being with us. We love you.