Memories of "LEO"

Tonight we are going to spend a little time to memorialize a really cool dog, Leo. He was my mother's dog, rather she was owned by Leo, for almost 16 years. Leo was a Stafforshire Terrier (aka Pit Bull) but don't you dare tell Leo that. He thought he was a cat...

When my mother brought him home one day it was because the garage he was located in determined he was a lousy guard dog. Leo was a character. He was so friendly, absolutely loved people, even when he tipped the scales at over 80 pounds. He was several months old when the garage he was at decided he loved people just too much. He never met a human he didn't love. That is where my mom inadvertently came in. When she was having her car worked on, she went over to play with the cute puppy. At that point, the owner of the garage had enough of Leo's overly friendly behavior and asked my mom if she wanted a dog... the rest became great history.

After Leo came home with my mother, her cat, "Crackers" was less than thrilled. The cat did everything she could to stay away from the rambunctious puppy, which meant that the cat spent a lot of time up on the backs of chairs, couches, window sills, etc. Because Leo always wanted to play, he finally learned he could jump onto the couch. One extremely funny incident was when he finally tried to walk across the back of the couch just like Crackers did. You should have seen the look on Leo's face when he realized that it was not easy walking along the back of a couch when you were over 40 pounds. He learned to sort of walk along the back of the couch, but loved to lay across the back so he could look out the window (like a cat) and nuzzle Mom's ear when she was sitting on the couch trying to read.

Leo loved to play with all kinds of toys, the problem was he also could chew everything to bits in a very short time. One of Leo's favorite games was to grab Mom's dish towel that hung in the kitchen and run around the house with it. If Mom didn't retrieve the towel, Leo would tear it apart and all she would find is shreds (Leo also loved to eat EVERYTHING - he was a canine vacuum). It became a daily ritual, once he was let in the house, he would thunder through the kitchen, grab the towel as he barrelled past and continue the run into the other rooms of the house. He absolutely loved to play with people and would play tug-of-war all day long if you didn't get tired. Most of the time there was always a toy or two stationed just inside the front door so that as any guest came in, they would be able to grab a toy and place it in Leo's waiting mouth. If you didn't have a toy to offer, that was fine with Leo, he would grab your hand and try to pull you around to play with him.

Leo loved walks outside except that he became too large and strong for my mother to handle. He ended up walking her, not the other way around. Eventually, Leo learned to stay in the front yard as my mother worked in the yard so he could watch all the people wander by. He was always watching out for my mother and making sure that everything around them was safe. Even at 90 pounds, Leo still believed himself to be a lap dog. He would try very hard to take his whole body and curl up in my mother's lap.

Leo also didn't like to be cold and would curl up as close as possible to the heater or the fireplace. Sometimes you could smell hair burning, only to look over and see that dog had gotten so close to the heat that he was singing his hair. Leo didn't seem to mind, but we were always afraid he was going to cook that little brain of his.

Leo was absolutely devoted to my Mom and he tried very hard to stay around with her. Unfortunately, dogs cannot live nearly as long as people do and he had to move on. He left my Mother on her Birthday, April 19, 2010. He will be waiting for her, with mouth open, tongue hanging out to the side, eagerly watching for my mother when she too crosses that Rainbow Bridge.

Leo will be missed, but his memory will always be alive in those of us that knew him well.

Until tomorrow...