Goodbye Leo

Today has been probably the hardest day ever for Sean and me. We made the incredibly difficult decision to have our beloved dog, Leo, put to sleep this morning. While he was such a wonderful dog 99% of the time, he had an underlying aggression towards other dogs while on a leash that had us very concerned. A couple times last year before G was born, Leo bit me on the leg while on a walk when another dog was near us. It was pretty scary and we tried several behavior modifications to try to avoid this ever happening again. We really though we had everything under control. He was always excellent around George and around the house, we never had any aggression issues at home at all.

Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago, Leo got out of the yard and bit another dog and sent him to the vet for stitches. Then just yesterday, George and Leo and I were on a walk and another dog walked by and Leo lashed out at him and bit me pretty hard on the leg. As soon as it happened, I knew that there had to be a major decision made. Since he is a biter, the Dumb Friends League wouldn't take him, and we just couldn't bear the thought of our sweet Leo in a city shelter, not being adopted because of his history, then being put down without anyone around that loves him.



So after a lot of thought, Sean and I decided it would be best for us to put him to sleep. This morning we took him for a nice walk and I took him in to the vet and said goodbye. We're both heartbroken over this since we loved him so much. So instead of remembering the few times that he wasn't at his best, I thought I would make a list of some of the things we loved about him.

He was such a great cuddler. He especially loved to cuddle with Sean on the bed in the morning.

He loved George. He was always so calm and gentle around him, letting him crawl over him, grab his ears, take his toys, and pull his hair. He always wanted to be wherever George was.

I loved how excited he would get when we got home. It didn't matter if we were gone 5 minutes or 5 hours, nobody ever missed us like Leo.

He could hear Sean's car turn on to our street and he'd sprint to the door, sit and wag his tail as hard as he could, and jump up on Sean to welcome him home.

One of my favorite parts of my days at home were when I would nurse George in the glider and Leo would lay down right next to us and rest. It was such a quiet, peaceful time for all of us.

He could always make us laugh. With his galloping through the house, his crooked ear, trying to weasel his way onto the couch with us, laying his body across my lap when I was playing on the floor with G so I'd have no choice but to pet him - we really loved him.

Here are a few pictures and a short video to say goodbye to our friend.