Leo came into the rescue slightly broken. He was extremely nervous of new faces and was not very nice to the staff at first, absolutely terrified.

They quickly learned that Leo loved other dogs and started to get him some friends which helped him relax into his new environment.

Fast forward 2 years, and Leo not finding a suitable home because of his dislike of strangers, and I started working in the rescue. I didn’t really have much of a connection with Leo, although I could see how stressed he was, and I decided to take him home from the kennels to give him a break. And the rest is history, as they say.

Leo was like a different dog, he didn’t just wag his tail, his whole body wagged. Whenever he greeted me, he wagged his head at me and gave me little gentle kisses. He helped me teach puppies and hand rear kittens when I fostered, and welcomed every animal into his home like they were a long lost friend.

He travelled the world with me, and when I moved abroad, I flew over with all my things, then we drove 2500 km to pick him up, just so he didn’t have to be transported by strangers. I then found out I was pregnant, and was terrified of how Leo would be welcoming children into his home.

I had an in depth plan of how to introduce him, how to keep separate, prepared him for the new arrival. I needn’t have worried, and he was my children’s best friend and guardian.

Sadly, we lost Leo to intestinal cancer and I can honestly say he took a piece of my heart the day he left me. He was my soul dog, he saw me through so many ups and downs and was my best friend always. He never really got over his issue of strangers.

I had to organise my whole life around him. But my word, he was worth it all. Two years he waited in rescue. He was broken. I fixed him by giving him the home he needed, and he fixed me, giving me the love I needed, and I will forever miss him.