Leo & Sadie
4-6 Year Old Male Rough Coat

Meet Leo, the Lionheart:

URGENT:

We are sad to report that due to circumstance beyond his control, our dear Leo has been returned to us. We have also made an exception on Leo's behalf and taken in his new friend, Sadie, a beautiful 8 year-old Golden Retriever. (She promised she would ACT Saintly and she is doing a pretty good job of it so far!) Leo & Sadie's previous owners wound up leaving the country unexpectedly and couldn't take the pair along.

Leo originally came to us back in August with his old friend Kate. Both needed medical care badly. It broke our hearts when we realized that for Kate, help had not come soon enough and we were unable to save her.

Thankfully, Leo has made a significant recovery and is feeling MUCH better these days. He does have arthritic elbows and will need to take medication daily for the rest of his life, but that is nothing compared to seeing him happy and comfortable.

Sadie has been a lifesaver for Leo. They were fast friends and quickly became an inseparable duo. She has beautiful brown eyes and is an all around happy-go-lucky girl who has settled into her adult years well. They do have their playful moments, but Sadie spends most of her time snuggling with her best buddy Leo.

Please find room in your hearts (and on your couches!) for this wonderful pair of friends.

Original text:

Authorities took Leo & his life-long companion & possibly sister, Kate, from their previous owner under dire circumstances last March. They sat at the Bakersfield SPCA for the next four months, passed up by potential adopters merely because of their size. We had no way of knowing they were even there. By luck, someone saw them & called us last month. We left for Bakersfield almost immediately, heartbroken to think of these two sitting in a kennel for so long.

We arrived to find both saints were very much in need of medical attention. Leo has entropia, or cherry eye, a condition where the eyelashes actually grow inward instead of out, irritating the corneas & inner eyelids. (Imagine having eyelashes in your eyes ALL THE TIME!) He just underwent surgery to correct this condition & is expected to recover fully. (He will be much more comfortable from now on!) He has arthritis in his elbows & will need to take daily medication in order to maintain his quality of life. Leo is also missing all of his front teeth. We are not sure if this is due to premature aging or some sort of trauma.

Sadly, Kate’s medical problems were far more severe. At the advice of our rescue veterinarian, Kate was allowed to cross the Rainbow Bridge last Friday & end her suffering. We know Leo will always remember her…so will I.

We are guessing Leo is somewhere between 4-6 years old. He has had a hard life so far & it has taken its toll on his body. He needs beds...couches...comfort! In short, Leo needs a loving, comfortable, low stress home to retire in. Another canine playmate to keep him company would be ideal.

To know him is to love him & we know that in doing right by Leo, Kate will live on through his happiness.

Do you feel you might be able to give Leo the home he & his sweet Kate have always deserved?

Update 8/19/02 from Leo's new mama:

Just wanted to let you know that Leo is doing great. His eyes are improving each day. He loves to play and is very loving. In the mornings he will come up to my pillow and put his head on it. (I just love that!) He also likes to push me from behind with his nose. (real cute).

He loves Sadie, (my golden), he is always giving her wet kisses even while they go for their walks. Leo will actually stop just to give Sadie kisses. He already knows whenever we say to them,"Wanna go for a walk?" and Leo will run to the front door and wait for us to put his leash on...

Update 9/27/02 :

Hi Jackie,

Just wanted to let you know that Leo is doing very good. Everyone just loves him. The swelling on his front legs has gone down soooo much. Leo is very comical and is always making us laugh at the things he does. He is a mama's boy. Very protective of us too. He climbs in bed and sleeps in between my husband and I.

Leo and Sadie have become the best of friends. They play with each other more and more each day. ( we laugh at them all the time). They also love going to the dog beach. Leo sits right next to me when i'm on the computer and if Sadie lays on his place he whines at her till she moves. (very cute). He can be very mischievious to, that at times when Sadie walks past him, he'll grab her back leg with his mouth and try to trip her.[]

We all have sooooo much fun together. We take them everywhere we go. Friends of ours have even told us that our dogs are really lucky to have us as their owners and that they wouldn't mind being a dog themselves if we took them in. ( Hahahaha). When we take them for their walks everyday, people always come up to us and ask us if they could pat Leo and they also say he is so cute and cuddley.

Leo is such a good dog and we are so proud of him. Also we have taken some pictures and am waiting to use up the roll and once that is done, we shall send you some pics. Let us know when is normally your free time so maybe we could meet and you can see Leo too. We would love for you to see him.

Well, take care and keep up the good work you guys are doing for the Saints.

Elaine

Dear Elizabeth and all the dedicated Volunteers:

Larry picked up Leo and Sadie yesterday afternoon from Brad and they seemed OK but curious on the ride over to Temecula. When they arrived at home, they searched all the house and the yard just to see exactly what was going on. Then they settled down in Larry's office while he was taking care of work stuff.

We took them for a walk but not too long as I noticed that Leo was slowing down - we figured that we will watch him carefully not to tire him out at first. They slept on their new beds all through the night until 5:15 this morning when Sadie woke me up to go outside. They are so good and just lovely dogs - we are so pleased to have them as part of our family.

Leo absolutely refuses to go upstairs so we are not sure what that is all about but that's OK. The only thing is that Sadie loves to be upstairs with us and Leo gets lonely without either her or us so we will see how that progresses. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that they are OK, they seem
happy and they are such good dogs - they just need loving and to be in a stable environment. We will keep you posted.

Happy Holidays, Meredith