Pets have the ability to teach, to heal, to bring companionship and light into someone's world. They can become the safe place to practice tenderness, compassion, vulnerability and love. Leo you were certainly all of this to those you loved.
How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard - Winnie the Pooh
There is evidence that the predecessors to dogs - wolves - were the first animal to be domesticated. As hunter gatherers, there was a symbiotic support for humans and wolves to work together, offering protection, warmth and food.
You were just a puppy when your adopted mom brought you home - she was a feisty and fragile teen whose heart you melted. It felt like the two of you immediately began to pour your love and need for love, back and forth to each other. She would bring you into her bed and snuggle while you in turn would return the snuggles.
Over time, you would become fiercely loyal, protective and playful. You passionately loved your walks, chasing squirrels, food and company. In general Leo, you passionately loved large.
And over time, I watched you teach those around you to love large too. And no one more than your adopted mom. You stretched her heart to hold more love, to trust, take risks and to love a little more.
So that now, as you finish your final lap on this planet, as you pour out your final bits of allegiance, loyalty and love, she is passing on those lessons to her baby boy. I see your handiwork in your adopted mom's patience, her ability to play and her intuitive sense of determining needs.
I watch all those years of training, all those years of care and regard, now being transferred into the next generation.
Your work is done here Leo. There is nothing left for you to do but to receive the gratitude and grief of those that will be left with the gaping hole of your absence.
I love you. Happy Travels.