Rest in peace, Leo ji

This morning our dog Leo died. He was a Doberman, probably around 12 years although no one really knows for sure. 

He came to us 6 years ago from the rescue agency Friendicoes SECA in New Delhi. He had been found tied under a bridge, abandoned. When they saw him, the rescuers were immediately alarmed: they could see he was an expensive dog in good physical shape, why then had he been abandoned? 

For safety measures, he spend a few months at a kennel being trained and checked for any dangerous behaviours. He was then adopted by someone with a big farm. Shortly after he was adopted, the people from Friendicoes came to check on him and were horrified to discover he was being starved. Not deliberately, but out of the sheer ignorance on the part of the person who had taken him in. Friendicoes took him back.

He then spent several years at the Friendicoes shelter - a place full of good intentions but severely under funded. 

When we first came to visit Friendicoes, looking for an adult dog to adopt, Tandrali, the person in charge of adoptions and someone who soon became a close friend, immediately recommended Leo. I almost also immediately said no but when I saw how delighted Manjeev looked at the prospect of such a masculine dog I thought we could at least meet him. 

When we came home we soon found out why he had been abandoned. He snapped. He didn’t bite, but he snapped, and a snapping full size Doberman is a rather scary prospect. 

I called Tandrali to tell her that. She expected us to say we were bringing the dog back but somehow this never occurred to us. We learnt how to manage it by being very careful with people around us. 

About a year later, we were in a farm with Tandrali and her dogs. All the dogs were playing together and swimming in the doggie pool. That day, Tandrali admitted that many people had suggested to put Leo down since no one was likely to come forward to adopt him. She was very moved to see him run around and play with other dogs, to see she had been right not to lose hope. 

Leo came with us to Singapore and back to India. He also came with us to Udaipur. 

He was in Delhi with the other two while we are here, in the UK, trying to sort our situation out. 

It breaks my heart that we were not there to say good bye. But we are grateful he went quickly. He was old, even though he looked very, very handsome. Did I mention we were regularly stopped on the street by people who wanted to buy him or breed him? Shame for him he was neutered. 

It is with eyes full of tears and our hearts full of wonderful memories that we wish him well, for whatever there is to come for him. 

Some of the things we will miss the most: 

• playing ball with Manjeev
• the way he would cry and sit in a corner during a thunder storm (yes, it was kind of funny)
• the way he would follow me around wherever I went
• the way he would sit and lift his paw
• his whistles - his nickname was the whistling dog 
• the fact that even though he was the biggest, he was clearly at the bottom of the chain in our house
• the way he could curl up his big body on a tiny chair
• the way he wanted you to pat his head, like, forever, and would cry the moment you removed your hand