I have owned dogs for as long as I can remember, so much so that not having a dog just doesn’t seem natural to me anymore! Having had such a dog filled life, I have always had a soft spot for them, which is why it came to no surprise I had rescued yet another puppy.
Leon is our big-hearted, friendly German Shepherd mix. He has been a part of the Trex family for over 10 years now and has left his mark on many hearts.
We rescued Leon as a puppy back in 2010. He had been dumped and left to fend for himself, found living in a hole in a pile of sand next to a cemetery in the Spanish town of Turre. We were notified by a friend of his location and decided to go and get him. It was an extremely hot day in Spain, getting very close to the summer months.
We picked up this poor puppy and rushed him to our vet, Astrid. This very dehydrated, lethargic, malnourished poor little puppy was covered head to toe in ticks. Our vet counted around 40 of them just under one armpit. The vet kept him in for a few days to monitor his state and got rid of all the ticks. After a couple of days, we took over from there.
It really didn’t take long before Leon got his strength and character and started running around Trex like he owned the place. He is such a gentle giant and a very loveable part of the family. He now has an important job which is teaching all of the other dogs that visit Trex how to be sociable. He has the perfect temperament for it.
One of my fondest memories of Leon which continues to make me laugh is when I caught him as a puppy with a chicken in his mouth!! I screamed in shocked and he just opened his jaws and dropped the chicken completely unharmed. As the chicken ran off, Leon just sat as if to say ‘what?’. He has never touched a chicken again!