It has been almost a year since I lost my beloved Leo in the despicable act of road rage committed just outside the San Jose airport on February 11, 2000. Since then, I have received hundreds, if not thousands, of letters, gifts and emails from animal lovers around the world expressing their shock and dismay that such a cruel and senseless act could be done to such an innocent and loving being as my Leo. His beauty and sweetness, captured in photographs, touched the hearts of millions worldwide. I still miss him with a searing pain, and suffer from recurring flashbacks of his tragic and painful death. My life will never be the same without him. I try very hard to remember the joyful times we shared, but then I find myself missing him even more, and longing for those times to return. Never in my life have I wished to reverse time like I have since Leo died. If I did not do just one thing, open my car window to a stranger, Leo would still be here, and these tears would not be falling.

Leo came into my life in February of 1990. He was born in Tracy California on September 9, 1989 to Virginia and Bill Mather’s Ch. Mather’s Maximillian (sire) and White Cloud’s Jade Princess (dam). In the ten years that followed, Leo and I went through many of life’s trials and tribulations together. Our unconditional love for each other was the only constant and unchanging theme. I was known to many as “the lady with the little white dog”. We were inseparable and completely devoted to each other.

In the aftermath of my tragedy, a peculiar controversy has developed around the value we, as a society, place on the life of a pet. Many people criticized the media for the extensive coverage that they chose to make, and others criticized individuals who chose to make contributions to Leo’s reward fund. For some reason, many felt that Leo’s tragedy somehow invalidated the tragedy some parents suffer in the loss of their children.

I find it peculiar that some people feel justified in questioning other’s affairs of the heart. We all carry the emotional baggage from our past that makes us feel passionate, or indifferent to various events in our lives. Where we choose to channel our feelings of compassion, charity, and love is entirely up to us as individuals. To say that “my cause is better than your cause”, is just like saying “my dog is better than your dog”! On the other hand, where people choose to channel their hate in the form of violence is everyone’s problem. Leo, unfortunately, fell inadvertently into the path of a hateful and violent person who took his life in a most unjust and cruel way. Never in Leo’s life did he ever attempt to hurt anyone, including the vicious man who killed him. He was grabbed, and remained quiet as he was carried away to the oncoming lanes, trusting in whoever held him in their arms. The sheer lack of compassion displayed by that man is incomprehensible to anyone with a conscience. This very conscience is what motivated people to reach out to Leo by contributing to his reward fund, by sending me condolences and gifts, and by giving him airtime in their various media forms. To criticize this collective conscience is to criticize one of the most important qualities of our humanity, compassion. Compassion is the opposite of hate, and to act out with compassion as the motivating factor should never be invalidated by anyone. Conversely, acting out with hate is destructive, and should be reviled and punished by everyone.

Some people may think that my love for Leo was too deep for the love of a dog. Often times, before my loss, I worried about the grief I would suffer when it was time for Leo to cross the Rainbow Bridge. A human’s life span is, of course, significantly longer than the life of a dog. Because of my personal circumstances and past, my love for Leo was very much like a mother’s love for an infant. Leo was my baby, and I have discovered that many people also love their dogs as baby surrogates. Dogs are like babies when it comes to the unconditional aspect of love. Mother Nature created an increasingly conditional aspect of love between a parent and child as they grow, so that the eventual separation of parent and child can occur, and new families can be formed. This separation and eventual distance does not occur with people and their pets. Ours is a true “until death do we part” relationship. I am not making this point and observation about people and pets to in any way invalidate the life of a child, or the pain a parent experiences with a child’s loss. I feel that love should not have to be compared, or justified. Love is infinite, and I loved Leo.