Leo's Story Continued...

I rang Stephen and spoke to his wife. At all times I tried to believe that they where trying to do the right thing and thanked them for saving Leo and the other dogs. In the background Stephen was swearing and yelling. I had to explain to his wife that all I wanted was to see if I could come and pick up Leo.

In the meantime they decided that they wanted $300 for Leo and gave me their bank account details. I rang Sivaro who by this stage was distraught and decided not try and get Leo back as she believed that they where puppy farmers and only cared about the money, not Leo. They kept changing their story and I became confused, as did Sivaro. One minute Leo was free and the next they had paid $500 for him. This claim has been denied many times by Robert (Stephen's business partner).

I went to pick up my youngest daughter, Alice, from school, and while waiting for her text messaged Stephen's wife. I apologized for the misunderstanding and said if they ever wanted to re-home Leo I would take him and nurse him back to health so I could send him back to Sivaro.

They texted me back and said to meet them at McDonald's at the Munno Para Shopping Centre. This is about 1.5 hours in light traffic from where I was. It was 38°C and I had to ring my other daughter, Amy, and organise to pick her up off the bus on the way. It was not a pleasant drive; I got lost, having never driven that way before. A friendly truck driver allowed me to follow him to the shopping centre. Finally we arrived and met with Veanna and Graciemonsta, two lovely ladies from Dogzonline who had decided that I should not be on my own. Veanna had also brought her boyfriend. We then waited in the carpark for Stephen and his wife. They said they lived 6 minutes away, and that they regularly used this as a drop off point for animals.

Knowing how aggressive he was on the phone and how abusive he could be despite me being pleasant to him, I was glad of the other two DOL-ers backing me up.

They turned up and Stephen got out of the car. He was a huge, fat barrel of a man, dripping with gold chunky jewellery, and belligerent. His wife was solid, and had a much better attitude. She pulled out a plastic crate from the back of the car and said, "Here he is."

I knelt on the hot asphalt and opened the crate. I put my hand in and lifted out the filthiest, stinkiest, skinniest dog I have ever seen. His skin was like wrinkled parchment and was sucked on to his bones. Every bone showed and he had fleas jumping all over him. He had a massive tick under his left ear, heavy fat and engorged. He was standing roach backed, wobbling with exhaustion, barely able to stand. He had open wounds on his back and croup. Pressure sores on every joint, the worst on his rear with bone visible. His eyes where weeping thick green and yellow mucus. His eyes were glazed and filmed over and he fixedly stared into space. The stench was incredible; he had faecal matter between his overgrown nails and his legs where yellow with urine. He had been sprayed with a purple spray over the areas that were open sores.