Rayleas Grand Master Leo at Solentgold
Leo (left) at five weeks with his sister
At 4 months when we collected him from France
Reserve Best of Breed, Windsor Gundog Show, aged 3
Leo aged 4 years
Leo at the river
Leo at work in Paediatric Intensive Care
Crufts Friends for Life Champion 2020 - © Flick Digital
Are you calling me?
Kennel Club registration number: AP0902167
Date of birth: 26 December 2011
Hip Score: 11 (6+5)
Elbow Score: 0 Eye Certificate:
Annual Eye Testing Clear and PLA grade 0 AHT
Tested clear for Progressive Retinal Atrophy PRA1 and PRA2
Leo is our very special boy from France. Ever since he arrived in our family we were absolutely smitten with him! He was bred by Catherine and Sven Zingg of Rayleas Golden Retrievers and had an impressive pedigree to live up to. His father, Rayleas Just a Joker, has achieved international champion status and Leo qualified for Crufts for life after gaining his Kennel Club stud book number at a Paignton Championship Show in August 2015.
However, it is Leo's temperament that he is noted for and his main achievements are in Animal Assisted Intervention. He loves his work as a therapy dog, being one of the team assigned to visit Southampton Children's Hospital. We visit every week and bring smiles to hundreds of children over the course of each month. As well as visiting the general childrens wards we also see patients in the Paediatric Intensive Care and Paediatric Oncology Units. It is at the hospital where Leo's special nature really shines in the work he does with some of the very sick patients, some of whom have posted pictures of their visits on our Leo & Friends Facebook page. As a result of this work Leo has won multiple awards including one for exceptional voluntary service at the hospital. He has also represented Pets as Therapy at a reception at the House of Lords. He was a finalist in the Pets as Therapy dog of the year at Crufts 2016. He has been filmed for television numerous times and also filmed for some educational videos for the patients at Southampton Children's Hospital. ‘Leo Goes to X-ray’ and ‘Leo Goes to Theatre’ are on YouTube, the links for which are on the relevant sections of our news page.
In March 2020 at Crufts he was named the Kennel Club Friends for Life Champion and it was as a result of that Lyndsey was approached to write about the work the team does at Southampton. Her book ‘Leo & Friends - the extraordinary dogs with the healing touch’ was published in 2021.
