He was cuddly and we all adored him on the spot. He was one of the puppies from our friends' recent littler of Golden Retrievers and he was the runt of the litter. But it gets cooler than that. His birthday is Thanksgiving Day and he was stillborn. Our friend, Paul Davis, had delivered many pups but had decided to brush up on a tutorial for dealing with stillborn pups shortly before the birth. So glad he did. He actually worked on "Lazarus" (their name for him) for almost 10 minutes!! Amazingly enough, the puppy came to. Fast forward 2 months to my birthday and little Ozzy was a Turner.
I've only had one dog before, Goldie. I sure loved that dog but we only had him for a few years because my mom was so allergic to him. She sacrificed for as long as she could but eventually we had to find him another home (and we did find him a really sweet older woman with a nice big backyard).
So as an adult, I've never owned a dog and as the years passed I became more certain that I simply didn't have enough love in my heart for what I figured would be a stinkier child that I didn't love as much as my own kiddos. But for about the last 5 years all of the kids have been begging for a dog. Curtis and I did a lot of research. We were trying to find one that Jonah wouldn't be allergic to. He is dreadfully allergic to cats and some dogs. Jonah spent a lot of time over at the house where Ozzy was born and didn't seem to have an trouble so that helped Curtis pulled the trigger. I was actually leaning towards a smaller dog that didn't shed (maybe a Shishon or Yorkie) but I was definitely torn because there is just something so special about a big dog that you can lay on and wrestle with.
Sooo, the last 6 months have definitely been fuller and sweeter because of our big dog. He is now pushing 60 lbs, he is shedding right now like crazy and I have to vacuum and swiffer daily. His poops are huge! We just got him neutered last week and everything seems to be healing just fine. Keeping him cooped up inside the house is a bummer though. Just a couple more days and he will be free to race around the yard without a leash and swim with the kids. He loves to swim!
Overall it has definitely enriched our lives. The kids have been great about taking him on lots of walks, brushing him and feeding him. Ozzy is so smart and we taught him to sit, shake, stay, come and wait to eat a treat that's right in front of him. The only problem is that he will only do this stuff if you have food in your hand. He LOVES food. I think I need to ban him from the kitchen. My butter has disappeared at least twice in the last week. We are pretty strict about giving him dog food only. Curtis is really the only one who feeds him a few bites from his meal but I actually think it's been a good thing because he sits so nice and still and waits patiently for a bite at the end.
Ozzy is a super chill dog. I kept waiting for that hyper puppy behavior to happen but it really hasn't. He loves to lay around with us and snuggle. The only time he's tough to handle is when a squirrel is nearby or when a new person comes to the door. Working on both. The gentle leader has been amazing and I can take him for walks now without have my arm pulled off everytime a squirrel runs by.
Oh and the name. We visited Curt's Dad last summer and they have the best dog ever. My kids absolutely fell in love with him. And his name was Ozzie. So all the kids voted to name him after his cousin so that 's what we did. It's super annoying because we still have Ollie and the names are just way too similar. Oh well. For the record, Ollie doesn't want anything to do with Ozzy but every now and again they will eat Cheerios together. :)
We're already talking about getting a second dog to be a friend for Ozzy and are also on the lookout for a bunny friend for Ollie. Stay tuned.
