They told me his name was Ozzie and he was about two years old. He had been left behind by the previous tenant. They had tried their best to care for him but felt the environment for Ozzie was not very comfortable. Over time they had become attached but really wanted to see him go to a good home.
This was the last thing I wanted as I was not ready to care for a pet. To appease the boys I went into the room where they kept him. Calling for him I didn’t get any type of response. So, I started to talk to him and asked, “Ozzie, do you want to come home with me?” Out from under the bed came this beautiful black dog with the biggest eyes I had ever seen!
He came right to me and barked. I understood that to mean,“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” He had totally won me over and had wrapped his paw around my heart. It was the beginning of a very long partnership! We settled in and I must say to this day when I think back on our time together I am amazed at how much I learned about myself.
Unconditional love was at this top of the list. No matter what kind of mood I was in, Ozzie had a way of being able to read me like a book!
This was something I marveled at.
He had his way of conveying to me that he understood and would offer comfort that would heal my spirits immediately!
If I was sad he would stay next to me and look into my eyes and in a gesture that brings tears to my eyes even today. He would reach out and gently touch my face with his paw. As you can well imagine things would then be okay with the world no matter what it was that was bothering me.
We experienced our first earthquake together. What a memory that was! I grabbed Ozzie and stood inside of the door frame as we were being jostled around, I told him it was Mother Nature hiccupping and as scared as he was he seemed to know I was trying to comfort him.
After the ground stopped shaking I began to put some supplies in a duffel bag to take to my car. Ozzie seemed to watch me and what I was doing. As I was preparing to leave he got in the bag and just barked and barked. I took that to mean“Hey, you are not leaving me behind!”